Criminal Case: Grimsborough

Chapter 44: The Scent of Death-Part 2

While Jones, Paul and Marie were discussing how much they already know from Hank Buxton's murder thanks to the results from the autopsy, Alex ran over to Marie in a panic and exclaimed that someone hacked into their victim's Friendnet account and they started to delete all of the victim's messages. Shocked by what she was hearing, Mari exclaimed, "But that's impossible Alex! I thought you said Hank's Friendnet profile was only accessible via his tablet?!"

Alex then started to sweat nervously and he said, "That's what I thought too. I mean, it should be impossible cause Friendnet's security is supposed to be rock solid. But now, I just don't understand!"

Jones placed a kind hand on Alex's shoulder and said to him, "Calm down Alex! It'll be all right. Now, is there anything you can tell us that'll help us find this hacker?"

Alex took a deep soothing breath and then after he calmed down, he told the three of them he did and he explained, "I've identified the IP address from where the account was being accessed. And I found out that it's coming from the Grimsborough Country Club!"

After they got the info from Alex, Jones, Paul and Marie headed towards the country club to find the hacker before it's too late. As soon as they got there, Marie immediately found a laptop that was unattended and she knew instantly that this top of the range model is the kind a super hacker would use to crack into the victim's Friendnet account. However, the password system was a little bit different than the other passwords Marie cracked into in the past. Jones also saw it and he wondered in confusion how Marie would crack this one.

Just then, Marie also found a gardening bag and Jones thought, I know she likes to garden, but that age is so not her style. Marie told Jones that she found it in the corner of the club's lobby and Jones thought that it sounded kind of weird. Before Marie could look at the laptop, she dug through the gardening bag and found a trowel deep inside it. After having one look at it, Paul and Jones weren't the least bit surprised. Marie looked at their faces and she said to them, "I know what you guys are thinking, but I think this is the same trowel that was used by the killer to bury Hank!" And the two men looked at the tool again and agreed to Marie's theory.

Before she could take a sample, Marie thought she would try and crack the password on the laptop and after a close inspection of it, she noticed that it was a jigsaw puzzle password. After she put the pieces together, the password was solved and the home screen came up on it. Looking closely at it again, the three of them saw that it was open on Hank's profile and they soon came to realize that they found their hacker. Suddenly, a voice behind them said in a scolding voice, "What do you think you're doing?! Get your hands off of my computer! Are you lit even members here!"

With one look, Jones realized who the man was and he said, "I know you! You're Zack Holden! The owner of Friendnet!"

Zack then crossed his arms and asked, "Yeah, and what of it?"

Marie and Jones showed him their badges and she said, "We're police officers and we noticed you were deleting a user's account messages."

Zack rolled his eyes with a scoff and said, "Whatever officers, but whatever I do on my own network is my own business, got that?!"

Jones then creased his eyebrows and said in a scolding voice, "Well Mr. Holden, it just so happens that you're actually modifying an account that's crucial evidence to a murder investigation! In other words sir, you're tampering with potential evidence!"

Shocked by what he was hearing, Zack countered by saying, "What are you talking about man?! I'm just deleting a suspicious profile from the system that's all! It was reported as a sexually explicit account!"

Marie then confronted the man and said in a stern voice, "That account belonged to Hank Buxton, the Love Your Leaks tycoon who was killed on top of his company's headquarters roof Mr. Holden!"