"Marie?" Avro caught himself, the evidence was before him. Incredible as it seemed they stood face to face. "A coincidence," he suggested. "We both established rapport at the same time and Central Intelligence has created this direct link. An improvement if restricted to special occasions."

"Perhaps." Marie was slow to agree. "What have you to report?"

"Dumarest is dead."

"Explain." Marie listened as Avro gave him the facts. "The lagoon?"

"Can only produce negative evidence. Anything recovered may, on examination, prove the death of Tron of which we have no doubt. The rest must be based on a valuation of other evidence. I regard it as conclusive."

"Eye-witness accounts," said Marie. "Irrefutable testimony substantiated by mechanical lie-detectors. And yet you were not satisfied."

"I needed to be certain."

"Of what? To check the lagoon was wasted effort if you believe the testimony. Time and expense used to no purpose. Could Cardor have lied?"

"No. His findings have been checked."

"So he told the truth as he knew it. As others could have done."

Avro caught the implication and stepped forward, noting, with vague detachment, that the figure he faced remained at the same distance.

He said, "The possibility that a man could lie and yet not know that he lied is credible. Hypnotism could produce such a condition. But there were eight witnesses, not including the owner of the circus. All eight had seen the bodies and all swore as to the deaths. Also Cardor took steps to guard against such conditioning. I have checked the detectors and the results are conclusive. The men saw what they claimed to have seen."

"Tron dead? Valaban?"

"And Dumarest. All three the victims of a klachen which had run wild."

"And the animal?"

Avro hesitated. "Dead, I think."

"You are not positive?"

"No mention was made of it. The fate of the beast was not considered important."