Doreen must have thought about my statements and realized I was right. She softened a bit and said, “Well, thank you for at least hearing me out. And thank you for your advice. I guess I’ll just have to take the tax write-off.”
“See?” I said. “There is a bit of a silver lining in your dark cloud. Thanks for stopping in, Doreen.”
Doreen rose from the client’s chair and slowly walked toward the door again. Before she left, she turned back and said, “I don’t suppose either of you knows where I can find a decent job.”
Gloria and I both shook our heads. Doreen walked out and closed the door.
“Poor kid,” Gloria said. “She’s out all that money and doesn’t have a thing to show for it.”
“Women,” I said, walking back to my desk.
“What about women?” Gloria said.
I waved her off. “Nothing,” I said. “You just wouldn’t see men falling for a scam like that.”
“I beg your pardon,” Gloria said.
“Women are just more gullible,” I said. “It’s just a fact of nature, like the male of the species being the dominant one. Males are typically, bigger, stronger, faster and smarter.”
Gloria rolled up her sleeves and stepped toward me. “Stronger?” she said, with an overtone of anger in her voice.
I held up one palm. “But,” I said, “As with everything else in life, there are exceptions to every rule. You don’t have to prove anything to me. I am aware that you could probably kick my ass here and now, but you’re that exception I was just talking about.”
Gloria stopped advancing toward me. “And I could outshoot you, as well, Mr. Cooper. And if you want to have a footrace, I can humiliate you that way, too. You’d be huffing and puffing on the first park bench you come across and I’d be two miles closer to the finish line. And lastly, Mr. Big Mouth, anytime you want to go toe to toe with me on an I.Q. test, just say the word and we’ll go downtown and take one together.”
“But I’m taller,” I said in my defense. “Look, suppose you just take a few deep breaths and go sit down on the sofa until you calm down.”
“And?” Gloria said.
“And what?” I said.
“And do I hear an apology?” she said.
I thought about debating the whole male-female thing with her, but decided it would be counterproductive. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t realize you were so sensitive about that whole subject.”
Gloria turned and retreated to the leather sofa, rolling down her sleeves on the way. We both sat there in silence when the office door opened again and Dad walked in. He looked at the two of us and noted the tense, silent atmosphere.
“Okay,” he said. “What’s the argument about this time?”
I waved him off. “Let’s not go there, Dad,” I said. “I can fill you in later.”
That sparked Gloria to action. “Clay,” she said. “Were you aware that your son is a big boob?”
Dad looked at me. “I had my suspicions,” Dad said, “But thanks for confirming it for me. What dumb thing did he say this time?”
Gloria gave Dad her version of the encounter.
Dad looked at me. “You didn’t really say those things to her, did you, son?” he said.
“I clarified it by saying that there were exceptions to the rule and that Gloria was one of the exceptions,” I said. “What more can I say?”
“Actually,” Dad said, “It’s how much less you should have said.”
“Yeah yeah,” I said, dismissively. “Can we get back to work now?”
“On what?” Gloria said. “The one client we might have had just walked out the door.”
“Yes,” Dad said. “I met her in the lobby just before I got onto the elevator. She was coming off and we bumped into each other. I told her who I was and we got to talking. I think we can help her.”
“Dad,” I reminded him, “You know even less than I do about the Internet and email and ISPs and whatever else is involved in her case. Just how did you plan on helping her?”
“You’re right,” Dad said. “I, personally, don’t know that much about today’s computer technology, but that’s why we have so many experts each in their own fields. It just so happens that I know someone who’s a real computer geek and he’d be more than happy to help us out on this one.”
“Oh really?” I said. “And just who is this boy genius that you have in your hip pocket?”
“His name is Terry Belmont,” Dad said.
“Who?” I said.
“Terry Belmont,” Dad repeated.
“Never heard of him,” I said.
“Neither had I until yesterday,” Dad said.
“Where’d you meet this computer guru?” Gloria said.
“Where else?” Dad said. “At the computer store. I was in there yesterday during lunch. I figured I’d look around to see what new gadgets were out there. You know, things that we could use in our business to make life easier for us. Well, all the clerks were busy with other customers, and I was about to leave when I spotted this kid in one of the aisles typing away on one of the floor model computers they had on display. I asked him how he knew so much about computers and he said he just picked it up naturally on his own.”
“And how old is Terry?” I said.
“He just turned eighteen,” Dad said. “He graduated from high school a couple of weeks ago and he has the whole summer to do whatever he wants. We talked some more and he said he was looking for a summer job to help with some of his college expenses, so I suggested that he come and spend this summer working with us.”
“You what?” I said. “We hardly have enough work to keep the three of us busy. How are we supposed to find something for this kid to do, and how are we supposed to pay him?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dad said. “If he can do everything he says he can, he’ll pay for himself the first time at bat. For instance, he can help with Doreen Shacklock’s case. I’ve already told him that if he and his expertise don’t get results for us, we won’t be able to keep him on so he agreed to work for a percentage of our fees, providing his efforts result in our success on that case. We can’t lose.”
Gloria and I exchanged looks and I shrugged. “All right,” I said. “What’s he going to do for Doreen?”
“Suppose you ask him yourself,” Dad said. “He’s going to be up here in just a few minutes.”
“And what about Doreen?” Gloria said. “Doesn’t Terry have to talk to her to get the facts?”
“I got the facts from Doreen,” Dad said. “I’ll tell Terry what we need and he should be able to jump right in and get started tracking down that scam artist who took Doreen’s money.”
Dad slipped out of his coat and hung it on the coat rack before taking a seat behind his desk. Several minutes later I heard a weak knock on our office door. “It’s open,” Dad said.
The door opened and a young, skinny kid stepped in. He had a laptop folded shut under his arm. He scanned the room and rested his eyes on Dad. “Hello, Mr. Cooper,” the kid said, walking over to Dad’s desk.
Dad stood up and introduced me and Gloria to the kid. “Terry Belmont,” Dad said, gesturing toward each of us in turn, “This is my son, Elliott and that lovely young lady over there is Gloria Campbell.”
Terry nodded shyly and shifted his feet uneasily. Dad invited him to sit at his desk. “Over here, Terry,” he said, rising from his chair. “You can work from here for now.” Dad explained Doreen Shacklock’s predicament to Terry and gave him a few of the facts in the case.
Terry held up one finger to silence Dad while he typed away at the keyboard on his laptop. In less than two minutes, he had a name and address up on his computer screen. “Is this the guy you’re looking for?” he said.
Gloria and I both got up and stood behind Terry, looking over his shoulder at the laptop screen. It looked like some government site with personal information arranged neatly on the page.
“Who’s that?” I said.
&nb
sp; Terry beamed with pride at his accomplishments. “That is the guy who fleeced Miss Shacklock out of her money. Would you like to know where you can find him?”
Dad looked at me and smiled a smile that had more to do with ‘I told you so’ than it did with smiling. He gestured toward Terry with an upturned palm. Well?” he said, waiting for some sort of response.
“I think we can find a use for him,” I said.
Dad contacted Doreen Shacklock and got her signature on a contract, giving us fifteen percent of her recovered three thousand dollars. The authorities were notified. The scammer was apprehended and Doreen’s money was recovered, all in the space of three days. Dad collected four hundred fifty dollars from Doreen and gave Terry forty-five dollars as his ten percent of the fee he had helped collect.
“You can’t make it any easier than that,” Dad told Terry.
Terry folded the two twenties and the five and stuffed them in his jeans. “I guess not,” he said. “What else do you have for me to do?”
Dad looked at me and Gloria and we just shrugged. “Nothing at the moment, Terry,” I said. “But just hang in there. Dad convinced Doreen to give us a good recommendation, since she wasn’t the only victim to this kind of scam.”
A week and a half had passed and during that time two other work-at-home scam victims came to see us about recovering their hard-earned money. Once Terry started looking into this whole Internet scam, he found out that there were at least seventeen such companies operating in Southern California. Nine of those closed up shop and moved on when they got wind that some of the others were being investigated and arrested. Our two clients had been fleeced by one or more of the remaining eight fraudulent companies that offered work-at-home opportunities.
Dad, Terry and I stopped by the twelfth precinct to pay a visit to Detective Lieutenant Dean Hollister. Dad told him that we’d located another scammer and asked if he’d bring some backup along and arrest them. He had to let us come along, since it was our company that had exposed and located them. Terry would be on the scene to help interpret computer lingo and describe what the police were looking at as far as the operations of the scammers. Dad told Dean that we’d follow him in our own car.
Terry had written the location of these latest con men on a slip of paper and I’d slipped it into my shirt pocket before leaving the office. I’d given it to Dean back in his office and now we were just a block away from the building that housed the room where the phony Internet ad had originated.
Dean and Detective Sergeant Eric Anderson stood on either side of the front door of this otherwise plain-looking house in the middle of Hollywood. Several other officers covered the back door and both sides of the house.
Dean banged on the door with his fist. “Open up,” Dean bellowed. “Police. I have a warrant.” He could hear a flurry of noises coming from inside and quickly threw his shoulder against the door. It gave and he stormed in with Detective Anderson close behind him.
Dad and I followed at a safe distance. Terry remained in the car. By the time we’d entered the main operations room, Dean had two men in handcuffs. The officers at the back door had two more in custody. The officers covering the sides of the house also came in through the back door.
We looked around the room. There were at least a dozen different computers set up in one room, each with a connection to the Internet. Their screens revealed lists of customer names and addresses. On a sheet of typing paper, taped to the wall above one of the monitors was a script, of sorts. It was the verbiage that these crafty salesmen used when communicating with an unwary victim-to-be. Dean pulled a small digital camera out of his pocket and began snapping pictures of everything in the room, with close-ups on the script taped to the wall.
Dad stuck his head out the front door and gave a loud, shrill whistle toward our car, waving to Terry. Terry caught the signal and hurried into the house. He stopped just inside the doorway and looked at the setup.
Dean looked at Terry and said, “Have a seat, Terry. Tell us what’s going on with these computers, would you, please?”
Terry’s fingers danced across the keyboard and several series of numbers scrolled up the screen. When he’d finished, he hit another key and the printer that sat next to the desktop computer spat out several pages of code as well as a customer list. He pulled the papers from the printer tray and handed them to Dean.
“This should be all you need to get a conviction,” Terry said. “Besides the customer list, you’ll also find bank account numbers with their respective totals and the names of which customer paid these guys, as well as how much they were taken for.”
Dean looked at the papers with awe. “That’s amazing,” Dean said. “Where did you learn all this stuff?”
Terry looked away, as if not wanting to be in anyone’s spotlight. He shrugged, trying to minimize his accomplishments.
“Come on, Terry,” I said. “Tell Lieutenant Hollister how you got so good at this.”
Hesitantly, Terry spoke up. “I was busted when I was sixteen for hacking into people’s computers. Actually, I got caught breaking into the computer at City Hall.”
I looked at Terry in a different light after that statement. I wasn’t certain if having him connected with Cooper Investigations would hurt us or help us, but I did know that I’d have to give some more thought to whether or not I’d be using his services again.
When Dean had finished with Terry’s analysis of the situation, he told Dad he’d be in touch and thanked us for our help. To me, it sounded like Dean’s way of dismissing us, so I gestured to Dad and Terry and the three of us left the house and walked back to the car. It was a long, silent ride back to our building and when we got there, I looked at Dad and pointed with my chin to the front door of our building. Dad took my meaning and left me standing there with Terry.
“Terry,” I started to say.
Terry waved me off. “You don’t have to say it, Elliott,” he said. “I could see it in your face. You’re not sure you want to keep me around, and frankly, I don’t blame you. But if I might say something in my defense, I admit breaking into the computer at City hall and a few others, but I didn’t do it to steal anything or hurt anyone. I just did it because I could. And what I learned about computer security has helped me pursue a career that I love. I don’t know how or if I can convince you that I have only the best of intentions. But I’ll tell you this much. If you stick with me, you’ll never be sorry. I know I can use my computer knowledge for good. And isn’t that your goal, too?”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “There is something in what you say, Terry,” I told him. “But I’m going to need some time to sort this out before I make a decision on whether to continue our association with you. Give me a few days to ask around and look into things and I’ll get back to you one way or the other. Fair enough?”
Terry nodded. “Fair enough,” he said, and walked away, his laptop tucked under his arm.
I met Dad upstairs in the office. He was talking with Gloria when I came in. They stopped talking and turned to me.
“So?” Gloria said. “What did you tell him?”
I slid into my office chair behind my desk and put my feet up. “Well,” I said, “I told him to give me a few days to talk this over with you two and that I’d be doing a little research and background checking on him before I called him back one way or the other.”
“What are you going to check?” Dad said.
“First,” I said, “I want to talk to Dean and see if he has a record. Then I need to research a little into the whole computer culture and see what they have to say about Terry. After that, I don’t know. It might just come down to my gut feeling.”
“Gut feeling,” Gloria said. “Would that be the male equivalent of women’s intuition?”
I didn’t answer, but just gave her my knowing look.
“He did help us out on this last one,” Dad said. “Do either of you have that kind of expertise with computers?”
Neither Gloria nor I offered any rebuttal.
“And hiring a computer expert every time the occasion calls for it could prove expensive,” Dad said. “And remember, Terry’s only going to be available until college starts in September. After that it’s a moot point.”
“There is that,” I agreed.
The next morning as the three of us came into work, I sat behind my desk and opened the lid on my laptop. Our morning routine generally consisted of the three of us checking our emails to see if anyone had requested information on our services. My computer came out of its sleep mode and my pastoral scene wallpaper filled the screen. Before I could click on my email icon a medium-sized window opened in the middle of my screen.
“What the…?” I said. Almost simultaneously, Gloria said almost the same thing, looking at her own screen. My window had a bright red boarder around it with a title across the top that said simply, Good Morning, Elliott. I looked over at Gloria, who was studying her screen intently. “Did you get a strange window on your screen, too?” I said.
Gloria nodded. I looked at Dad. He nodded, too. I looked back at my own screen and continued to read the text inside the box. It said:
“Good Morning, Elliott. Before you become alarmed, let me assure you that there is no virus or anything else harmful connected to this message. It is just another way for me to demonstrate to the three of you that I have only the best intentions. In fact, if you will run through your regular routines, you will find that all three of your computers are now running faster and more efficiently. I took the liberty of cleaning up all of your temporary Internet files. I’ve also optimized your operating system and doubled your processer’s speed. Be sure and let me know if I can do anything else to serve you and Cooper Investigations.”
It was signed, Terry. I looked over at Gloria and asked what her message said. It said almost word for word what my message said with the exception of an additional sentence at the end of Gloria’s message. It said:
The Complete Cooper Collection (All 97 Stories) Page 180