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expected-the meter would be restored to normal functioning, "ith the

disturbance of the seal carefully concealed.

Several power companies which had suffered this kind of theft countered

it nowadays by installing newer-type meters which operated correctly

whether upside down or not. Another prevention method was through

elaborate locking rings which made meters non-removable, exccpt with

special keys. However, other ingenious ways of power theft existed; also

there were still millions of older-type meters in use that could not

accommodate locking rings, and they would cost a fortune to replace.

Thus, through sheer numbers, plus the impossibility of inspecting all

meters regularly, the cheaters held an advantage.

"The job on gas was fancier," the serviceman said. He moved to a gas

meter nearby and knelt beside it. "Take a look here."

Nim Nvatched as, with one hand, the serviceman traced a pipe which

emerged from a wall, then connected to the meter several feet away. "This

is the gas line coming in from outside."

"From the street," Harry London added. "From the company main."

Nim nodded.

"Over here"-the serviceman's hand moved to the far side of the meter-"is

a line to the customer's outlets. They use gas here for a big water

heater, hot-air car dryers and for the stove and heater in an apartment

upstairs. Every month that's a lot of gas. Now look at thisclosely." This

time, using both bands, he fingered what appeared to be pipe joints where

the two pipes he bad pointed to disappeared into the wall. Around each

the cement bad been loosened, some of it now in a small pile on the

floor.

"I did that," the serviceman volunteered, "to get a better look, and what

you can see now is that those aren't ordinary joints. 'I'liev're Tjoints,

connected to each other by another pipe, buried out of sight inside the

wall."

"An old-fashioned cheater's bypass," London said, "though this is the

neatest one I've seen. What happens is that most of the gas used doesn't

pass through the meter the way it should, but goes directly from the

street to the appliances."

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"There's enough still goes through the meter to keep it operating," the

young serviceman explained. "But gas flows where there's least resistance.

There's some resistance in the meter, so most gas goes through that extra

pipe-tbe freebie route."

"Not any more," London pronounced.

A pert young woman carrying cameras and equipment came in from outside. She

inquired cheerfully, "Somebody here want pictures?"

"Sure do." London indicated the gas meter. "That setup first." He told Nim,

"When we get a shot the way it is, we'll chip out the rest of the cement

and expose the illegal pipe."

The fox-faced garageman bad been hovering in the rear. He protested, "Hey,

you guys can't break up no wall. This's my place."

"I'll remind you, Mr. Jackson, you gave us permission to come in and check

on our company's equipn~ent. But if you want to review vour rights, and

ours, I suggest you call your lawyer. I think you'll need one, anyway.

11 1 don't need no lawyer."

"That will be up to you, sir."

"Mr. Jackson," Nim said, "don't you realize the seriousness of all this?

Tampering with meters is a criminal offense, and the pbotos we are taking

can be evidence."

"Oh, there'll be criminal prosecution all right," London said, as if on

cue. "Though I will say that if Mr. Jackson co-operates in two ways it

might work out in his favor."

The garageman looked at them suspiciously. "What ways?"

As they talked, the photographer clicked away, shooting flash pictures of

the gas meter, then moving to the electric one. Ile serviceman began

loosening more cement, exposing more of the concealed pipe within the wall.

"TI-ie first thing you have to do," London told Jackson, "is pay for what

you owe and what you stole. Since I was here the first time, I've been in

touch with our Billing Department. Comparing recent bills with what your

gas and electric charges used to be, they've come up with five thousand

dollars owing. That includes a service charge for what we're doing today."

The garageman paled; his mouth worked nervously. "Jesus! It can't be that

much. Why, it's only been . . ." He stopped.

"Yes," Nim prompted. "How long has it been since you began tampcring with

the meters?"

"If Mr. Jackson tells us that," London joined in, "mavbe he'd tell us who

did the job on the gas meter. That's the second thing we'd look on as

co-operation."

The serviceman called over his shoulder, "I'll tell you one thing for sure.

Whoever did it was no amateur."

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London glanced at Nim. "Remember what I told you? A lot of what we're

seeing is professional work." He returned to Jackson. "How about that,

sir? Feel like telling us who did it?"

The garageman scowled, but didn't answer.

London told him, "When we've finished here, Mr. Jackson, we'll be

disconnecting your gas and electricity. They'll stay disconnected until

the amount owing is paid."

Jackson spluttered, "Then how the bell do I run my business?"

"If it comes to that," London retorted, "bow would we run ours if every

customer was a cheat like you?" He asked Nim, "Seen enough?"

"Too much," Nim said. "Let's go."

Outside, London said, "Ten will get you one, he's in hock too deep to pay

what's owing. Doubt if he'll tell us who did the work either."

As they got into the car, Nim asked, "Can we prosecute and make it

stick?"

The ex-policeman shook his bead. "I'd like to try, and we might even get

a conviction. More likely, though, a court would insist we prove eitber

that Jackson did the meter rigging, or knew about it. No way we can."

'So in some ways it's a lost cause."

'Some ways, maybe; not all. Word will get around; it probably has

already, and that will scare a lot of other, would-be jacksons. Also

remember, we've spread our net wide today. There'll be a lot more

cheaters in it before sundown."

"But only from Brookside." Nim considered gloomily the enormous area

which GSP & L served; within it Brookside was a single peanut in a huge

plantation.

A few minutes later they were back at the communications center on the

shopping plaza parking lot.

As Harry London had forecast, Brookside's D-day caught many

meter-tampering offenders. By noon there were more than forty cases,

either proven or suspected; it seemed likely there would be at least as

many more during the afternoon. Some supermarkets were included in the

bag; an entire local chain bad been raided, with illegal installations

found in five out of eight stores.

Nim stayed close to Harry London, observing, visiting the scene of some

of the more interesting, ingenious violations.

During the late morning they had gone together to one of the trim tract

houses Nim noted earlier. Two GSP & L vehicles were parked outside. One

of the Property Protection staffers, a serviceman, and the same

photographer as before were clustered around an exterior electric meter

near the side door.

"Nobody's at home," London said in explanation, "but downtown

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they checked on the guy who lives here, and it seems he's a tool-and-die

maker. It figures. Take a look at this." As the others moved aside, London

pointed to a tiny hole in the glass cover of the irieter. A small piece of

stiff wire protruded through it. Inside the meter the wire extended to a

central metal disc which normally revolved as electricity was consumed.

"That wire, which shouldn't be there, stops the disc from turning," London

said.

Nim nodded his understanding. "So the meter doesn't record, even though

current goes on flowing."

"Right. But stopping the disc does no harm, so when the wire's removed,

everything's back the way it should be."

"Except for that little hole."

"You'd never notice it," the serviceman behind them said, "unless you were

looking hard. My guess is, the guy used a jeweler's drill to make the hole,

which is why the glass didn't break. Damn clever."

"He won't feel so clever when he gets his next bill," London said. "Besides

which, we'll watch the house tonight. More than likely the neighbors will

tell him about us being here, which will make him nervous and he'll want to

take out that wire. When he does, and if we catch him at it, we can make a

prosecution stick."

They left while the photographer was taking close-ups of the incriminating

hole and wire.

At the communications center, reports of other discoveries continued to

flow in. An even more ingenious power thief had penetrated the heart of his

electric meter, apparently filing off several teeth from a shaft gear which

turned the meter rec~rding disc. This bad the effect of slowing the disc

and reducing recorded cornsumption by approximately half. The downtown

Billing Department, searching t6ir records, es'timated the cheating had

gone on for three years, undetected.

In another instance a customer had adroitly switched meters. Somehow he had

obtained an extra electric meter-Harry London suspected it was stolen-and

substituted it for the regular meter supplied by GSP & L. Obviously the

customer left his "private" meter in place for a portion of each billing

period, during which any electricity used was "free."

Though gas meters were considered more difficult to tamper with, this bad

not deterred some ambitious freeloaders. As London put it, "Disconnecting

or connecting a gas meter takes some plumbing skill, but not much. A

do-it-yourselfer can catch on fast."

One such do-it-vourselfer, a meter reader found, had removed his gas meter

entirelv, filiing the gap with a length of rubber hose. It was a dangerous

theft method, but effective. Presuinablv the meter was left disconnected

for part of each month, then replaced near the time a regular meter reading

was expected.

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Another offender-a businessman owning several adjacent stores which he

leascd to others-had acted similarly, except his gas meter was reversed,

with its face turned toward the wall, causing it to run backwards. It was

here the only violent incident of the day erupted. The businessman,

enraged at being discovered, attacked the company serviceman with a pipe

wrench and beat him badly. The serviceman was later taken to the hospital

with a broken arm and nose, the businessman to jail where he faced

assault and other charges.

One facet of the many cases being uncovered puzzled Nim. He told Harry

London, "I thought our billing computers were programmed to signal

warnings of abrupt changes in any customer's consumption."

"They are, and they do," London acknowledged. "Trouble is, people are

getting wise to computers, learning to outwit them. It isn't hard. If you

steal power and have the sense to reduce your bills gradually-a little

the first month, then a little more every month after that, instead of