Nolan exhaled slowly. "I begin to see," he said. "I always did think
you knew too much for a guy that made his living at cards."
Petersen laughed. "My biggest trouble," he said wryly. "I can't win
at cards. Whatever I do. It's been quite a drawback to my career. You
can see how people would get suspicious of a professional gambler who
always loses. I had to keep on the move."
Nolan's brain was beginning to work again. "But listen," he said.
"How come you didn't turn me in when you picked me up--right after I
escaped? If you worked for the Law--"
Petersen's face grew serious. "Boy," he said, "you gave us a lot of
trouble. You and your escapes. We weren't planning to keep you in
jail, Steve. Any fool could see you were being framed--fixed court,
semi-pro witnesses. But TPL couldn't step in, out in the open. We
didn't know enough for a showdown. So you were going to be summoned
to Mars for further questioning. When we found out all you knew you
were to be taken care of some way or other. Given a new identity, kept
undercover until we were ready to move."
"And I jumped the gun."
Petersen nodded. "I was in the neighborhood, heading for Earth. The
TPL man on the ship called Earth Base; they called me. The ship had
you spotted, but they decided not to pick you up. Base figured that if
you thought you were being hunted you'd keep yourself under cover and
we wouldn't have to bother. And if I picked you up I could pump you
myself."