same.
It was plain enough now. He'd planned to poison the plants and drive
us back. Murder of Hendrix had been a blunder when he'd thought it
wasn't working properly. "What about Sam?" I asked.

"Blackmail. He was too smart. He'd been sure Grundy was smuggling the
stuff, and raking off from him. He didn't care who killed Hendrix as
much as how much Grundy would pay to keep his mouth shut--with murder
around, he figured Grundy'd get rattled. The fool did, and Sam smelled
bigger stakes. Grundy was bait to get him down near here. I killed
him."

"And Lomax?"

"I don't know. Maybe he was bluffing. But he kept going from room to
room with a pocketful of chemicals, making some kind of tests. I
couldn't take a chance on his being able to spot chromazone. So I had
Grundy give him my keys and tell him to go ahead--then jump him."

And after that, when he wasn't quite killed, they'd been forced to
finish the job. Wilcox shrugged again. "I guess it got out of hand.
I'll make a tape of the whole story for you, Captain. But I'd
appreciate it if you'd get Napier down here. This is getting pretty
messy."

"He's on the way," Eve said. We hadn't seen her call, but the doctor
arrived almost immediately afterwards.

He sniffed the drug, and questioned us about the dose Wilcox had
taken. Then he nodded slowly. "About two hours, I'd say. No chance at
all to save him. The stuff is absorbed almost at once and begins
changing to something else in the blood. I'll be responsible, if you
want."

Muller shrugged. "I suppose so. I'd rather deliver him in irons to a
jury, but.... Well, we still have a lottery to hold!"

It jerked us back to reality sharply. Somehow, I'd been fighting off
the facts, figuring that finding the cause would end the results. But
even with Wilcox out of the picture, there were twelve of us left--and
air for only ten!

Wilcox laughed abruptly. "A favor for a favor. I can give you a better
answer than a lottery."

"Pop-corn! Bullard!" Eve slapped her head with her palm. "Captain,
give me the master key." She snatched it out of his hand and was gone
at a run.

Wilcox looked disappointed, and then grinned. "Pop-corn and beans. I
overlooked them myself. We're a bunch of city hicks. But when Bullard
forgot his fears in his sleep, he remembered the answer--and got it so
messed up with his dream and his new place as a hero that my complaint
tipped the balance. Grundy put the fear of his God into him then. And
you