Conspiracy

101

Lia slid the small dongle into the computer’s USB slot as the librarian approached. She sat straight up and clicked on the Web browser, quickly typing in the address.

“Got it?” she said in a stage whisper.

“We’re in,” said Telach back in the Art Room.

“Young woman,” said the librarian. “That’s the third computer you’ve been on.”

“I couldn’t get used to the keyboards on the others,” Lia told her.

“They are all the same brand of computer!”

“But the keyboards are different. Here, look at this one.” Lia pointed her to the computer at the next desk. “The support isn’t quite level. It wobbles. Try it.” The librarian frowned and sat down. She typed a few sentences.

“It seems perfectly level to me.”

“It felt odd to me,” Lia insisted.

“Some people,” muttered the librarian under her breath as she went back to the circulation desk.

“They need about ten more minutes,” said Telach.

“Fine,” said Lia, not bothering to keep her voice low. She checked the browser history on the top line; there were only two requests logged, both sites for free recipes.

“This one may have been it,” said Telach, relaying information from the technical people. “It looks like files have been erased. The entire history file has been erased.”

“Can you get it back?”

“They can get back what ever wasn’t overwritten easily.

As for the rest, I’ll have to talk to Mr. Rubens to get approval to take their hard drive. Stand by.” Lia looked up from the screen and saw that the librarian was staring at her.

“Just talking to myself,” said Lia.

“Well, please be considerate. Other people are trying to concentrate.”

“Sure thing.”