FullReads

He opened his mouth, closed it, and blew out his breath from between his lips. Then he said: “All right. The damage has been done, anyhow. But don’t think I won’t report all this to Ravenhurst as soon as I can get a beam to Raven’s Rest.”

“That’s your job and your worry, not mine. Now, have you got any leads?”

“None,” he admitted.

“Then I’ll go out and dig up some. I’ll let you know if I need you.” And I cut off.

Dr. Perelson was sitting on his couch, with an expression that indicated that the pH of his saliva was hovering around one point five.

I said, “That will be all, Dr. Perelson. Thank you for your co-operation.” And I walked out into the corridor, leaving him with a baffled look.

* * * * *

At the next public phone, I dialed the BANning number again.

“Any news?”

“Not from her; she hasn’t reported in at all.”

“I didn’t figure she would. What else?”

“Just as you said,” he told me. “With some cute frills around the edges. Ten minutes ago, a crowd of kids–sixteen to twenty-two age range–about forty of ’em–started a songfest and football game in the corridor outside Colonel Brock’s place. The boys he had on duty there recognized the Jack Ravenhurst touch, and tried to find her in the crowd. Nothing doing. Not a sign of her.”

“That girl’s not only got power,” I said, “but she’s bright as a solar flare.”

“Agreed. She’s headed up toward Dr. Midguard’s place now. I don’t know what she has in mind, but it ought to be fun to watch.”

“Where’s Midguard now?” I asked.

“Hovering around Brock, as we figured. He’s worried and feels responsible because she disappeared from his apartment, as predicted.”

“Well, I’ve stirred up enough fuss in this free-falling anthill to give them all the worries they need. Tell me what’s the overall effect?”

“Close to perfect. It’s slightly scandalous and very mysterious, so everybody’s keeping an eye peeled. If anyone sees Jaqueline Ravenhurst, they’ll run to a phone, and naturally she’s been spotted by a dozen different people in a dozen different places already.

“You’ve got both Brock’s Company guards and the civil police tied up for a while.”

“Fine. But be sure you keep the boys who are on her tail shifting around often enough so that she doesn’t spot them.”

“Don’t worry your thick little head about that, Dan,” he said. “They know their business. Are you afraid they’ll lose her?”

“No, I’m not, and you know it. I just don’t want her to know she’s being followed. If she can’t ditch her shadow, she’s likely to try to talk to him and pull out all the stops convincing him that he should go away.”

“You think she could? With my boys?”

“No, but if she tries it, it’ll mean she knows she’s being followed. That’ll make it tougher to keep a man on her trail. Besides, I don’t want her to try to convince him and fail.”

“Ich graben Sie. On the off chance that she does spot one and gives him a good talking to, I’ll pass along the word that the victim is to walk away meekly and get lost.”

“Good,” I said, “but I’d rather she didn’t know.”

“She won’t. You’re getting touchy, Dan; ‘pears to me you’d rather be doing that job yourself, and think nobody can handle it but you.”

I gave him my best grin. “You are closer than you know. O.K., I’ll lay off. You handle your end of it and I’ll handle mine.”

“A fair exchange is no bargain. Go, and sin no more.”

“I’ll buzz you back before I go in,” I said, and hung up.

* * * * *