Sex and Murder.com: A Paul Turner Mystery by Mark Richard Zubro

surprisingly effective. Everybody liked him and Brooks. They were great guys to work for. The salaries here are high. The benefits are terrific.”
    “Who fired people?” Turner asked. “Who dealt with company problems?”
    “I didn’t work on hiring and firing, but these were good people.”
    “Not one disgruntled employee, ever?” Fenwick asked.
    “This is a cooperative group working on the cutting edge of technology. This is a place people were eager to come to work. There’s a waiting line just for accepting applications. This is paradise. Sure, everybody’s got an ego, probably some pretty big ones, but not big enough to kill for.”
    “Who has the biggest egos?”
    “Craig and Brooks. When you’re as bright as they are, you’ve earned the right to a big ego.”
    “Do you know of any clashes of any kind Lenzati might have had?”
    “No. I never did. My department deals with numbers.”
    “What do you guys actually make?” Fenwick asked.
    “We provide goods and services,” Waldron said. “Computer games, operating systems, network security—any—thing on the cutting edge of technology.”
    “What kind of life did Mr. Lenzati live outside of the office?” Turner asked.
    “I have no idea. He and Brooks worked from sixteen to twenty hours a day. I’ve been with them since the old company. I left with them when they started this new venture. I finished my first advanced computer degree from college at nineteen. We weren’t close outside of business hour: I’m not sure they had much of a life outside of business.”
    Turner said “We’ve been told about late night parties at Mr. Lenzati’s. You know anything about them?”
    Waldron looked genuinely mystified. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
    “You never stepped out for a night with the boss?”
    “No. There might be social events here, but they were very subdued—like cakes for birthdays kinds of things. Those were just interdepartmental, small lunchtime events.”
    Fenwick said, “They had millions to spend on luxury yachts, vacations, trips to exotic locales. They never did any of those?”
    “They might have bought entire exotic locales for that matter. For all I know, they did. I dealt strictly with the business. For their personal stuff you’d have to look elsewhere.”
    “Where?” Turner asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Isn’t that kind of odd?” Turner asked.
    “It’s the way they did business. Their paychecks and profits went into electronic accounts controlled by them.”
    “Who did their taxes?” Fenwick asked.
    “You’d have to ask Brooks.”
    Turner said, “We were told that sometimes Mr. Lenzati dated women, brought them to functions.”
    “Yes, Craig did. They were usually bright and funny women.”
    “Do you remember any of their names?” Turner asked.
    “I vaguely remember a few first names, but no addresses or anything. He never brought the same one around more than a few times. I’m not very social. None of us really is. I’m not good at it and I’m not sure Craig was either.”
    “Were there business problems?” Turner asked. “Did the firm have any trouble with industrial sabotage or computer hackers?”
    “You mean crackers, of course,” Waldron said. “By strict definition a hacker is somebody who develops programs and makes them better. Crackers break into computer systems.”
    “Whichever it is,” Fenwick said. “Was there a problem?”
    “They were always on the alert. Complete checks of all equipment are done on a weekly basis. If there are possible problems, sometimes the checks are daily.”
    “Were there problems?” Turner asked.
    “I don’t know. You’d have to speak with the engineers.”
    Turner said, “Mr. Werberg said they had no rivals.”
    “I’d put it that they had no equals. Aren’t there always others who wish they have what you have? Although in this case, I have no idea who that would be specifically.”
    “Who would know?”
    “Rian Davis, the