Page 90 of Feared

“How does he know all this about Machiavelli?”

“HE USED TO DO SOME BOOKKEEPIN’ FOR MACHIAVELLI, EARLY ON BEFORE HE GOT TO BE A BIG SHOT.”

Bennie interjected, “If this man was an accountant, he has a fiduciary duty to keep it to himself. It’s confidential information.”

“BENNIE, DON’T WORRY. JOEY ONE EYE’S NOT A REAL ACCOUNTANT. HE WAS GOOD WITH NUMBERS IN SCHOOL AND MACHIAVELLI USED HIM BECAUSE HE’S A CHEAP BASTARD. JOEY ONE EYE GOT PISSED AFTER MACHIAVELLI STIFFED HIM ’CAUSE HE COULDN’T WORK NO MORE.”

Mary asked, “Because he lost his eye?”

“NO HE DIDN’T LOSE HIS EYE. HE’S GOT TWO EYES.”

Mary let it go. South Philly nicknames were their own language. “So Pop, do you remember any of the other companies?”

“NO, SORRY, MARE.” Her father turned to Feet, who haddiscovered the pepperoni on the antipasto platter. “FEET, YOU WERE THERE. YOU REMEMBER ANY OF THE OTHER COMPANIES MACHIAVELLI OWNS?”

Feet frowned, chewing away. “I think there were two more. One was Katonah Industries. That was in New York, too. I remember because I thought of cats and I miss my cat, Jilly. He died.”

“Sorry, Feet.” Mary made a note in her phone. “Do you remember the other company name?”

Feet kept chewing. “Oh, yeah. Florence Financial. I remember it because I dated a girl named Florence, back in the day. Met her at a mixer. Nice girl.”

Mary was making a note in her phone when she noticed Anne leaning over the table, toward Feet.

“Excuse me, Feet?” Anne said, puzzled. “Did you say Florence Financial?”

“Yeah.”

“And Machiavelli owns it?”

“Yeah.”

Mary looked up. “Why do you ask, Anne? Does that name mean anything to you?”

Anne’s mouth dropped open. “Florence Financial is one of the companies in the consortium that owns Home Hacks.”

Bennie looked shocked. “You mean Home Hacks, one of the defendants inLondon Technologies? Machiavelli has a connection to that case.”

“Evidently, he does,” Mary said, astonished.

Anne nodded excitedly. “He must. I remember from the Certificate of Incorporation for Home Hacks, which I had to get for the Complaint. I saw the name Florence Financial on the list of the consortia that owned the parent company, but I didn’t need to know the details about the parent company to file a Complaint against its subsidiary, Home Hacks. We weren’t suing the parent.”

Judy looked over in disbelief. “So Machiavelli owns Home Hacks, which we’re suing on behalf of London Technologies.”

Bennie interjected, “Correction, which weweresuing before Sanjay fired us, just now.”

“Even so.” Judy’s eyes narrowed in thought. “So what are the implications? What’s Machiavelli up to?”

“I think I know,” Mary answered, when it hit her.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“Let me break it down for you,” Mary said, standing in front of the easel with the diagram about the data integration business. She, Bennie, Judy, and Anne had come back to the firm after the luncheon, for an emergency meeting with Roger and Isaac. Anthony had taken her parents and The Tonys home, and the Hodges had taken William back to the hotel, leaving Mary remarkably energized, having figured out Machiavelli’s scheme. Lou had gone back to the scene to keep investigating and he’d promised her that he’d keep an open mind about Machiavelli’s being the culprit. She knew in her heart that Machiavelli was guilty of John’s murder, but she couldn’t prove that yet.

Mary pointed to London Technologies on the diagram. “Allow me to remind you that London Technologies developed data integration software that enabled furniture manufacturers to store and organize their own data. It’s a bit player in the data integration market, which was dominated by the defendants Express Management Services and Home Hacks.”

Anne smiled, nodding. “You get an A plus.”

“Thank you.” Mary smiled back. “Home Hacks is a data application provider, in other words, it takes data from thefurniture retailer or wholesaler, organizes it, and stores it with Express Management Services. Together they formed the Goliaths in the integration data market. Right, Anne?”

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