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.“Chuck freaks her out,” said Manfred, enjoying her discomfort.“Manfred likes to say that, but I have nothing against the man,” she said, moving a piece of pizza crust around on her paper plate.“Without Chuck, none of us would be here,” said Manfred.“He’s the man with the money.”“He protects our funding,” she said.“It’s very admirable.And he likes Rajendra, despite pressure from the C suite for greater productivity.”“He likes you, too,” said Manfred, folding his arms and leaning close to her.She snapped off a piece of crust and tossed it at him.“Cut it out.He likes Kallie better,” she said, referring to the other woman on the analyst team.“Right,” said Manfred, looking me in the eye.“Well, I think I’ll get a chance to meet him,” I said.“Gyawali wants me to give the presentation at the big building.I assume that means department management.”That brightened up the room again.“That’s great, Martin,” said Imogene.“Well done.That’s good for all of us.”Imogene dropped the rest of her leftover crust into his lap, and stood up, signaling the end of lunch.He took it well, and we wandered back to our workstations.I’d slid my chair back in front of the computer and was trying to locate where I’d left off when Imogene stuck her face around the corner.“You wouldn’t say anything to Rajendra about me and Chuck,” she said.“What Manfred was saying, that I have a problem with him.I really don’t.Rajendra might say something to the wrong person.He’s so unaware of things.”“What things?”She watched herself slide her fingers down the doorjamb, an odd gesture obviously meant to buy time.When she looked back at me, she appeared puzzled, as if responding to a rhetorical question.“Good and evil,” she said.“What else?”THAT NIGHT, I checked in on the monitoring software I’d installed on Chuck’s home computer.It was designed to capture information tied to certain keywords, like “mercenary,” “British Virgin Islands” and “break-in.” Only the last showed up.Apparently the effects of that trauma still lingered even after installing a security system.The contractor sent an order confirmation that specified the equipment and system configuration.Not a bad choice, I thought, though easily disabled at the site if you knew what you were doing.They also considered getting a dog, though Okayo’s worries about allergies and the cost of daily dog walkers trumped Chuck’s romantic vision of fishing with a loyal retriever at his side.It made me think of our dog, Omni, with her head stuck over the side of the boat, snapping her jaws at flying fish.I wanted to tell the Andaluskys that another hazard of bringing a dog into your lives was the potential for long, painful separations.Although Chuck occasionally conducted business through his personal e-mail, most of it was friendly, innocuous correspondence with associates and peers.Never with Rajendra Gyawali or anyone else I knew from our research office.The real meat of his operation was obviously conducted through his corporate e-mail, which I couldn’t access from his home computer or smartphone.And no sign of Alberta.I paid particular attention to any e-mail to or from women, but nothing remotely suggested knowledge of the events aboard the fishing boat off the BVI, no matter who Chuck was corresponding with.If I hadn’t seen Chuck Andalusky face-to-face, I’d doubt we were dealing with the same person.“I’m wondering how we could know so much about this guy without learning anything connected to our experience,” I said to Natsumi, when she sat down next to me at the computer.“How would you know it was connected?”“I don’t know.Something would jump out.It usually does.”“But if you don’t know what you know, what good is all the information?” she asked.“Now that we can capture more information than we know what to do with, the world is full of geniuses trying to figure out exactly that.”“They probably won’t figure it out in time to help us.”“Another thing I don’t know is how much better off we’d be if I had my old brain back,” I said.“The computational part that got sprayed across my living room.”“You seem to be doing pretty well despite all that.”“Maybe now that I’m not so obsessed with the numbers, I might better see the big picture.Who knows.”She put her arms around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.“I know, Arthur.I have faith in you.Of that I am 100 percent certain.”GYAWALI’S MOOD on the drive over to the big building was almost ceremonial in its gravity and portentousness.He drove us in his Toyota Sienna minivan, both hands firmly gripping the wheel.I sat shotgun, Imogene and Manfred were in the rear seats.They were there because I told Rajendra about their keen interest in the project and desire to see how it played out with management.It wasn’t a hard sell; he seemed pleased to have them along.I wore a tie and sport jacket, even though I was told it was unnecessary, even counterproductive.But I couldn’t help myself, as I tried to explain to Natsumi that morning.“When you go before management, you wear a tie,” I said.“It’s all I can do to resist the grey suit.”“Is this the ghost of Arthur Cathcart past?”“Yes.”“Is it strange for you, sort of being back in your old life, though not really?”“Very disorienting [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]