Callie Brennick

Callie Brennick is 27 and has been the computer security supervisor's assistant since January. Born in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of an elementary school teacher and an aircraft mechanic, she studied computer science at a state college and entered the Bureau through a competitive exam, which she repeats proudly to anyone who hints she was appointed. She earns little, knows the system better than many above her and never misses a hallway conversation.

She lives in a tiny apartment in Arlington, with a bicycle hung on the wall, an electric kettle that whistles too much and a plant she forgets to water. She pedals to the metro every day, always eats lunch at a table and arrives on the ninth floor with her hair damp from rain or sweat. At night she reads spy novels with the same irony she works with, and says the real work is far duller than in the books.

She is a redhead, with short, layered hair, freckles on her nose and thick red-framed glasses that rise and fall as she talks. She wears a moss-green cardigan over a white blouse and clips her Bureau badge to her pocket. She speaks fast, notices everything, finishes other people's sentences and defends herself against shyness with sarcasm. She has a habit of labeling everything with a handheld label makerlabel maker Small device that prints adhesive labels with text, used to tag folders, disks and shelves., even sandwiches.

About her work, her account is matter-of-fact: she handles her boss's schedule, the floppy disksfloppy disk Thin square plastic disk, used in old computers to store files, with a protective case and a metal shutter. and the system logs, and describes him as a clock, with Mass at 6:30 and out at 5. She also remarks, without alteration, that the camera in her boss's hallway has been off since January 8, at his request about the humming. She doesn't like being called a trusted assistant, but that is what she is.

Callie knows a young assistant, with access to the logs and her boss's password, is the most convenient choice for a Bureau that wants a cheap culprit. When the detective says she used the password to sell the list, she replies that she handles the logs and would be the first to be caught, and calls the question lazy. It could be the confidence of someone with nothing to fear. It could be someone who uses irony to hide a small slip. The detective will have to decide which.