4 ideas
George Stroud, an editor at Janoth Enterprises' crime magazine, spends an evening with Pauline Delos, the mistress of publisher Earl Janoth. Janoth puts Stroud in charge of finding that unknown man, so Stroud must run a manhunt for himself while quietly steering his own investigators away from the answer.
Stroud sees the corporation, and society beyond it, as a vast clock that keeps its own time no matter what any individual intends. People are gears: they can speed up, slow down, or hide inside the works for a while, but none of them can stop it.
A skilled investigator ordered to find himself faces a trap built from his own competence. The methods, staff and leads he developed now converge on him, and each clue he feeds them to look diligent tightens the net.
A powerful executive who commits a crime does not hide it personally. He turns company resources, loyal subordinates and plausible cover stories into a structure that shifts blame onto others, such as an unknown witness or a disposable deputy. The same institutional machinery that protects him will drop him the moment he becomes a liability to the organization itself.