Trust Me

left me for a job on the Eastside. He could have told any number of people that I was in the market for another ice sculptor. Everyone who worked for me also knew I needed one.”
    “A lot of people.”
    “Yes.”
    Stark started walking again. “I’ll fire up Tate’s computer tonight and see if there’s anything interesting on it. But don’t hold your breath, Desdemona. Odds are, Vernon was just an ordinary computer buff. It’s very likely that the only things I’ll find on his machine are a lot of games.”
    They came to another halt beside Desdemona’s car. She opened the door and slid behind the wheel. She hesitated and then decided to take the bull by the horns.
    “You haven’t said anything about Tony, but I know what you’re thinking,” she announced.
    “Do you?”
    “Yes. But, Stark, trust me, there’s no way he could be involved in this. I’m sure he really did get a call from the Hollywood people. That’s why he left town yesterday morning.”
    “I don’t know about the Hollywood call,” Stark said, “but I did some checking. He was definitely booked on a flight to L. A. yesterday morning. But the flight didn’t leave until nine-thirty. He checked in for it at the last minute. Almost missed it.”
    Desdemona was stunned. “You checked on his flight? How?”
    Stark shrugged. “I used my computer to search the airline’s records.”
    “Good grief. You can do stuff like that?”
    Stark’s mouth twisted wryly. “I’m a computer security expert, remember?”
    “You actually checked the airline records,” Desdemona repeated in amazement. “You don’t take anything at face value, do you, Stark?”
    “No.”
    “Is it legal to do that kind of thing?” she asked suspiciously.
    “Let’s not get into a discussion of technicalities. Checking airline records falls into the same gray area as buying Vernon’s computer instead of telling the police about it. Drive carefully, Desdemona.” Stark closed the car door.
    Desdemona watched in the rearview mirror as he walked back to his car. He was as solid and unyielding as Mount Rainier. And somewhere inside he was still as cold as the glaciers on its summit.

15

    “Sam. Sam, wake up.”
    “We brought you some breakfast.”
    Stark opened his eyes at the sound of Jason’s and Kyle’s voices. He took a few seconds to orient himself before he raised his head from his folded arms. He reached for his glasses, shoved them onto his nose, and automatically glanced at his watch.
    It was nearly seven o’clock.
    In the morning.
    “I must have fallen asleep in the middle of running the search program.” Stark rubbed his jaw and absently noticed the rough stubble of an incipient beard. The last time he had checked the time, it had been three a.m.
    He had learned one thing for certain last night. Whatever his deficiencies as an ice carver, Vernon Tate had definitely been qualified as computer literate.
    Tate had employed an exotic operating system, not one of the common ones, and he had secured it and his files behind an invisible, highly sophisticated wall of high-tech wizardry.
    It had not taken Stark long to realize that getting into Vernon’s files was not going to be a piece of cake. He had made a preliminary survey with his newest password search program, but he hadn’t expected it to work, and he had been right. Vernon Tate had been too savvy to use a real word or a name as a password. And as good as his password search program was, Stark knew it was unlikely to come up with a password that had been deliberately scrambled by an expert.
    Sometime after midnight, Stark had opted for another approach to the problem.
    Kyle set a bowl of cereal on the desk. “We already put the milk and sugar on the cereal for you.”
    “Here’s a spoon.” Jason handed one to Stark.
    “Thanks.” Stark picked up the spoon and started to eat the soggy, overly sweetened cereal.
    Kyle came around the corner of the desk and peered at the glowing monitor that sat on top of Vernon’s computer. “Did your special trapdoor search program work?”
    “Yeah, did you find a way to break into the files?” Jason asked eagerly.
    “I don’t know.” Stark stoically munched cereal. He was ravenous. “The trapdoor program was still running when I fell asleep.”
    “Hey, look, something just came up on the screen,” Kyle said.
    Jason crowded close. “Let me see.”
    Stark glanced at the monitor. He stopped chewing when he saw the prompt sign flickering gently