"Centuries?"
"Years."
"You are very kind. Well, as the millennia rolled by I amassed more money,
more property. I could have easily assured my fortune by simply investing
and letting the compound interest roll in. But that would have been very
boring, and boredom is what I loathe the most. I have always sought
excitement to lessen the burden of my years. In the process of growing rich
I have bought, and now own, entire star systems. To add diversity to my
portfolio I am presently in the process of acquiring a spiral galaxy; one
never knows when one might need one. There are some black holes among my
recent acquisitions. But I think I shall divest myself of them. Boring. Seen
one black hole and you have seen them all."
He took the kerchief from his breast pocket, touched it lightly to his lips,
returned it. One atom short of a molecule, I thought. I caught Angelina's
eye and saw that she thought the same.
"But now I have a very troublesome problem that needs to be solved. I look
for your aid in that quest."
"Three million a day," I said promptly, avarice beating down suspicion.
"Done," he said, stifling a yawn at the same time. "My problem is that I am
systematically being robbed. Someoneor some group-has been getting into my
bank accounts. Right across the galaxy. Clearing them out. And if it so
happens that I happen to own the bank-The Widows and Orphans Is'
Interstellar Bank-why then the entire branch of the bank is cleaned out as
well. This makes for bad customer relationships. From millions of clients
with their billions of credits. As you might understand this is quite
embarrassing for one in my position. You, gentleman Jim diGriz, must utilize
all of your stainless steel talents to stop these thefts and to discover who
is perpetrating them.
As I opened my mouth to speak he raised his cane and sighed. "Yes, I know,
don't bother to say it, four million a day and let us leave it there. I find
business so boring."
"You will have to give me complete details of all the previous thefts," I
said. "And a list of banks where you have accounts, as well as banks that
you own."
"That has already been done. You will find all of the information in your
computer's memory banks."
"You are pretty sure of yourself."
"I am."
