UNDERCOVER - Dark Fire Data (Book 3)

Part 21 - Police Detective Scott McLean

I woke up the next morning, stumbled to the bathroom and looked out of the window at a magical scene. The houses, trees and bushes, coated with hoarfrost and scintillating with a billion tiny facets of light, faded into a ghostly white fog. Nobody was doing anything about the weather . . . again. Sun spot activity was way down (indicating the start of the cyclical little ice age) and some looney's were try to prevent us feeding plant life with carbon dioxide in an attempt to stop the climate warming up. 

 I was about to crawl back into bed and hibernate when Pacman growled and the front door bell rang.  I could hear Grandma snoring so I assumed I was the only person in the house awake and answered the door.  A big, shifty looking man, wearing a dirty green parka and work boots, was waiting on the porch holding a desk top computer under his arm.

 'Hi, you must be Ziff . . . I'm Scott McLean, Ottawa Police Service.' He looked down at Pacman who was sniffing at his boots. 'I was in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd return Eric Bragg's computer . . . He's not going to pee on my boots is he?'

'Sure,' I said. 'Come on in. Don't mind Pacman, he loves smelly boots.' Scott kicked off his boots, followed me upstairs to Mr Bragg's tiny office and replaced the computer alongside the monitor.

 'I can smell coffee,' he sighed as he reconnected the cables. 'I would love a cup right now.'

 'Emma must be up. You'll have to ask her.' 

 'Emma?' he asked. 'I thought Eric Bragg lived alone.'

 'Emma can explain.' I took him to the kitchen. 'Emma, this is Scott,' I explained. 'He is with the Ottawa Police Service and he is wondering if you live here.' 

 'Pleased to meet you, Scott,' she said. 'Beryl and I are friends of Eric Bragg. We are looking after his apartment while he is away. Would you like a coffee? I just made a pot. Some cookies?'

 'Emma you are a delight.' He grinned. 'I'd love some.' He unzipped his parka and sat down at the kitchen table. 'Emma, I assume you know Eric Bragg's been reported missing. I don't suppose you know where he is.'

 'No. He didn't tell us where he was going,' Emma replied. She was looking at Pacman who was wagging his tiny tail hopefully. She teased him with one of his favourite sausages before placing it on the floor. Pacman's tail and jaws went into overdrive. 

 'Two spoons of sugar, please Emma,' said. 'Thanks.' He dunked the cookies rapidly one after the other into his coffee and just managed to get them into his mouth before they fell apart. 

 'I met Rico when I picked up Eric Bragg's computer,' Scott said to me when he was able to speak. 'He told me you used it.' 

 'Uh-huh,' I replied reluctantly. 'He let me use it for home work.'

 'That's surprising. I get the impression he was a bit of a recluse; not very sociable. How did you find him?'

I thought quickly. I had only briefly met Mr Bragg when Grandma and I had moved into one of the downstairs apartments a few months earlier. 'He was a little odd but okay when you got to know him.' 

 He sipped his coffee and looked at Emma hopefully. 'These cookies are superb, Emma, I don't suppose you could spare a few more?' I jumped up and put two more on a plate. There was no way I was going to trust a cop with Emma's entire batch of home made cookies.

'Ziff, who is this character, Murga?' he asked suddenly.

Oops, I thought again. 'I don't really know.'

'Do you know much about computers?'

'Some.'

'Did you know there are no deleted files on the hard drive?'

 'Huh?' I looked blank. 'Normally, when you delete a file, it remains on the hard drive until it is overwritten but we found that, except for the emails, the entire disk was filled by one, highly compressed, file encrypted in a way our computer experts have never seen before. They couldn't read it or delete it without a reformat.

I tried hard to keep my expression blank. 'Er, no. I can't explain,' I mumbled. Which was true.

 He sipped his coffee.   'We have a witness who claims he saw Eric Bragg near Silverwood School on Halloween just before he disappeared. He also saw you there about the same time, with two other kids. Did you see Eric Bragg at that time?'

I frowned as if I were trying hard to remember and shook my head ambiguously. Scott was never going to believe what I had seen on the Titanic. 

 'Okay, Ziff,' he said. 'but I would like you to do me a favour.   If you see any more emails from Murga or if you hear anything about Eric Bragg, let me know. Your can reach me at this number.'

 He handed me a business card, finished his coffee and wished Emma and me a Happy New Year as he left. Phew, that was close I thought as I led him to the porch and watched him drive away. His car left tire marks in the fresh snow.