knew Max pretty well," he said. "About a week ago he came
to see me and gave me a sealed envelope which was to be opened only in
the event of his death on this particular day, and to be destroyed
unopened otherwise. I opened it a few hours ago. I think you ought to
read it."

With trembling fingers Alan took the sheaf of papers and scanned them.
They were neatly typed; Alan recognized the blocky purple characters of
the voicewrite Hawkes kept in his room.

He started to read.

The document explained that Hawkes was planning a bank robbery to take
place on Friday, October 3, 3876. He named none of his accomplices. He
went on to state that one Alan Donnell, an unregistered ex-starman, was
living with him, and that this Alan Donnell had no knowledge whatsoever
of the intended bank robbery.

_Furthermore_, Hawkes added, _in the event of my death in the intended
robbery, Alan Donnell is to be sole heir and assign of my worldly goods.
This supersedes and replaces any and all wills and testaments I may have
made at any past time._

Appended was a schedule of the properties Hawkes was leaving behind.
Accounts in various savings banks totalled some three quarters of a
million credits; besides that, there were scattered investments, real
estate holdings, bonds. The total estate, Hawkes estimated, was worth
slightly over one million credits.

When Alan finished, he looked up startled and white-faced at the older
man. "All of this is mine?"

"You're a pretty rich young man," Gainer agreed. "Of course, there are
formalities--the will has to be probated and contested, and you can
expect it to be contested by somebody. If you still have the full estate
when the courts get through with you, you'll be all right."

Alan shook his head uncomprehendingly. "The way he wrote this--it's as
if he _knew_."

"Max Hawkes always knew," Gainer said gently. "He was the best hunch-man
I've ever seen. It was almost as if he could look a couple of days into
the future all the time. Sure, he knew. And he also knew it was safe to
leave this document with me--that he could trust me not to open it.
Imagine, announcing a week ahead of time that you're going to rob a bank
and then turning the announcement over sealed to a police officer!"

Alan started. The police had known about the robbery in advance--that
was how Max and the dreamduster Byng had been killed. Had Gainer been
the one who had betrayed them? Had he opened the sealed envelope ahead