"You're welcome, I said. I was tempted to add that it had been a pleasure to punch Chris Davenport's lights out, but I knew better than to admit that aloud to anybody, not even Kimiko Kurobashi's mother. As of that moment, the department was considering my actions in apprehending Davenport as use of reasonable force, and I didn't want anyone to think otherwise.
Clay Woodruff was standing directly behind Machiko with his hand extended as well. "Hope I didn't damage the lock on your car, he said. "If I did, let me know. It's just that once I knew Tad was dead, I had to go to his daughter, and I wasn't about to let you or anybody else stop me.
"But why did he come to you? I asked.
"Once Tad realized the reason I hadn't testified was that I hadn't been called, he began to put things together. He told me on Friday that he had begun to suspect that Davenport was cheating him. He said he was going back to Seattle to find out for sure.
"On Sunday morning, he showed up in Port Angeles again. This time he brought along a whole set of floppies, one of which he said would disable the virus. The rest were copies of his company records as well as his research on the new product. He gave them to me for safekeeping and made me promise that if anything ever happened to him, that I would go to Kimi immediately and help her develop and market that product.
"Which is?
"A spread spectrum multiplexer.
"Pardon me?
"It's brand-new technology that will make local area networks far more affordable by allowing more than one network on the same set of cables.
"I see, I said, although I didn't understand more than a word or two of what he said. Observing Ralph Ames' enthusiastic nod of approval, I figured whatever it was must be pretty good.
"What about that other thing we were talking about earlier? Peters asked. "The device Mr. Kurobashi made for the man in the chair.
"I'm sure Tad never intended to market it, but I'll bet that kind of medical assistance computer program is a commercially viable product.
Ron Peters was nodding in agreement. "It sounds like a godsend to me, something that could make life easier for lots of folks.
"It's totally separate from Blakeslee's product line. You could go ahead with that without having to wait to finish settling the RFLink problem in court, Ralph Ames commented. "And it has the potential to grow into being a good, solid business in its own right.
Woodruff had passed his glass to Ralph for a refill, and now he sat staring thoughtfully at the newly replenished drink. "Tad was the most creative guy I ever knew, he said quietly. "Believe me, if it can be done, I'll make it work. I owe him that much.
The determination in Woodruff's voice made it sound not only possible, but likely. However, Ralph Ames had brought up a touchy subject.
"What about Blakeslee? I asked.
Ames grinned. "I was talking about that with Clay here a few minutes before I went to pick you up. We'll handle Mr. Blakeslee. No problem.
About that time the front door crashed open and Heather led Archie Winter into the apartment. Holding the platter high over his head, Archie carried a fragrant load of still smoldering barbecued ribs. So much for Italian food.
It was a quiet dinner. Tracie and Heather's unabashed interest in everything Machiko said and did made the meal less difficult for her and for everybody than it would have been otherwise. There's something life-giving about children, even in a time of mourning, something that helps people see beyond their immediate losses. Looking at them I was reminded once more of the final words on Tadeo Kurobashi's computer, and I had to agree with them. A child is indeed "one more hope.
Late that evening, long after everyone but Ames had gone home, I had a call from the department. Just as I suspected, DataDump's handcart had been found near the railroad track a few blocks south of Industry Square. With the cart, officers discovered five bags of confetti-the paper stuff, not the shredded floppies.
Sunday afternoon Ralph Ames and Archibald Winter III left for Sea-Tac at the same time. Before leaving town, the two of them had come up with a program to provide interim financing to hold MicroBridge together and keep Kimi and Machiko above water until such time as the Kusumi family sword could be released for final sale. Ames' preliminary negotiations with Blakeslee had made things look a lot more manageable.
We put Archie on a United flight bound for New York and then walked to another terminal where Ralph would catch his Alaska flight to return to Phoenix.
"By the way, Ames said, as we waited in line in the departure lounge for him to hand over his ticket and board the plane. "I almost forgot. Dr. Wang's office called yesterday. You have an appointment scheduled for ten tomorrow morning.
With that, he handed his ticket to the flight attendant and disappeared down the jetway without giving me a chance to argue. I spent the afternoon alternating between being pissed and being appreciative, but Monday morning at ten, I dutifully presented myself in Dr. Lee Wang's reception room. He prodded and poked, asked me a bunch of pointed questions and took an almost equal number of blood samples. I answered the questions honestly, because there didn't seem to be much point in doing anything else. When he was through with me, Dr. Wang told me to come back on Friday.
That was the beginning of a long, busy week. In a search of Chris Davenport's car, crime lab investigators discovered a few stray pieces of floppy disk confetti although it was impossible to prove conclusively that the debris was actually material from MicroBridge. Why he took the computer disk bag and left the shredded paper, no one has ever been able to figure put.
The most damning evidence was found in his basement. One part consisted of a pair of bloodstained shoes. The blood turned out to be O negative, the same blood type as Tadeo Kurobashi's.
The other was a computer, a new computer still in its original container. The serial number matched the one still on file at the computer store where Tadeo Kurobashi had purchased his daughter's graduation present. We had that smarmy lawyer dead to rights.
In Illinois Alvin Grant was busily working his part of the problem. He called me Wednesday morning.
"What are you finding out? I asked.
He laughed. "Aldo Pappinzino must be going soft in the head. From what I've been able to piece together so far, his youngest daughter fell in love with somebody outside the mob, a young guy who just graduated from college with a degree in electronics. They want to live in Seattle, and Chris Davenport was delegated to find a company the old man could buy for them as a wedding present. Bargain basement prices, of course, and Davenport targeted MicroBridge.
"It almost worked, except for one thing-Kurobashi wouldn't give up. He held on way longer than anybody expected. The wedding is two weeks from now. Pappinzino was getting antsy, so he sent Tabone out to apply a little pressure either to Kurobashi or Davenport, whoever needed it most.
"By the way, Tabone's been up on several suspected rape charges, same kind of MO as the one out there, but he's always been able to weasel out of it before. His extradition hearing is scheduled for two weeks from now. I want to see him try to duck this one.
The whole story was finally coming clear in my mind. "So when Tadeo figured it out, he enabled the virus and destroyed all his own company's records in order to keep them from falling into the new owner's hands?
"That's the way I see it, Grant agreed. "Probably with both Tabone and Davenport right there in the room and helpless to stop it.
Grant's theory made sense to me. It must have driven those two bastards up the wall to be so close to getting what they wanted and then to watch the object of all their cheating and scheming disappear before their very eyes. In the intervening days I had talked to a couple of computer experts who had told me that any misguided attempt by Davenport or someone else to retrieve the information would only have made the virus work that much faster.