"I even poked into the power shaft," retorted Westervelt. "Were you in his office?"
"Naturally. I checked everything, even the men's room."
They had wandered back to the corridor door, peering about the laboratory to make sure no one could have concealed himself on the floor under a workbench, or behind a pile of cartons.
Parrish opened the door, and they stood puzzling at the empty hall.
"He wasn't even taking a shower," said the elder man.
Westervelt brooded for a moment.
"Did you say everywhere?" he insisted.
"Well ... everywhere he would have any call to go."
They stood there, passing the buck silently back and forth between them. At length, Parrish said, "I'll just look again in his office and the other two rooms, in case he was, and slipped out behind me."
Westervelt watched him run lightly up the hall to each of the doors. Parrish's expression, as he returned slowly, was something to behold.