Jana had some paperwork to do in the afternoon, so we'd decided to go our separate ways after the gathering. Before we parted, she said, "I tried fiddling around with that tape recorder while you were in the shower this morning, but it's hopeless. Somebody left the batteries in there for so long that the acid ate through the contacts."

"So no go?"

"Well, at least not with that machine. But the tape appears to be intact. Probably a bit brittle, but it might be salvageable. I know another investigator who has tons of old audio equipment. I'm pretty sure there's a reel-to-reel player among all his collection. I'll reach out to him tomorrow."

"Thank you. By the way, can you ask him about that gadget that was plugged into the recorder? The thing with the suction cup on the end?"

"Oh, I know what that is, Adam. It's a phone jack. Basically, a microphone. You know, for the old-style land line telephones? You stick the suction end on the handset and plug the cord into the tape recorder. Dad had a couple of those when I was little. Very low tech, but they worked surprisingly well." She added with a mischievous smile, "The suction cup worked better if you moistened it first."

"You mean spitting on it?"

She grinned. "Yep. The boys at school used to fool around with their tape recorders all the time. Some of the girls, too. It was very James Bond."

"Interesting," I said, feeling vaguely uneasy. "Somebody was using that machine to record phone calls?"