Page 31 of The Truth Will Out
“Sorry for being a novice at all of this, but that seemed too easy, or did you just make it seem that way?” Sam asked.
Mick smiled. “I could tell you it was my expertise, but I’d be lying. It was easy to do—not encrypted, which makes a change.”
Sam glanced at Bob. “You know what this means?”
He shrugged.
“Someone wanted us to find it.”
“Claire or us?”
“You tell me. Maybe they tempted Claire there to pick up the USB stick and then thought better of it, deciding it was best to kill her.”
“Again, that doesn’t make sense. Why leave the evidence behind?”
“I don’t know. It’s up to us to find out. What information is on the file?”
“I’m going to have to leave that to you to sort through. I’ve got your email address; I’ll send it to you now. Sorry, I’ve got work coming out of my ears. Although Des gave me the go-ahead to help you on this, I know what will happen if I don’t have the other work ready for him that he’s already requested for the day.”
“Don’t worry. It’s early for us; we can go over it back at the station before the rest of the team arrive. We truly appreciate your assistance today, and thank you for squeezing us in.”
“Thanks. There you go, all sent and out there in the ethernet, winging its way to you.”
“Great. Thanks again. We’ll get out of your hair now. Can I leave you to deal with the stick?”
“Consider it done.” Mick ejected it from the machine and returned it to the plastic evidence bag.
Back at the station,Sam raced ahead of Bob. He’d got caught up in traffic a few streets away. She switched on the lights and went through to her office to boot up her computer. She found the file sitting in her inbox.
“I hope you haven’t opened it yet,” Bob said from the doorway. “I thought we were going to go through it together?”
“We are, and no, I haven’t opened it. I was checking it had arrived. Sort out the coffee, and I’ll take a quick look at the post.”
“Deal. Don’t be tempted to open that file,” he warned over his shoulder.
“Trust me. I’m your senior officer. Sometimes I think you forget that.”
He laughed. “I don’t. Because you won’t let me.”
Sam chuckled. That was true. She opened the five letters she’d received, sorted them into order of urgency and promptly returned them to her in-tray. “Perfect timing, thanks.”
Bob placed a mug in front of her. “Do you want me to move my chair?”
“No, it’ll be easier if I rotate the screen so both of us can see it.” She took a sip from her mug and let out a satisfied moan. “That tastes divine. I barely touched the one Rhys made me this morning.”
Bob raised an eyebrow. “Bit over the top; it’s a cheap make and tastes nasty at the best of times. But each to their own.”
Sam swivelled the screen. “Can you see it properly?”
“Yep, sort of.”
They both sat on the edge of their seats as Sam opened the file markedPendle. It was like entering an intriguing maze. Inside was a series of documents, patient reports and incident logs, all linked to Pendle House, a long-forgotten children’s home that, during its time, had a dark reputation. Sam cast her mind back. She could vaguely remember the place. It had been closed for more than a decade, after a scandal had emerged involving missing files that hinted at abuse claims.
“Shit. I remember the scandal surrounding this place. Do you?”
“I think so. We need to find out what Claire was working on before she left yesterday.”
They exited the room, taking their coffees with them, the file still open on Sam’s computer. It was going to take the team a few days to go through what they’d discovered.
