Lisa Stone - Stalker

‘Thank you. Any other accounts?’ Matt asked.

‘Just a savings bond but he hasn’t made any deposits or withdrawals this year.’

‘That’s great. Thanks.’

‘Thanks, Sue,’ Beth added.

‘You’re welcome. Have a good day.’

Matt cut the call and glanced at Beth. ‘So that confirms where he was on Tuesday morning and answers your question about the laptop being bought at the same time. But where did he go after that?’

‘I saw an icon on his laptop marked “diary”,’ Beth said. ‘Long shot but have a look to see if he recorded anything in it. Given his obsession for record keeping it’s possible he might have started logging his movements again.’

Matt opened the laptop as Beth concentrated on driving. The Windows welcome tune sounded and the screen again filled with icons. ‘Top row, fourth from left,’ she said, glancing across.

‘Got it.’ He opened the file and read out: ‘“Bought a decent laptop, two hard drives and a phone this morning. Might send the bill to the police!” So he has got a sense of humour,’ Matt said.

‘Is that all there is?’

‘“Mother is staying with her sister for a few days, which will allow me to get on and work.” That’s it. The rest of the week is blank.’

‘Given how meticulous he was in keeping his diary on his last computer I think it’s reasonable to assume he intended to continue with it but something stopped him,’ Beth said. ‘What “work” do you think he’s referring to?’

‘His home security business, I suppose. Let’s see what else is on the laptop.’ Matt closed the diary folder and began studying the other icons. ‘He’s so precise, I mean how many people arrange their desktop icons in alphabetical order?’ He paused. ‘Now what have we here?’

Beth again glanced from the slow-moving traffic ahead to the laptop screen as Matt opened another folder. ‘Clients. Wow! I don’t believe it!’

‘Abbot, Andrews, Brown…’ Matt read. ‘They’re all his old clients.’

‘Perhaps they’ve remained loyal to him,’ Beth said. ‘After all, he hasn’t been charged with anything yet. He’s just helping the police with their enquiries.’

‘No, these aren’t their accounts. These are live streams coming from their CCTV. He’s up to his old tricks again!’

Beth braked as a car in front suddenly stopped.

‘Are you sure? I telephoned them all and told them to change their passwords. Did none of them do it?’

Matt was silent for a moment as he opened and closed a few of the files. ‘Couldn’t have done. These are all live streams. Here’s the one for The Mermaid Massage Parlour!’

‘You don’t need to check that,’ Beth said with a laugh. ‘Betty was the only one of his clients who gave permission to be viewed.’

‘Spoilsport.’

‘Have a look in the properties of some of the files to see when they were created. We’ll have digital forensics go over it properly but it might help to know what he was up to before we interview Paul.’

Matt fell silent again as he concentrated on checking the properties of the clients’ files he selected at random. ‘From a quick look it seems they were created from Tuesday afternoon through to the early hours of Wednesday morning. I haven’t seen any before two pm on Tuesday or after four am on Wednesday morning. He appears to have worked through the night so whatever he was up to was urgent.’

‘Can you phone a few of the clients who have live streams and ask them if they changed their password? He seems to be using the same filing system so their contact details will be on a spreadsheet in their files.’

‘He’s nothing if not predictable,’ Matt said, and opened the first file.

Beth concentrated on the road ahead. The traffic was clearing now and moving faster so they should be at Paul’s in about ten minutes.

‘I may as well keep to his order so the Abbots first,’ Matt said. He pressed the speaker button on the car phone and entered the Abbot’s home phone number. The call went through to their answerphone, but he didn’t leave a message.

‘Andrews next,’ he said closing one file and opening the next. ‘Preferred contact is Mr Andrews’ mobile.’ He keyed in the number.

‘Clive Andrews speaking.’

‘Good afternoon, Mr Andrews. DC Matt Davis here from Coleshaw police station. It’s a routine call. My colleague Beth Mayes contacted you a few weeks ago in respect of your CCTV, and advised you to change your password. Did you do so?’

‘Yes. Why? Is there a problem?’

‘No, it’s just part of our ongoing “keeping people safe online” campaign. Did you inform Home Security of your change of password?’

‘No. Of course not. We changed our security company too after what we saw about him on the television and in the press.’

‘Thank you for your time.’

Matt said goodbye and ended the call. ‘Well, that’s interesting. Let’s try the next.’

The result was the same, password and company changed, Home Security not informed, but nevertheless Derek had managed to log in to their cameras. The third had stayed with Home Security, presumably unaware of the story in the press, but had changed the password and not informed Derek Flint. All very puzzling.

Beth pulled into the road where Paul lived and parked out of sight of his house.

‘So how the hell has he been getting into their accounts?’ Matt asked.

‘Try phoning one of the clients who doesn’t have a live stream and see if there’s a difference. Then we’ll collect Paul.’

She watched as Matt opened the relevant spreadsheet and keyed in the number. The call went through to voicemail. ‘I’ll try another one, there’s only four without live streams. They live in Southfields; nice area, must have some money.’ The call connected after a few rings.

‘Mrs Rudd?’ Matt asked.

‘Yes. Speaking.’

‘Sorry to trouble you, it’s DC Matt Davis here from Coleshaw police station. A routine call. My colleague Beth Mayes contacted you a few weeks ago in respect of your CCTV and advised you to change your password. Did you do so?’

‘Oh yes, straightaway with a high-strength password. My husband’s company’s website was hacked a few months ago and lots of employee details were stolen. As soon as your colleague phoned we changed it. We also changed the password on our router at the same time, and when the news broke about Home Security we changed company.’

‘Thank you. That’s most helpful. I assume you haven’t told anyone your new passwords?’

‘No, and neither would we. Can I ask why you want to know?’

‘It’s just part of our ongoing campaign to keep people safe online.’

‘That’s very reassuring. There is so much online fraud now with websites being hacked. You can’t trust anyone. It’s good to know the police are running these campaigns and advising people.’

‘Thank you, Mrs Rudd.’ Matt cut the call and turned to Beth. ‘Do you think that could be it? That their password strength is high enough to keep Flint out, and they changed the password on their router too?’

‘It’s certainly possible,’ Beth said. ‘Most people leave their default password in place, especially on their router. But that would mean Flint has changed his tactics and widened his field and is now hacking into websites rather than learning the passwords from his clients. Let’s see what Paul has to say for himself. Best hide the laptop and phone. We’d look right fools if we came back to find the car window smashed and them gone.’

Matt leant behind and secreted the laptop, phone and portable hard drives under his jacket on the rear seat, then opened his car door and got out. Beth joined him on the pavement.