“A computer engineer for the Department of Justice,” Marino is saying, “assigned to Quantico? And the FBI had no clue they’d placed a friggin’ psychopath in charge of their computer and case management overhaul?”

“What became an unfixable failure,” I add.

THE CRIMINAL ARTIFICIAL Intelligence Network known as CAIN morphed into the Trilogy program, a massive effort on the part of the FBI to modernize its outdated information technology.

The project was finally abandoned about a decade ago after wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, and I can’t help but wonder how much of this was Carrie’s fault.

“More precisely,” I’m saying to Marino, “I wonder how much was of her divining because nothing would suit her better than to be pitted against inadequate software and data management that she in fact may have manipulated and sabotaged during its inception.”

“You got that right and exactly my point. A genius mad scientist like her?” Marino says. “You really think she couldn’t wreak havoc on anything she wants? Especially if it’s got to do with communication technology or computers?”

“So could Lucy,” I remind him. “And I’ll just keep emphasizing that unfortunate truth. She created CAIN, and virtually anything Carrie can do? So can Lucy. That’s the way the FBI would think about it. That would be their justification for going after Lucy. They can blame her and assign means and motives to anything they want because she’s capable. It’s believable. And it suits them, let’s be honest.”

“Then maybe Carrie turned on the music to piss them off and get Lucy into trouble. Double the pleasure, double the fun,” Marino says. “Screwing with the sound system is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. It’s not against the law but it’s stupid. We don’t know that Carrie didn’t do it to entertain herself.”

“I’m not saying she isn’t capable,” I reply. “But I’m betting it was Janet and Lucy deciding to treat Erin Loria and her compatriots to a concert.”

“They shouldn’t be doing shit like that. They’re playing right into Carrie’s hands.”

“We can’t let anyone determine how we act. That’s true. Specifically it’s true that Carrie wants to control and change us. That’s always been what she wants.”

“And here I thought what she wanted was all of us dead.”

“One way or another and eventually that’s the plan I’m sure,” I reply.

“Lucy needs to be careful about getting in people’s faces right now. Maybe you can talk to her when things calm down. She doesn’t need to be making things worse than they already are.”