She gave me again that little speculative, half-fearful widening of the eyes. "He sent you?"

I said, "You can have it hard or easy. Don't kid yourself for a moment, Tina. Look in the mirror. I didn't muss you up for fun; I just wanted to show you I'm quite prepared to get my hands dirty. We can save both of us a lot of trouble if you'll just take my word that I can be just as tough as I have to."

She said quickly, "Your child. Your little girl. If I don't send word by a certain time..

"What time?" I said. "This won't take very long."

"You're bluffing!" she cried. "You don't dare."

"With Loris loose I wouldn't," I said. "Which is why I removed him. Don't talk dare to me, Tina. I don't know what instructions you left with the people who are holding Betsy, but hurting a baby, a baby who can't even talk, who can't be a witness against you, takes a strong stomach. Maybe they can do it and maybe they can't, but it'll take them a while to work up to it without direct orders. And who's going to give those orders? Not Loris. Not you."

She whispered, "You can't!"

I laughed. "This is your old friend Eric, sweetheart. You made a mistake. Mac asked me to go after you, did you know that? We had a long talk in San Antonio, Mac and I. I told him to go to hell. I told 'him I was out of it, I wasn't mad at anybody, I was a peaceful citizen with a home and family, and I wasn't going back to them with anybody's blood on my hands. I'd spent a dozen years washing it off, I said, and I didn't want to get the smell back again… That's what I told him. And I made it stick. There was also a small matter of sentiment, perhaps. And then you sent Loris to snatch my child!" I drew a long breath. "You never had any kids, Tina? If you had, you'd never have touched a hair of one of mine." There was silence in the room, but outside the compressor kept chattering away. I said quietly, "Now you'd better tell me where she is."

She licked her lips. "Better men than you have tried to make me talk, Eric."

I said, "This doesn't take better men, sweetheart. This takes worse men. And at the moment, with my kid in danger, I'm just about as bad as they come."

I took a step forward. She took a step backwards; then, abruptly, she ducked towards the bed and came up with Loris' big revolver in her hand. I don't suppose she really expected it to work, but there was a chance and she had to take it. She didn't hesitate, she didn't warn or threaten me, she just aimed it at me pointblank and pulled the trigger. I laughed in her face as the hammer fell on an empty chamber. I'd have deserved to die if I'd been fool enough to leave the thing loaded.

I ducked as she hurled it at my head. Then she put a hand inside her torn shirt, and I heard the whisper of steel as the blade of the parachutist's knife slid out and locked, but she'd never been much good with edged weapons. I took the knife away from her in less than ten seconds. This wasn't a game, like that time in the desert; I wasn't holding back any, and something snapped. She gave a little cry and fell back against the wall, hugging her broken wrist. She watched me approach. Her eyes were black with hate.

"You'll never find her!" she hissed. "I'll never tell you, even if you kill me!"

I glanced at the knife in my hand, and tested the point with my thumb. Her eyes widened slightly.

"You'll tell," I said.

I DRIED my hands and came out of the bathroom. A small sound made me swing around sharply to look towards the window. Beth was there.

I stared at her blanidy for a moment. She was straddling the sill awkwardly. She must have tried the door and found it locked, and had gone around to the side and got the sash up while I had the water running and couldn't hear her. Apparently she'd started to climb inside and had got this far when she'd seen Tina, lying by the opposite wall. Now she was just sitting there, half in and half out. Her face was absolutely white and her eyes were enormous.

I walked over and pulled her inside. Then I closed the window and drew the blind. Leaving her standing there, I crossed the room and picked up the Colt Woodsman I'd laid aside after using it. I took the clip out and wiped it carefully. I replaced the clip and wiped off the gun. I fitted Tina's hand around the butt and let the gun fall naturally to the floor nearby. Then I got to my feet and stood looking down for a moment, after which I checked the room with my eyes. Besides the gun, which I had to leave, there wasn't anything there that belonged to me, except my wife.

I went over and automatically put my hand on her arm to guide her to the door, but she drew quickly away. Well, that figured. I went outside without touching her again. She followed me. Her station wagon was parked in front. I hoped nobody'd seen it who had a good memory. I'd completed my part of the deal, and Mac would cover up for me, but I didn't want to make it too hard for him. Of course, once the police checked the gun and found that it had killed not only Tina and Loris but Barbara Herrera as well, they'd be able to make a nice triangle story of it-the madly jealous wife killing her younger rival, getting carved up by her hus-~ band when he learned of her crime, shooting him five times in return, and, after he'd staggered off to die, turning the gun on herself. Any small discrepancies would get lost in the shuffle, under Mac's careful supervision.

I walked around to the driver's seat while Beth got in on the near side. As usual, after she'd been driving the car, I had to run the seat back to make room for my legs. I drove out of there, and stopped at a shopping center a mile up the road.

I asked, "What the hell brought you out there, anyway?"

Her voice was a whisper~ "I… I just couldn't wait at home…"

I said, "I told you that you wouldn't want to know how I went about it." She glanced at me, and licked her lips, but didn't speak. I took a pencil and a piece of paper from the glove compartment, wrote down a phone number, drew a line, and wrote an address below it. I gave her the paper and put the pencil back. I said, "I'm not exactly in condition to make a public appearance at the moment, and we can save a little time if you'll go into that drugstore and make a call. Have you got a dime? Call the number I've written there. Ask for Mr. Calhoun. Tell him that Betsy's at the address below. It's a little lane in one of those adobe rabbit-warrens down along Agua Fria Street, I think. Tell them they'd better get help from some local cops who speak Spanish and know the area."

Beth hesitated. "Can we… can we go there?"

I said, "No, it's a job for experts; leave them to it. But I think it's going to be all right."

She said, "Matt, I-" She started to reach out and touch my arm, but she couldn't quite make herself do it. She was still seeing the locked room and the thing on the floor. She'd always see that, now, when she looked at me.

She took her hand back, and opened the car door, and got out. I watched her run into the drugstore, clutching the piece of paper; and I wondered how soon Mac would get in touch with me again. I didn't think he'd wait very long. Reliable help is hard to get these days. I didn't think it would be too long before he'd have another job for a good man in that line of business.

I sat there and wondered how I'd answer him, when he came. The terrible thing was, I didn't really know.