Treadway Productions listed Peter Delacourte as comptroller for two and one half years before joining WesCat as chief financial officer. Treadway was a subsidiary of Marvision. One that dealt exclusively with adult entertainment.

"There's where our friend would connect with someone like Howard Tillman." Gil said, pointing at the screen.

"Which backs up my theory that he fed the information to Myles at one end and Moira fed it in the other." She shifted and laughed lightly. "Conjures up a bizarre picture, doesn't it?"

"Please, Jarlayne. Just for once?" Gil scribbled some notes on his pad, tore the sheet off and went to his outer office. "Print out a copy of that info, would you please." He called back.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't answer but when he came back the look on his face said something like – suspicions confirmed. "This is the log of all the calls again. I don't see why his name never came up when Myles and Moira were exposed. Myles had to get his cues elsewhere, I'm sure of it." He began poring over the information with Mike.

"Why so smug?"

"Delacourte received a call on his cloned phone from Forbin's house."

"So? They do work together."

"It's the only one—"

"Gil, that doesn't mean—"

"There was also a call to the prison from Forbin's house. It only lasted two minutes."

"Myles would have no reason to call Brian?" Jarlayne stared at the two men, as their thoughts seemed to shoot back and forth like electrical charges. "Miriam?" She blurted.

Mike flopped back in his chair, rubbing his head with his palms. "This is getting a little too dense for me. Are you suggesting now that Forbin's wife is somehow involved and he never knew? Nobody knew?"

"That phone call certainly raises some funny questions." Gil kept staring at the sheet of paper. "Both calls. But why would Miriam be calling Brian, particularly in the jailhouse? Let's back up and do this step by step." Gil adjusted himself on the seat and placed his hands on the desk.

"Brian, Peter and Myles all wanted the merger to go through—for whatever reasons. They needed Moira's shares to carry the vote but Moira was loyal to Barton... at least that was the picture everyone had, so they decided to set up a campaign to win her over. Brian chose the old seduction route but didn't know that Peter had already approached her with a plot to not only win the merger but take over the company." Mike and Jarlayne began to fidget and he held up a hand. "This is the tricky part. Moira was to get Brian on tape so that she could set him up for a confrontation with her husband but she needed help. Enter Myles. Peter suggested she tease Myles into taking part and arranging all the necessary technical stuff with promises of power in the new WesCat. They get Barton to confront Brian but Brian accidentally kills him, which kills two birds—so to speak—for Moira and Peter. So far so good." Gil rubbed his head and thought for a minute before continuing.

"What Moira didn't know, was that she was also being used by Peter. Peter had a deal with Miriam—"

"Oh c'mon, Petchorik. This is getting ridiculous." Mike turned to Jarlayne for support.

"Let him finish, we can shoot it all down when he's done." She bathed Mike with a persuasive smile.

"It fits with the phone calls." Gil protested. "Miriam was goading Myles at home, feeding him hints as to how to go about getting the people he needed for the frame. Where the whole thing fell apart was when Tubbs and then Tillman got greedy, and here's another break for the bad guys. Myles gets killed and Moira gets caught leaving Peter and Miriam free to take the money and run." Gil took a breath and sat up. "Well?"

"Jesus, this is nuts."

"What about the call to Brian from Forbin's?" Jarlayne asked. "Let's not forget that Brian was only using Moira. He wasn't trying to steal her away from Barton. What were his plans after the merger?"

Gil stared at her, chewing his lip. "You know, he never once really showed any remorse over killing Barton, only the fact that somehow Moira had dropped him in something he didn't expect." He played with his chin, gazing off out the window.

"Oh no, here he goes down another road. This is too much for me." Mike stood and pushed his chair away, brushing his hands along the side of his head.

"Wait! Wait a minute. What if it was Brian and Miriam all along? What if they were playing everybody? When Brian got arrested for killing Barton they expected he would be charged with self-defense and after a short time, released. Nothing they couldn't deal with. When it became murder he began to panic and Miriam would have had to do a lot more manipulating to undo the effect of the tapes." He sat forward again, excited. "What if Miriam pushed Tillman into double-crossing Myles and Moira?" Mike threw his hands up and spun around, groaning. "No, really. Why not? It conveniently takes Myles, Moira and Tillman out of the game and just leaves Peter to deal with. Meanwhile Brian gets released as they originally figured."

"How do they deal with Peter?" Jarlayne was intent on Gil's theory. She tapped some keys on her computer and tapped her nails, waiting for it to bring up her search. "Hah! Look at this." She turned the laptop toward the two men. "The market is in an uproar this morning. Some WesCat stock was apparently sold last night and it has dropped to gas pipe levels."

"That had to be Peter."

Mike frowned at the screen and pulled at his nose. "If your fairy tale is true, Delacourte has a bag full of loot from the stock fraud and is off to meet Mrs. Barton because he thinks they're still an item." He reached for the phone.

"What?"

"I'm getting my people to call around and find Delacourte. I also want to know where your friend Brian is."

Gil took out his phone and punched in Brian's number. "Nothing. I'll try his office." A few minutes later her hung up and shook his head. "How about I try Forbin's number?" Mike nodded as he spoke quickly, giving instructions to his office. Gil jiggled his legs while the telephone rang.

"Forbin residence, may I ask who calls?"

"Hello, is uh Mrs. Forbin there, please?"

"Who calls, please?"

"My name is Petchorik. I'm a lawyer and I need to speak with Mrs. Forbin. Is she—"

"Mrs. Forbin not at home. I will take a message."

"Do you know where she is?"

"Mrs. Forbin does not like me to give out such information. You leave message."

"Look ahh- what's your name?"

"Abatha."

"Look, Abatha, this is very important. I must speak with Mrs. Forbin as soon as possible. I promise you won't get in any trouble for telling me where she is. I'm with the police right now, a Detective Aznasous will confirm the emergency."

"Police! Oh dear, I know nothing. You leave message."

Thirty minutes later the visibly shaken Abatha was being comforted in the large living room of the Forbin home by a female constable after divulging her mistresses whereabouts to Mike and two minutes later, Mike, Gil and Jarlayne were speeding to Heaven's Gateway Funeral Home.