here."

XV.

It is definitely not usual for the Director of the FBI to come stalking
into a local office of that same FBI without so much as an advance
warning or a by-your-leave. Such things are simply not done.

Andrew J. Burris, however, was doing them.

Three days after the Great Warehouse Fiasco, a startled A-in-C looked up
to see the familiar Burris figure stalk by his office, growling under
its breath. The A-in-C leaped to the interoffice phone, wondered whom he
ought to call first, and subsided, staring dully at the telephone screen
and thinking about retiring.

The next appearance of the head of the FBI was in the office assigned to
Malone and Boyd. Burris came through the doorway without warning, his
countenance that of a harried and unhappy man.

Malone looked up, blinked, and then readjusted his features to what he
imagined was a nice, bright smile. "Oh," he said. "Hello, chief. I've
been sort of expecting you."

"I'll bet you have," Burris said. He set his brief case on Malone's desk
and pulled a sheaf of papers from it. "Do you see these?" he said,
waving them. "Inquiries. Complaints. Demands. From everybody. I've been
getting them for three days."

"Sure are a lot of them," Malone said at random.

"From Police Commissioner Fernack," Burris said. "From the mayor. From
the governor, in Albany. From everybody. And they all want an
explanation. They demand one."

He sat down suddenly on Malone's desk, his anger gone.

"Well--" Malone began.

"Malone," Burris said plaintively, "I can stall them off for a while. I
can tell them all kinds of fancy stories. I don't mind. They don't
really need any explanation. But--" He paused, and then added: "I do!"

Malone closed his eyes, decided things looked even worse that way, and
opened them again. "Just what sort of an explanation did you have in
mind, chief?" he said.

"Any kind," Burris said instantly, "so long as it explains. I ... no."

"No?"

"No," Burris said. "I want the truth! Even if it doesn't explain
anything! Preferably, I want both--the truth and some explanations. If
possible. For three days, now, this area has been haunted by the Silent
Spooks. They've been stealing everything they could carry off! They've
got the whole city in an uproar!"

"Well," Malone said. "Not exactly. The papers--"

"I know," Burris said. "You've kept it out of the news. That's fine, and
I appreciate it, Malone. I really do. But I can't sit around and