Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4) by Gillian Larkin Page A

phone
you up at night when you’re having your dinner. I got a lot of abuse in that
job! It was justified abuse too, I was so arrogant, I didn’t care that I was a
nuisance.
    “I
moved on to other companies and started learning more about computer sales.
Now, this is the ironic bit, when I got home after a long day I used to get
those irritating phone calls! The very same kind that I used to make. I soon
realised what a pain they are, you’d think I’d be more patient with the people
on the other end but I’m ashamed to say I used to swear at them. It’s the
intrusion that used to bother me. How dare people ring up and expect your time?”
    Grace
nodded through a mouthful of sandwich.
    Archie
continued, “It wasn’t just the intrusion at home, it made my blood boil
whenever a virus attacked my computer. Have you ever had those?”
    Another
nod from Grace.
    “It’s
the scam behind those viruses that irritated me. They always wanted you to buy
their product to stop the very virus that they had attached in the first place.
I knew how to get rid of them but many of my colleagues were taken in by them.
I was the one that people came to whenever they got attacked by a virus in the
office. We had virus protection but it was never good enough. I was determined
to make something better. And I did. Not only does it prevent the virus attack,
my system also locates the sender.”
    Grace
had finished her sandwich. “I didn’t know you could do that. What do you do
with that information? Tell the police?”
    Archie
gave her a wry smile. “The police have enough to deal with. Until there is a
better security system controlling the Internet we deal with these matters
ourselves.”
    Grace’s
eyes widened. “What do you do? Send the heavies round? Threaten them?”
    Archie
laughed. “We don’t have heavies! All we can do is send an email letting them
know that we’ve located them and we know how they are operating.”
    “Oh.
That doesn’t sound very threatening.”
    “You’d
be surprised. These people are nothing but bullies. Online bullies are cowards
as well. As soon as they know they’ve been spotted they usually give up. Or
change their operating names. The people in charge are not that clever, we
always find their new identity.”
    “That
sounds like a full-time job,” Grace said.
    “It
is. That’s dealt with by our fraud department. We have other departments that
help people with online security. It’s big business. I think our products are
the best on the market. I shouldn’t be telling you this but you look
trustworthy, I’m sure you’ll keep this to yourself. We recruited some high-level
computer hackers. You’d be amazed at what they can do. They keep a low profile,
some of them have been in prison, I think some of them are wanted by the
police.”
    Grace
frowned.
    Archie
noticed her concerned look. “What is it?”
    “It
sounds as if you were doing business with some dodgy people. Could one of them
be holding a grudge against you? Could one of them have killed you?”
     

Chapter 15
     
    Archie
shook his head. “I don’t think so. I trusted all of them, I often didn’t
understand them but I made it clear how much they were appreciated. And I paid
them well. They taught me a lot of things. Anyway, that’s enough about my background,
tell me about you.”
    Grace
said, “Nope, nothing about me yet. That isn’t nearly enough information. You
haven’t told me about Jessie, or the hammer necklace.”
    Archie
looked down at his wedding ring and smiled. “Of course, I have to tell you
about Jessie.” He brought his attention back to Grace. “Well, my business grew.
We offered a good service, we had one-to-one meetings with businesses and made
sure they were getting the right product. I was soon the manager and needed
bigger office space. Have you seen the buildings down by the canals in Leeds?
They used to be warehouses.”
    “I
have. And I’ve seen the apartments that they’ve been converted