thought
I'd tidy them up before leaving."

"You tidied them up all right," Steve grumbled. "This Professor Voss was
practically the only lead I've been able to discover. An old friend of
Self's. And you allowed him to get away before we even got here."

One of Hackett's men came up and said, "Not a sign of him, Steve. He
evidently burned a few papers, packed a suitcase, and took off. His things
look suspiciously as though he was ready to go into hiding at a moment's
notice."

Steve growled to him, "Give the place the works. He's probably left some
clues around that'll give us a line."

The other went off and Steve Hackett sat down in one of the leather chairs
and glowered at Larry Woolford. "Listen," he said, "what did you people
want with Susan Self?"

Larry shook his head for clarity and looked at him. "Susan? What are you
talking about? You don't have any aspirin, do you?"

"No. What'd you mean, what am I talking about? You called Betsy Hughes and
then sent a couple of men over to pick the Self kid up."

"Who's Betsy Hughes?"

Steve shook his head. "I don't know what kind of knockout drops the old
boy gave you, but they sure worked. Betsy's the operative we had minding
Susan Self over in the Greater Washington Hilton. About an hour ago you
got her on the phone, said your department wanted to question Susan, and
that you were sending two men over to pick her up. The two men turned up
with an order from you, and took the girl."

Larry stared at him. Finally he said, "What time is it?"

"About two o'clock."

Larry said, "I came into this house in the morning, talked to the
Professor for about half an hour and then was silly enough to let him give
me some loaded coffee. He was such a weird old buzzard that it never
occurred to me he might be dangerous. At any rate, I've been unconscious
for several hours. I _couldn't've_ called this Betsy Hughes operative of
yours."

It was Steve Hackett's turn to stare.

"You mean your department doesn't have Susan Self?"

"Not so far as I know. The Boss told me yesterday that we were pulling
out, that it was all in your hands. What would we want with Susan?"

"Oh, great," Steve snarled. "There goes our last contact. Ernest Self,
Professor Voss, and now Susan Self; they've all disappeared."

"Look," Larry said unhappily, "let's get me some aspirin and then let's go
and see my chief. I have a sneaking suspicion our department is back on
this case."

Steve snorted sa