Phillip Margolin - The Associate

“If the study exists, and Kaidanov wrote up his results, it may be on here.” Kate laughed. “You stole Kaidanov’s hard drive?” “I didn’t steal it. I was trying to protect Geller. Isn’t that why you were there, to protect Geller’s property?” Kate hesitated and Daniel remembered something about her. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you the investigator who got into the hard drive in that wrongful termination case when we needed to recover E-mail that an employee erased?” Kate smiled ever so slightly. “Could you look at this? I tried at Kaidanov’s house, but you need a password to log on.” “Why should I?”

“I told you before that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon like Joe Molinari. Well, the truth is that I wasn’t born with any kind of spoon. This job is all I’ve got. Briggs will need a scapegoat if Kaidanov’s letter sinks the Insufort case, and I’m it. I know there’s something wrong with Kaidanov’s study. If I can prove it I can save the case, and I might save my job.” “What if the study is the real thing?” Daniel sighed and shook his head. “Then I’m toast.” Kate made a decision. She held out her hand. “Give me that,” she said, flicking her fingers toward the hard drive. “We’ll take it to my house and see what we can see.”

Daniel followed Kate Ross into the West Hills along winding roads.

At first, the streets were lined with houses, then forest began to predominate and the houses appeared farther apart. Kate lived at the end of a cul-de-sac separated from her neighbors on either side by a quarter acre of woods. Her modern glass-and-steel ranch perched on a hill overlooking downtown Portland. Daniel followed Kate along a slate path through a small flower garden to the front door. A staircase next to the entryway led up to Kate’s bedroom. She walked past it and through a living-room and dining-room area. The outer wall was all glass. Daniel glanced quickly at her expensive-looking furnishings.

The abstract painting on the living-room wall was an original oil, and so was a smaller French country landscape. The chairs and sofa were covered in leather and the dining-room table was polished oak and looked antique. Kate walked down another staircase across from the kitchen to a workroom lit by fluorescent lights. Scattered around the basement room were several workbenches covered with monitors, wires, motherboards, and computer innards. A desk was affixed to one wall and ran its length. Over the desk was a bookshelf filled with computer manuals and books on computer science and other scientific subjects.

“Do you run a computer repair business in your spare time?” Daniel joked. “Something like that,” Kate replied as she removed Kaidanov’s hard drive from her jacket pocket. She tossed the jacket over a chair, brushed her hair back, and seated herself at the wall-length desk. In front of her was a removable hard-drive rack into which Kate inserted Kaidanov’s hard drive before snapping the rack into one of her computers. “How are you going to get around the password?” Daniel asked nervously. “No problem. I’ve written some software that has yet to meet a password it couldn’t break.” “Where did you learn to do that?” “Cal Tech.” Kate saw Daniel’s eyes widen. She laughed. “I was recruited into the computer crimes unit of the Portland Police Bureau out of college. It seemed a hell of a lot more exciting than sitting on my ass in some high-tech company. Now I do my own thing on the side. It pays well.” Kate turned back to the monitor and started tapping in commands on her keyboard. A minute later she smiled and shook her head. “It’s amazing. They all do this. I would have expected more from a scientist. His password’s six numbers-probably his birthday.” “You’re in?” She nodded. “First thing I’m gonna do is make a magnetic copy of this little devil, just in case something goes wrong.” Kate’s fingers flashed across the keyboard and lines of text began to appear on the screen. “This should be finished in a minute.”

“How come you quit the cops to go to work for Reed, Briggs?” Daniel asked to make conversation. “That’s none of your business, Ames,” Kate snapped before swiveling her chair so her back was to him. Daniel was so surprised by her outburst that he was speechless. “The copy is complete,” she said a minute later, all business now. “Let’s bring up Kaidanov’s files.” Kate tapped in some commands. “The stuff that’s still on here isn’t about Insufort. If Kaidanov did have files about his monkeys, they’ve probably been erased.” “Shit.” “Not to worry.

Unless special software was used, the files aren’t really deleted.

They’ll still be on the hard drive. I just happen to have written a voodoo program that will raise the dead,” Kate said as she tapped the keyboard. More text appeared on the screen. She stood up and waved Daniel in for a closer look. “There appears to be a big block of files that was erased on March fourth. Sit down at the keyboard and hit ‘page down’ until you find what you want and we’ll print it out.”

Daniel took Kate’s chair and stared at the monitor. “There’s a lot of stuff here.” “Give me some key words. I’ve got search software installed.” Daniel thought for a moment. “Try Insufort, rhesus monkeys, primates.” Kate leaned over his shoulder and tapped in some commands. Her hair brushed against his cheek. She smelled nice.

Suddenly the letter from Kaidanov to George Fournet appeared on the screen. “That’s it,” Daniel said excitedly, but his excitement diminished as he scrolled through the files that followed the letter.

When he stopped reading he looked grim. “What’s the matter?” Kate asked. “Remember I didn’t believe what I read in Kaidanov’s letter?”

Kate nodded. “Well, the deleted files are the supporting documents for Kaidanov’s study. I’ve just skimmed them, but they appear to confirm his conclusions about the frequency of birth defects in the monkeys that were given Insufort.” “So the results of the study are real?”

Daniel nodded. “Which means I’ve just made my situation worse.” “But you may have helped get Insufort off the market.” “At the cost of my job.” “Do you really want to help Geller if it’s marketing a product that destroys children’s lives.” Daniel didn’t answer. “Here’s something else to think about,” Kate said. “Who deleted Kaidanov’s files and trashed Kaidanov’s house? Who wouldn’t want Kaidanov’s research to be made public?” Daniel still didn’t answer. “Geller Pharmaceuticals fits that profile.” “I don’t know.” “Can you think of anyone else with a motive, Dan?” “No, you’re right. It has to be someone from Geller.” He remembered Patrick Cummings again. “This is bad.” “And it may be worse. Where do you think Kaidanov is?” “That’s a stretch, Kate. Geller’s people are businessmen, not killers.” Daniel protested without much conviction. “Wake up. We’re talking about billions of dollars in losses if Geller has to take Insufort off of the market. And don’t forget the lawsuit. How much do you think the plaintiffs will recover if Aaron Flynn proves that Geller intentionally marketed a dangerous product? After one successful lawsuit, every woman who’s ever had a problem with Insufort will line up at Flynn’s door and Geller will be swept away in a tidal wave of litigation.” Kate turned back to the computer and used the search program again while Daniel tried to figure out what he would do next.

“Yes!” Kate exclaimed a moment later as she pointed at the screen.

“Monkeys have to eat. That’s an order for a crate of Purina monkey chow and there’s an address. That must be the location of the lab.”