“Are you arresting me? If so, I would like to know on what charge.”

“As you wish,” Maddox said, believing little of what Lucas was telling him. “By aiming your gun at me, you are knowingly threatening an officer of Star Watch Intelligence. To begin with, you will lose your hauler license.”

Lucas scowled, setting the laser onto the desk. Picking up the stimstick, putting it between his lips, he inhaled, making the tip glow red as he leaned back in his chair. No doubt, he mentally flipped through various lies to tell, deciding on the most convincing.

“You should leave,” Lucas said slowly. “This is none of your affair.”

“What happened to me at the gambling table?” Maddox asked. “Surely, you saw everything.”

Lucas shrugged.

“I can have you brought in for questioning if you insist”

Something sparkled in the man’s eyes, the delight of having hidden knowledge, perhaps. “I don’t think you can,” Lucas said.

“You were part of a conspiracy to kidnap an officer of Star Watch. You’ll lose more than your shipping license but also your freedom, and possibly spend the rest of your life on a prison planet.”

“I pay my taxes,” Lucas said as if that was something he should say.

“I very much doubt that,” Maddox said. “You’re a smuggler. We both know that. Now, I want to know, what happened to me at the gambling table tonight?”

Lucas stared at Maddox before looking away. He shrugged once more, almost as if deciding “What the heck, I’ll tell the truth for once.”

“You became limp and vacant-eyed during the game,” Lucas said. “Esquire Noble asked if everything was all right. You didn’t reply. He told us he would take you to the infirmary. You didn’t resist as he helped you up. What were the rest of us supposed to do? The esquire was a reputable person. We thought nothing of it.”

“As I recall,” Maddox said, “I was winning at the time. What happened to my chips?”

“All I can tell you is that I don’t have them.”

“That wasn’t the question,” Maddox said. He sensed that time was running out. Something was wrong here. Lucas was too confident for a weasel confronted by an Intelligence officer.

The tip of the stimstick glowed once more. Lucas was thinking again. He said, “I don’t know what happened to your chips. I lost too much money tonight and left early.”

The smuggler fiddled with a tungsten ring on his middle finger as he said that. Maddox was sure Lucas was lying about the losing.

“Who is Esquire Noble?” Maddox asked.

“The man who escorted you from the table.”

“Do you know him?”

Lucas twisted the ring again before shaking his head.

“Who are you meeting here?” Maddox asked, deciding to switch directions, hoping to throw the smuggler off balance.

To give himself more time, or so it seemed, Lucas laid the stimstick in the ashtray. “Stay and find you if you like. I’m sure you’ll find it illuminating.”