He grunted again. “Not saying you don’t, my girl. Turning the other cheek isn’t the only advice Our Lord gives people. Just saying you need to remember you’re not Almighty God sitting in judgment on Robert Baladine. Not why I asked you to read the lesson, though—wasn’t trying to teach you a lesson.” He laughed heartily at his little pun. “I wanted some company. It’s a big cold church to celebrate mass in by myself.”

Morrell’s arrival cut the theology discussion short. He dropped the papers in front of me with a coffee and a bag of Michigan peaches.

“Triple Crown, Warshawski. All three Chicago dailies, not to mention the gorilla from New York.”

I snatched the stack from him. The gorilla was on top and began with its usual rotund phrases.

CONFUSION REIGNS AT CARNIFICE SECURITY

Oak Brook, Ill.— The Illinois prairie in this upscale community west of Chicago has been replaced by smooth sod and cool white marble, but inside the Carnifice office tower, life is anything but placid on this Labor Day. Robert Baladine is emphatically contradicting an e–mail message received by Carnifice clients yesterday announcing his resignation as chairman and CEO of Carnifice Security, while his staff scurries to explain how a third party could have breached the security provider’s own defenses to post messages on Mr. Baladine’s e–mail server.

These messages bear the unmistakable “fingerprint” of Mr. Baladine’s personal e–mail address. They say, in part, that impending publicity about alleged misconduct at the Coolis correctional facility that Carnifice runs is forcing Mr. Baladine to resign (see Page C23 for the complete text of the e–mail received by Ajax Insurance in Chicago). The misconduct is an alleged use of the Coolis correctional facility to manufacture T–shirts and jackets for the Global Entertainment company. This is in violation of Illinois law, which forbids sale of prison manufactures outside the state prison system. Congressman Blair Yerkes (R–Ill.) has called for a complete investigation of the prison to see whether there is any truth to the allegation. “I have known BB Baladine since we hunted together as boys, and I utterly repudiate the suggestion that he has lied.”

In the meantime, more disturbing to Carnifice clients is the possibility that an outsider could penetrate Carnifice’s own computer. It means that confidential—often highly volatile—data entrusted to the security firm is at risk for dissemination across the Web. As Ajax Chairman Ralph Devereux said, “From our standpoint, we’re left with two equally unpleasant possibilities: either Robert Baladine is lying about his resignation, or a hacker has been able to bypass all of Carnifice’s security measures. Either way, the instability of the company’s head honcho leaves us wondering whether Carnifice is the right company to handle our most private matters.”