The casual observer might have been fooled. Tawney's guard was down only for an instant; then the expression of cold fury and determination on his face dropped away as though the shutter of a camera had clicked, and he was all smiles and affability. They were honored guests here, one would have thought, and this pudgy agent of the Jupiter Equilateral combine was their genial host, anxious for their welfare, eager to do anything he could for their comfort.... They were amazed by the luxuriousness of the ship. For the next few hours they received the best treatment, sumptuous accommodations, excellent food. They were finishing their second cup of coffee when Tawney asked, "Feeling better, gentlemen?" "You do things in a big way," Johnny said. "This is real coffee, made from grounds. Must have cost a fortune to ship it out here." Tawney spread his hands. "We keep it for special occasions. Like when we have special visitors." "Even when the visits aren't voluntary," Greg added sourly. "We have to be realistic," Tawney said. "Would you have come if we invited you? Of course not. You gentlemen chose to come out to the Belt in spite of my warnings. You thus made things very awkward for us, upset certain of our plans." He looked at Greg. "We don't ordinarily allow people to upset our plans, but now we find that we're forced to include you in our plans, whether you happen to like the idea or not." "You're doing a lot of talking," Greg said. "Why don't you come to the point?" Tawney was no longer smiling. "We happen to know that your father struck a rich lode on one of his claims." "That's interesting," Greg said. "Did Dad tell you that?" "He didn't have to. A man can't keep a secret like that, not for very long. Ask your friend here, if you don't believe me. And we make it our business to know what's going on out here. We have to, in order to survive." "Well, suppose you heard right. The law says that what a man finds on his own claim is his." "Certainly," Tawney said. "Nobody would think of claim-jumping, these days. But when a man happens to die before he can bring in his bonanza, then it's a question of who gets there first, wouldn't you think?" "Not when the man is murdered," Greg said hotly, "not by a long shot." "But you can't prove that your father was murdered." "If I could, I wouldn't be here." "Then I think we'll stick to the law," Tawney said, "and call it an accident." "And what about my brother? Was that an accident?" "Ah, yes, your brother." Tawney's eyes hardened. "Quite a different matter, that. Sometimes Doc tends to be over-zealous in carrying out his assigned duties. I can assure you that he has been ... disciplined." "That's not going to help Tom very much." "Unfortunately not," Tawney said. "Your brother made a very foolish move, under the circumstances. But from a practical point of view, perhaps it's not entirely a tragedy." "What do you mean by that?"