"But I do think you deserve a rest," Burris said. "Well, if I--" "Here's what I'm going to do," Burris said, and paused. Malone felt a little unsure as to exactly what his chief was talking about, but by now he knew better than to ask a lot of questions. Sooner or later, Burris would probably explain himself. And if he didn't, then there was no use worrying about it. That was just the way Burris acted. "Suppose I gave you a chance to take it easy for a while," Burris said. "You could catch up on your sleep, see some shows, have a couple of drinks during the evening, take girls out for dinner--you know. Something like that. How would you like it?" "Well--" Malone said cautiously. "Good," Burris said. "I knew you would." * * * * * Malone opened his mouth, thought briefly and closed it again. After all, it did sound sort of promising, and if there was a catch in it he'd find out about it soon enough. "It's really just a routine case," Burris said in an offhand tone. "Nothing to it." "Oh," Malone said. "There's this red Cadillac," Burris said. "It was stolen from a party in Connecticut, out near Danbury, and it showed up in New York City. Now, the car's crossed a state line." "That puts it in our jurisdiction," Malone said, feeling obvious. "Right," Burris said. "Right on the nose." "But the New York office--" "Naturally, they're in charge of everything," Burris said. "But I'm sending you out as sort of a special observer. Just keep your eyes open and nose around and let me know what's happening." "Keep my eyes and nose what?" Malone said. "Open," Burris said. "And let me know about it." Malone tried to picture himself with his eyes and nose open, and decided he didn't look very attractive that way. Well, it was only a figure of speech or something. He didn't have to think about it. It really made a very ugly picture. "But why a special observer?" he said after a second. Burris could read the reports from the New York office, and probably get more facts than any single agent could find out just wandering around a strange city. It sounded as if there were something, Malone told himself, just a tiny shade rotten in Denmark. It sounded as if there were going to be something in the nice, easy assignment he was getting that would make him wish he'd gone lion-hunting in Darkest Africa instead. And then again, maybe he was wrong. He stood at ease and waited to find out. "Well," Burris said, "it is just a routine case. Just like I said. But there seems to be something a little bit odd about it." "I see," Malone said with a sinking feeling.