Free Final Account by Peter Robinson Page B

said, “Right, Phil, tell us what you found.”
    They huddled close around the table. Richmond took a sip of his St Clements. “There are several items that have been either encrypted or assigned passwords,” he said. “Some are complete directories, and one’s just a document file in a directory. He’s called it ‘LETTER.’”
    â€œCan you get access?” Gristhorpe asked.
    â€œNot easily, no, sir. Not unless you type the password at the prompt. Believe me, I’ve tried every trick and all I’ve got for my pains is gibberish.”
    â€œAll right.” Gristhorpe coughed and waved away Banks’s smoke with an exaggerated gesture. “Let’s assume he had some special reason for keeping these items secret. That means we’re definitely interested. You said you couldn’t gain access easily, but is there a way?”
    Richmond cleared his throat. “Well, yes there is. Actually, there are two ways.”
    â€œCome on, then, lad. Don’t keep us in suspense.”
    â€œWe could bring in an expert. I mean a real expert, like someone who writes the programmes.”
    â€œAye, and the other option?”
    â€œWell, it’s not much known, for obvious reasons, but I went to a seminar once and the lecturer told me something that struck me as very odd.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWell, there’s a company that sells by-pass programmes for various software security systems.”
    â€œThat would probably be cheaper and quicker, wouldn’t it?” said Gristhorpe. “Can you get hold of a copy?”
    â€œYes, sir. But it’s not cheap. Actually, it’s quite expensive.” “How much?”
    â€œAbout two hundred quid.”
    Gristhorpe whistled between his teeth, then he said, “We don’t have a lot of choice, do we? Go ahead, order one.”
    â€œI already have done, sir.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œThey’re based in Akron, Ohio, but they told me there’s a distributor in Taunton, Devon, who has some in stock. It could take a while to get it up here.”
    â€œTell the buggers to send it by courier, then. We might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Lord knows what the DCC will have to say come accounting time.”
    â€œMaybe if it helps us solve the case,” Banks chipped in, “he’ll increase our budget.”
    Gristhorpe laughed. “In a pig’s arse, he will. Go on, Phil.”
    â€œThat’s all, really,” said Richmond. “In the meantime, I’ll keep trying and see what I can do. People sometimes write their pass-words down in case they forget them. If Rothwell did, the only problem is finding out where and in what form.”
    â€œInteresting,” Banks said. “I’ve got one of those plastic cards, the ones you use to get money at the hole in the wall. I keep the number written in my address book disguised as part of a telephone number in case I forget it.”
    â€œExactly,” said Richmond.
    â€œShort of trying every name and number in Rothwell’s address book,” Gristhorpe said, “is there any quick way of doing this?”
    â€œI don’t think so, sir,” Richmond said. “But often the password is a name the user has strong affinities with.”
    â€œâ€˜Rosebud’?” Banks suggested.
    â€œRight,” said Richmond. “That sort of thing. Maybe something from his childhood.”
    â€œâ€˜Woodbines,’” said Banks. “Sorry, Phil, just thinking out loud.”
    â€œBut it could be anything. The name of a family member, for example. Or a random arrangement of letters, spaces, numbers and punctuation marks. It doesn’t have to make any sense at all.”
    â€œBloody hell.” Gristhorpe ran his hand through his unruly thatch of grey hair.
    â€œAll I can say is leave it with me, sir. I’ll do what I can. And I’ll ask the software distributor to put a