“Luigi,” said the lieutenant in a sharper voice : “Are you telling me you’ve got ideas?”

“Feelings,” Sergeant Luigi Tetano retorted. “You mean a hunch.”

“I mean I would like to know more about this Thomas G. Loman and what he’s had stolen from him.” When he received no answer he went on: “We’ve been so blinded by hi-jacking we’ve forgotten the other things that happen. How many passengers from Kennedy complain that their luggage is stolen before they get to the baggage claim?”

“Too many,” the lieutenant replied.

“And La Guardia?”

“Too many.”

“And sometimes the passengers who lose their bags are called to the telephone on phoney messages and sometimes they go into the rest rooms and sometimes they make a telephone call and sometimes they’re met by their families and the reunion takes a lot of time. So when they reach the baggage claim, no baggage.”

“Right,” the lieutenant confirmed.

“It’s wrong,” said Luigi Tetano. “This time they dope the guy so they can take his hand baggage as well.”

“Luigi,” the lieutenant observed, “it doesn’t have to be the same gang. Okay, there is a gang operating and okay, we haven’t found it, but this could be different. It is different in one way, because of the fact the guy was doped. So it could be a different job altogether, different people — oh, come on you know what I mean.”

“Sure,” said Luigi. “It could also be the same mob going a step further.”

“So it could be.”

“Do I get to follow my nose?” asked Luigi.

“Sure.”

“Wherever it takes me?”

“Sure,” the lieutenant answered.

“That’s fine,” breathed Luigi. “That’s very good, Manny. I’ll call you again.”

He replaced the receiver and switched off, then sat back with his eyes half-closed. This made him look a little younger: baby-faced. Overhead a four-engined aircraft roared, others seemed to be landing and taking off every minute. Taxis were arriving, picking up passengers, going off into the complex of roads which served the mammoth airport. Dusk was falling, and lights were beginning to show in the sky and on the ground. He opened his eyes wide and looked at his watch : it was seven-fifteen. He got out of the car and went back to the room where the others were sitting, and as he opened the door the Security Officer was saying: