Dirt

people, in a manner of speaking.”
    “What on earth are you talking about? I’m published and syndicated by Dick Hickock’s company. Stone isn’t published by anybody.”
    “Barrington doesn’t really come into it, except as your surrogate.”
    “What was that you were saying about ‘the same people’?”
    Peebles smiled slightly. “You really don’t know, do you?”
    “Know
what
?” Amanda demanded, irritably.
    “About Hickock and us.”
    “Who is ‘us’?”
    “The
Infiltrator.
”
    “What does Hickock have to do with the
Infiltrator
?”
    “My father-in-law owns sixty-five percent of the paper, I own ten, and Hickock owns the other twenty-five percent.”
    Against her will, Amanda’s jaw dropped.
    “Surprised, aren’t you?” Peebles asked, smiling.
    “You are out of your mind,” Amanda said. “Dick Hickock is a legitimate publisher with half a dozen companies — newspapers, magazines, book publishing, the whole gamut.”
    “It’s a broader gamut than you know,” Peebles said. “Hickock has a corporate entity called Window Seat, Limited; the stock is in the name of his wife’s half-brother, Martin Wynne.” “I didn’t even know she had a half-brother,” Amanda said, interested now.
    “Neither does just about anybody else. I doubt if he’ll show up in Dickie’s obituary. Wynne is British, a friend of my father-in-law. The stock is in his name, but believe me, the money is Hickock’s, and Wynne doesn’t make a move without his permission.” “How very odd.”
    “It gets odder; Window Seat owns
Personality.
”
    “That dreadful rag?”
    “Dreadful it may be, but it hauls in the bucks, just as the
Infiltrator
does. There’s more: through two other corporations, Window Seat controls three gay porno magazines.” “This is incredible; I don’t believe a word of it.”
    “I’d say ask Hickock, but I don’t think he’d appreciate it. Window Seat is an offshore corporation, and the profits go straight into Cayman Island accounts, all tax-free. Hickock spends it in Europe; he never brings a dime into the U.S., unless it’s in cash.” “He does spend a lot of time in Europe,” Amanda admitted. “So does Glynnis.”
    “It’s profitable for them to do so.”
    “They spend a lot of time at a friend’s château in France.”
    “Owned by Window Seat, or an offshoot.”
    “What you’re talking about would be a major scandal, if it were known,” Amanda said. “Why haven’t you printed this? After all, scandal is your business.”
    “I told you, we’re in bed with Hickock. So are you.”
    “Well, I don’t really care about any of this; it’s nothing to do with me.”
    “It will be if it ever gets out, and I think that’s what this
DIRT
business is about.”
    “What if it does get out?”
    “There would be a major federal investigation, and the IRS would be all over Hickock. Can you imagine what that sort of investigation — not to mention a trial — would do to Hickock’s other interests? The stock in his various companies? He’d be ruined, and he’d take a lot of people down with him. Like you and me.” Amanda was horrified.
    “You’ve just done a new deal with him, haven’t you?”
    Amanda said nothing; she stared into the middle distance and thought about what a Hickock collapse could do to her.
    “I think you can see why it’s in our mutual interests to cooperate with each other,” Peebles said. “The first crack in the dike has already appeared.”
    “Crack?”
    “Glynnis Hickock’s divorce action.”
    “You think Glynnis knows about this?”
    “Do you think Hickock could be involved with her half-brother in something as complex as this and Glynnis not know about it?”
    “Surely she wouldn’t jeopardize Dick’s fortune by some intemperate action,” Amanda said. “That wouldn’t be in her own best interests.”
    “A woman scorned doesn’t always act in her own best interests,” Peebles said. “Anyway, Glynnis is a wealthy woman in her own right. If Hickock sank it wouldn’t cause more than a ripple in her lifestyle. And if she’s mad enough, she could sink him very deep. The odds would heavily favor a prison term, and she could plausibly deny all knowledge.” Amanda stared at a squirrel outside the car, her mind racing.
    “I think you can see why this
DIRT
thing has to be stopped,” Peebles said.
    Amanda snapped back to attention. “Yes,” she said. “But so far, I don’t have a clue who’s involved. Stone