Otto handed him his trousers. “There’s a newspaperman wait-ing in the study, sir. I held all the others off, but this one sneaked in the back way. You know him, sir, so I let him wait. He is Mr. Lee.”
“I’ll see him,” said the senator.
So it was a smart political move, was it? Well, maybe so, but after a day or so, even the surprised political experts would begin to wonder about the logic of a man literally giving up his life to be re-elected to a senate seat.
Of course the common herd would love it, but he had not done it for applause. Although, so long as the people insisted upon thinking of him as great and noble, it was all right to let them go on thinking so.
The senator jerked his tie straight and buttoned his coat. He went into the study and Lee was waiting for him.
“I suppose you want an interview,” said the senator. “Want to know why I did this thing.”
Lee shook his head. “No, senator, I have something else. Something you should know about. Remember our talk last week? About the disappearances.”
The senator nodded.
“Well, I have something else. You wouldn’t tell me anything last week, but maybe now you will. I’ve checked, senator, and I’ve found this—the health winners are disappearing, too. More than eighty percent of those who participated in the finals of the last ten years have disappeared.”
“I don’t understand,” said the senator.