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."
Kate walked over to another computer. "I can get directions and a map on the Internet."
While she worked Daniel took a closer look at Kaidanov's study. The more he looked the more depressed he felt. Five minutes later Kate showed Daniel a map with directions to the lab from her town house.
"I dug up something else," Kate said. "After I got the map I found the assessment and taxation information on the property. The land is owned by Geller Pharmaceuticals."
Chapter Ten.
Twenty minutes later Daniel was driving in the country on a narrow road with Kate beside him. The sun was setting and they had been quiet since leaving the highway. Kate was staring ahead and Daniel chanced an occasional glance at the investigator. Daniel had consulted with Kate at work a few times and she'd impressed him with her intelligence, but he had not been attracted to her. Now he noticed that she was good-looking in a rugged sort of way. Not model beautiful like Susan Webster, but interesting to look at. And she was certainly intriguing. He didn't know any other woman who wrote voodoo software programs and had been a cop.
"This is it," Kate said.
Daniel turned onto a logging road ignoring a "No Trespassing" sign. The shock absorbers on his secondhand Ford were not in the best of shape and Kate swore a lot after they left the pavement. She was registering another complaint when the road curved and a one-story building appeared. Just as they got out of the car the wind shifted and a strange odor made Kate's nostrils flare.
"What's that smell?" Daniel asked.
"It's a little like barbecue," Kate answered.
Pieces of glass covered the ground under a window that had blown out and the front door was charred and had buckled. Daniel peeked through the window cautiously, then jerked his head back. His face was drained of color.