"What do you mean? My secretary, said you were being blackmailed again. I think you should know I'm not working on that case anymore."
"This time it's different," Dobbs said, his eyes darting about. "They want money, a lot of money, more than we have. Last time I received a call I was told some very private and specific knowl- edge about our company that we preferred to remain private. That information contained all our pricing, quotation methods, profit figures, overhead . . .everything our competitors could use."
"So you think your competition is blackmailing you," Duncan offered.
"I don't know. If they wanted the information, why call me and tell me? We haven't been able to figure it out."
"What about the others," Duncan thought out loud. "The others with access to the information?"
"Everyone is suspecting everyone else. It's not healthy. Now, after this, I'm thinking of packing it in."
"Why now? What's different?"
"The demands. I can't believe it's my competitors. Sure, it's a cut throat business, but, no, it's hard to believe."
"Stranger things have happened, Mr. Dobbs." Duncan tried to be soothing. "The demands, what were they?"
"They want three million dollars, cash. If we don't pay they said they'd give away our company secrets to our competitors. We don't have the cash."