you would call me from the Carlton. But you never did.'
'Something happened to me on Monday night'
Yeah. Listen, there's someone you have to call. Dr Billie Josephson is a world expert on memory.'
The name rang a bell. 'I think I came across her book in the library.'
'She's also my ex-wife, and an old friend of yours.' Bern gave Luke the number.
'I'm going to call her right away. Bern ...'
Yeah.'
'I lose my memory, and it turns out that an old friend of mine is a world expert on memory. Isn't that a hell of a coincidence?'
'Ain't it just,' said Bern.
.
4.45 P. M.
The final stage, containing the satellite, is eighty inches long and only six inches across, and weighs just over thirty pounds. It is shaped like a stovepipe.
Billie had scheduled an hour-long interview with a patient, a football player who had been 'dinged' -concussed in a collision with an opponent. He was an interesting subject, because he could remember everything up to one hour before the game, and nothing after that until the moment when he found himself standing on the sideline with his back to the play, wondering how he got there.
She was distracted during the interview, thinking about the Sowerby Foundation and Anthony Carroll. By the time she got through with the football player and called Anthony, she was feeling frustrated and impatient. She was lucky, and reached him at his office on the first try. 'Anthony,' she said abruptly, 'what the hell is going on?'
'A lot,' he replied. 'Egypt and Syria have agreed to merge, skirts are getting shorter, and Campanella broke his neck in a car wreck and may never catch for the Dodgers again.'
She controlled the impulse to yell at him. 'I was passed over for the post of Director of Research here at the hospital,' she said with forced calm. 'Len Ross got the job. Did you know that?'
'Yeah, I guess I did.'
'I don't understand it I thought I might lose to a highly qualified outsider - Sol Weinberg, from Princeton, or someone of that order. But everyone knows I'm better than Len.'
'Do they?'
'Anthony, come on! You know it yourself. Hell, you encouraged me in this line of research, years ago, at the end of the war, when we-'
'Okay, okay, I remember,' he interrupted. 'That stuff is still classified, you know.'
She did not believe that things they did in the war could still be important secrets. But it did not matter. 'So why didn't I get the job?'
'I'm supposed to know?'
This was humiliating, she felt, but her need to understand overrode her embarrassment. 'The Foundation is insisting on Len.'
'I guess they have the right'
'Anthony, talk to me!'
'I'm talking.'
'You're part of the Foundation. It's very unusual for a trust to interfere in this kind of decision. They normally leave it to the experts. You must know why they took this exceptional step.'
'Well, I don't.' And my guess is the step has not yet been taken. There certainly hasn't been a meeting about it - I'd know about that'
'Charles was very definite.'
'I don't doubt it's true, unfortunately for you. But it's not the kind of thing that would be decided openly. More likely, the Director and one or two board members had a chat over a drink at the Cosmos Club. One of them has called Charles and given him the word. He can't afford to upset them, so he's gone along. That's how these things work. I'm just surprised Charles was so candid with you.'
'He was shocked, I think. He can't understand why they would do such a thing. I thought you might know.'
'It's probably something dumb. Is Ross a family man?'
'Married with four children.'
'The Director doesn't really approve of women earning high salaries when there are men trying to support a family.'
'For Christ's sake! I have a child and an elderly mother to take care of!'
'I didn't say it was logical. Listen, Billie, I have to go. I'm sorry. I'll call you later.' .
'Okay,' she said.
When she had hung up, she stared at the phone, trying to sort out her feelings. The conversation rang false to her, and she asked herself why. It was perfectly plausible that Anthony might not know about machinations among the other board members of the Foundation. So why did she disbelieve him? Thinking back, she realized he had been evasive - which was not like him. In the end he had told her what little he knew, but reluctantly. It all added up to a very clear impression.
Anthony was lying.
.
5 P. M.
The fourth-stage rocket is made of lightweight titanium instead of stainless steel. The weight saving permits the missile to carry a crucial extra two pounds of scientific equipment.
When Anthony hung up the phone, it rang again immediately. He picked it up and heard Elspeth, sounding spooked. 'For God's sake, I've been on hold for a quarter of an hour!'
'I was talking to Billie, she-'
'Never mind. I just spoke with Luke.'
'Jesus, how come?'
'Shut up and listen! He was at the Smithsonian, in the Aircraft Building, with a bunch of physicists.'
I'm on my way.' Anthony dropped the phone and ran out the door. Pete saw him and ran after him. They went down to the parking lot and jumped into Anthony's car.
The fact that Luke had spoken with Elspeth dismayed Anthony. It suggested that everything was coming unglued. But maybe if he got to Luke before anyone else, he could hold things together. It took them four minutes to drive to Independence Avenue and 10th Street. They left the car outside the back entrance to the museum and ran into the old hangar that was the Aircraft Building.
There was a payphone near the entrance, but no sign of Luke.
'Split up,' Anthony said. I'll go right, you go left.' He walked through the exhibits, scrutinizing the faces of the men as they gazed into the glass cases and stared up at the aircraft suspended from the ceiling. At the far end of the building he met up with Pete, who made an empty-hands gesture.
There were some restrooms and offices to one side. Pete checked the men's room and Anthony looked in the offices. Luke must have called from one of these phones, but he was not here now.
Pete came out of the men's room and said: 'Nothing.'
Anthony said: 'This is a catastrophe.'
Pete frowned. 'Is it?' he said. 'A catastrophe? Is this guy more important than you've told me?'
'Yes,' Anthony said. 'He could be the most dangerous man in America.'
'Christ'
Against the end wall, Anthony saw stacked chairs and a movable lectern. A young man in a tweed suit was talking to two men in overalls. Anthony recalled that Elspeth had said Luke was with a bunch of physicists. Maybe he could still pick up the trail.
He approached the man in the tweed suit and said: 'Excuse me, was there a meeting of some kind here?'
'Sure, Professor Larkley gave a lecture on rocket fuels,' the young man said. 'I'm Will McDermot, I organized it as part of International Geophysical Year.'
'Was Dr Claude Lucas here?'
