Classic Hacker Profile

Previously: The team starts a new week and Mark has an online chat.

Need to catch up on The Spring? Visit the chapter index here:

11:41 AM - Monday, November 10, 2014

US Park Police, Ft Winfield Scott, The Presidio, San Francisco

“Does anyone know where Jeannie and Paco are? Where did they go?” Mark looked from an agape Raj to a shrugging Owen before darting into the office to find Meg. “Meg, do you know where Jeannie and Paco went — I need them.” He was trying for calm but knew he came off as erratic and sharp.

“Um sure, let me radio him.” Meg’s blue eyes were a little bewildered as she reached for the receiver. “Mayfield this is Meg, what’s your 20?”

“I’m downstairs Meg. What’s up.”

“Greenberg is looking for you and Hagen, is she with you?” She glanced at Mark again who was looming in the doorway with a scowl. “Greenberg requests you join him upstairs immediately — it seems there’s a new development.”

“On our way.”

Meg looked up to Mark and shrugged slightly as she hung up the receiver.

“Thank you, Meg. Sorry to be curt, we — we found something and we need to move now.”

“I understand. It’s no problem. Just so you know, Paco doesn’t really go very far from the office unless he’s with you guys.” She offered him a tentative smile, which he returned, trying to take his own temperature down a few notches.

“Mark — what’s going on?” Jeannie was coming up from the inner stairway that went down to the evidence labs, Paco right behind her.

“We got the Admin on Pr3pSF — you won’t believe it. The primary IP address traced back to Xavier Prep, and the secondary address associated with the IP was a house in Sea Cliff owned by one Vincent Parisi.” Jeannie’s eyes expanded three sizes while her mouth went slack.

“Parisi —?” Paco asked quietly, assembling the information.

“Yes, Vincent Parisi — as in the law partner of Jim Hartman, as in his two kids Vin and Angela.”

“So it could be either one of them?” Jeannie tossed out gruffly. Her face quickly becoming bent with anger. “How did you find this out?” She moved past him into the conference room where Raj was still monitoring the site.

“They sent a chat request to Alexa’s account — you know, when the kids were using it they had that exchange with the Admin? Well, kind of the same thing but Raj kept them talking long enough that I could do a trace.”

“And the IPs line up — “ Raj added. “It’s one that’s been on the site since the beginning, AND,” he turned in his chair to face Jeannie, “it’s one of the IPs that bounced on your server at home.”

“You mean — you mean it was one of the Parisi kids who hacked into my Dad’s iPad?”

Raj nodded. “Remember how I said I thought it looked like a first-timer? Like a kid playing ding-dong-ditch? They got in and probably freaked out and then left before they did any deeper digging.” Jeannie swallowed hard taking this in. Her face was pale, pinching around the eyes like she was about to cry. Mark watched her carefully while Paco perused the screen next to Raj. “They’re twins right?” Raj continued. “Which one do you think could do it? I mean…I already have an opinion.”

“Okay fine, what’s your opinion.” Paco quipped.

“I think it’s the girl.”

“Okay, why?” Paco countered.

“Because — look at the language. They’re saying things like “everyone talks on here but there’s some people no one talks about at all — “ Raj read through the chat from a few minutes before. “And when Mark said something about wanting to know what a crush says, they said “no, you would not”…that’s someone who’s licking their wounds. It’s a classic hacker profile: someone smart and accomplished and totally overlooked by everyone...so they have an axe to grind.”

“Is that how you came to be you?” Paco asked wryly, Raj rolling his eyes in return.

“Angela.” Jeannie whispered. She thought of the quiet, uncertain girl she’d chatted with earlier last week. Angela Parisi had been a turns awkward and intelligent and sensitive — could she have masterminded something like Pr3pSF? “Do we have their school information? Their classes, activities?”

Owen began searching through another computer. “I put all of their profiles in a shared file. One second…”

“Vincent “Vin” Parisi - good grades in history, government, English lit, Spanish, everything else sort of average - varsity soccer and tennis. Kind of like every guy I went to high school with. Angela Mia Parisi - wow stand out in AP calculus, chemistry, physics, launched the school’s robotics team…no sports, but does drama tech crew, and has been lead counselor at a girls’ “summerSTEM” camp in the Bayview for the last two summers.”

“See — of course it’s the girl.” Raj tossed out.

“FUCK.” Jeannie hissed.

Mark drove the SUV west on Geary Street toward Xavier Prep, Jeannie in the passenger seat. Paco decided to stay behind to firm up the physical evidence with Amanda, suggesting that Raj go in his place and try to get the girl to talk hacker-to-hacker.

“I feel like I’ve been heading to this school every day for 10 days.”

“I know how you feel.” Jeannie’s voice sounded raspy and strange. She thought of the thousands of days she’d driven the route to Xavier Prep in high school — how many more thousands of times her Dad had driven the route every morning over the eight years his three children had attended Xavier. At least until the boys had drivers licenses and cars, and then Jeannie felt lucky to even be remembered in the mornings. The overlooked sister. How had she missed Angela Parisi? “You know, it could be both of them together.”

“You think?” Jeannie shrugged.

“I think it’s a possibility — the two of them joining forces to gather intel on everyone.”

“To what end? That’s what I don’t get about Pr3pSF — why would anyone bother to build it in the first place? So you get the hot gossip but everyone else is getting it too. It’s not like you can corner the market on the rumors.”

“Maybe just for fun? To see what they could make and see what would happen to it? Or maybe to just level the playing field? Make it so nothing is exclusive to the “in” crowd any more?”

Mark nodded in agreement. “I can see that I suppose.”

“They did it as a point of pride.” Raj said from the back seat. “What you put in the chat was right, man, that they wanted to feel important.”

Jeannie sighed. “Well, I’d say Angela Parisi is a likely candidate for wanting to feel important.”

Mark turned down the avenue toward the multi-building school complex, which looked much less imposing in the clear sunlight than it had on Friday night with the fog swarming around it.

“They know we’re coming or no?”

“I didn’t call.” Jeannie said, stepping out of the SUV. “I figured a surprise would work better.” The trio made their way toward the school building, pulling their badge lanyards to the front. Jeannie led the way into the Dean’s office and chatted with the receptionist.

“Hello — I’m officer Hagen here again, we need to speak with the Dean immediately, please.”

The receptionist blinked at Jeannie before turning back to her computer, where she began typing. Within seconds, the Dean emerged from the inner office.

“Officer Hagen — hello, it’s nice to see you. Agent Greenberg, hello.”

“This is another member of our team, Raj Gurav. You may have met him last Sunday.” Mark explained. “We have a rather sensitive matter to discuss, if we can use your office?”

The Dean led the three of them to the inner office which Jeannie took in like a time warp. Nothing had changed in the inner office since she’d seen it last, over a decade before when it had been Brother Driscoll’s domain. The wood paneling, odd overhead lighting that made everyone look washed out and sad, the sagging green leather Chesterfield sofa against one wall, where the kids who were getting a talking-to sat. Meanwhile a pair of nicer armchairs at the desk were reserved for parents, when they were the ones who needed the talking-to.

Mark explained to the Dean who they needed to see and why, eliciting a stunned reaction from the Dean.

“Did you know about this site, sir?” Mark asked him.

“I’ve heard of it, but haven’t seen it myself. It’s — it’s locked —”

“Yes, you have to be vetted as a student for entry. Apparently they don’t want any adults popping by to take a look. Do you know anything about it?”

“Well— “ The trim Jesuit was flustered. “I’ve heard it’s a rumor mill among the private school teens, and I heard it get mentioned during your news conference on Friday evening, but otherwise I don’t know a thing.”

“Well, sir, I suggest that you sort out a way to familiarize yourself because your school just became the center of the storm.