Sarda stared at the features of Elaine Corley being presented on the screen and shook his head. He had listened to the account of Kieran's doings, heard Trevany's story, and was still incredulous. "Nothing. Not a thing," he declared. "If I hadn't heard what you've just told me, I'd be quite confident in saying I've never seen her before in my life."
"So she isn't someone you've known for some time, and just your memories of her recent involvement in this scam are erased," Kieran checked from the couch. "You must have met her fairly recently. All recollection of her existence has gone."
"That's the way it looks," Sarda agreed, turning back toward him.
Also, if Sarda had known her for some time, others would surely have been aware of hersuch as Tom Norgent, Kieran reflected. "And you don't know Henry Balmer," he said.
"No. Never heard of him." Sarda shook his head. "Hypnosis. To tell you the truth, I've always been skeptical of the claims that it could do things like this. So that's how you think they did it? Some kind of posthypnotic suggestion, triggered before I came out of the reconstitution chamber."
"It had to be the graphic design that disappeared from the inside of the chamber door," June said from her desk area. "It would have been one of the first things you saw when you became consciousand you couldn't communicate anything you might have known in the moments before it took effect, because you were still inside." She looked across at Kieran.
"Neat, eh?" he said.
There was a silence while June finished keying something in, waited, and contemplated the result. Then she turned in her chair to face them. "Then it seems we're close to being able to reconstruct what happened," she said. "Leo and Elaine met fairly recently, maybe socially." She looked at Sarda. "You told Kieran you were under a lot of emotional stress as the time got nearerand I can believe it. Could you see yourself looking for company to help with the . . . how should I put ittension-easing?"
Sarda stared at her moodily for a moment; then his expression eased to a faint smile. "I suppose that would have been more-or-less in character," he agreed gruffly.
"Could you have talked to somebody like her about the fears and misgivings you told Kieran about?" June asked. "It would seem understandable enough to me." It was a delicate question. She was asking him, in effect, if he might have discussed sensitive details of the project with an outsider whom, when all was said and done, he couldn't have known too much about. Everyone in the room knew that people did such things. It was a different matter to admit to it openly, though.
Sarda considered the question. "I guess something like that would probably depend on the relationshipyou know, how close people get to each other. . . ." He glanced at Kieran, who was listening but saying little. "Oh damn, why am I trying to rationalize? Yes, I could have talked to her about it, sure."
"Including that there was five million in it up-front for you if you came through okay?" June said.
"Well . . . maybe after a couple of drinks? . . . Yes, it's possible."
June looked from one to the other in a way that asked what more needed to be said. "So Elaine goes back and tells Balmer, and they come up with the idea that the original Sarda doesn't have to go through with the negative side of it at all. With a little bit of help, he can preserve himself. And more. For a share of the proceeds, they can help him collect the dues that he's figuring should be his anyway, since he's taking the risks. It makes sense . . ." Sarda made a face that said he wasn't so sure. June broke off and looked at him questioningly.
"That mightn't be the way it was," he pointed out. "It could have been me. I might have come up with the idea after I found out that Elaine works with a medical hypnotist, and offered them a share because I needed the help. Or maybe I thought the whole idea up, tracked Balmer down as a necessary accomplice, and Elaine was drawn in later. See my point? Maybe you're not being fair to them."
Kieran found himself warming toward Sarda. And yet he could only conclude that the other Sardathe originalmust have been a very different animal. It was as if, in some Jekyll-and-Hyde kind of way, the process brought out different aspects of the same personality. Or maybe it was the different psychological factors operating before and after.
June hesitated and thought about it. "But it works the same either way," she observed. "Balmer sets Sarda up with a posthypnotic suggestion that will cause him to forget everything concerning the plan moments before he comes out of the machine. Elaine switches a body from somewhere for the original Sarda, connects it up, and inserts a patch of simulation code into the monitoring computer so that it carries on generating the right readings. It would probably be late in the evening on the day we had lunchafter the authentication procedure. Then she goes upstairs to the R-Lab and removes the graphic . . ." June looked inquiringly at Sarda. "Would she be able to get into Quantonix to do it?"
"With authorization from me to enter the building, and given the right access codes? The place was quiet that night. Yes, I could see it being possible."
June turned to Kieran with an air of finality, as if that ought to clinch everything. Sarda's expression said that he couldn't fault it. They waited expectantly. Kieran stared back at them with an enigmatic expression. There was a short silence. "What do you think?" June asked finally.
Kieran took a few more seconds to be sure of his thoughts. "I think there has to be more to it," he said. After giving them a moment to register that they were not home and dry yet, he explained, "A three-way split of the five million that had been lodged in the Lowell Barham Bank? Yes, it's enough to get you through a cold winter or two, I'll give you that. But would it really justify established, professional people getting involved in the complications and risks of something like that? And why is Sarda-One still here, fooling with cards and credit accounts? If he cleaned Leo out as soon as the payments were in the bank, why stay around waiting for something to mess up? Why didn't he just grab what he'd got and run?"
"Maybe . . . to create more mischief first," June offered. "Getting even with his envied alter ego . . . I don't know, Kieran."
"I can't see it." Kieran shook his head.
"So what do you think?" Sarda asked him. It was a strange questionasking Kieran to guess what he himself might be up to.
"There must be more to it," Kieran said again. "They're holding out for bigger pickings yet. But time isn't on our side for finding out what. As soon as whatever it is is in the bag, they'll be gone."
Sarda suddenly looked worried. "Then what else is there to do? We have to confront them right away with what we've got. Call in the fraud people."
"And do what?" Kieran asked. "What have you got? No evidence. Sarda-One stays in hiding, and you've got nothing except a crazy story."
Sarda colored. "I've got a hole in my bank account where five million used to be. Isn't that enough?"
"So somebody smart figured out how to bust a security system," Kieran said. "That's happened before. Do you think that Crime Investigation is going to need a theory about walking duplicate people and suppressed memories to explain it?"
Sarda glanced appealingly at June, as if for support, then back at Kieran. "But . . . what else is there to do? You've just said, we have to move fast."
Sarda was looking desperate now, but Kieran remained unruffled. His eyes twinkled with the light of something new that had occurred to him, which was proving irresistible. June saw the signs of one of his schemes about to be hatched. "The only ones who know what's going on are Sarda-One, Elaine, and Balmer," Kieran replied. "And the only way we have for finding out fast is getting them to tell us."
Sarda shook his head, confused. "How in Hell are we supposed to do that?" he demanded.
"Do what they did and turn it around at them," Kieran answered. "We use you to impersonate yourself, Leo. Have you ever been on the stage?"
Sarda shook his head. "No." He looked nonplussed.
Kieran grinned in a way that radiated reassurance and seemed to promise that they were going to enjoy themselves. "Then let's start your dramatic coaching right away," he said.