Michael Connelly - Chasing the Dime

The Proteus formula was simple and that was its beauty and value. Pierce imagined all forward nanoresearch in the field being based upon this one discovery. Experimentation and other discoveries and inventions leading to practical use formerly seen as two decades or longer out on the horizon might now be half again as close to reality.

The discovery, made just three months earlier while Pierce was in the midst of his difficulties with Nicole, was the single most exciting moment of his life.

"Our buildings, to you, would seem terribly small," Pierce whispered as he finished his review of the patents. "But to us, who aren't big, they are wonderfully tall."

The words of Dr. Seuss.

Pierce was pleased with the package. As usual, Kaz had done an excellent job of blending science-speak and layman's language in the top sheets of each patent. The meat of each application, however, contained the science and the diagrammed segments of the formula. These pages were written by Pierce and Larraby and had been reviewed by both researchers repeatedly.

The application package was good to go, in Pierce's opinion. He was excited. He knew floating such a patent application package into the nanoworld would bring a flood of publicity and a subsequent rise in investor interest. The plan was to show the discovery to Maurice Goddard first and lock down his investment, then submit the applications. If all went well, Goddard would realize he had a short lead and a short window of opportunity and would make a preemptive strike, signing up as the company's main funding source.

Pierce and Charlie Condon had carefully choreographed it. Goddard would be shown the discovery. He would be allowed to check it out for himself in the tunneling electron microscope. He would then have twenty-four hours to make his decision. Pierce wanted a minimum of $18 million over three years. Enough to charge forward faster and further than any competitor. And he was offering 10 percent of the company in exchange.

Pierce wrote a congratulatory note to Jacob Kaz on a yellow Post-it and attached it to the cover sheet of the Proteus application package. He then locked it back in the safe. He'd have it sent by secure transport to Kaz's office in Century City in the morning. No faxes, no e-mails. Pierce might even drive it over himself.

He leaned back, threw another Oreo into his mouth and checked his watch. It was two o'clock. An hour had gone by since he had been in the office but it had seemed like only ten minutes. It felt good to have the feeling again, the vibe. He decided to capitalize on it and move into the lab to do some real work. He grabbed the rest of the cookies and got up.

"Lights."

Pierce was in the hallway pulling the door closed on the darkened office when the phone rang. It was the distinctive double ring of his private line. Pierce pushed the door back open.

"Lights."

Few people had his direct office number but one of them was Nicole. Pierce quickly moved around the desk and looked down at the caller ID screen on the phone. It said private caller and he knew it wasn't Nicole, because her cell phone and the line from the house on Amalfi were uncloaked. Pierce hesitated but then remembered that Cody Zeller had the number. He picked up the phone.

"Mr. Pierce?"

It wasn't Cody Zeller.

"Yes?"

"It's Philip Glass. You called me yesterday?"

The private investigator. Pierce had forgotten.

"Oh. Yes, yes. Thanks for calling back."

"I didn't get the message until today. What can I do for you?"

"I want to talk to you about Lilly Quinlan. She's missing. Her mother hired you a few weeks ago. From Florida."

"Yes, but I am no longer employed on that one."

Pierce remained standing behind his desk. He put his hand on top of the computer monitor as he spoke.

"I understand that. But I was wondering if I could talk to you about it. I have Vivian Quinlan's permission. You can check with her if you want. You still have her number?"

It took a long while for Glass to respond, so long that Pierce thought he may have quietly hung up.

"Mr. Glass?"

"Yes, I'm here. I'm just thinking. Can you tell me what your interest is in all of this?"

"Well, I want to find her."

This was met with more silence and Pierce started to understand that he was dealing from a position of weakness. Something was going on with Glass, and Pierce was at a disadvantage for not knowing it. He decided to press his case. He wanted the meeting.

"I'm a friend of the family," he lied. "Vivian asked me to see what I could find out."

"Have you talked to the LAPD?"

Pierce hesitated. Instinctively he knew that Glass's cooperation might be riding on his answer. He thought about the events of the night before and wondered if they could already be known by Glass. Renner had said he knew Glass and he most likely planned to call him. It was Sunday afternoon. Maybe the police detective was waiting until Monday, since Glass seemed to be on the periphery of the case.

"No," he lied again. "My understanding from Vivian was that the LAPD wasn't interested in this."

"Who are you, Mr. Pierce?"

"What? I don't under -"

"Who do you work for?"

"No one. Myself, actually."

"You're a PI?"

"What's that?"

"Come on."

"I mean it. I don't under -oh, private investigator. No, I'm not a PI. Like I said, I'm a friend."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a researcher. I'm a chemist. I don't see what this has to do with -"

"I can see you today. But not at my office. I'm not going in today."

"Okay, then where? When?"

"One hour from now. Do you know a place in Santa Monica called Cathode Ray's?"

"On Eighteenth, right? I'll be there. How will we know each other?"

"Do you have a hat or something distinctive to wear?"

Pierce leaned down and opened an unlocked desk drawer. He pulled out a baseball cap with blue stitched letters over the brim.

"I'll be wearing a gray baseball cap. It says MOLES in blue stitching above the brim."

"Moles? As in the small burrowing animal?"

Pierce almost laughed.

"As in molecules. The Fighting Moles was the name of our softball team. Back when we had one. My company sponsored it. It was a long time ago."

"I'll see you at Cathode Ray's. Please come alone. If I feel you are not alone or it looks like a setup, you won't see me."

"A setup? What are you -"

Glass hung up and Pierce was listening to dead space.

He put down the phone and put on the hat. He considered the strange questions the private detective had asked and thought about what he had said at the end of the conversation and how he had said it. Pierce realized it was almost as if he had been scared of something.

Cathode Ray's was a hangout for the tech generation -usually everybody in the place had a laptop or a PDA on the table next to their double latte. The place was open twentyfour hours a day and provided power and high-speed phone jacks at every table.

Connections to local Internet service providers only. It was close to Santa Monica College and the film production and fledgling software districts of the Westside, and it had no corporate affiliations. These combined to make it a popular place with the plugged-in set.

Pierce had been there on many prior occasions, yet he thought it an odd choice by Glass for the meeting. Glass sounded like an older man over the phone, his voice gravelly and tired. If that was the case, then he would stand out in a place like Cathode Ray's.

Considering the paranoia that had come over the phone line from him, it seemed strange for him to have picked the coffee shop for the meeting.

At three o'clock Pierce entered Cathode Ray's and took a quick scan around the place for an older man. No one stood out. No one looked at him. He got in line for coffee.