Sweet Fortune

She raised her glass of cola toward Alex. “First, to Alex, for cracking the computer and making contact with Susan.”
    “To Alex,” David said grandly.
    “To Alex.” Susan Attwood blushed rosily and looked at Alex as if he were the reincarnation of Albert Einstein.
    Hatch, sprawled in the chair near the window, took a swallow of cola and nodded at Alex. “Hell of a job, Robin.”
    “Thanks. It was nothing.” Alex was flushed with pride and embarrassment. His eyes kept straying to Susan's admiring gaze. “Anytime you need help on a case, Jessie, just let me know.”
    “Why, thank you, Alex.” Jessie beamed fondly at him. Then she raised her glass in David's direction. “To David, who has shown he is that rarest of all beings, a philosopher who is also a man of action. A true Renaissance man.”
    “I wouldn't go that far,” David muttered, turning almost as red as Alex. But he was grinning hugely.
    “To David,” Alex intoned. “I owe you one, friend, for what you did to that jerk who was holding a gun on Susan.”
    “Yes,” Susan said shyly. “Thank you, David. You were wonderful. Almost as wonderful as Alex.”
    Hatch took another swallow of cola. “I told you that you didn't need anyone running interference for you, Ringstead. You can do your own dirty work just fine.”
    David met his eyes. “So you did.”
    “To Susan,” Jessie continued, hoisting her glass again. “Who bravely got out of the mansion with the proof of Edwin Bright's fraud.”
    “To Susan.” Alex gazed at her with pride and longing in his eyes.
    “To Susan.” David held up his glass.
    Hatch munched and nodded at Susan. “Bringing that printout showing Bright's financial setup was a stroke of genius, Susan. The authorities are going to have a field day.”
    “It was nothing.” Susan blushed again. “I just wish I hadn't been such a gullible idiot in the first place.”
    Alex touched her hand. “Don't blame yourself, Susan. You had only the best intentions.”
    “The others I worked with there at the mansion were innocent too, for the most part.” Susan glanced anxiously around the room. “The people who manned the telephones, as well as the computer operators and programmers. We all believed in Edwin Bright. We thought he was a true genius who was being deliberately ignored by the establishment because his predictions were so alarming. And you know how the government is about bad news.”
    “Nobody likes to hear talk of disaster,” David agreed. “It's easier to kill the messenger than deal with the real problem.”
    Susan nodded sadly. “Those of us who went to work for Bright thought we were dealing with the real problem. We believed the climate forecasts were accurate and we thought the money was needed desperately for Bright's technology-development plan. I'd started having some doubts, but it wasn't until Alex contacted me and pointed out the anomalies in the forecast data that I really questioned what was going on. Then I stumbled over a record of Bright's scam back East and knew for sure something was wrong.”
    “I wouldn't worry about the others,” Hatch said. “The authorities will probably only go after Bright.”
    “Fortunately, the people who got conned into working for Bright are all basically data-oriented,” Alex said. “Show them where the data are wrong and they'll buy into the truth. They're not the type to follow Bright blindly, as if he were some guru. Not when they've seen the facts.”
    Susan nodded soberly. “I think that's true. Edwin Bright is a charismatic man, but without solid data to back up his claims, no one I know is going to follow him.”
    “Not everyone who worked for Bright got conned,” Hatch said thoughtfully. “A few of them were in it for the money. Landis and Hoffman, for example. Not exactly your average wide-eyed innocents.”
    David gave him a sharp glance. “You think there might be more hired muscle like Landis and Hoffman running around?”
    Hatch shrugged. “How would I know? I'm a businessman, not a detective. But there was a lot of money involved. It just seems remotely possible that if Bright had those two on the payroll, he might have had others.”
    Susan frowned. “If he did, I never saw them on the island.”
    “That's reassuring.” Hatch took another swallow of cola.
    “I'm sure the authorities will pick up everyone involved very quickly,” Jessie declared crisply, although she couldn't meet Hatch's eyes. “Now, then, your attention,