e easy assignment he was getting that would
make him wish he'd gone lion hunting in Darkest Africa instead.

And then again, maybe he was wrong. He stood at ease and waited to
find out.

"Well," Burris said, "it is just a routine case. Just like I said. But
there seems to be something a little bit odd about it."

"I see," Malone said with a sinking feeling.

"Here's what happened," Burris said hurriedly, as if he were afraid
Malone was going to change his mind and refuse the assignment. "This
red Cadillac I told you about was reported stolen from Danbury. Three
days later, it turned up in New York City--parked smack across the
street from a precinct police station. Of course it took them a while
to wake up, but one of the officers happened to notice the routine
report on stolen cars in the area, and he decided to go across the
street and check the license number on the car. Then something funny
happened."

"Something funny?" Malone asked. He doubted that, whatever it was, it
was going to make him laugh. But he kept his face a careful, receptive
blank.

"That's right," Burris said. "Now, if you're going to understand what
happened, you've got to get the whole picture."

"Sure," Malone said.

"Only that isn't what I mean," Burris added suddenly.

Malone blinked. "_What_ isn't what you mean?" he said.

"Understanding what happened," Burris said. "That's the trouble. You
won't understand what happened. I don't understand it, and neither
does anybody else. So what do you think about it?"

"Think about what?" Malone said.

"About what I've been telling you," Burris snapped. "This car."

Malone took a deep breath. "Well," he said, "this officer went over to
check the license plate. It seems like the right thing to do. It's
just what I'd have done myself."

"Sure you would," Burris said. "Anybody would. But listen to me."

"All right, Chief," Malone said.

"It was just after dawn--early in the morning." Malone wondered
briefly if there were parts of the world where dawn came, say, late in
the afternoon, or during the evening sometime, but he said nothing.
"The street was deserted," Burris went on. "But it was pretty light
out, and the witnesses are willing to swear that there was nobody on
that street for a block in either direction. Except them, of course."

"Except who?" Malone said.

"Except the witnesses," Burris said patiently. "Four cops, police
officers who were standing on the front steps of the p