“Perhaps,” said Lee. “Although there seems no reason that he should. His record is entirely spotless.”
“Why do you doubt he died, then?”
“Because there’s no death certificate. And he’s not the only one who died without benefit of certificate.”
“Hm-m-m,” said the senator.
“Galloway, the anthropologist, died five years ago. There’s no certificate. Henderson, the agricultural expert, died six years ago. There’s no certificate. There are a dozen more I know of and probably many that I don’t.”
“Anything in common?” asked the senator. “Any circum-stances that might link these people?”
“Just one thing,” said Lee. “They were all continuators.”
“I see,” said the senator. He clasped the arms of his chair with a fierce grip to keep his hands from shaking.
“Most interesting,” he said. “Very interesting.”
“I know you can’t tell me anything officially,” said Lee, “but I thought you might give me a fill-in, an off-the-record background. You wouldn’t let me quote you, of course, but any clues you might give me, any hint at all—”