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rights.
    Please continue, Mr. Cole, instructs Chief Tobin.
    Anyone in the continental U.S. can have full on-line access to EROS twenty-four hours a day. We also have European subscribers who reach us through the Internet. There are three levels of forum traffic, which people access under aliasescode namesthat ensure complete anonymity. Level One is the most diverse. Clients use it to discuss all sorts of sexual topics, from psychology to medical problems to privacy issues.
    Jan fucking Krislov, mutters Baxter.
    I take a breath. Hearing no questions, I focus on Mayeux and continue. Level Two is the first of the two fantasy forums. In Level Two clients write about their fantasies, correspond with each other through forum messages and e-mail, or sometimes just eavesdrop on the fantasies of other subscribers. The exchanges can be group or, if a client prefers, he or she can switch down to one-on-one contact, completely private. We call that a private room. There are also files available at all times from the on-line library. Popular exchanges from past sessions, stuff like that.
    Stroke files, says Mayeuxs partner, opening his red eyes in a glare of challenge. Right? Theyre not talking to anybody real-time, so their hands are free. Jack-off time, right?
    The man is crude, but not far off the mark. Thats probably a fair assessment.
    What about Level Three? asks Doctor Lenz, his eyes alight with fascination.
    Level Three... I often stumble here when explainingEROS to anyone outside the company. I never know quite how to describe Level Three. To be honest, I dont monitor it that much. At least I didnt until I began to have my suspicions about the missing women. Most Level Three traffic is nocturnal, and thus Miless gig. Thats another reason I allowed him to persuade me to put off acting for as long as I did.
    Level Three, I say again, is what you might call the major league of sexual forums. The dialogues are pretty heavy, basically no-holds-barred. Dont get the wrong ideaits not kiddy porn or anything, but
    Its hot, Dr. Lenz finishes.
    Pretty hot, yeah. Until three weeks ago we didnt even allow transmission of graphic images, but believe me, words alone are powerful enough. Were talking bondage, S and M, homoerotic sex, you name it. Straight sex too, of course.
    How much does it cost to join EROS? asks Baxter.
    A thousand dollars to join
    Mayeux whistles long and low.
    plus five hundred a month flat fee after that, with various payment arrangements. For women its three hundred a month. EROS has one-eight hundred access numbers, so nobody has any long-distance charges to worry about.
    All the women but Wheat were in their twenties, says Baxter. Where did they get that kind of money?
    Inherited it, I reply. A lot of rich girls on EROS. We get a lot of trophy wives too. They marry moneyold moneyfake orgasms at night, and log onto EROS during the day. Its safer than adultery, especially in the age of AIDS.
    Karin Wheat was a member of this EROS thing? Chief Tobin interrupts.
    Yes. For about three months now.
    And those other women? All of them were members?
    Right. Most of them had been subscribing for more than a year at the time they dropped off the net.
    What exactly do you mean by dropped off? Lenz asks.
    Just a minute, Doctor, says Chief Tobin, reassertingthe temporary supremacy he enjoys in his headquarters. Mr. Cole, you mean to tell me all these murder victims were members of this super-expensive computer club or whatever it is, and no homicide cop in L.A. or San Francisco or Houston or Portland or the other places managed to link these crimes with billing receipts from your company?
    I can explain that. I pause, realizing Im more interested in asking questions than answering them. Honestly, Im more surprised by the fact that the murders werent linked before now by physical evidence. No offense, but isnt that what you guys do?
    Goddamn, growls Mayeuxs partner.
    Plenty of reasons for that, injects one of the FBI