around hourly. Playing with it. He buys and sells under scores of aliases that change daily. Hunaredi of transactions daily.'
'Lots of commission for him?'
'Lots. Plus, it makes it incredibly difficult to keep track of him.'
'But you have.'
He nodded, still flushed-the hunter's glow. 'It's taken me four and a half years but I've finally gained access to his data banks, and so far, he doesn't know it. There's no reason for him to suspect he's being watched, because normally the government doesn't pay any attention to nonprofit pension funds. If he hadn't made some mistakes with some of the corporations he killed, he'd be home free, in fiduciary heaven.'
'What kinds of mistakes?'
'Not important,' Huenengarth barked.
I stared at him.
He forced himself to smile and held out one hand. 'The point is, his shell's finally cracked and I'm prying it open-getting exquisitely close to shattering it. It's a crucial moment, Doctor. That's why I get cranky when people start following me. Understand? Now, are you satisfied?'
'Not really.'
He stiffened. 'What's your problem?'
A couple of murders, for starts. Why did Laurence Ashmore and Dawn Herbert die?'
Ashmore,' he said, shaking his head. Ashmore was a weird bird. A doctor who actually understood economics and had the technical skills to put his knowledge to use. He got rich, and like most rich people he started to believe he was smarter than anyone else. So smart he didn't have to pay his share of taxes. He got away with it for a while, but the IRS finally caught on. He could've gone to jail for a long TIME
So I helped' 'Go west, young swindler,' I said. 'He was your hacker into Jones's data, wasn't he? The perfect wedge-an M.D. who doesn ? see patients. Was his degree real?'
'Hundred percent.'
'You bought him a job with a million-dollar grant, plus overhead.
Basically, the hospital got paid to hire him.'
He gave a satisfied smile. 'Greed. Works every TIME
'You're IRS?' I said.
Still smiling, he shook his head. 'Very occasionally, one tentacle strokes the other.'
'What'd you do? Just put your order in to the IRS? Give me a physician in tax trouble who also has computer skills-and they filled it?'
'It wasn't that simple. Finding someone like Ashmore took a long TIME
And finding him was one of the factors that helped convince... my superiors to fund my project.'
'Your superiors,' I said. 'The Ferris Dixon Institute for Chemical Research-FDlC. What does the R stand for?'
'Rip-off. It was Ashmore's idea of a joke-everything was a game with him. What he really wanted was something that conformed to PBGC the Paul Bowles Garden Club was his favorite. He prided himself on being literary. But I convinced him to be subtle.'
'Who's Professor Walter William Zimberg? Your boss? Another hacker?'
'No one,' he said. 'Literally.'
'He doesn't exist?'
'Not in any real sense.'
