Chapter 17

A MAMMOTH¹ LOGO in the shape of an interlocking X and L stood atop the brick-and-glass building on a promontory² jutting³ into the bay. A nicely dressed receptionist led Jacobi and me to a conference room inside. On the paneled walls, articles and magazine covers featuring Morton Lightower's glowing face ran the length of the room. One Forbes cover asked, CAN ANYONE IN SILICON⁴ VALLEY STOP THIS MAN?

"Just what does this company do?" I asked Jacobi.

"High-speed switches or something. They move data over the Internet. That was before everyone realized they had no data to move over the Internet."

The door to the conference room opened and two men stepped in. One had salt-and-pepper hair and a ruddy com-plexion, a well-cut suit. Lawyer. The other, heavy and bald-ing, with an open plaid shirt. Tech.

"Chuck Zinn," the suit introduced himself, offering a card to Jacobi. "I'm X/L's CLO. You're Lieutenant⁵ Boxer⁶?"

"I'm Lieutenant Boxer." I stared at the card and sniffed⁷. "What's a CLO?"

"Chief legal officer." He bowed apologetically. "This is Gerry Cates, who helped found the company with Mort.

"Needless to say, we're horrified⁸ around here." The two men took seats, as we did, around the conference table. "Most of us have known Mort since the beginning. Gerry went to Berkeley with him. I want to start by promising⁹ the full coop-eration of the company."

"Are there any leads?" Cates inquired. "We've heard Caitlin is missing."

"We're doing everything we can to follow up on the baby. We were told the family had an au pair - who's missing. Any help you could give in finding her?"

"Maybe Helene could help you out. Mort's secretary." Cates looked at the lawyer.

"I think that's doable." Zinn scratched a note.

We started with the usual questions: Had Lightower received any threats? Were they aware of anyone who'd want to do him harm?

"No." Gerry Cates shook his head and glanced at the lawyer. "Of course, Mort's financial affairs were paraded all over the media," he continued. "People are always popping off at shareholder¹⁰ meetings. Financial watchdogs. Hell, you want to redo your kitchen, they're crying you're bleeding the company."

Jacobi sniffed. "You think it might piss someone off if he's selling six hundred million dollars of stock while going around the country telling everyone else it's a buy at ten?"

"We can't control our share price, Inspector," Cates replied, clearly upset by the question.

A tense silence settled over the room.

"You'll provide us a list of all your clients," I said.

"Doable." The lawyer jotted¹¹ down a note again.

"And we'll need access to his private computers, e-mail, and correspondence." I lobbed a grenade at the CLO.

The lawyer's pen never touched the page. "Those files are private, Lieutenant. I think I'd better check our legal footing before I can agree to that."

"I thought you were the legal footing," Jacobi said with a grin.

"Your boss has been murdered, Mr. Zinn. I'm afraid they're our matters now. There was a note at the bomb scene," I said. I pushed across a copy of the photo. "It referred to Morton Lightower as an `enemy of the people.' There's a name at the bottom, August Spies. Mean anything to either of you?"

Zinn blinked. Cates took a deep breath, his eyes suddenly blank.

"I don't need to remind you that this is a murder investi-gation," I said. "If anyone's holding something back, now would be the time..."

"No one's holding anything back," Gerry Cates said stiffly.

"You probably want to talk to Helene now." The CLO straightened his pad, as if the meeting was over.

"What I want is Lightower's office sealed, now. And I want access to all correspondence. Computer files as well. And e-mail."

"I'm not sure that's doable, Lieutenant." Chuck Zinn arched back in his chair.

"Let me tell you what's doable, Mr. Zinn." I fastened on his phony, compliant¹² grin. "What's doable is that we're back here in two hours with a subpoena¹³, and anything deleted from those files in the past twenty-four hours goes under the heading of impeding¹⁴ a murder investigation¹⁵. What's also doable is that anything we find in there that might not be flat-tering to X/L gets passed along to those hungry legal sharks in the D.A.'s office. Any of that sound doable, Mr. Zinn?"

Gerry Cates leaned toward his lawyer. "Chuck, maybe we could work something out."

"Of course we can work something out." Zinn nodded. "But I'm afraid that's all we have time for today. And you must be busy as well. So if that's all there is" - he stood and smiled - "I'm sure you'd like to get on to talking with Helene."

1 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

2 promontory   

n.海角；岬

参考例句：

• Genius is a promontory jutting out of the infinite.天才是茫茫大地突出的岬角。
• On the map that promontory looks like a nose,naughtily turned up.从地图上面，那个海角就像一只调皮地翘起来的鼻子。

3 jutting   

v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出

参考例句：

• The climbers rested on a sheltered ledge jutting out from the cliff. 登山者在悬崖的岩棚上休息。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldier saw a gun jutting out of some bushes. 那士兵看见丛林中有一枝枪伸出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

5 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

6 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

7 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

9 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

10 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

11 jotted   

v.匆忙记下( jot的过去式和过去分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下

参考例句：

• I jotted down her name. 我匆忙记下了她的名字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The policeman jotted down my address. 警察匆匆地将我的地址记下。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 compliant   

adj.服从的，顺从的

参考例句：

• I don't respect people who are too compliant.我看不起那种唯命是从，唯唯诺诺的人。
• For years I had tried to be a compliant and dutiful wife.几年来，我努力做一名顺从和尽职尽职的妻子。

13 subpoena   

n.（法律）传票；v.传讯

参考例句：

• He was brought up to court with a subpoena.他接到传讯，来到法庭上。
• Select committees have the power to subpoena witnesses.特别委员会有权传唤证人。

14 impeding   

a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的

参考例句：

• Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers. 坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
• Is there sufficient room for the kiosk and kiosk traffic without impeding other user traffic? 该环境下是否有足够的空间来摆放信息亭？信息亭是否会妨碍交通或者行走？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。