He stepped into his office and locked the door behind him. A glow of pleasure surrounded him; for once it seemed that things were heading in the right direction. He was happy, in a way, that FitzMaugham was no longer in charge. Now, with mankind on the threshold of--
Walton blinked. _Did I leave that file drawer open when I left the office?_ he wondered. He was usually more cautious than that.
The file was definitely open now, as were the two cabinets adjoining it. Numbly he swung the cabinet doors wider, peered into the shadows, groped inside.
The drawers containing the documents pertaining to terraforming and to McLeod's space drive seemed intact. But the cabinet in which Walton had placed Lamarre's portfolio--that cabinet was totally empty!
_Someone's been in here_, he thought angrily. And then the anger changed to agony as he remembered what had been in Lamarre's portfolio, and what would happen if that formula were loosed indiscriminately in the world.
The odd part of it, Walton thought, was that there was absolutely nothing he could do.
He could call Sellors and give him a roasting for not guarding his office properly, but that wouldn't restore the missing portfolio.
He could send out a general alarm, and thereby let the world know that there was such a thing as Lamarre's formula. That would be catastrophic.
Walton slammed the cabinet shut and spun the lock. Then, heavily, he dropped into his chair and rested his head in his arms. All the jubilation of a few moments before had suddenly melted into dull apprehension.
Suspects? Just two--Lamarre, and Fred. Lamarre because he was obvious; Fred because he was likely to do anything to hurt his brother.
"Give me Sellors in security," Walton said quietly.
Sellors' bland face appeared on the screen. He blinked at the sight of Walton, causing Walton to wonder just how ghastly his own appearance was; even with the executive filter touching up the transmitted image, sprucing him up and falsifying him for the public benefit, he probably looked dreadful.
"Sellors, I want you to send out a general order for a Dr. Lamarre. You'll find his appearance recorded on the entrance tapes for today; he came to see me earlier. The first name is--ah--Elliot. T. Elliot Lamarre, gerontologist. I don't know where he lives."