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anything for that hound to dig up.”
    â€œWe would have had to break into the lab,” Frank Grant said. “If the watchman had caught us with a sackful of human remains, we’d have had it then and there.”
    â€œWe could have killed him, too.”
    â€œHe was armed and we weren’t. Besides, the lab was burglar-alarmed. I took the calculated risk. The burial was less dangerous.”
    â€œIt put us away for four years! I never should have let you talk me into it.”
    â€œYou let me talk you into it because I’m a born leader and you’re a born follower,” Frank said.
    â€œI’ve got a two-points ad on you in IQ!”
    â€œIQ scores can vary ten points just because of metabolism alone. A slight cold or a heavy lunch—almost anything—can affect the score. Anyway, what’s two points? Intelligence consists of other factors than IQ.”
    â€œWhat factors?”
    â€œI just told you. I’m a leader and you’re not, Gerry. You’ll have to excuse this little set-to, gentlemen,” Frank Grant said mockingly. “They kept us pretty much separated in prison. This is really the first chance we’ve had to get things straight.”
    â€œAh,” Gerard said with disgust. “I’ll put it to you, Captain. If you had your choice of brains, whose would you pick, Frank’s or mine?”
    â€œThat’s no choice,” Corrigan said.
    â€œWhat d’ya mean?”
    â€œGive me a third alternative—say, a vulture—and I wouldn’t have any trouble.”
    Gerard cursed. Frank laughed. Baer spat out the window.
    â€œYou’re making our bodyguard dislike us, Gerry,” Frank said “You’d better hope we don’t need him.”
    â€œI don’t dislike you, son,” Chuck Baer said. “You can’t dislike somebody who’s sick in the head. But you sure as hell don’t have to want to inhabit the same planet. You’re both as paranoid as they come. It’s lucky I have a cast-iron stomach. Just being in the same car with you two makes me want to throw up.”
    â€œSome bodyguard,” Gerard Alstrom snarled. “Who picked this knight in shining armor, Frank?”
    â€œYour father,” Frank Grant said.
    â€œDrive,” Corrigan said. Poor Chuck. He had to take these two for a couple of weeks. He thanked his lucky stars that his chore ended on delivery in Manhattan.

5.
    The apartment house was the highest building in the area; it rose eleven stories. The sight of it touched a chord in Corrigan’s memory, but the melody eluded him.
    Young Alstrom drove down a ramp into a vast basement garage. There were over a hundred numbered parking slots outlined in white paint. At the far end another ramp led to a lower parking level.
    Only a scattering of cars occupied slots in the middle of the working day. No one was in sight.
    Gerard braked to a stop at the bottom of the street ramp. “Our space is supposed to be number one. Should be right here somewhere, if they have any kind of sensible numbering system.”
    Frank peered both ways through his thick glasses. “Over there, Gerry.” He pointed to the right.
    Gerard swung the car into the space and cut the engine. He was about to get out when Corrigan said, “Hold it. Chuck, you stay in the car with them. I want to take a look around.”
    He got out and checked the basement, paying particular attention to the parked cars. They were all empty. There was an elevator on one wall, with an open door near it. He went to the doorway and looked in. It was the furnace room. The enormous steam boilers were cold at the moment. A huge air-conditioning unit droned steadily. There was an incinerator, and several workbenches laden with tools. Through an open door across the furnace room he caught a glimpse of a lean, gray-haired man in a striped jump-suit sitting on a cot reading a copy of Playboy ; he had it open to