Dead Enz

The hottest software company is about to go public, raking in serious scratch. Only one problem the mysterious death of their programming wizard! It s 1984. The era of the desktop computer has dawned. Software companies are sprouting around the country like mushrooms. The biggest buzz in the financial press is about Locust, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its president, David Hedges, is already out of the box with a line of high-end business products. He s itching to go public and make his hundreds of millions and Wall Street has his IPO all lined up. His ace-in-the-hole is lead programmer, Rusty van Handle, whose piece of Locust will bring him a bundle. Though van Handle is a hot-shot in the digital world, he has a different reputation around town. There s his plan to muscle-in on a real estate deal and take the property of an elderly black woman in the South End, and his claim that he owns half of the break-out pop band, Dead Enz, whose lead singer, Sal Ianucci, he regularly supplies with cocaine. Actually, van Handle was a regular supplier of cocaine to many, and he had mountains of the powder. The day before the IPO, van Handle s body is found splattered on a street in the South End. Wearing handcuffs. Murder? Accident? Suicide? The Locust IPO goes on hold, and may burn-out entirely. The press is all over the scandal. David Hedges is livid and uses his influence to make sure someone anyone is nailed for the crime.