arlier contact, and the barber had
told them he would be alone today. That might account for the
houseboat's moving closer to Whiteside.

"Vince had gone fishing." The editor grinned. "I suspect that's the
only reason he got a helper, anyway, so he could go fishing more
often. There isn't really enough work in town for more than one
barber."

"Did you look at the massage machine?" Rick asked anxiously.

The editor nodded. "It's nothing but a hood, with three ordinary
massage gadgets inside. Vibrator heads, I think they're called."

That tallied with the description Steve's agent had given. "Did you
examine it closely?" Rick pursued.

"Yes. There's only one cord attached--the power cord. But I did notice
an interesting thing. Set around the edges are little disks, like
round covers. I started to lift one up, but the barber asked me to
stop. He said the machine is adjusted very carefully and I might upset
the adjustment."

"Tough luck," Scotty said, disappointed.

"Oh, I don't know." Duke's eyes twinkled. "I got enough of a look to
see two tiny holes in the piece of stuff the disk covered. The stuff
was black, probably plastic. Like telephones are made of."

"In other words," Rick said slowly, "you saw holes for electrical
plugs?"

"I think so. I don't know what else they could be."

Rick and Scotty exchanged glances.

"What does it mean?" Jerry asked.

Rick answered. "We don't know. And I'm not kidding. We really don't
know."

"I believe you," Duke said briefly. "Okay. I've done my bit, including
getting my hair cut. Anything else?"

"We'd like to stick around," Rick replied. "Jerry already knows about
this, but Barby is watching a houseboat anchored in North Cove. If
anyone leaves the houseboat for the Whiteside pier, she'll call us.
We'll take over at the pier. It just might happen that the houseboater
will pay a call on the barber."

Duke didn't comment, but Rick knew the editor's mind was at work.
"Make yourself at home," Duke said, and went back to his editorial
writing.

Now and then Barby called, wanting to chat, but Rick discouraged her.
He was reasonably sure the enemy wouldn't be listening in on the
extremely short wave length on which the Megabuck network operated,
but there was no use taking any chances. After each conversation he
identified the sets with his own amateur call letters, even though it
was unlikely anyone could hear the conversation. The little sets
operated essentially on