My head was still spinning from Motli's lesson on cash flow as I exited the lobby and walked the two blocks to where I'd left my Triumph convertible the night before. It was where I left it, all right -- one wheel up on the curb, top down, interior baked to a crackly crunch... something vaguely green and fuzzy on the passenger side floor. I took off for the nice part of town, where the late Conrad Christian had kept his mistress. Well, Toluca Lake was nice if you had money, yours or someone else's.

The name on the scrap of paper Evelyn Christian had given me was Alexia Alexandre. Sounded appropriately exotic and mistress-y. She lived on Cohen Drive, which I found easily enough despite an unfamiliarity with any neighborhood where the houses cost more than five figures. But Alexia's address was a two-story condo complex, completely out of place among the surrounding palatial homes. Obviously old. Downright chintzy, in fact. Certainly less than a multimillionaire like Christian could afford. Then again, that's how millionaires got that way, by skimping. Even on mistress's digs. He'd bought her the neighborhood but not the home.

I hit all the buzzers until someone let me in the gate, then I knocked on her door. Nothing. Again. Still nothing. After the third tap I thought I heard someone moving around inside, so I tried the door. Locked. I slipped my pick in the lock and door swung open.

The condo was empty. Scraps of paper here and there and a couple of boxes by the window, but that was it -- like someone had moved out in a hurry. Except that someone was still there, behind me. I felt more than heard him as he approached, and I threw my hand up a split second before the piano wire tightened around my throat. I tried to turn around but the wire just got tighter, slicing into my hand.

"What... do you want?" I managed to say.

A voice, low and sinister with some kind of accent, in my ear: "I want to cut your head off, actually, if you'd kindly move your hand."

"Sorry, pal, I like my head right where it is. Who are you?" Still I couldn't break free. Whoever this guy was, he was strong and nasty.

"You can call me The Wire."

The wire was down to the bone in my hand. No more handball for me for a while. Oh, darn.

"Listen, Diamond, and listen well. You drop this case, right now. I mean now. Consider this a warning. You only get one. Am I clear?"

"Yeah, dirt bag, your message is cutting right through -- " Before I could finish, the wire was out of my hand, and The Wire was gone. I pulled off my tie and wrapped it around my bloody hand. "Hey, next time you wanna give me a warning, how about a VERBAL one, huh?"

There was no answer. And no mistress to question, so now there were no leads--and since this case just went from 0 to 60 in about four seconds, I wanted some damn leads. So I did what any detective does in such a situation -- I decided to follow the money.

As I stood there bleeding profusely from my hand I flashed on something Motli had told me this morning about the three components of the statement of cash flow. I knew which one I wanted to look into first --money from operations. Yeah, I'd start there.

What does statement of cash flow from operations tell a financial investigator?

1) How much cash has been raised from selling company stock

2) How much cash is produced or lost in the core business

3) How much cash has been produced or lost in selling land and equipment.

4) How much cash is spent on' 'business trips' to Cancun, because the CEO may want to open another plant there someday, you know.

The answer is 2) how much cash is produced or spent in the core business.

Statment of cash flow from operating activities tells a financial investigator exactly how much cash was produced or lost in the core business. If the business were to operate in a vacuum, with no money coming or going from financing activities or purchasing equipment, this part of the statement of cash flow would show how much "raw cash" the business is producing. Many investors like to look at this part of the financial statement since it gives a much better pulse of how financially viable a company is.

I couldn't get the cash flow thing out of my head, and from Evelyn Christian's comments in my office I couldn't help but wonder if she'd let something slip. I wondered what kind of cash was flowing into and out of the Christians' factory. I knew the first order of business would be to get my hands on a copy of TechTek's most recent financial package, so I called Motli and set her on that part of the trail.

As for me, I prefer going straight to the source, and right now my only source of info was Evelyn Christian. It was time for a visit to TechTek's offices.

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