Digital Detective (Whispering Pines Book 8)

By Charles Wells

A Private Investigator's best friend dies of cancer but not before his memory and personality are transferred into a mainframe computer system of his own design. Along with the prime characters of the Whispering Pines Suspense Series, watch a murder investigation take place in a manner you never envisioned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles Wells
• Release date: Jun 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476062808

Charles Wells

I was asked why I'm a writer and responded with the following. I didn't choose writing, it chose me. I've spent the better part of my life (and I'm 60 years old) writing, but I still hesitate to call myself an Author. I've written and published seven books, six are fiction, and still I don't feel like a writer because I don't fit my mental image of one. I don't feel compelled to be the next Mark Twain or Tom Clancy. I don't want to get filthy rich from my writing and I don't care for the glory of being recognized while walking down the street. All I want to do is entertain people and hold that wisp of power and control knowing I can make you laugh, or make you cry. I can take you to heaven or send you straight to hell, all with a few words placed appropriately. I can do in one paragraph what God needs seven days to accomplish. Best of all, I can make you think great thoughts or I can help you dream in a reality that I create. A reality you can enjoin or not with the flip of a book cover or press of a digital reader button. All of this isn't writing, it's insanity and escape for the sake of entertainment. http://www.charleswells.us Before turning to fiction writing, Wells spent most of his career as a newspaper reporter and journalist in middle Georgia. He covered everything from high school sports to front page news stories. During the last fourteen years of his career he worked as Managing Editor for "The Robins Review" a military town's 25,000 weekly edition publication. The city's mixed population of civilian and military called for a unique brand of writing skills that Wells found comfortable supplying. The highlight of his career was in 1988 when a sharply written article was picked up by the national wire services and republished around the world. The topic was the advance of technology in the Air Force's electronic warfare division and aptly titled "Stone Age to Star Wars." Copies of the article made it to the desk of then President Ronald Regan who had initially emblazoned the term into the minds of the world. The article also caught the attention of an NBC News Producer as well as ABC's nightline's Associate Producer, Terry Irving. The sad news through it all was that just as Wells' writing career was taking off, his personal world was "going south and silent." Plagued since childhood by an ongoing progressive hearing loss, Charles Wells lost all usable hearing and went completely deaf. When the handicap peaked, Wel...

Book preview

Digital Detective (Whispering Pines Book 8)

Copyright @ 2012, Charles E. Wells

This book is a work of fiction. References made to real places are intentional but names, characters, incidents and immediate locations are from the author's imagination.

Published At Smashwords

For Wellston Publishing

Dublin, Georgia 31021

www.wellstonpublishing.com

First published June 2012

This book is dedicated to all the engineers of the world who have to put up with that butt hole manager located higher up in the food chain of employment.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

About the Author

Chapter 1

Rob Banner, the senior engineer at Mid State Power Company's hydroelectric dam, leaned over the shoulder of his control room supervisor, Brad Malan, and let his eyes follow the younger man's pointing finger. The control panel in front of them was two feet high, four feet wide, and littered with dials, gauges, and mini TV set looking devices. The later units, laid out in two rows, six to the row, displayed a constantly changing pattern of squiggly lines that meant nothing to an untrained eye. To an expert it gave them a visual view of the electricity generation and flow from the massive turbine powered electrical generators inside the giant dam and complex. Brad's finger pointed at the number three waveform monitor.

Rob studied the moving pattern on that monitor for a long moment and then said, You're right, Brad. The number three turbine output has voltage spikes. Crap, uh, can you isolate the source?

Brad shook his head from side to side. Not without taking that whole grid segment off line. Should we call upstairs and see what the plant manager wants us to do?

Not yet. Let me try something first. You keep an eye on that reading and I'll go shift two percent of the electrical load over to another grid. If the spike level goes down then we'll know there's a problem in the turbine and not the isolation transformers.

Okay but power demand is at 87.44 percent and climbing. It's almost noon so I guess the dinner crowds are cranking up the stoves and ovens.

Yea, I know Brad and the outside temps are adding to the loads too from the Air Conditioning units. It's already 101 degrees outside and it's not even noon.

That's high even for Georgia.

Rob patted his friend on the shoulder. At least your decision a few years ago to go back to college and finish your degree looks a lot smarter on days like this, doesn't it?

I don't know, Rob. Sometimes, I miss working outside on the line crews. I've put on some weight since I got in here, you know?

Rob laughed. That's part of the hazards of the job. Let me go adjust the load. Keep your eyes on the panel.

Will do; I'll call your cell if anything changes.

Rob stepped over to his desk, reached inside his lunch bag and removed a 16 ounce bottle of cola, twisted the lid open and then looked at Brad. Sorry. I only brought one today. You want to get a cup and split it?

Shaking his head from side to side, Brad said, No thanks. I'm still on coffee until later. Sort of early for the strong stuff, isn't it?

Rob took a long pull from the bottle, wiped his mouth and said, Heck, I walked in the gate with Chip Flanders this morning, the plant manager and he was carrying a whole six pack of these things.

Yea Brad said. I guess this heat and humidity has everyone drinking water, cola, whatever they can get their hands on, but you need to be drinking more water, Rob.

Yea yea, all right mom.

Brad smiled and watched his friend start toward the door, cola in hand. He turned back and said, Okay, listen out and I'll yell in a few minutes.

Brad leaned back in the console chair and stretched his shoulders and arms. He did need to get up more often. Speaking of which, today was Thursday which meant he needed to do an eyes on inspection of the engineering tunnels later. Last week he had made a note about an area where condensation was building up on the lake side of the dam but decided to wait on filing it to see if anything had changed. Just a small problem he thought, and then looked at the Cell phone on his desk. He picked it up and was about to type a text when the unit rang in his hand. Caller ID said it was Rob. He glanced up quickly at the gauges. He pressed the connect button and said, Hey Rob. The spike is still showing, no change. Have you adjusted the load yet?

Brad? Can you hear me? Brad?

Yea Rob, I hear you fine. Where are you?

Brad? My dad's here. I have to go now.

Rob? What are you talking about? Where are you?

The connection clicked once and fell silent. Brad held the phone out at arm's length to confirm the call had dropped and then called Rob's cell number. The connection clicked, rang once, and then transferred straight to voice mail. What?

He quickly dialed another number and a voice answered on the second ring. Hey Brad.

Tal? Where are you right now?

I'm outside on the B4 catwalk, why? What do you need?

Rob Banner went to the Grid Control Room while ago to reset something. A minute later, he called but the signal dropped off. I called him right back and the phone went straight to voice mail.

Maybe his battery died and there are a dozen cell call dead zones inside the plant too.

No, his signal was okay I think but when he called, he was talking sort of weird. Can you come down inside main control area and check on him for me? I can't leave my chair right this second because I've got an alarm that's about to trigger and I have to keep an eye on. It's why Rob left in the first place, to go make an adjustment on the load.

Yea, okay. Give me a couple of minutes to get down there. I'm on the way though.

Okay, thanks Tal.

Brad switched off the call and laid the PDA back on the desk. He looked again at the panel before him and noted that the spike had risen once again. If it reached 4.0, he would have to call upstairs and stir up the bosses. Rob would kill him later for doing so, but safety regulations explicitly demanded it.

Why would Rob call and say that his father was here? His father was killed two years ago in that mechanic's accident on the lower level of the dam."

The question lingered in the back of Brad's mind as he kept a wary eye on the monitor. A long and weary five minutes passed until the side door of the office area opened and the salt and pepper haired, Tal Fargo, stepped inside and started walking towards him. The tools in his utility belt rattled and clanked together loudly as he came across the room until he was close enough to ask, Rob's not back yet?

Not yet. Can you run look in the Grid room for me please?

I just came from there and the room's empty, nobody is in there.

"Do what? Did you check in the break area or the bathroom?

I poked my head in the break area but not the bathroom; you think he stopped by the can first? I never thought about that, dang.

No, with what's going on right now I promise you, he was heading straight for the grid room. There's a spike growing on the number three generator and he was going to shift some of the load off of it to see how it reacted. I was waiting here for him to do so. If he went someplace else, he would have already let me know by now. This system is about to pitch a hissy fit on us.

Well you said he called, right? Maybe the line dropped out before he could tell you anything and what was it you said about him talking weird. What did he say that was weird?

Brad sighed, looked at the desk phone that connected him to the main offices of the plant, then back to the monitor showing the spike. Uh, keep this under your hat for now Tal, but, he told me that his father was here and he had to go, then we were cut off.

Do what? Are you sure that's what he said?

Positive. It was a clear connection on my end but I'm not sure he was hearing me. He didn't act like it anyway.

Okay, I'll go check topside. Why don't you look in the bathroom?

Tal I can't leave right this second. If this spike gets any higher then I have to call the plant manager. This could knock our output down by 17 percent if we lose that bank of generators. The plant is already running at about 88% load capacity so we can't spare that much.

Tal scratched his head and nodded. Okay, I'll go by the bathroom and then run check topside. If he isn't in there, I'll check the grid room. I'll call when I find him.

Thanks Tal, I appreciate it.

As the mechanic was about to turn and walk away, he said, Maybe he got sick or something. Sounds like it if he thinks he saw his father, ya know. Wasn't he killed in that …?

Yea, he was.

Tal shrugged and walked back out the same door he entered. When it closed, Brad turned back to the console and rechecked the readings. The spike was still climbing and getting close to the red tolerance line. He thrummed his fingertips on the desk top and glanced over at the phone. No, he was going to wait for Tal to find Rob first and then he would call upstairs.

As Brad waited, his mind went over all the details and rumors about Rob's father and the plant accident that had killed him two years ago. Rob's dad had been a chief mechanic for 30 years with the power company. He was switching out a defective flood gate valve that weighed over 4200 pounds. It was a mundane task for experts so no one was concerned about the risks. A crew member would have to crawl under the line inside a workspace of less than twenty inches between the floor and bottom of the unit. Six bolts on the bottom run required that someone crawl under the unit and remove them using hand tools because of the cramped area. Not a dangerous thing to do when the pressure in the lines was cut off, otherwise, there was upwards of 600 PSI of pressure inside and removing the bolts would be deadly for anyone who tried.

The operator on duty that day in the main control room where Brad now sat, the man whose job he had taken when hired for the task, confirmed to the crews that the pressure had dropped to near zero. He gave them the green light to start. Two hours later, a man on the crew tried to crawl under the valve but started having back cramps. Rob's dad went instead, tie, white shirt and all. He was removing the fourth bolt of the six when the unexpected pressure inside the pipe blew the unbolted seal. A pencil sized stream of high pressure steam shot outwards at deadly force, more deadly than a direct hit from a high powered rifle. The stream caught Rob's dad in the right eye and cut a hole through his brain and out the back of his skull. From there it dug a six inch tunnel into the concrete floor. He was dead before he had time to feel the pain.

Later investigations found the panel meters were giving faulty readings because of the damage in the valve that had dictated its removal in the first place. They cleared the operator on duty of any human errors. Brad, sitting in probably the same chair as that operator, thought about it all which gave him goose bumps up and down his arms.

Most everyone on the mechanic's crew said it was a good way to die at least. You would never know what hit you until after you were dead. Rob, inconsolable for weeks after the accident, had threatened to kill the operator on duty who gave the green light for his dad to start but the man took off before he got the chance. He vanished six weeks after the accident and was never seen or heard from again. The police found his truck parked beside the road just outside town. There was no sign of foul play. He had simply dropped off the face of the earth.

Rumor went two ways on the incident. One: the man's guilt and Rob's threats to kill him had gotten the best of him so he walked away one day and vanished. Two: Rob Banner had killed him and hidden the body someplace thus far, undiscovered. Brad was still on the line crews at the time and only heard the news reports and then the rumors. In the two years he had known Rob since, he could not picture the man being violent or that vengeful. The Rob he knew today was not a killer, at least not in his mind.

Brad's IPod beeped twice with a text message. He picked it up and looked. It was from Lynda upstairs in the main business office. The text read, Lunch today at 1 PM?

Brad smiled and typed a reply. Sounds good but work may prevent it. Will let you know soon.

He hit send and waited. A reply came back quickly that read, Have other offers. Don't wait too long to make up your mind.

Brad shook his head and grinned. He typed in his response. Hope other offers don't include dessert. Will let you know in half hour.

He set the unit down and looked up at the meter again. The spike was almost at the limit. Now he had no choice. He had to call it upstairs and stir that hornet's nest of bosses and over paid managers. He reached for the desk phone just as it beeped with an incoming call. He sighed, picked up the receiver and said, Brad Malan, Control Center.

Brad, this is Chip Flanders.

Yes sir Brad said and sat up slightly in his chair because he was now talking to the top man of the facility, the Plant Manger; the very man he was about to call.

Flanders said, I was coming out in the plant while ago and I met one of the mechanics, Tal Fargo. He asked if I had seen Rob Banner lately; said you and he were looking for him. What's up with that? Have you found him yet?

No sir Mister Flanders. He's supposed to be on his way to the grid room and make an adjustment for us. Do you want me to stop Tal and find him myself?

No, let Tal keep looking and keep me posted if you don't find him soon.

Yes sir, will do, and uh...

Is everything okay down there?

No sir. I was reaching for the phone to call you when it rang. I've got a heavy spike reading on the number three turbine and it's at the edge of tripping the alarm. Can you come down and look at it? I realize it is Rob's decision on calling you or not and that is why I was looking for him.

What is the spike reading right now?

It's up to 3.75 and as you know, it will trip at 4. It has climbed steadily for the last fifteen minutes and it doesn't look like it's going to stop.

You realize we are under sunspot warnings. Those magnetic sun storms can cause fluxes on the power grids, so that might be what is causing it.

I saw that alert sheet last week sir but I don't think that is the source of the problem. It's only showing on one unit, turbine number three, and not all six.

And you are the specialist now, Brad?

No sir, I'm just letting you know what I see on the boards here, sir.

Then do that only and keep your opinions out of the discussions.

Yes sir.

Now one more time, did anything happen before that spike began to build?

Not to my knowledge, sir. It appeared about a half hour ago reading 1.5. When it got up to 2.6, I brought it to Rob's attention. That's when he left headed for the grid room. He was going to shift a couple of hundred KWs from this generator over to the others and then we could test and hopefully isolate the cause.

Yea Brad, I know, I designed that concept in the operations manual.

Brad had to bite his tongue to keep from snapping back. He detested this guy's holier than thou attitude along with everyone else that had to deal with him. It turned the taste in Brad's mouth sour but he was wise enough to stay quiet. Flanders, expecting some retort from Brad but not getting it, said, Okay, I'll be right down. If it does trip to the alarm then go ahead and start taking load off until the spike falls back below 4, but do it easy so the other generators don't gag and surge.

Yes sir. See you shortly and thanks.

The line clicked off and Brad put the receiver back in the phone cradle. That guy thinks the world revolves around his butt hole.

It does Tal said from behind him.

Brad jumped and spun in the chair, embarrassed that anyone had overheard him talking aloud and poorly about a high level manager. Dang Tal, I didn't hear you come back in. Did you find Rob?

Nope, he's not topside or in the bathroom. I don't see any reason for a detour that would take this long.

No, there wouldn't be. What about the grid control room?

Awe damn, I forgot.

A buzzer alert went off on Brad's control panel. He spun the chair back around and looked. The spike has just passed 4.0 and triggered the alarm. Okay Tal, I have to go to the Grid control and take some of the load down on number three. Can you wait here and meet Mr. Flanders when he arrives?

Sure, I got nothing better to do than watch how the world revolves around some jerks butt hole. Maybe I'll push some of the buttons on your control panel just to see what happens. If that gets boring, I'll call a phone sex line from your desk unit.

Brad smiled and stood. Thanks old man. I'll be back in a few. Sit down if you want until I get back.

When Brad was half way out the door, Tal yelled out, Hey Brad? What was that about sunspots? Are we under solar storms again? Has it been eleven years since that last peak?

Yes, Mr. Flanders mentioned it on the phone just then. He thinks they might be the cause of this problem. I don't see how they could affect just one out of the entire group though. I don't get it.

Did you say it was the number three?

Yes.

That was the unit where Rob's dad was killed. The valve that killed him was in the line going to the number three turbines.

Brad looked at Tal a second; almost hoping there was a punch line to follow, then nodded and closed the door behind him.

As he walked down the hallway, he felt something almost itching at his thoughts. Why would Tal even mention that unless it he and the mechanic crews needed fresh fuel for the rumor mill?

Brad tried to clear the mental blockage in his mind and had almost succeeded by the time he reached the door to the control room. He turned the handle, stepped inside and immediately saw Rob Banner lying a few feet inside the doorway, face down and sprawled on the floor.

Brad yelled, Rob? He stepped quickly over to the body and knelt down. Rob? He put two fingers on the man's neck artery and felt for a pulse that wasn't there. He rolled the man's limb body over on his back and leaned an ear against Rob's nose and mouth to listen. Nothing, he wasn't breathing.

Brad grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number. When a voice answered he said, Tal. I found Rob in the Grid room. He's lying on the floor and I'm not getting a pulse or anything. I'm starting CPR so call Mr. Flanders and clear a call to 911 for me.

Chapter 2

With the thumb of his right hand braced for leverage, Tom Sanders pushed with the pointing finger against the right bracket lock on the computer's memory socket. He felt the plastic piece click and open. Next, he reversed the process, braced the pointing finger, and pushed with the thumb against the clip on the opposite side but nothing happened. The snap lock there would not budge. He lifted his hand out of the way so he could better see what was going on but all looked normal enough for that area of the mainframe's motherboard.

Suddenly, the voice of Hal, the computer from the movie 2001 Space Odyssey, started singing over the system's speakers. Daisy… Daisy... Give me your answer true...

Shut up LT, Tom snapped after recovering