Brittle Shadows Read Online Free Page B

hearing about an online login recovery service a while back. Now all
she had to do was find it.
    Success. She
scanned the site, her initial triumph dampened when she realized that if she
wanted an immediate response, she would have to pay for it. That or wait 48
hours.
    Sighing, she
leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling. How desperate was she to
access Tanya’s computer files? What difference would another two days make? Or
rather, why pay for something she didn’t have to? Especially considering she
couldn’t be sure where her next income would be coming from. Though technically
still employed, she knew the generous compassionate leave allowed her couldn’t
last forever. Besides, if she decided to stay on in Melbourne, she would have
to resign her Perth job.
    Not bothering
to untangle their lanyards, she grabbed the two memory sticks from the desk,
one of which she plugged into the spare USB port at the back of her laptop.
Except for the small security application that came with it, the 2GB drive was
clean. She swapped it with the other stick. Any data, if it ever existed, had
been erased from that, too.
    Following the
online instructions, she downloaded the program from the site onto the memory
stick, before using it to boot Tanya’s notebook and extract the encrypted
passwords. She then plugged it back into her laptop and uploaded the file to
the website for decryption, nominating the free service. With nothing else to
do but wait, she opened her email Inbox.
    Receiving 1
of 18…
    She gulped down
the rest of her cold coffee, spluttering on the dregs at the bottom as she read
the arriving emails’ subject lines and sender names. Three diverted straight to
her Spam folder; no doubt someone trying to sell her Viagra or a penis enlarger
or something else equally appealing. She skipped over the IT newsletters and
the jokes, not in the mood to read either. That left one from Gail Lyndon, the
aunt who had raised the orphaned Jemma from a bratty 8-year-old through to
adulthood, and… she counted them: six from Ross, two of which were time-stamped
after her parting ‘have a good life’ retort the day before.
    She groaned. If
nothing else, he was persistent. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to open his
emails. Nor could she delete them. Instead, she shunted them unread into
another folder. Out of sight, out of mind.
    Next, she
double-clicked the header-line of her aunt’s email, opening the message to full
screen. She skimmed over the first paragraph, feeling bad for not having
returned Gail’s phone messages. Jemma might be a grown woman, but that didn’t
stop her aunt from worrying about her every minute of the day. Still, with
everything that had happened, she should have at least let Gail know she had
arrived safely. She glanced at the bottom right of her screen: 6:26 AM .
Too early to call, even without the time difference.
    The next
paragraph brought her up short, her heart skipping a beat. An envelope from the
State Coroner's Office of Victoria had arrived for her. Gail was asking what
she wanted done with it. Jemma felt cold then hot. What did she have to fear?
After all, she was the one who had requested a copy of her sister’s autopsy
report.
    She needed air.
Abandoning her laptop, she walked back through the apartment and outside onto
the balcony. It was just starting to get light, the breeze still pleasantly
cool. Looking down from the steel railing, she spotted a man in uniform
patrolling the cobbled thoroughfare below.
    She watched him
for a few moments, wondering if it was the same security guard who had claimed
the surveillance tapes showed no one entering or leaving the building around
the time of her intruder. Grieving or not, she knew she hadn’t imagined it. As
if sensing her gaze, the man looked up. She shrank back.

CHAPTER
4
     
    “Hello again,” said a cultured male
voice from behind her.
    Jemma turned
her head, coming face to face with the suited, dark-haired man from