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“Price means unencrypted.”

“Downloads leave footprints in the computer system through which they pass, too,” added Price, a statement that made Meredyth and Lucas think of Randy Oglesby's safety. Still, Meredyth had told Lucas that Randy was taking extreme precautions, explaining that for his last “break-in” he'd used a PC at a Circuit City in a downtown Houston mall. 'Try and trace that,” she'd said to Lucas.

“Banks and financial institutions are now using encryption to protect transactions,” Bullock told them. “Encryption scrambles the data much like airwaves are scrambled on. pay TV, and for the same reason, to protect against voyeurs as info travels the Internet. If it's not encrypted, it's not taken seriously.”

“Once you're on the Internet, you're open to theft unless you've set up a fire wall,” Price explained.

“Fire wall?” asked Lucas.

Price frowned and said, “A security technique that isolates that part of the computer system accessible by modem.”

“Hell, I found out about this stuff early on, went home and removed the checking account numbers from the Quicken files on my home computer,” observed Bullock.

“Well, that's overkill, Tim,” Price argued.

“I don't think so.”

“Unless some hacker's got a specific reason to target you, your hard drive is probably not so tempting a target compared to large corporate and governmental databases.” Price looked into Meredyth's eyes and added, “I would not spend time worrying that someone's breaking into your PC through a phone line. It would take a lot of time, and there's not much upside.”

“Unless maybe the guy's a creep and is stalking her,” challenged Bullock.

“You miss the point, Tim. Hell, InfoBase in Conway, Arkansas, claims to have data on ninety-five percent of the U.S. households, all compiled from public records, credit bureaus, consumer questionnaires, telemarketing and mail order companies' files. The hacker or stalker or stalker-hacker doesn't need to tap into the lady's machine; he can do it through the third party and do it more safely.”

“Sounds like anybody can play Big Brother; sounds like Brave New World,” said Meredyth, a bit shaken.

“For sale: your estimated income, your home's market value, your available home equity, what merchandise you buy, donations you make, your marital status, occupation, and children's ages, your hobbies and interests. Now imagine a con man who is interested in your money.”

“Hobbies and interests?” She was dumbfounded.

“The information requested on those little cards you fill out called warranties and guarantees puts you on Info Bases's Chip head list.”

“A stranger can easily learn what you buy and what you read.”

“That is scary,” she agreed.

“The benefits of staying off modems and out of Nets,” replied Lucas. “Sometimes the old ways are better… or at least safer?”

Meredyth and Lucas conferred quickly and just as quickly agreed to share everything they knew about the series of killings they had been pursuing from their home base in Houston. They described the Cold Room files she had unearthed, the similarities in the string of deaths going back so many years, and the fact no one had to date put them together, and now this-the obviously hacked or stolen FBI list of self-proclaimed vampires and demon worshippers.

“What do you know about the Vampire List?” asked Meredyth of the FBI men.

“It was discovered that the list was tapped into, hacked into, but only recently. Fact is, the list hadn't been updated or kept in serious repair for ten, maybe twenty years. A lot of nonsense associated with the list.”

“Whataya mean, nonsense? If it's nonsense, then why's the Federal Bureau of Investigation interested?” asked Lucas.

“Well, it started with the Hoover Administration, and you know what kind of paranoia ran rampant in the agency then,” began Bullock, whose eyes followed people about the room as he spoke. “There have been a handful of professed vampires who have acted on their insatiable need for human blood; in fact, the first such case that was of notoriety involved an FBI manhunt for a guy in California who did in fact drain his victims of their blood and drink the stuff. Since then, there've been several others, including the celebrated case of Mad Matthew Matisak-who, by the way, was not on the Vampire List compiled by the FBI, because, in point of fact, there's really no way to track all the wackos out there.”

Price took the ball, continuing, “Anyway, that madman Hoover and others in the agency began keeping book on people who, for one reason or another, professed a liking for the vampire lifestyle. Needless to say, most of the list is made up from subscribers to Vampire Dreams, The Red Knight, The Blood of Lucy Wistera, and other such publications, along with vampire orders, cults and clubs.

There are more than you might expect, and many of the members are playacting at the masquerade, finding something appealing in the whole mythos, you see, but some embrace it as a way of life, a religion even, a kind of devil worship, and these are hard-core believers who sleep in coffins and go about only at night.”

“That doesn't fit Judge Mootry or-”

“Perhaps not recently, but he may've become disillusioned with his religion, as anyone might; he may've changed his lifestyle and beliefs as he aged,” suggested Price. “Else he hid it well…”

“He wasn't sleeping in a coffin,” said Lucas.

“Coffins are harder than they look, and no room to stretch,” added Bullock with a laugh. 'Tell me this: Any graveyard dirt found under the man's bed?”

“I didn't see any, but then, forensics had already come and gone.”

“Check it out.”

“Did he go about during the day?”

“He was a judge. Night court? Meredyth bit her lip. “Appellate court.”

“Liked the black robes?” Price facetiously asked. “Check into it. You'll find he kept the lights in his courtroom dimmed and kept no mirrors in his chambers or at his home, or so our information has it.”

“Eccentricity,” suggested Lucas.

“Night person?” asked Bullock. “Did he party late into the night?”

“Yes, he did, but he donated tons of money to charitable causes,” she countered.

“He had lots of money to give. Nothing in the book says a vampire can't be a philanthropist, too” suggested Bullock. “Look, we're not saying that we believe he was a practicing, kosher vampire, okay? We're saying some people could and may well have perceived him as such, especially since he was retained on that damned list, and if the list did fall into the wrong hands…”

“And perception is everything in this life, isn't it?” Price suddenly added. “By the time of his murder, the old man may well've been in the process of… of trying to buy his way back into the good graces of the Lord of Light. Who knows?”

“In fact, one of his last major donations was to some off-center religious order based in Houston, a very generous sum,” agreed Meredyth. “Maybe he was a changed man.”

“We all of us do things we later regret; who hasn't lied, cheated, stolen something from someone somewhere in a moment of temptation,” suggested Lucas. “And who hasn't championed a cause to later regret it?”

“The FBI first began tracking Mootry when he was a college student,” Price said, thoughtfully sipping his coffee now. “He had become fascinated with the dark side of world religions, the black arts, cults, cultism. Even his selection of classes mirrored this interest, and for a time, he planned to be an archaeologist, which would have more readily masked his vampiric tendencies, I think; then something turned him around, and he began to see the beauty of the U.S. legal system, and he believed he could make a difference there. At least that's been our thinking, right, Bullock?”