IC - 13 - Social Services - Kris

[Mephistophilis]

'Okay mate, I can roll the council emails back twenty four hours, one week, one month, or one year. What'cha want me to do?' he asks.

[Philulhu]

”Excellent, thanks,” said Kris. “Can we roll it back to yesterday morning to start with?”

[Mephistophilis]

'Nah, servers are backed up overnight so it'll be last night. Give me a few minutes...' After a good half an hour he rings back to say he's done it.

Kris looks back through Lindsay's work emails again, there seems to be no difference to the last time. No emails from Lewiston except for the one three years ago, no emails about the Balfour case.

[Philulhu]

Kris tapped the keyboard in frustration then tried searching for Zac Newman, Lewiston’s alias.

OOC,If that doesn’t produce any results, then Kris will ask for the email to be rolled back a week.

[Mephistophilis]

There is no mention of Zac Newman. Kris asks for it to be rolled back a week and after ten minutes he finds that apart from a few emails moving from the inbox to the deleted box there is nothing else to be found.

[Philulhu]

Kris spoke to the tech once more and asked him to roll back the email account to a month ago.

While he waited, he opened the drawers in Lindsay’s desk, looking for further clues.

OOC,Spot Hidden (40%) - [dice]0[/dice] Edit: Damn... :(

[Mephistophilis]

Lindsay's drawers at work are unremarkable, just pens and other stationary. Remarkably little personal effects. In the bottom drawer of her desk Kris finds a small hardback book with a red cover - the New International Version of the Bible. Looking inside the front page he sees a handwritten dedication, 'To Lindsay on your confirmation, love Auntie Joan'. There is a ribbon bookmark and when Kris opens to the page it is marking he sees it is Exodus 11-12.

After another ten minutes and a lot of huffing and puffing Kris is able to access the month old email records. Again he finds nothing out of the ordinary. And no sign anything has been deleted.

[Philulhu]

Kris read through Exodus, raising an eyebrow at the mention of a plague and marking the houses with blood. He thought back to the sheep he had run into in the early hours and gave an involuntary shudder.

Putting the bible down, he quickly checked online for Google’s customer services number and picked up his mobile phone again. He dialled and when the call was answered, said “This is Detective Constable Sapru from Thames Valley Criminal Investigation Department.” He gave his warrant card number and continued. “We’re investigating an abduction of a young girl who, in all likelihood, will die in the next 24 hours if we don’t find her. I have the gmail account of the suspect but there are no emails in the account except some blank drafts. I suspect that the drafts were used to send messages but the contents were then deleted once they were read. Can you dial it back so I can see what the emails contained?”

[Mephistophilis]

The man from Google puts Kris through to his boss. 'Look, you're gonna need a court order for this stuff but I can save you the bother, we have deleted emails for up to sixty days before they're gone from the backups' she says.

'But that doesn't apply to drafts, when they're gone they're gone. We do keep records of IP addresses for eighteen months but, like I said, you'd need a warrant or court order for that.'

OOC,Feel free to roll something appropriate and give some relevant dialogue to see if she'll help you

[Philulhu]

Kris typed away at the keyboard while he listened to the reasons why it was going to take so long. He found what he was looking for - the latest report on the case by Julie Thomas on the GNS website.

”Do me a favour,” he said to the Google manager. “Take a look at the GNS website. Their lead story concerns a young girl called Regina Balfour. She’s a pretty kid and I bet she’s tired and scared and if she doesn’t get her meds soon, there’s a good chance she’ll die.”

”Now, I have no doubt I can get a warrant. Our legal team could get that by the end of the day, but that’s a few more hours when that little girl’s life is in danger. So, please give me a head start and let me have the IP addresses so we can find where she’s gone before it’s too late.”

OOC,I’ll try a Persuade roll (55%) - [dice]0[/dice] Edit: Bollocks... :(

[Mephistophilis]

OOC,At least it isn't a fumble with 55% base. Wanna push it? Might alienate her though, get her to drag out responding to a warrant. If you do roll a relevant skill for how you want to push it and post some dialogue - I'll give you a bonus die for the heart-string plucking.

Kris reads the latest story by Julie Thomas filed on the GNS website. It begins: 'Abducted schoolgirl Regina Balfour remains missing seventeen hours after she was abducted from a shopping centre in High Wycombe. The first kidnapper George Lewiston, killed himself in the centre while his accomplice escaped from the scene. Thames Valley Police have made no progress to date in rescuing Regina or bringing the perpetrators to justice. Regina's father, the Reverend John Balfour of the Church of the Passover Angel has given interview with GNS where he asks, why are the police not doing more, and is there a racial angle to this crime and the incompetent response by detectives?'

[Mephistophilis]

Kris's phone rings, he looks down at the number, it's Jocelyn.

OOC,If you want to answer after you've dealt with the Google woman you can go over to this thread temporarily to speak to Jocelyn and Simon: [url]https://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/pbp/viewtopic.php?f=469&t=7224&start=20#p242249[/url]

[Philulhu]

Kris slid his thumb across the screen to send an automated message to Jocelyn saying that he would ring her back, and continued his conversation with the Google manager. ”Look at the article,” he said. “They’re calling out our response as racist because we haven’t found her yet. I’m an Asian Detective Constable and that shit hurts - I’m sure you can appreciate that!”

OOC,OK, Pushing the roll... Persuade (55%) - [dice]0[/dice]

[Mephistophilis]

'Look, I shouldn't be doing this' she says. 'You'll still need a warrant for this to be admissible in court, but write these down.

She lists about ten IP addresses. 'These are all that have accessed this account in the last eighteen months, the first two in the last few days. That's all I can help you with. I really hope you find her.'

[Philulhu]

”That’s great,” said Kris, sighing with relief. “You’ve been a great help.”

Ringing off, he dialled Jocelyn’s number and waited for her to pick up.

[Philulhu]

Kris rang off and dialled DS Bates’ number. When she answered, he said, ”Lindsay Peale has accessed her email account in the last couple of days and I’ve got the IP addresses. Can I get some tech support to run them down?”

[Mephistophilis]

Bates sounds relieved, 'Absolutely, good work, give me the addresses and I'll send them over to the technical liaison right away.' She takes them down from Kris. 'I'll complete the warrant anyway, in case we need them for any court case, if we ever get that far.'

Kris,Hearing Jocelyn and Simon sitting in a restaurant Kris is reminded that he hasn't had any lunch

[Philulhu]

Kris repeated the IP addresses to Lucy, checking she noted them down correctly. ”I’m going to grab some lunch. Give me a call if you get an address,” he said.

He ended the call and walked back to Lindsay’s desk. He had one more look around and then glanced over to Roxanna. “Is there anywhere around here I can get a sandwich?” His voice was loud enough to carry across the office. If any of Lindsay’s colleagues wanted to come and find him and have a quiet chat, they’d know where to find him.

[Mephistophilis]

Kris is pointed towards a generic sandwich place and sits down for a very late lunch as it is now well into the afternoon. In one corner there's a television tuned to one of the twenty four hour news channels, the sound is turned down but the subtitles are on.

While he takes a few minutes to breathe and reflect he gets a call from Lucy. 'IP addresses are back. Nothing too surprising, Bucks County Council, Lewiston and Peale's internet service providers, both their phones. That's it. The last time Lindsay logged in was Wednesday and the last time George did was Tuesday.'

She sounds disappointed, and tense, very tense. 'And Lewiston's name is out now, in the media. So Lindsay will know we're getting closer. At least her name hasn't leaked yet.'

[Philulhu]

”Damn! I thought that was a breakthrough!” sighed Kris. He thought for a moment. ”I presume we’re tracking Lindsay’s phone. Any joy with that?”