Murder in Orbit by Bruce Coville Page A

gab.” I had pretty much given up waiting for it. And now here it was! (And not a moment too soon.)
    â€œWe’re doing a kind of experiment for this scientist we work with,” I said, skating as close to the truth as I could. “It’s a long story, and I can see you’re pretty busy, so I won’t take up a lot of time going into details. Basically it has to do with identification techniques and information chains. All we really want you to do is take a look at this picture and see if you can identify it for us.”
    Cassie handed me the picture, and I passed it to Dr. Doyle. She glanced at it, then shook her head. “Sorry, can’t help you.”
    â€œThat’s all right,” I answered cheerfully. “In this study a negative response is as useful, statistically speaking, as a positive one. Thanks for your time.”
    And with that I was heading for the door, before the good doctor had a chance to use the eight-letter word for baloney that I could tell I had brought to mind.
    â€œFor someone who didn’t know what you were going to say, you did all right,” said Cassie, once we were back out in the hallway.
    â€œUnexpected inspiration. Let’s just hope it holds out. Do you think she was telling the truth?”
    â€œAbsolutely. I don’t think that woman could lie if she tried.”
    Merton Thorpe settled his feet onto his desk and loosened the flap of his collar. “So, whaddaya kids want from me?”
    I handed him a copy of the composite drawing. “We’re looking for this man. Someone told me they thought he used to work for you.” This was absolutely true; I had asked Cassie to say it to me just before we entered Thorpe’s office. The weird thing was that having her do so somehow made it easier for me to say this to Thorpe with a straight face.
    He glanced at the picture, then handed it back to me. “Never saw the guy.” Then he kind of squinted a little and added, “What are you kids up to, anyway?”
    Cassie surprised me by chiming in. “It’s a contest,” she said primly.
    Thorpe looked at her, letting his eyes linger longer than I thought was appropriate. “More modern education, I suppose,” he said with a snort. “Well, sorry I can’t help you. Better luck next time.”
    He swung his feet off the desk and stood, indicating it was time for us to leave. That was fine with me. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way.
    â€œWhat do you think?” asked Cassie, once we were outside his office.
    â€œHe’s a skeeze, but he’s telling the truth,” I said.
    â€œI agree. He didn’t even bat an eye when he looked at the picture.”
    To my surprise, I was beginning to feel confident with this technique of watching people’s facial expressions when they looked at the picture. It was hardly what you’d call a scientific method. But it seemed to work.
    Besides, it was all we had at the moment.
    â€œWell, that’s ten,” said Cassie as she crossed Thorpe’s name off the list. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some lunch.”
    â€œSounds like a good idea,” I replied. “After all, we’ve got only sixty-three left to go.”
    Cassie groaned.
    We stopped at the corner outside Thorpe’s building, and I punched a couple of buttons on the pedestal that stood next to the walkway. A map and some written information appeared almost instantly. “Closest fast-food joint is this way,” I said, heading off to our left. “McBunny Burgers, here we come!”
    â€œSpeak for yourself,” said Cassie. “I never eat the things.”
    â€œWhy not?” I asked, not realizing what I was walking into.
    She made a face. “I don’t like hares in my food.”
    I collapsed against a wall and stared at her in shock.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” she asked, all sweetness and innocence.
    I shrugged.