With infuriating slowness, Martinez opened the packet, removed some closely-typed sheets, nodded over them. He handed them to Walton.
"Here. Read for yourself. Here's the record of the conversation between your brother and di Cassio. I think it's what you're looking for."
Walton accepted the sheets tensely and began to read:
Di Cassio: You have a what?
Fred Walton: An immortality serum. Eternal life. You know. Some Popeek scientist invented it, and I stole his notebook from my brother's office. It's all here.
Di Cassio: Buono! Excellent work. Excellent. Immortality, you say?
Fred Walton: Damned right. And it's the weapon we can use to pry Roy out of office. All I have to do is tell him he'd better get out of the way or we'll turn the serum loose on humanity, and he'll move. He's an idealist—stars in his eyes and all that. He won't dare resist.
Di Cassio: This is marvelous. You will, of course, send the serum formula to us for safe keeping?
Fred Walton: Like hell I will. I'm keeping those notes right where they belong—inside my head. I've destroyed the notebooks and had the scientist killed. The only one who knows the secret is yours truly. This is just to prevent double-crossing on your part, di Cassio. Not that I don't trust you, you understand.
Di Cassio: Fred, my boy—
Fred Walton: None of that stuff. You gave me a free hand. Don't try to interfere now.
Walton let the transcript slip from his numb hands to the floor.
"My God," he said softly. "My God!"
Martinez' bright eyes flicked from Walton to the scattered papers on the floor. "What's the trouble? You've got Fred in your custody, haven't you?"
"Didn't you read the order I sent you?"
Martinez chuckled hollowly. "Well, yes—it was a Happysleep authorization. But I thought it was just a way of avoiding that writ ... I mean ... your own brother, man?"
"That was no dodge," Walton said. "That was a Happysleep order, and I meant it. Really. Unless there was a slip-up, Fred went to the chamber four hours ago. And," said Walton, "he took the Lamarre formula along with him."