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."They're all out of town?""Just about.Everyone's gone to the clinic or some-thing in Pennsylvania namedPage 27ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlShangri-la.The last hoople I talked to says it keeps them young.""That's what all those places claim," Smith said."Yeah, I know.Only this seems to work." He ex-plained the discrepancy betweenthe ages of the party guests and their appearances, and gave Smith Burdich'sinformation on Doctor Foxx."Many people in their fifties look twenty years younger," Smith said as theFolcroft computer banks whirred into action."It seems to be a transitionaltime of life.Foxx, you said?""Felix Foxx."The line was silent except for the noise of the com-puters."That's strange,"Smith said at one point, lapsing back into silence as the bleeps and whizzesin the background increased."It's two degrees above zero, and I'm standing in an open phone booth," Remosaid."Can you think on your own time?""Very strange," Smith said."I've got Felix Foxx here on the screen, but it'sa very sketchy biography,60mostly from IRS files.There seems to be no date of birth.""I suppose that means he doesn't exist," Remo said."It could," Smith answered.Harold W.Smith had total faith in his computers.They did not, as far as he was concerned, produce incorrect responses."He's on TV, for crying out loud," Remo protested."He's on the cover ofPeople magazine.""And his life seems to have begun with the publica-tion of his books," Smithsaid."That's when his IRS records begin.Before then, there are no bankac-counts in his name, no credit cards, nothing.He seems to have materializeda year ago."Remo sighed."I'm just calling in, the way you wanted me to do.I don't careif the guy exists or not.But if you want me, I'll be at Shangri-la." He gavehim the coordinates of the place."Fine.I'll check some cross-references here.""And one more thing.I'll need some money."The bitter voice at the other end rankled."I just gave you several thousanddollars.""I gave most of it to a guy for a beauty treatment."A low whinnying sound issued briefly from the tele-phone before the line wentdead.Chapter SixPatrolman Gary MacArdle opened his desk drawer at the precinct for thetwentieth time since he had come in that day and clutched the small rubberstamp hid-den there.it would be his way out.Out from under Master-charge, the rent, the grocerybills.Out from under the colossal weight of Christmas in New York and thedrain that put on his already straining bank account.The stamp, if he used itoften enough, would pull him out long enough to wait for a promotion and adecent salary.The stamp would bring deliverance.He didn't think it was illegal.Lots of the guys-even the young ones, therookies like himself-were al-ready taking bribes from the street dealers theywere supposed to be arresting and accepting payoffs from whorehouses.ButMacArdle had played it straight.He wanted to be a cop, a good cop.Still, hecould see how a good cop could get twisted after his son's first Christmas,when the accounting came due in Janu-ary.So MacArdle was working overtimeevery night, and he hardly ever saw his wife and kid anymore, and he was deadon his feet, and it didn't matter anymore if it was illegal or not-not at thispoint.6162But Herb downstairs said it wasn't.He'd sworn to it, right there in Records.AH MacArdle had to do was to stamp any report with the word fox in it, andhe'd get a $20 cashier's check from the government.No depart-ment, no name,Page 28ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlno tax.Just money.And Herb would get a check, too, just for adding an extra9 at the front end of the code when he submitted the report for pro-cessinginto the computer.Checking to see that no one was looking, MacArdle pressed the stamp onto hisink pad and stamped a piece of scrap paper in the desk drawer.It printed aseries of numbers beginning with three zeros.How could it be illegal? Nobody except Herb was even going to see the reportbefore it was processed, and Herb was in on it.And afterward, when it hadgone through the computer and come out tagged and ready for filing, nobodywould see it, either, unless it was a big case, but even then it would only bespotted by some computer nerd."But who's giving you the money?" MacArdle had asked Herb down in Records thatday.Herb had done this sort of thing before.Not with fox, but with other keywords.From time to time over the years, Herb, who'd made a career out of the37th precinct's rec-ords, would receive a telephone call.At first he thoughtthe lemony-sounding voice was some kind of crank, but since he had nothing tolose, he'd added the 9 to the appropriate documents just to see what wouldhappen.What had happened was that he'd got-ten a check for each report he'dput through the com-puter with a 9 on it.No strings.No questions [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]