“Not yet,” Laverna said. “I’ll tell you, it’s like the man vanished into thin air. He hasn’t left Lorelei on any ship either as passenger or as a crew member. We got that much from the watchers at the spaceport. The thing is, though, he hasn’t shown up at any hotel on or off the Strip, either.”
“That’s strange,” Maxine said thoughtfully. “If nothing else, it should be hard to hide that hover cycle of his.”
“You’d think so,” her aide said. “The only thing I can figure is that he’s holed up with someone-someone who’s better at hiding things than we are at finding them.”
“Like young Mr. Phule, for example?”
Laverna eyed her employer for a moment.
“Excuse my asking, Max, but is he going to take the blame for everything that goes wrong for us from now on?”
“I’m not getting paranoid or obsessive-not yet, anyway.” Maxine smiled. “Think about it for a moment, Laverna. It makes sense. We have a network of spotters all through this space station. We should be able to locate anyone in a relatively short time, yet this one gentleman who is rather memorable in appearance eludes our efforts. Now, where is our current blind spot-or, at least, where is our web the thinnest?”
“Right here at the Fat Chance,” Laverna admitted.
“Correct,” Max said. “Now, add to that our suspicions that the attack on Mr. Stilman was not entirely coincidental-that there is some link between our fugitive and the forces under Mr. Phule’s command.”
“I thought he told you that he didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“He may have lied,” Max said, “though I somehow doubt it. What he specifically said, though, was that he didn’t know anything about it. It’s my guess that one of has subordinates indulged in a little independent action, just as Mr. Stilman arranged the attack on his own. Anyway, with those two pieces-our lack of information on the internal workings of the Fat Chance and the possible connection between our missing bartender and someone in the security force-I don’t think it’s unreasonable to conclude that he might be hiding right here, in this complex.”