Part   Five   "Orders"

 
Monday 14th November 2016
 

"Hello Tammy, what can I do for you?"

"Stop interfering in my life!"

"Hold on, you are employed to follow orders."

"And to investigate. I didn't expect I'd need to investigate my own family!"

"That was unfortunate."

"So, how do you think I can talk to my sister about this?"

"She was following orders."

"The Nuremberg defence?"

"That's not fair."

"Really? I have to repair relationships with my parents and at least one sister, plus the Head at my former school, and I don't know why."

"Perhaps it's best that you don't."

"So, what does it come down to? Am I not to be trusted?"

"That's not the issue."

"That's strange, Jenny, since you won't tell me what the hell is going on?"

"I don't have the authority."

"So who leaned on you?"

"You don't need to know."

"Was it another agency?"

Jenny didn't answer.

"So, it was another agency, which one?"

"SIS."

"Six? What's their aspect?"

"No, Tammy, this is precisely why you were locked out."

"Because I'd find that one of the Templetons was connected to the Secret Intelligence Service?"

"I can't confirm that."

"Come on Jenny, I haven't done any work on the Templetons and yet I'm already guessing what's going on. My take is that one or both of the Templetons is being run by SIS for their own purposes and my work triggered an alarm?"

"In short, yes, you did trigger an alarm, although it wasn't you personally who was identified."

"Dave?"

"Yes. He wasn't to know, and neither were you."

"And yet I'm being punished, you could have been honest with me?"

"I was ordered otherwise."

"In which case, that did a lot of bloody good, didn't it?"

"I did warn that there would be consequences."

"Look, call off the dogs and let me repair the relationships? Perhaps you can call my father?"

"Okay, Tammy, but need I remind you that the order stands - do not investigate the Templetons and avoid all contact."

"Fair enough."

"Bye, Tammy."

Tammy locked her car and went back into the college, satisfied that she could now get on with her life. Her schedule sent her to Room K11 on the far side of the campus and she was the last one into the room, immediately she saw it wasn't the scheduled tutor.

"Good afternoon, and many thanks to Miss Smart for joining us."

She blushed and a few heads were turned.

Donald Templeton continued, "this afternoon we're going to look at the recent break-in at this very establishment. You'll have access to all of the evidence and I would like each of you to formulate how to proceed with your investigations and develop a hypothesis for the crime. This is still under investigation by Police Scotland so there are no right or wrong answers as such. You have half an hour, please work by yourself and no conferring. Feel free to use search engines or any other online resources you need. Collect a package from the desk." He pointed.

Tammy knew what she wanted to write and was sure she didn't need any material but went along with the others and picked up a dozen stapled sheets along with everyone else.

There were no references to the other recent breaches, so it was unlikely anyone else in the room knew about them. Tammy searched, using her phone, and found a reference to the Dundee breach on a technology website, she noted the source. O a whim she went to the Information Commission's website and looked at the recent notices that had been issued. One caught her eye:

Educational establishments, particularly those in Scotland, should be aware of several recent data breaches and attempted breaches at Scottish Universities and Colleges. A variety of techniques have been used including phishing and gaining physical access to the campus. All remote access should be reviewed and an audit carried out to identify anomalies.

She noted the page and summarised the ICO notice. Within twenty minutes she had completed her investigation, she handed it to Donald Templeton.

"That was quick."

"I'd already looked at the break-in here, and I'd found other data breaches as well."

"So you surmise that some-one is systematically grabbing staff and student information from Scottish universities?"

"Yes, although some smaller colleges have also been affected."

"So what do you deduce?"

"That this is a fishing exercise, looking for names, dates, addresses, but there's no central database to search, so they're grabbing the data at source."

"Indeed, so where would you look to find the criminal who broke in here?"

"By now they are many miles away and possibly not even in the country, the question is - who wants the data?"

"Any ideas?"

"Until the data is used, or abused, we won't know."

"Okay, go back to your seat and I'll assess a few more."

Tammy watched as other students made the trek to the desk at the front of the room, only to be dismissed a minute later.

"Now, what have we learnt? Firstly, what physical evidence is there? We have a poor image and no fingerprints were recovered from the scene. Over a week on from the incident there have been no reported sightings of the man. Despite this, all bar one of you decided that this was the only evidence worth following up."

He paused, sipping from a glass of water.

"One of you considered if there were any similar break-ins in the area but couldn't find anything to support that idea. You should always look for similar crimes, establish if there's a pattern or whether someone else might already be investigating the same person?"

Tammy saw Lucas nodding and smiling, it seems he too had looked beyond the single incident.

"Now, only one person correctly identified a possible link between this crime and recent data thefts at three other Scottish universities. None of those thefts, however, involved a break-in, so the incident in Wick was a change in the method of attack. Well done, Miss Smart."

Tammy blushed as heads turned towards her. She thought she saw a glare from Lucas.

"Your task is to write up your investigation and include all the avenues of research you have been told about this afternoon. Collect your sheets before you leave, I'd like your work submitted by email by the weekend."

Tammy waited for most of the students to collect their work and Donald wanted to speak to a few, including Lucas. By the time she reached Donald's table, her sheet was the only one that remained.

"That was good work."

"Thank you."

"You knew about the link with Dundee beforehand, didn't you?"

"I did, but I validated the data before I showed it to you."

"Did you use privileged access to obtain the data?"

"Everything you saw, Sir, could be obtained from public sources."

"I see, well done."

Tammy left the room but Lucas was waiting for her in the corridor, he walked with her.

"Did you like that attention?"

"I did the work and I knew where to look, anyone else could have done the same?"

"I heard that you worked with the police?"

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Tell you what, try to find out about me?"

"Eh?"

"See if you can find out my life story?"

"Why would I do that?"

"So the next time you make an allegation that I worked with the police, you'll have some facts to back it up?"

They'd reached the car-park and Tammy was heading for her Mini Cooper.

"Nice car, I wouldn't mind a spin in it?"

"That's not going to happen, bye Lucas."

She dropped her official phone into the dock and called Dave Brown as she pulled out of the campus.

"What can I do for you, Tammy?"

"Some advice, please."

"My advice isn't official, Tammy, and I may not be able to say anything at all?"

"Understood. Firstly, I was told not to investigate the brothers but one is my lecturer and I was in a seminar with him this afternoon. Unavoidable."

"It was unavoidable, I suggest you write it up and submit it."

"Even so?"

"Yes, even if nothing happened, it covers your arse!"

"Fine, even if it just comes down to rear-end protection?"

"Correct."

"Now, I had one of the students sniffing around me, he suggested I'd worked with the police?"

"Which is almost true?"

"Yes, so I suggested he investigate me, in order to find some evidence to support his claim."

"Was that wise?"

"Perhaps not, but I really don't think he'll do it."

"Why not?"

"He'll do the minimum to get a 2.1 degree. I really don't think he'll be any trouble to me."

"Okay, but it might be wise to manipulate the search engines just in case?"

"I'll put out some press releases about the play, making sure my name is in them?"

"Do you have facebook?"

"Yes, but I hardly ever use it."

"Find some of your old reviews and share them on facebook. Anyone searching your name would have to plough through all the theatre stuff first!"

"Dave, I never considered you to be internet-savvy!"

"I don't advertise all my skills Tammy, and neither should you."

"Thanks for advice Dave."

"Bye Tammy."

She walked indoors a few minutes later after parking her car in the paddock, first stop was the kitchen for a drink.

"Hi Dad."

"Hi Tammy, I had an interesting call an hour ago."

"Jenny?"

"Yes, it appears you had a right go at her?"

"I needed to clear the air, it's not been easy for the past two weeks."

"And I'm sorry I went along with it, I told her I wouldn't co-operate in the future."

"Thanks."

"I called Mike and straightened that out for you, he does like your idea, by the way."

"So long as the school sets a budget aside?"

"That's where I come in!"

"So what's been agreed?"

"Hold on, young lady, this has to go to the Governors' meeting on Friday for approval."

"Come on Dad, that's just a formality?"

"Okay, We've set aside four thousand pounds for the remainder of this school year and in principle there's eight thousand for 2017-2018."

"What does the budget cover?"

"Flights for you and John, hotels and hire of a meeting room, including buffet."

"Is there a catch?"

"Yes, Mike has asked that we co-ordinate it from here and submit invoices."

"It'll be good to get the old boys together, where's the first one?"

"Glasgow, we're looking at the end of January. If that works well we'll book the second one in Manchester for May, and aim for London in August."

"Will any of the staff join us?"

"Mike would like that, but it really depends on availability."

"Sure."

"Remember, the aim is to improve the range of summer internships, scholarship awards and to get a few of the old boys to visit St Andrews occasionally, other than the spooks!"

"And to get John away for a few days!"

Richard left the kitchen to answer a ringing phone, leaving Tammy to make her coffee. When she left the kitchen, the study door was closed. Tammy remembered that their personal assistant, Pru, was off all week so her father would be spending more time at home.

She took the laptop out of the secure box and powered it up. It took a few minutes to write her contact report, she quickly shut down the laptop before Jenny would have seen it. She also switched off her official mobile phone, she had no intention of doing any more work.

Tammy showered and slipped into joggers before walking back downstairs with her empty mug.

"Dad, what are we doing about Christmas this year?"

"What do you fancy?"

"A quiet one, just us."

"Stay here?"

"Yes."

"That's what your mum and I thought, less risk of you becoming involved in anything!"

"That's not fair!"

"It's true! Remember Düsseldorf last year?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't my fault Angela was mugged."

"Well, we'll take no chances."

Tammy couldn't argue, things just tended to happen around her.

"Is Suzie coming here for Christmas?"

"She doesn't know, yet."

"Oh?"

"Your mum's spoken to her, that's all I was told. Now, Zara's off today and it's your turn to cook."

"Is it?"

"Yes, and for once we'll all be here."

"Okay, six thirty?"

"Yes."

"Any preferences?"

"See what's in the fridge, work it out from there."

Tammy couldn't remember the last time she'd cooked, or the last time they'd all sat at a table together. She checked the fridge and decided that a lasagne was the best plan, with salad and a jacket spud.

With everything prepared, Tammy had an hour before the lasagne needed to go into the oven so went back up to her room. She drafted a press release about the play and sent it to Fleur for approval, suggesting that Dr McIntosh took a look at it.

Next she found a few online reviews and newspaper reports relating to 2014's West Side Story. She shared this articles from her social media accounts. It didn't take long for Helen to comment.

Helen>Why are you posting this old stuff?
 
Tammy>Gonna be posting new stuff in a few days, didn't have facebook when I played Anita
 
Helen>Okay, do I get a free ticket to the new show?
 
Tammy>I even have to pay for my own ticket, Helen!
 
Helen>Really?
 
Tammy>lol. Gotta go, cooking tonight

Tammy didn't wait for Helen's reply and hadn't wanted anyone to comment, least of all Helen - who knew far too much about her. Tammy didn't know where Helen was right now, only knowing that she wasn't in Thurso.

She hadn't been fibbing, it was nearly five thirty and she did need to get dinner in the oven.