Chapter II

-Noa! Don't run so fast, I can't reach you.
Harold shouted because he saw his daughter was slipping out of his sight.
-Be careful or you will fall into the water.

-Look, Daddy! What is that? Is that a dolphin?

-Yes, love. Answered Harold far away from his daughter and breathing with difficulty because he was running after her.
-It's strange to see them so close to the coast. He murmured.

-Will I ever be able to swim with them, Daddy?... Dad?
Noa looked back at the pier, but there was nobody. There was only one big puddle of something that had splashed into the water.
-Dad? Dad?!...

Noa was standing in a dark room, only lighted by a laptop screen.
In a deep trance, she was staring at the lifeless body of Steve, there he was, just laying on the floor, covered in blood... Things you could only imagine in movies.

Her first instinct was to rush out and escape from this horrible nightmare, but she knew that she couldn't do this of course, she was too involved, there were many things that could identify her as one of the last persons how had spoken with Steve true Laycos.

Very slowly she approached and took his pulse, but she couldn't find anything.
One of the best friends of her father was laying on the floor dead next to her feet. Looking around, she tried to remember what to do in these kinds of situations, after all, she is one of the best detectives around.

-Think Noa, think! She said to herself.

The person who committed this crime couldn't be very far, was is maybe possible that she chased him away?

-Let's see... What am I looking for...

-Everything was in its place or it seemed to be normal. Everything? Are you sure? But of course! The laptop!
She jumped up and went strait to his laptop.

Immediately she recognized the access to Laycos, a screen she knew thanks to Steve's invitation. His laptop was the latest model, not like Noa's, she had an old and second handed laptop, though she only used to receive emails from her clients. However, not very handy if you want to work nicely organized.

-Bingo! she exclaimed.

Since it was Steve Tanenbaum personal laptop, he had saved his password in his browser. She just had to click on a button and access all the information of Steve without looking for his password.

Noa put her hand in her back pocket and pulled some black leather gloves out her jeans, this gesture made her feel more comfortable with the crime scene, leave no traces behind.

-This is the way a detective does things. Think before you act Noa!
She told herself.

So she clicked and Laycos started to load a new screen.
The first thing that surprised her was how quick the laptop connected to the Internet, but wait, there was no electricity in his house, how could this be... She kept watching and saw that the laptop was connected to a cell phone, Steve's private IPhone X.

Suddenly, the world stopped, when she thought she could access all the content of Mr. Tanenbaum, a new screen at Laycos appeared,
"Use Laycos Pass to validate the double safety factor ".

-Double safety factor? Of course, this had to happen to me, why not?

Without a doubt, this was going to happen, Steve Tanenbaum wasn't a stupid man, he was a security maniac, he would never leave his access open for anyone. An advanced security mechanism showed a QR code on the screen which you had to scan with a smartphone to enter in the account of the owner.

Her next plan was to find Steve's cell phone. Noa looked around the room and thought.

-It couldn't be very far, the laptop was connected to the Internet through his cell phone.

She looked everywhere but didn't find it, then she realized it only could be in one place, such as in one of his pockets. A shiver ran through her whole body, one thing is taking his pulse and another one, more complicated of course is to search in a dead man's pocket. Then, she took all her courage and began with the easiest pockets. Nothing found yet, she had to turn the body around to search in his back pockets, and yes, finally she found his brand new iPhone.

The first obstacle was to unlock his cell phone that had facial recognition. She needed to open his eyes to scan his face, she felt like she was disrespectful to his body but she had no choice. Quickly she placed the cell phone in front of his face and unlock it.

Noa knew she didn't do anything wrong, but she could not help feeling like a hacker who had entered his private cell phone. She started to scroll her finger around the screen looking for the Laycos application. When she found it, she entered the application, here she saw that she had to press on scan a code, so she pointed the camera to the QR code of Steve's Laptop. And suddenly by magic, Laycos began to load.

Little Noa was crying while a policeman wrapped her in a blanket at the pier while telling her that her father had suffered an accident and had fallen into the sea. They never recovered his body.

From the day of her father's accident, she always remembered the sounds of sirens and police cars in her mind. Now she was still listening to them, but not in her mind, the police were coming to Steve's house. Someone must have seen something or saw her entering his house and had called the police.

Her relationship with the police wasn't the best, they always treated her like a meddler, and thought she was interfering in every case they worked on, finding her with a dead body wouldn't improve her reputation. Taking the laptop would be a big mistake, hiding pieces of evidence from the police could cost her her license as a private detective.
She could not take the laptop, so it occurred to her to modify the password and manipulate the double security factor, it was the only way to find the answer to Steve's death. So, she changes his password and rushed out as fast as she could before the police arrived there. Minutes later, Noa watched from a far corner how two patrol cars arrived at Steve's house.

Did you miss Chapter I of our exciting Thriller? Check it out here.