But she spoke first. "They still haven't found Senator Thurman, Jim. I heard the nine-thirty newscast. Isn't it terrible, an old man like that disappearing?" Sudden coldness swept through him. "Still--haven't found him?" he repeated inanely. "Well--I guess--ah--that old buzzard's indestructible. He'll turn up." "How do you think this will affect the hearing on Monday?" Harker shrugged, only half-listening. He was thinking, _You know damn well where Thurman is, and you're afraid to tell her. Why don't you speak up? Don't you trust your own wife?_ He wet his dry lips. "I--I suppose they'll choose a new chairman if something's happened to Thurman. But--" "Jim, are you all right? You look terrible!" "Lois, I--want to tell you something. Today--" He stopped, wondering how to go on. She was staring intently at him, curious but not overly curious, waiting to hear what he had to say. The phone rang. Grateful for the interruption, Harker sprang from the couch and darted around back to take the call on the visual set. He activated it; Mart Raymond's face appeared on the screen. "Well?" Harker said immediately, in a low voice. "Is the evidence all taken care of?" Raymond nodded agitatedly. "Yes. But that's not what I called you about. Barchet's dead!" "What? How?" "It happened about five minutes ago. He was getting ready to leave, and we were discussing--you know, what happened tonight. He had a heart attack and just dropped. It must have been all the excitement. His heart was weak anyway, he once said." Harker could not repress the tide of relief that rose in him. Barchet had been the cause of half of his troubles--Mitchison and Klaus, for one, and the Thurman affair for another. Still, a man was dead, and that was no cause for rejoicing, he told himself coldly. He said, "That's too bad. Did he have a family?" "Just a wife, but she died years ago. He was alone." Harker nodded. "You'd better notify the local police right away." "Jim, what's the matter with you?" Raymond asked incredulously. "What do you mean?" "Barchet's in the operating room now. Vogel's getting ready to try a reanimation on him." "No!" Harker said instantly. "No? Jim, we can't just let him die like that!" "Barchet was a troublemaker, Mart. He was the weak link in the organization. Now we're rid of him; let him stay dead. It's one less witness to the thing that happened today." In a shocked whisper Raymond said, "You can't mean what you're saying, Jim." "I mean exactly what you're hearing. Barchet was unstable, Mart. He pressured you into doing all sorts of cockeyed things. If he lived, he'd end up revealing the Thurman business before long. Let him stay dead. That's an order, Mart." Raymond seemed to shrink back from the screen. "It's--almost like committing murder, Jim! That man could be saved if we--" "No," Harker said, with a firmness he did not feel. "There'll be trouble if you cross me, Mart. Good night." He broke the contact with a shaky hand.