50 in 50

"Sorry," Captain Langrup said, and turned the recorder off and returned it to his pocket. Commander Rissby looked on quietly without commenting. All of their eyes followed Petion as he paced back and forth the length of the room.

"Some very important facts have come to light," he said. "One of the most interesting was supplied tonight by the informer. If he wasn't lying he has narrowed down our search for us. Whoever killed Prince Mello must have been from one of four groups." He counted them off on his fingers. "First — an Andriadan from the city or the country. Since the Prince had no contact with any of them, he certainly wouldn't have recognized someone and stopped the car. Group two are offworlders."

"You can rule them out too," Captain Langrup said. "I worked on the original investigation. Every offworlder was grilled and cross-examined in detail. None of them could have possibly been the killer."

"Then the third group is the military here—"

"Sir!" Commander Rissby gasped in a shocked voice. "You can't be suggesting—"

"I'm not, Commander — so set your mind at ease. Your Tacora troops might be suspected of a lot of crimes, but killing a member of the royal house is too unthinkable. In addition, I imagine the whereabouts of all your men were checked at the time?"

"They were — and eliminated from all suspicion.” the Commander said, only slightly mollified.

Petion folded a fourth finger into his palm. "Then logic leads us to the conclusion that the murder was committed by a member of the final group. Someone from within the palace." He smiled at their shocked expressions. "Before you tell me that is an impossibility, that no one left the palace before the Prince, I should inform you of a discovery we made tonight."

"A tunnel," Kai said. "Looks like it runs from the palace to the place where Mello got carved."

"That could be it," Captain Langrup shouted, jumping to his feet with excitement. "A difference of opinion, a fight in the palace— we know that Mello left early — and while he is leaving the killer goes ahead of him. Calls to him, entices him into the alley — and kills him!"

"A nice construction," Petion agreed. "But there are some obvious holes in it that I won't bother pointing out, Captain. It might have been that way, but I do not think it was. The truth is a little more complex. I'll need a little more evidence before I will be able to state exactly. Could I talk to the driver of the car, the man who last saw the Prince alive?"

The Commander looked unhappy. "I'm afraid that will be impossible, Honorable Sir. He was rotated six months ago, shipped out with his troop when their term of duty was up."

"It's not important." Petion waved the thought aside. "I was expecting only negative evidence from him anyway. There is one more fact missing, with that the picture will be clear. Tell me about Prince Mello's eating habits."

Only a shocked silence followed his words. The two army officers gaped and Kai grinned widely. He had little enough idea where the conversation was going, but was more used to Petion's turn of mind than the others.

"Come, come — that's a plain enough question." Petion frowned. "Simply looking at the Prince's photo and his height-weight index will show that he was overweight. Fat, if you are not afraid of the right word. Did this have an uncorrected glandular source — or did he overeat?"

''He overate," Captain Langrup said as calmly as he could, trying not to smile. "If you want the truth this was about the only thing that endeared him to the troops. Tacorans enjoy their food, and they were always a little awed at the quantity the Prince could put away."

"During meals or between meals?" Petion asked.

"Both. He didn't talk much but I rarely saw him when his jaws weren't working. There was almost a path worn from his quarters to the back door of the cookhouse. The head chef became a close friend of his."

"Get the chef up here, he's the man I want to talk to." Petion turned to the Commander. "Could you arrange for me to be invited to the palace tomorrow?" he asked. "I would like to go to dinner there, the same place and the same hour as the Prince's last meal."

Commander Rissby nodded and reached for the phone. * <

"I feel like an idiot in this outfit!" Kai whispered fiercely in Petion's ear, from where he stood behind him at the table. Dressed in colorful servant's livery he looked like a garishly painted tree stump.

"If it's any relief, you look like one too," Petion answered imper-turbably. "Now be quiet and keep your eyes open for trouble from any direction. As soon as we have finished eating I'm going to stir this crowd up and see what develops."