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chance to lead the investigation, but at the same time, he was charging me half a starbill an hour for this. I wanted to get started on it.
    â€œWhy don’t we go to Roberto’s old house?” I said finally.
    â€œGood idea.” He started out the door.
    â€œUm,” I said, “are you going to wear that hat?”
    He stopped and thought about it. “You don’t like the hat?”
    â€œIt’s just … a little … goofy.”
    He seemed offended and, for the first time, showed me who was boss here. “I’m leading this investigation, thank you. Come on.”

    Roberto’s house had been left just as it was when the burglary took place. He hadn’t come back for any of his stuff. He probably didn’t want to risk running into anyone and having to explain himself. There were magazine pictures scattered all around.
    â€œWait a minute,” I said. “He told me he was putting up pictures when he heard someone call his name.”
    â€œThat looks possible,” Scott said. “Some of these pictures are tacked up, some aren’t.” This was obvious to both of us, but since I was paying him, I guess he felt he ought to observe something.
    We continued looking around, but we were interrupted by a ruckus outside. Several people were running past the door. “What’s going on?” I asked one of them.
    â€œThere’s been another break-in!”

    It was Nelson Swanson’s house. The place was littered with blueprints, ideas, sketches, and a number of different gadgets that Nelson had invented. It looked as if someone had trashed it just for the sake of trashing it.
    â€œDid anybody see anything?” I asked Alice.
    â€œNo,” Alice replied, having a little trouble concentrating on my question because she was staring at Scott’s hat. “Nelson said that nothing was stolen.”
    â€œWhy would somebody go to all the trouble to break in, trash the whole place, and not steal anything?”
    â€œI don’t know.” She raised her eyebrows as if she did know. “Revenge, maybe?”
    â€œYou think it was Roberto?” Scott asked.
    She lowered her voice. Scott, who was listening up to this point, backed away as if he sensed he wasn’t invited to the conversation. “This place was wired with an alarm—and whoever did this managed to do it without setting it off. This is the work of a professional. He knew what he was doing. And Roberto’s father being who he is …”
    â€œI don’t want to hear any more,” I interrupted. She was jumping to a wild conclusion, and she knew it.
    â€œWhere’s Nelson?” I asked.
    â€œOutside. I was just about to ask him some more questions,” she said. We followed her out.
    Nelson was sitting by a tree, looking troubled and holding a metal gadget. Eugene Meltsner was trying to console him.
    â€œI don’t believe your efforts were in vain, Nelson,” Eugene was saying to him as we walked up. “The difficult work has already been accomplished, such as the intellectual labor that went into figuring out exactly how it could work.”
    â€œBut I was so close,” Nelson replied.
    â€œAs far as the rebuilding process is concerned, I believe it should go much faster now, since you know the basics.”
    â€œHello, Eugene,” Alice said.
    â€œGreetings.”
    â€œYou mind if I ask Nelson a few questions?”
    â€œNot at all.”
    Alice looked at Nelson. “What’s that you’ve got there?”
    â€œA broken automatic door opener. All I had to do was adjust the sensitivity …”
    â€œIs it worth anything?”
    â€œNot much. Just the parts.”
    â€œYou still haven’t discovered anything missing?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDo you have any enemies?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œCompetitors?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAnyone you owe money to?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThis