A hush descended over the classroom as Inspector McGee strode to the podium. After all, he had served on the Fraud Squad for over 20 years, and the talks that he gave to each year's crop of police recruits were the stuff of legend. No one else had the fund of stories about past experiences mat he did. Each year he amazed the rookies by telling them of yet another bizarre technique mat he had used to unmask the schemes of the city's con artists. It seemed that there was no branch of knowledge that he hadn't exploited at some point in his career. But this year, the rumor went, he was going to outdo himself; somehow he had actually used calculus to convict a criminal! It seemed hard to believe. The rookies strained forward in anticipation.

“First of all, I'd like to thank the Chief for giving me a chance to talk to you young recruits,” McGee began. “My goal today is to convince you that you must always be ready to use experts to help you get to the bottom of a fraud scheme. In fact, in one of my most interesting cases I called on the smarts of a bunch of young people about the same age as you. Let me tell you about it.

“A few years ago a new bar opened in the Little Bohemia district—maybe you remember it. Upstairs it featured the usual assortment of rock bands, but the real attraction was in the basement. They called it Luigi's Lizard Room, and judging from the sleazy characters that hung out there, it was well-named. It was full of pool tables—beautiful, big tables with lots of room between them and well-enough lit so that you could see what you were doing.