"Not at all," Boyd said. "It goes a lot deeper than it looks on the surface. In the past year, Ken, five senators have announced their resignations from the Senate of the United States. It isn't exactly a record--" "It sounds like a record," Malone said. "Well," Boyd said, "there was 1860 and the Civil War, when a whole lot of senators and representatives resigned all at once." "Oh," Malone said. "But there isn't any Civil War going on now. At least," he added, "I haven't heard of any." "That's what makes it so funny," Boyd said. "Of course, Senator Burley said it was ill health, and so did two others, while Senator Davidson said it was old age." "Well," Malone said, "people do get old. And sick." "Sure," Boyd said. "The only trouble is--" He paused. "Ken," he said, "do you mind if I smoke? I mean, do you mind the smell of cigars?" "Mind?" Malone said. "Not at all. Not at all." He blinked. "Besides," he added, "maybe this one won't smell like a cigar." "Well, the last one did," Boyd said. He took a cigarette out of a pack in his pocket, and lit it. He sniffed. "You know," he said, "You're right. This one doesn't." "I told you," Malone said. "Must have been a bad cigarette. Spoiled or something." "I guess so," Boyd said vaguely. "But about these retirements--the FBI wanted me to look into it because of Burley's being mixed up with the space program scandal last year. Remember? "Vaguely," Malone said. "I was busy last year." "Sure you were," Boyd said. "We were both busy getting famous and well-known." Malone grinned. "Go on with the story," he said. Boyd puffed at his cigarette. "Anyhow, we couldn't find anything really wrong," he said. "Three senators retiring because of ill health, one because of old age. And Farnsworth, the youngest. He had a nervous breakdown." "I didn't hear about it," Malone said. Boyd shrugged. "We hushed it up," he said. "But Farnsworth's got delusions of persecution. He apparently thinks somebody's out to get him. As a matter of fact, he thinks _everybody's_ out to get him." "Now that," Malone said, "sounds familiar." Boyd leaned back a little more in his chair. "Here's the funny thing, though," he said. "The others all act as if they're suspicious of everybody who talks to them. Not anything obvious, you understand. Just--worried. Apprehensive. Always looking at you out of the corners of their eyes. That kind of thing." Malone thought of Senator Lefferts, who was also suffering from delusions of persecution--delusions that had real evidence to back them up. "It does sound funny," he said cautiously. "Well, I reported everything to Burris," Boyd went on. "And he said you were working on something similar, and we might as well pool our resources."