"Not to me."

There was a flash in the brown-black eyes. "I don't like your tone. I want you to do something, and I'll pay you the limit and beyond the limit, there is no limit, but there's no point in going on unless- You said that book impressed you favorably. Do you mean you agree with the author's opinion of the FBI?"

"With some minor qualifications, yes.

"And of J. Edgar Hoover?"

"Yes."

"Then it won't surprise you to hear that I am being followed day and night. I believe 'tailed' is the word. So is my son, and my daughter, and my secretary, and my brother. My telephones are tapped, and my son thinks his is-he's married and has an apartment. Some of the employees at the Bruner Corporation have been questioned. It occupies two floors of the Bruner Building and there are more than a hundred employees. Does that surprise you?"

"No." Wolfe grunted. "Did you send letters with the books?"

"Not letters. My personal card with a brief message."

"Then you shouldn't be surprised."

"Well, I am. I was. I'm not just a congressman, or someone like an editor or a broadcaster or a college professor, with a job I can't afford to lose. Does that megalomaniac think he can hurt me?"

"Pfui. He is hurting you."

"No. He's merely annoying me. Some of my associates and personal friends are being questioned-discreetly, of course, careful excuses, of course. It started about two weeks ago.