Trust Me

reverberated in his mind with stunning force. It was not a word that he used very often, because it made him think of true chaos.
    He had often told himself that the word did not really apply to him. He was a solitary man, not a lonely man. There was a difference. A man of his nature functioned best in solitude.
    He heard a droning sound nearby. He realized that he had just been asked a question by the spouse of one of his newest clients. He played back the last few seconds of his mental tape and caught the gist of it.
    The woman had asked him a question about networks overseas.
    “Yes, there are huge computer networks established in other countries,” he said politely. “Users in the United States can access them just as easily as they do the networks here in our own country.” He paused to assume what he hoped was a visionary executive expression. “When it comes to computers, there are no borders. Protecting proprietary or government-sensitive information is only going to become increasingly difficult in the years ahead. Good security is the key.”
    In other words, he added silently, your husband is going to need Stark Security Systems.
    He was definitely getting the hang of this, Stark told himself as he joined another cluster of guests. Socializing was difficult, but it was not impossible.
    A few minutes later, the tiny vibration from the pager attached to his belt jerked him out of his newfound complacency. He came to an abrupt halt in the middle of a discussion of encoding techniques.
    “Excuse me,” he said to the manager of a software company. “I’m being paged. I’ll be right back.”
    She gave him a curious look. “Of course.”
    Stark started through the crowd. He caught a glimpse of Dane on the other side of the room and briefly considered letting him know what had happened.
    But there was no time.
    Desdemona gave him a quizzical smile as he went past. “Is something wrong?” she asked in a low voice.
    “I’m just going to check on something in my study.”
    “Oh. I thought you might have been overwhelmed by your own success as a host. This thing turned into a real crush, didn’t it?”
    “Yes.” Stark brushed past her.
    He stepped out of the living room into the atrium foyer. There was no one around. He took the stairs two at a time to the second level of the house.
    When he reached the upper landing he turned and went down the hall to the closed door to his study. He was relieved to see that it was still locked. Perhaps the pager had been triggered by an alarm malfunction. He punched in the security code that opened the door.
    The lights came on as he stepped over the threshold. The study was empty.
    For a few seconds Stark stood in the doorway, searching for some sign of an intruder. Then he walked across the room to where the computer was bolted to the steel frame of the desk.
    At first he could see nothing wrong. But when he angled the halogen lamp so that the strong light fell directly on the back panel of the computer case, he saw the scratch marks around the key lock.
    Someone had tried to use a metal tool to get inside the computer case.
    “Damn.”
    Whoever it was must have realized that an alarm had been set off He had fled, closing the door behind him, before Stark had made it to the top of the stairs.
    Stark had passed no one on the stairs, which meant that the intruder might still be somewhere on the second floor.
    He went out of the study and methodically checked his bedroom and the one Jason and Kyle used.
    Empty. As were the baths and closets.
    The door that opened onto the deck was closed. Stark opened it and stepped cautiously out into the balmy night. There was no one about.
    The only explanation was that the intruder had waited in the shadows of the upper hall or inside a bedroom until Stark had gone into the study. He had then either slipped back down the stairs while Stark was occupied with investigating the scratches on the computer case or gone out onto the deck. From the deck, the intruder could have gone down the outside stairs and reentered the house through the kitchen door.
    All of the door and window alarms were off for the evening because of the presence of so many people in the house.
    Stark went back into the study and looked at the computer case again. Those shiny little scratches told their story all too clearly. Someone had tried to open the case and steal the hard disk that contained ARCANE.
    Stark realized that he had a whole house full of