emember where the sight centers of the
brain were. Maybe whoever had hit him had disturbed them, and he'd had
a sudden blackout.

Come to think of it, that made pretty good sense. He had blacked out,
and Mike had just walked out the door. It had to be the door, of
course--the windows were out of the question, since there weren't any
windows. And six-inch-wide air-conditioner ducts do not provide
reasonable space for an exit, not if you happen to be a human being.

That, Malone told himself, was settled--and a good thing, too. He had
begun to worry about it. But now he knew just what had happened, and
he felt relieved. He got up from his chair, walked over to the door
and opened it.

Lieutenant Lynch nearly fell into the room. He'd obviously had his ear
pressed tightly to the door and hadn't expected it to open. The other
two cops stood behind him, just about filling the hallway with their
broad shoulders.

"Well, well," Malone said.

Lynch recovered his balance and glared at the FBI agent. He said
nothing.

"Where is he?" Malone said.

"Where is he?" Lynch repeated, and blinked. "Where's _who_?"

Malone shook his head impatiently. "Fueyo," he said. "The kid. Where
did he--"

Lynch's expression was the same as that on the faces of the other two
cops: complete and utter bafflement. Malone stopped and stared. It was
suddenly very obvious that the lovely theory he had worked out for
Mike's disappearance wasn't true in the least. If Mike Fueyo had come
out the door, then these cops would know about it. But they obviously
knew nothing at all about it.

Therefore, he hadn't come out through the door.

Malone took a deep breath.

"What are you talking about?" Lynch said. "Isn't the kid in there with
you? What's happened?"

There was only one thing to do and, straight-faced, Malone went ahead
and did it. "Of course not," he snapped, trying to sound impatient and
official. "I released him."

"You _what_?"

"Released him," Malone said. He stepped out into the hall and closed
the door of the interrogation room firmly behind him. "I got all the
information I needed, so I let him go."

"Thanks," Lynch said bitterly. "After all, I was the one who--"

"You called him in for questioning, didn't you, Lieutenant?" Malone
said.

"Yes, I did, and I--"

"Well," Malone said, "I questioned him."

There was a little silence. Then Lynch asked, in a strangled voice,
"What did he say?"

"Sorry," Malone said at once.