The Devil's Chord

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

"Look." Sherlock pointed at the paper with his pen.

00L213859 19J3722E 98F63F75R17Y 190214AG L. Jeffry

00A213859 87W6093I 31L73K60E30S ICN51938 A. Wilkes

00J213859 36S0506M 75I90T81H09E 48KK96BB J. Smithe

00R213859 16B0430A 20R20N06E47S BES1S603 R. Barnes

John stared. There were names mixed in with the numbers. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"This is a list of bank account numbers, names, and passwords."

"What? How do you know?"

"The first eight digits are all the same." Sherlock fiddled with his mobile for a moment then showed him the screen. It was the web site for Selby Jennings Investment Bank. The bank routing number was 00213859, an exact match.

"You think someone was going to try and steal money from these accounts somehow?"

"Possibly, or something equally nefarious."

John frowned. "Why these people?"

"According to their site, Selby Jennings' London branch offers a special discount for civil servants."

He blinked. "Civil servants?"

Sherlock tapped away on his mobile. "Yes, Adam Wilkes is the Director of Ammunition Procurement for the Ministry of Defence. Jeffry and Smithe are officers under him and Rupert Barnes is the Director of General Finance. The list goes on. This slip of paper contains bank account access information for every senior member of the MOD."

John's mouth fell open. "My god. Do you think the bank is some kind of front?"

"No. I'm certain the Director of General Finance vets his financial institutions quite thoroughly. It's more likely our killer intended to investigate the spending habits of those listed and blackmail them accordingly. Much cleaner than funneling money out of accounts."

He sucked in a breath. "And if they refused to comply, the blackmailer would sell the information to the press like that whistle-blower did to The Telegraph five years ago."

His friend looked up from his phone. "What are you on about?"

"It was a huge scandal, Sherlock. How can you not remember?"

"Was anyone murdered?"

"No."

"Then why would I care?"

"You should care because expense accounts were exposed for a number of government officials, including members of the House of Commons and House of Lords. It was revealed the majority were falsely expensing their second homes, writing off the cost of furniture, duck houses, and even tins of cat food. The public was outraged. Ten officials were imprisoned and others fined. There were even death threats. It was a mess."

"Hmmm."

"Don't you think we should warn the account holders their information has been compromised?"

"No, because it hasn't."

"How do you know?"

"Because this is the only copy our killer had."

John shot his friend an incredulous look. "You can't know that."

Sherlock waved the paper in his face. "Balance of probability, John. No one prints anything anymore. Everything goes on thumb drives or on the cloud. It's clear our killer is unable to access the computer he originally used to retrieve the data or he wouldn't have gone to the trouble to drug Rebecca Frost or attempt to run over Miss Walker. Whether he intends to sell it to another party or blackmail those listed, its value is dependent on it being one of a kind. He wants it and will do whatever it takes to get it back."