hence.'
'Hence,' I said.
'Yeah, hence. I went to the fucking Wharton School, remember. So now you've got a deal worth ten simoleons, and you credit that. But how much actual cash you got?'
'A simoleon,' I said.
'See?'
'Is that what's going on at Kinergy?'
'I believe so.'
'And the advantage of that is that it inflates your revenue?'
'Yes.'
'Which makes your stock worth more?'
'Yeah, and if you need to show an even bigger profit you can just move the curve.'
'Predict that knives will sell for two-fifty,' I said.'And then I can show a credit of twelve-fifty.'
'Exactly.'
'And it's legal.'
'Sure, mark to market is perfectly legal, often useful, sometimes necessary, in companies where a reasonable curve can be projected. But it's less, ah, less appropriate for a company like Kinergy, whose product may fluctuate wildly because of war, or climactic events, or political decisions, or economic circumstance, or the death of some Arabian sheik.'
'And you might find yourself with a cash-flow problem.'
'Yeah. You have to pay your employees, for example, in cash. If you have debt to service, and if you're cash poor, you have to service that in cash. And you have to do it now, not five years from now.'
'So,' I said. 'Worst case?'
'You can't pay your bills. You go bankrupt.'
'Is that what's going on at Kinergy?'
'Might be,' he said. 'It seems to me that they should be showing more loss and less profit than the lOQs are reporting.'
'You think someone's cooking the books?'
'Something's going on,' Marty said.
'When you do the audit,' I said, 'can you find out what it is?'
Marty looked at me as if I had just said something in Greek. 'Am I the world's best CPA?' he said. 'Of course I am. If there's chicanery, will I find it? Of course I will.'
'That's a relief,' I said.
50
When I woke up in the morning on the couch in my living room, I could hear my shower running. At least Adele was clean. I put on my pants and had coffee made and orange juice squeezed when she strolled out of my bedroom with her hair in place and her makeup on.
'God,' she said. 'Coffee and orange juice waiting. What a husband you'd make.'
'This morning my accountant, with the blessing of Bob Cooper, begins his audit at Kinergy.'
'Really? I can't imagine.'
'I think we should go over there and be handy if he wants to talk with you.'
'Your accountant?'
'Yes. Marty Siegel.'
'To Kinergy?'
'I'll be with you,' I said.
'You think it's important?'
'Yes.'
'Will Vinnie come with us?'
'Sure,' I said.
'I guess that will be okay,' she said.
I took my turn at the shower. There were several pairs of highly impractical-looking ladies' underwear drying on my towel rack. I tried not to blush. As I was getting dressed, Vinnie showed up for work.
'You know a skinny little guy with long hair and big glasses?' Vinnie said.
