Deadline by James Anderson

office on the next floor.”
    When Katie and the three police
officers entered the library, they found a large room stacked
almost to the ceiling with books, journals and newspapers. There
were several monitors on tables in the room.
    Philpott was busy at his desk in his
small office. He came out into the larger room.
    “ Yes, May I help you? Miss
Cannon, what is going on here? Why are the police here?” Philpott
appeared startled and somewhat frightened by this entourage that
had entered his inner sanctum.
    Katie spoke in a soothing voice. “Now,
Thomas, take it easy. These gentlemen need to talk to you as part
of their investigation.”
    “ Investigation of what?
I’ve done nothing wrong.” Philpott nervously looked from Katie to
the police officers. He appeared to be trembling from
fright.
    “ Then you have nothing to
fear, sir,” said Moon. “We are investigating the Wolfman murders
and it appears he has sent some e-mail messages to Miss Cannon from
your computer. How do you explain that?”
    Philpott exhibited a horrified look on
his face. “Surely, that can’t be. There must be some
mistake.”
    “ I’m afraid not, Mr.
Philpott. Our techies have been working hard to trace these e-mails
and they definitely came from your computer. The latest one was
just sent early this morning.”
    “ Well, it certainly wasn’t
me,” said Philpott. “I haven’t sent any emails today to Miss
Cannon.”
    “ If you don’t mind, sir,
we need to take a look at your computer. Detective Brian Savage
here will just be a few moments.”
    Savage sat down in front of the
computer. He scanned Philpott’s outbox.
    After several minutes, Savage said:
“Yup. They are all here. The one sent this morning at 7:03 a.m. and
the six previous messages. All were sent early
mornings.”
    “ I don’t do early
mornings,” sniffed Philpott. “I’m usually not here until at least 9
a.m. and I generally leave about 6 p.m. It must have been somebody
else who used my computer. I certainly didn’t send any of those
messages.”
    “ Who else would have
access to your computer?” inquired Moon.
    “ Virtually anyone who
works at the paper. The library is open all night in case reporters
need to use the monitors to access files. I don’t usually lock my
office since there is little of value kept there. Anyone who works
here could have come in and used it. If I was going to do such a
thing, would I be stupid enough to use my own computer?”
    “ Many people aren’t aware
their e-mails can be traced. Anyway, you’d be surprised at some of
the dumb mistakes criminals often make. Thank God, they do because
it makes our job easier catching them.”
    Katie piped up. “Peter, he has a
point. We all have access to this area at any time of the
night.”
    “ But that still means the
Wolfman is an employee of this newspaper. Not just anyone can come
in off the street and use these facilities.”
    “ My God, I find it hard to
believe it is someone at the paper,” said Katie. “It’s rather a
scary thought.”
    Moon looked Philpott straight in the
eye. “I’m still afraid we have to ask you to accompany us to
headquarters for further inquiries, Mr. Philpott. We will also need
to check out your apartment and any home computer you
have.”
    Philpott had recovered from his
initial shock and nervousness. His attitude was now more defiant.
“This is an outrage and a gross invasion of my privacy. I hope you
have a warrant, detective.”
    “ Right here, sir. We come
prepared.” Moon reached into his inside jacket pocket and waved the
legal document before Philpott’s startled eyes.

Chapter 33
    Antonio’s Restaurant 1:30
PM
    LUIGI BROUGHT their food, but suddenly
Chase had lost his appetite.
    Ashley’s marriage proposal totally
knocked him for a loop. It came out of nowhere, just as she had.
Showing up like this after she abruptly ended their relationship
eight months ago.
    Does she think we can just pick up
where we left off? That everything