“Was there a meeting scheduled that I didn’t know about?” she said with a cool smile as she set the can on her desk. I got the distinct impression she was displeased by the intrusion.
“Carrie, we’ll have to take care of our project a little later. Sorry,” Lucy said. She added,” I assume you’ve met Benton Wesley. This is Dr. Kay Scarpetta, my aunt. And this is Carrie Grethen. ”
“A pleasure to meet you,” Carrie Grethen said to me, and I was bothered by her eyes.
I watched her slide into her chair and absently smooth her dark brown hair, which was long and pinned back in an old-fashioned French twist.
I guessed she was in her mid-thirties, her smooth skin, dark eyes, and cleanly sculpted features giving her face a patrician beauty both remarkable and rare. As she opened a file drawer, I noted how orderly her work space was compared to my niece’s, for Lucy was too far gone into her esoteric world to give much thought to where to store a book or stack paper. Despite her ancient intellect, she was very much the college kid who chewed gum and lived with clutter. Wesley spoke.
“Lucy? Why don’t you show your aunt around?”
“Sure.” She seemed reluctant as she exited a screen and got up.
“So, Carrie, tell me exactly what you do here,” I heard him say as we walked away. Lucy glanced back in their direction, and I was startled by the emotion flickering in her eyes.
“What you see in this section is pretty self-explanatory,” she said, distracted and quite tense.
“Just people and workstations.”
“All of them working on VI CAP
“There’s only three of us involved with CAIN. Most of what’s done up here is tactical” –she glanced back again.
“You know, tactical in the sense of using computers to get a piece of equipment to operate better. Like various electronic collection devices and some of the robots Crisis Response and HRT use.” Her mind was definitely elsewhere as she led me to the far end of the floor, where there was a room secured by another biometric lock.
“Only a few of us are cleared to go in here,” she said, scanning her thumb and entering her Personal Identification Number. The gunmetal-gray door opened onto a refrigerated space neatly arranged with workstations, monitors, and scores of modems with blinking lights stacked on shelves. Bundled cables running out the backs of equipment disappeared beneath the raised floor, and monitors swirling with bright blue loops and whorls boldly proclaimed “CAIN.” The artificial light, like the air, was clean and cold.
“This is where all fingerprint data are stored,” Lucy told me.
“From the locks?” I looked around.
“From the scanners you see everywhere for physical access control and data security.”
“And is this sophisticated lock system an ERF invention?”
“We’re enhancing and troubleshooting it here. In fact, right now I’m in the middle of a research project pertaining to it. There’s a lot to do.” She bent over a monitor and adjusted the brightness of the screen.
“Eventually we’ll also be storing fingerprint data from out in the field when cops arrest somebody and use electronic scanning to capture live fingerprints,” she went on.
“The offender’s prints will go straight into CAIN, and if he’s committed other crimes from which latent prints were recovered and scanned into the system, we’ll get a hit in seconds.”
“I assume this will somehow be linked to automated fingerprint identification systems around the country.”
“Around the country and hopefully around the world. The point is to have all roads lead here.”
“Is Carrie also assigned to CAIN?” Lucy seemed taken aback.
“Yes.”
“So she’s one of the three people.”
“That’s right.” When Lucy offered nothing further, I explained, “She struck me as unusual.”
“I suppose you could say that about everybody here,” my niece answered.
“Where is she from?” I persisted, for I had taken an instant dislike to Carrie Grethen. I did not know why.
“Washington State.”
“Is she nice?” I asked.
“She’s very good at what she does.”
“That doesn’t quite answer my question.” I smiled.
“I try not to get into the personalities of this place. Why are you so curious?” Defensiveness crept into her tone.