Why Not Murder

45. Redone

45. Redone

While the reading of Winnie's story and the discussion afterward were happening, Dog was working on the Laymuir residence computer system. Dog had worked on the computer system at the architectural office when Hudson was alive, but not on the residence's system until now. It was a hodgepodge of networking set up by Hudson who didn't have much technical skill. Cook's computer was not part of the network and neither was Winnie's personal. Winnie instructed Dog to link all four of the computers at the residence into one network, her own, Harriet's, Cooks and Hudson's home computer.

Dog had gone by the name of Doug James when he worked at the architectural office. Angry Dog Computer Systems was the name of his company. He used the name Doug with the members of the Laymuir residence as well. Maya only called him Dog when they were alone together, otherwise she called him Doug too.

Dog explained to Winnie that there was need for a computer server room and suggested he set it up in the room in the basement where obsolete computer equipment was piling up. Winnie agreed and gave him free rein to set up the household system as he thought fit. She found computers boring and frustrating so she was not interested in knowing the details of what he was doing. If he needed to talk to someone about the computers, he was to speak to Harriet. There was already a large enough table and chairs in the basement to use for the computer room. He completed the work to create the network and fixed various glitches in Harriet's computer. Now all the household computers' memory were linked, except for the computer in the basement which was for his use only. He set up another hidden parasite internet camouflaged on the underbelly of the official web which he could access from the residence server or from his system at the cabin.

Maya had told Dog about the insurance claim that was signed by Hudson and dated the day after his death. Dog hacked into the insurance company to find out what they had on record regarding the claim for Hudson's mother's jewelry. According to their records, the claim application had not been received, although they had received a telephone call from the claimant's wife in her capacity as executor of Mr. Laymuir's will to inform them of the mistaken date on the application. On the insurance company records, it was diarized for follow up upon receipt of the application. Police were investigating the theft of Hudson's mother's jewelry as well as the other thefts that occurred at the Laymuir residence all the same night during a party and any insurance payout depended on the results of the police investigation.

Dog then hacked into police records to find out the status of the investigations regarding the jewelry and also of the guests at the party. All the interviews conducted of the guests who had been robbed were on file, not regarding Hudson's mother's jewelry because it wasn't known at the time that it had been robbed. The interviews of the household, including Mrs. Laymuir, were on record. There was a flash power out at the residence during the party and the security cameras may have been turned off by Mr. Laymuir for reasons of privacy. Follow up to confirm this was to be scheduled by the police with the security company.

Subsequently Dog hacked into the security company records and learned that the company was experiencing serious breaches of protocol for a period of ten days, including the night of the party, not only regarding Hudson's account but all the company's accounts. For that period of ten days and nights there were no video recordings at all. The company's entire system had completely crashed. Dog located the computerized minutes of the security company executive meetings where this issue was on the agenda. No one had the slightest idea of the cause or what to do about the situation. The system had been diagnosed, rebooted and fixes applied numerous times. Anyone remotely responsible was fired immediately. New experts were brought in. Service regained of surveillance monitoring was sporadic at best. One of the main clients of the security company was XX Fuel. Everyone who worked for the security company had signed nondisclosure agreements upon hiring. Further nondisclosure agreements were signed. This had all been brought to light, when one night the employees watching the surveillance monitors reported intermittent static and then blank screens. Remedy action was immediately taken, but nothing was fixed.