How to Succeed in Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

tools—which as near as I could tell were bits of computer programs—and had bundled them into a hugely popular product.
    “I’ve never heard of it,” I said. “How can it be hugely popular?”
    Eileen almost refrained from rolling her eyes and suggested that the Zakdan offerings were probably more well-known among people who’d majored in subjects other than English Literature.
    Brenda continued.
    The next Zakdan goldmine had involved games. They developed another set of tools that made it a lot easier to program computer games. Apparently just about every blood-splattering, engine-revving, demon-hunting game on the market had bits of Zakdan technology at its core.
    Then they turned their attention to the emerging needs of web-site developers. Since this was right about the time when everyone and his brother had decided to get a web site, they’d made another fortune. That’s when the two had gone their separate ways, taking their separate millions.
    “They got out just before the whole internet bubble burst,” Eileen marveled. “They couldn’t have timed it better if they’d popped the thing themselves.”
    “Are you sure they didn’t?” I asked. “It sounds like they were smart enough to.”
    “Charley, the high-tech crash was precipitated by a variety of economic and market—”
    “Stop!” I held up my hands. “Please—not Internet Economics 101.” I turned to Brenda. “Just tell me what happened to Zakdan next.”
    Eileen’s sigh indicated I was turning my back on a priceless learning opportunity, but she nodded to Brenda.
    “That’s when Morgan Stokes was named CEO,” she told us. “He had a fairly rough time at first, because the bottom was dropping out of the market and a lot of the most senior people left when the founders took off. But in a way he was lucky, because with every other firm in the business having massive layoffs, he was able to hire in some of the best talent as they became available.”
    “Like Clara Chen,” I said.
    “Yes.” She paused for a moment, as we remembered the reason we were interested in all of this.
    Brenda cleared her throat. “A few of the old guard stayed on. Some of them are still there. But most of the exec staff joined at about that time.”
    “And what are they all doing for their millions now?” I asked.
    “Moving beyond the PC,” she told me. As if I knew what that meant. “The same ideas they brought to web development, they’re now bringing to platform development for devices.”
    I swallowed. “Can we try that again in English?”
    “Cell phones. Digital cameras. Digital music players. All the portable devices that people use to communicate and share data.”
    “Like my Palm thingy.” At least I’m not totally out of the technogear loop, thanks to a gift from my husband.
    She nodded. “Exactly. Zakdan makes a development platform that lets other programmers build applications on a huge variety of devices. And not just toys. They work on handhelds that doctors use for patient data, and major companies use to manage inventory. It’s fascinating, really.”
    “Uh huh.” Fascinating in a way that made my brain hurt. I looked at them. “What else have we got?”
    “No dirt on my end,” Eileen said regretfully. “I looked into every aspect of their financial outlook over the past four years and there’s nothing. They’re healthy, and seem to be well-run. They got into trouble with the IRS a while ago for using temporary workers in full-time jobs, but a lot of companies do that. You pay the fine and deal with it.” She ran her hands across the color-coded folders. “I have their tax filings, their earnings statements, their annual reports, and transcripts of their analyst calls if you want to go over them.”
    Not with a ten-foot pole. “Never mind,” I said. “If you say they’re in good shape, they’re in good shape.”
    She shrugged. “As far as I can tell.”
    Brenda spoke up. “I couldn’t find anything suspicious