im head
and shoulders over me. He came to the point at once.

"Any ideas about this, Hammond?"

I shook my head. "Nope," I replied. He looked at one of his men.

The other man nodded. "He's levelling," he said.

"Now look, Hammond," said the lieutenant pointedly, "You're clean and we
know it. But hot papas don't go out for fun. Why was he trying to burn
you?"

"I wouldn't know. I'm as blank as any perceptive when it comes to reading
minds. I was hoping to collect him whole enough to ask questions, but he
forced my hand." I looked to where some of the clean-up squad were tucking
the corpse into a basket. "It was one of the few times I'd have happily
swapped my perception for the ability to read a mind."

The lieutenant nodded unhappily. "Mind telling me why you were wandering
around in this neighborhood? You don't belong here, you know."

"I was doing the job that most private eyes do. I was tailing a gent who
was playing games off the reservation."

"You've gone into this guy's wallet, of course?"

I nodded. "Sure. He _was_ Peter Rambaugh, age thirty, and----"

"Don't bother. I know the rest. I can add only one item that you may not
know. Rampaugh was a paid hotboy, suspected of playing with Scarmann's
mob."

"I've had no dealings with Scarmann, Lieutenant."

The Lieutenant nodded absently. It seemed to be a habit with him, probably
to cover up his thinking-time. Finally he said, "Hammond, you're clean. As
soon as I identified you I took a dig of your folder at headquarters.
You're a bit rough and fast on that prehistoric cannon of yours, but----"

"You mean you can dig a folder at central files all the way from here?"

"I did."

Here was a _real_ esper for you. I've got a range of about two blocks for
good, solid, permanent things like buildings and street-car tracks, but
unfamiliar things get foggy at about a half a block. I can dig lethal
machinery coming in my direction for about a block and a half because I'm
a bit sensitive about such things. I looked at Lieutenant Williamson and
said, "With a range like yours, how come there's any crime in this town at
all?"

He shook his head slowly. "Crime doesn't out until it's committed," he
said. "You'll remember how fast we got here after you pulled the trigger.
But you're clean, Hammond. Just come to the inquest and tell all."

"I can go?"

"You can go. But just to keep you out of any more trouble, I'll have one
of the jetcopters drop you off at h