“I don’t know why he kept a record. Maybe he thought that someday he would change his mind and blow the whistle on all the others. It wasn’t his insurance, what a man puts in a safe deposit box. And it wasn’t a rat’s nest; he wasn’t a compulsive saver. I could see in the way the things were boxed that he had them in files and drawers in a genuine, maintainable system. He wasn’t afraid, or he wouldn’t have kept some of the things. The most distinguishing feature of it all is its completeness. If he had been afraid, he would have disposed of or secreted some of it, but he didn’t.”

The waitress was coming. Mike turned to the window again, as if he simply could not expend the energy that small talk required. He waited a long time after she was gone.

“The coded books are informal, simplified copies of other books held elsewhere, and my guess is that he worked on those other books, returned to his office, and transcribed what he could remember. In the letters and documents are cross-references attesting to his memory. Some people would say out of hand that he could not have done it, but I’ve seen it. Adding that double column of figures had to be nothing to him. Letters and documents refer to appliances; in his books they turn up as kitchen sinks. In the letters are references to payments; in his books they turn up as C12H22O11.”

“What is that?”

“I looked it up. Sugar.”

“You said a sense of humor.”

“Very much so. In total, the ‘sugar’ items run into thousands. The books don’t specify where the payments went, but that can be deduced from the letters and memoranda.”

“Where?”

“You name it, Joe. I’m not kidding.”

“Swell.”

“I believe he kept up the codes to entertain himself and to ward off casual snoopers, such as his secretary. A few of his personal papers, his gambling records, for example, had little games in them.”

“How did he do with the gambling?”

“He dropped forty-six thousand in two years.”

“Lost it?”

“That’s right.”

“What about his taxes? Maybe he anticipated having to conceal winnings.”

“No. MacIver was like the little girl with the curl. At some things he was a model citizen. His tax returns show that he absorbed his losses completely, paying his taxes on them in full. He claimed the usual entertainment and other expenses that businessmen claim, and they do seem legitimate. Put it another way. He was too smart to cheat on his taxes. Under the law, Colin MacIver is absolutely clean.”

“What about bribery?”