“If those two are the ringleaders, they had a plan and they stuck to it. They had to have raked in a ton of money to date. Think about it, Maggie. Just take Wong, one guy, and they skinned him out of a quarter of a million bucks. We know of almost thirty others in your profiles. Multiply that by the same number, so they can well afford to live in the Watergate.

“One other thing. What’s to say they don’t do this in other states? They could do it in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, anywhere. There is a glitch, though, and I’m working on it. I should know something more tomorrow. I don’t know if the husband and wife used their real names when they worked at the banks. They could have been aliases. If they’re as smart as I think they are, they probably created new identities for themselves—because I couldn’t check back more than five years on either one of them. Whenever I tried to go beyond that date, I simply hit a brick wall. You, Maggie, I could trace back to the day you were born, but not these two, which pretty much confirms what I just said. For all intents and purposes, they were born five years ago. That’s when they put the wheels in motion, and this is where we are.

“I have both of their Social Security numbers, and I’m running them. They each have an American Express Black Card, you know, the Centurion. You flash one of those babies and the world is yours. Since January, they have both traveled quite a bit. She goes east and he goes west. Sometimes to Podunk towns, where they probably rent cars and drive to big cities. They’re careful, I’ll give them that. Like I said, hire a couple of dicks and sit back and see what shakes out. I gotta go home now. I have to go to work tomorrow.”

“No you don’t, you skunk. You snookered me. IBM never heard of you. I had my secretary call every office in the land. I’m gonna get you for that, Abner.”

“It sounded good, didn’t it?” Abner laughed. “Feel free to lose my number. Feel free to forget about me.”

In spite of herself, Maggie laughed. “Are you really getting married?”

“Hell, no! Do you think I’m a fool? However, I am taking the lady to Hawaii. To make you happy, we’ll pretend we’re on a honeymoon.”

Abner turned serious. “Maggie, be careful, okay? I’m thinking this is a pretty big ring, and people like that play dirty if they feel threatened.”

Tongue in cheek, Maggie said, “Even the vigilantes?”

Still serious, Abner’s response sent a chill down Maggie’s spine. “Yeah, even the vigilantes. I’ll call you when I know more. See ya, Maggie.”

Maggie took a step closer. “Listen, Abby, all the bullshit aside, thanks for coming through for me. I won’t forget it.”

In a rare moment of honesty, Abner cupped Maggie’s face in his two hands. “For you, Maggie, anything. I’m sorry that you and I…never…that we…remember that song Whitney Houston used to sing, ‘I Will Always Love You’? I will, you know. Bye.”