Surely if you just look at his mobile, you’ll be
able to confirm all this.”
Bullock was silent for a few seconds. “We could if we had it, but we don’t know
where it is. We know he had one, but it wasn’t in his room and it wasn’t on his
body.”
“That’s weird.”
“What time did he text you?”
“Err…about elevenish I think, hang on, let me find it, I think it’s still
there.”
Doug scrolled through his texts. “Yeah, here it is. I received it at 11:30.”
“And what did the text say exactly?”
“It says Check it out! DZ13 in drop.”
“And what does that mean?”
“It means he uploaded a file called DZ13 to a communal server and wanted me to
take a look at it. I tried to download it, but I think he must have deleted it
shortly after sending the text because the download stopped before I got it
all, and now it’s not there.”
“Was there anything about that text which struck you as strange, or was that
typical of the texts he would send you?”
Doug thought for a moment. “No, it’s fairly typical really.”
“So let me get this right. Mr. Gupta sent you a text at 11:30, inviting you to
download a file. Between then and 1pm, he deleted the file, lost his phone
somewhere, and jumped out of the window.”
Doug pondered this for a few seconds. “I suppose so… unless someone took the
phone before you arrived – it was an iPhone.”
“Very good, Mr. Richards! Ever considered a career in the Police?”
Doug laughed nervously.
“We’ll contact the onlookers again and ask if anyone saw a phone. I trust you
don’t remember seeing one yourself?”
Doug thought hard. “No, sorry. I’m afraid I was a bit sick and had to turn away
for a while. Besides, we weren’t the first ones there.”
“We, Mr Richards? I thought you said you were on your own that morning.”
Doug was about to mention Cindy, but something told him he shouldn’t. “No, I
mean people were coming from all over and moving in the direction of the noise.
I ended up walking alongside this girl who’d arrived from somewhere else, but
she disappeared shortly after we got there and I haven’t seen her since.” Doug
waited to hear if Bullock would buy it and at the same time wondered why on
earth he’d lied. He could hear the sound of a keyboard tapping in the
background, but Bullock was silent. He pictured that hairy face staring
questioningly into his eyes. Eventually the inspector spoke. “Okay, Mr.
Richards. You’ve been very helpful. If you remember anything else then let me
know.”
“Wait a minute!” What about Kal’s PC? Can I get my file or not?”
“Ah, I’m afraid that won’t be possible…”
“I just want to see if that file is there so that I can continue the work we
were doing. I can prove to you that we were working on this together. We
jointly wrote a paper …”
“No, you don’t understand, Mr. Richards. It’s not a question of permission. The
hard drive was wiped clean. A low level format according to our technicians.”
“No way! What about his external back up drive? It would have been in his room,
a box about…”
“That too. Wiped clean. For a man about to commit suicide, his behaviour
was…let’s say, atypical.”
“You can say that again!” murmured Doug racking his brain for some logical
explanation and failing.
“Can you think of any reason why Mr. Gupta would want to erase the information
on his hard drive, Mr. Richards? Were you aware, for example, of any compromising
photographs, or other material which might have caused upset to his loved
ones?”
“What, like porn you mean? There might have been the odd naked woman, but
nothing you wouldn’t find pinned to the wall of your local garage mechanic.
Certainly nothing sick. He wasn’t like that.”
“Okay. Well if that’ll be all Mr. Richards, I need to be getting back to work.”
“Yes, me too I suppose. Thanks anyway.”
Doug returned to the computing lab, but found he
could no longer concentrate. No matter how hard he
able to confirm all this.”
Bullock was silent for a few seconds. “We could if we had it, but we don’t know
where it is. We know he had one, but it wasn’t in his room and it wasn’t on his
body.”
“That’s weird.”
“What time did he text you?”
“Err…about elevenish I think, hang on, let me find it, I think it’s still
there.”
Doug scrolled through his texts. “Yeah, here it is. I received it at 11:30.”
“And what did the text say exactly?”
“It says Check it out! DZ13 in drop.”
“And what does that mean?”
“It means he uploaded a file called DZ13 to a communal server and wanted me to
take a look at it. I tried to download it, but I think he must have deleted it
shortly after sending the text because the download stopped before I got it
all, and now it’s not there.”
“Was there anything about that text which struck you as strange, or was that
typical of the texts he would send you?”
Doug thought for a moment. “No, it’s fairly typical really.”
“So let me get this right. Mr. Gupta sent you a text at 11:30, inviting you to
download a file. Between then and 1pm, he deleted the file, lost his phone
somewhere, and jumped out of the window.”
Doug pondered this for a few seconds. “I suppose so… unless someone took the
phone before you arrived – it was an iPhone.”
“Very good, Mr. Richards! Ever considered a career in the Police?”
Doug laughed nervously.
“We’ll contact the onlookers again and ask if anyone saw a phone. I trust you
don’t remember seeing one yourself?”
Doug thought hard. “No, sorry. I’m afraid I was a bit sick and had to turn away
for a while. Besides, we weren’t the first ones there.”
“We, Mr Richards? I thought you said you were on your own that morning.”
Doug was about to mention Cindy, but something told him he shouldn’t. “No, I
mean people were coming from all over and moving in the direction of the noise.
I ended up walking alongside this girl who’d arrived from somewhere else, but
she disappeared shortly after we got there and I haven’t seen her since.” Doug
waited to hear if Bullock would buy it and at the same time wondered why on
earth he’d lied. He could hear the sound of a keyboard tapping in the
background, but Bullock was silent. He pictured that hairy face staring
questioningly into his eyes. Eventually the inspector spoke. “Okay, Mr.
Richards. You’ve been very helpful. If you remember anything else then let me
know.”
“Wait a minute!” What about Kal’s PC? Can I get my file or not?”
“Ah, I’m afraid that won’t be possible…”
“I just want to see if that file is there so that I can continue the work we
were doing. I can prove to you that we were working on this together. We
jointly wrote a paper …”
“No, you don’t understand, Mr. Richards. It’s not a question of permission. The
hard drive was wiped clean. A low level format according to our technicians.”
“No way! What about his external back up drive? It would have been in his room,
a box about…”
“That too. Wiped clean. For a man about to commit suicide, his behaviour
was…let’s say, atypical.”
“You can say that again!” murmured Doug racking his brain for some logical
explanation and failing.
“Can you think of any reason why Mr. Gupta would want to erase the information
on his hard drive, Mr. Richards? Were you aware, for example, of any compromising
photographs, or other material which might have caused upset to his loved
ones?”
“What, like porn you mean? There might have been the odd naked woman, but
nothing you wouldn’t find pinned to the wall of your local garage mechanic.
Certainly nothing sick. He wasn’t like that.”
“Okay. Well if that’ll be all Mr. Richards, I need to be getting back to work.”
“Yes, me too I suppose. Thanks anyway.”
Doug returned to the computing lab, but found he
could no longer concentrate. No matter how hard he
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