suit, and you'll never notice a thing on the outside.

* * *

I'd had the right idea after all. McCann had planned to get rid of
Karpin's body by attaching a rocket to it, slowing it down, and letting
it fall into the sun. But he hadn't had an opportunity yet to go buy a
rocket. He couldn't go to Atronics City, where he could have bought the
rocket on credit, and he couldn't go to Chemisant City until the claim
sale went through and he had some money to spend. And in the meantime,
Karpin's body was perfectly safe, sealed away inside his atmosphere
suit.

And it would have been safe, too, if McCann hadn't been just a little
bit too greedy. He could kill his partner and get away with it;
policemen on the Belt are even farther apart than the asteroids. He
could swindle his creditors and get away with it; they had no way of
checking up and no reason to suspect a switch in identities. But when he
tried to get his own money back from Tangiers Mutual Insurance; _that's_
when he made his mistake.

I studied the two atmosphere suits, at the same time managing to keep a
wary eye on Jafe McCann, standing rigid and silent across the room.
Which one of those suits contained the body of Ab Karpin?

The one with the new patch on the chest, of course. As I'd guessed,
McCann had shot him, and that's why he had the problem of disposing of
the body in the first place.

I prodded that suit with my toe. "He's in there, isn't he?"

"You're crazy."

"Think I should open it up and check? It's been almost a month, you
know. I imagine he's pretty ripe by now."

I reached down to the neck-fastenings on the fishbowl, and McCann
finally moved. His arms jerked up, and he cried, "Don't! He's in there,
he's in there! For God's sake, don't open it up!"

I relaxed. Mission accomplished. "Crawl into your suit, little man," I
said. "We've got ourselves a trip to make, the three of us."

* * * * *

Henderson, as usual, was jovial but stern. "You did a fine job up there,
Ged," he said, with false familiarity. "Really brilliant work."

"Thank you very much," I said. I was holding the last piece of news for
a minute or two, relishing it.

"But you brought McCann in over a week ago. I don't see why you had to
stay up at Atronics City at all after that, much less ten days."

I sat back in the chair and negligently crossed my legs. "I just thought
I'd take a little vacation," I said carelessly,