Chapter 9 — The Body

Geneva. November 20th. Morning.Rohan called at six AM Geneva time."I decrypted the data packets," he said. He sounded like someone who had been awake for thirty hours and considered this irrelevant. "The phone has been transmitting compressed data files. Not messages — files. Fragments of something larger." A pause. "I've been reassembling them. It's taken eighteen hours.""What is it?" she said."Evidence," he said. "New evidence. Things that weren't on the drive. He's been transmitting from wherever he is — in pieces, through the phone, using the packet pattern to avoid detection. The phone looks like it's malfunctioning to anyone who doesn't know what to look for. But it's been sending Naina — it's been sending new material. From whatever he's been finding since November 3rd.""He's alive," she said."He's active," Rohan said carefully. "I can't confirm the rest without seeing him.""What's in the new material?""The body," Rohan said.She was very still."The body on the M4," he said. "Arjun has been investigating it from his end. The dental records that were used to identify it — the records came from CipherNet's UK office. From their employee records. Standard procedure — employers often have dental records for international travel insurance." He paused. "Except that Arjun never submitted dental records to CipherNet. He has documentation of this — his original application, which did not include dental records, and the records that CipherNet submitted to Thames Valley Police, which did." A pause. "The records submitted to identify the body were fabricated.""By CipherNet," she said."By Richard Hayworth," Rohan said. "The new material includes an internal CipherNet email — intercepted, I don't know how — from Hayworth to the CipherNet Head of HR on November 4th, instructing her to submit Mehta's employee file including 'complete medical and dental records' to assist with identification." He paused. "The email was sent at 7 AM on November 4th. The body had been identified at 6 AM.""The identification came before the request," she said.