to the number the literary agent had given me. As I listened to the braying sound of the computers coupling, a thought hit me like a bolt. The calls I had made on the flight out to L.A.
I had been so concerned about proving and exposing Thorson as the leak to Warren, I had paid only passing attention to the other calls on his hotel bill, the calls I had repeated myself on the plane to L.A. One of them had been answered by the high-pitched tone of a computer in Florida, possibly at UCI in Raiford.
I grabbed my computer satchel off the bed, pulled out my notebooks and flipped through both of them but found no notes on the calls I had made on the plane. I remembered then that I had not written notes or the phone numbers down because I had not expected someone to steal the hotel bills from my room.
Clearing my mind of everything else, I tried to review the exact course of events on the plane. The main concern I’d had at the time was the record of the call to Warren that was on Thorson’s bill. That had confirmed for me that Thorson was Warren’s source. The other calls made from his room—though made within minutes of each other—had held little interest to me at the time.
I had not seen the number that Clearmountain had said was called the most often from Gladden’s computer. I thought about calling him and asking for the number but I doubted that he would hand it over to a reporter without seeking approval from Rachel or Backus. And that would tip my hand, something that an instinct told me not to do yet.
I slid my Visa card out of my wallet and turned it over. After reconnecting the phone I dialed the 800 number on the credit card and told the operator I had a billing inquiry. After three minutes of Muzak, another operator came on the line and I asked if it was possible to check on charges added to my credit account as recently as three days earlier. After verifying my identity through my social security number and other details, she said she could check my records on the computer to see if the charges had been posted and I told her what I was looking for.
The calls had just been posted on the Visa billing computer. And the phone numbers I had called were also part of the billing record. In five minutes I had copied all the numbers I had called on the plane into my notebook, thanked the operator and hung up.
Once again I plugged the phone line into my computer. I opened the terminal window, typed in the phone number that had been called from Thorson’s room and ran the program. I looked at the bedside clock. It was three here, six in Florida. There was one ring and then a connection. I heard the familiar squeal of computers meeting and then mating. My screen went blank and then a template printed across it.
* * *
WELCOME TO THE PTL CLUB
* * *
I exhaled, leaned back and felt a surge of electricity go through me. After a few seconds the screen moved up and there was a coded prompt for a user’s password. I typed in EDGAR, noticing that my good hand was shaking as I did this. Edgar was approved and followed by a prompt for a second password. I typed in EDGAR PERRY. In a moment this, too, was approved and followed by a warning template.
* * *
PRAISE THE LORD!
* * *
RULES OF THE ROAD
NEVER EVER USE A REAL NAME
NEVER PROVIDE SYSTEMS NUMBERS TO ACQUAINTANCES
NEVER AGREE TO MEET ANOTHER USER
BE AWARE THAT OTHER USERS MAY BE FOREIGN BODIES
SYSOP RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DELETE ANY USER
MESSAGE BOARDS MAY NOT BE USED FOR DISCUSSION OF ANY ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES—THIS IS FORBIDDEN!
PTL NETWORK IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT
PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE
I hit RETURN and got a table of contents for the various message boards available to users. These were, as Clearmountain had said, a cornucopia of subjects catering to the modern pedophile. I hit the escape key and the computer asked if I wanted to exit PLT. I hit the yes prompt and disconnected. I wasn’t interested in exploring the PTL Network at the moment. I was more interested in the fact that Thorson, or whoever had made that call early Sunday morning, knew about the PTL Network and even had access to