: I had very good teachers. My buddy Tommy Carson helped set me up and a friend of his who does something with computers for the government also helped at crucial moments. Although, I have to say, when it all comes down to it, it was the instinct and experience from my years of PI work that allowed me to solve the case.

: What kind of cases were you doing before the Sanctuary? Can you tell us a little about your background?

: Nothing that interesting for the past few years. Cheating husbands, missing relatives, the usual stuff. In terms of my background, let's see....I went to high school around here in Venice. Did a three-year stint in the Army. Got married and divorced--that's basically a rite of passage in LA, isn't it?

: You mentioned you had a girlfriend. Is she the future Mrs. Broade?

: Sylvia's great. She works hard at the diner and all the customers love her. If she ever challenges you to a tennis match, you'll be lucky if you come out alive. And she's definitely a sight for sore eyes at the end of the day. But as far as being the future Mrs. Broade, I just don't know.

: This friend who helped you get started on the Internet, is he a professional computer consultant?

: Who, Tommy? If he's a professional anything, it's beer drinker. He makes his money fixing water heaters. But every minute he's not in the bar or wading through water in someone's basement, he's tinkering around on that computer of his. He loves to show off his knowledge, but he's really more of a hack than a hacker. Now 99, on the other hand, she knows what she's doing.

: 99?

: She's the one I was telling you about before who works for the government. Apparently, she's works for some top secret agency so I'm never allowed to meet her. She won't even tell me her real name. That's why I started calling her 99. She really did play a large part in helping me bring the Guru down. I wouldn't have wanted to even try it without her help.

: If you've never met her, how do you know she's a she?

: Guess I just have to take her word for it.

Recently, he received some notoriety for exposing a money laundering operation behind The Sanctuary, an Internet-based religious cult headed by The Guru.

We caught up with the busy detective Broade a short time ago, just before he left on an extended vacation to Mexico.

:How did you get involved in The Sanctuary case? Were you hired for your Internet expertise?

: Not at all. I was sitting at Maxwell's Cafe in Culver City, the diner where my girlfriend Sylvia works, when a woman came in all upset about her missing daughter. She ended up hiring me. I thought it would be another routine case. I had no idea it would have anything to do with the Internet. To tell the truth, I didn't really use my computer for all that much before this case.