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Or would you rather I showed you ?”
    “ What you are ,” he managed, the chin rising again, “ is a guest in this house. Kindly keep that in mind .”
    ”A paying guest ,” Weinberg corrected him. “ And wouldn't you say that all that money should entitle Mrs. Weinberg and myself to a measure of peace and quiet ?”
    “ It does not entitle you to interfere . . .”
    The bigger man squeezed his neck, silencing him. ”A little college girl climbs up through the trees, making it past that wonderfully sophisticated security system of yours because she's doing a term paper about old movie stars and, quite naturally, she thought she'd try to talk to one or two. She gets in here but she has only anecdotes to show for her trouble. She has spoken to a blind old man about marble benches and to a nice old lady who can't talk back and who, even if she could, is in another world. Are you with me so far, Henry? Just nod .”
    He nodded.
    “ Enter Henry Dunville. You learn that this little girl has been here, havin g bested you, and you overreact. You deprive poor Nellie of her bench so that you and your little friend can . . .” Weinberg stopped himself . “ How did you know she was coming, by the way ?”
    Dunville ’ s expression became smug. “ Her license plate was recorded when she first approached the gate house. Her face and voice were recorded as well. Mr. Bella r m i ne confirmed that the voice was that of the girl who spoke to him from Nellie's bench. She's been under surveillance for a week. When she left her apartment this morning, heading this way, obviously outfitted for a return visit, we were alerted. We were ready for her .”
    “ And you got her, didn't you, Henry .” Weinberg pu nched his arm, lightly. “ You jumped her, drugged her, strapped her naked to a table and you burglarized her apartment. In the end, Henry, do you feel that this will make her less curious, or more curious, about Su r La Mer ?”
    “ We can't let her go. Not now .”
    “ Tell me why .”
    “ Because she's seen you. And for all the reasons you just mentioned .”
    “ What she has seen is gauze, Henry. And anything she has seen or heard since you drugged her will have been through a fog. She ' s not going to die for that .”
    “ We can't take the chance. What if she . . .”
    Weinberg squeezed him again, very hard, shutting off his air. “ In a little while ,” he said, “ Mrs. Weinberg will come down. She will rap that girl smartly across the back of the head and then she will put her clothes back on. Your surgeon will put a few stitches in her scalp. When she revives, you will tell her that she hit her head when you grabbed her, which you regret, and she's been in the infirmary ever since. Whatever she seems to remember, you and the doctor will assure her that no such thing happened. I will then come in and, standing behind a light, I will proceed to frighten the wits out of her. I will tell her that Nellie Da m eon suffered a stroke immediately after her first visit and is now in a vegetative state. I will threaten her with arrest on a charge of criminal trespass and with a lawsuit for the damage that she has done. I will then send her home to await our wrath. With all that on her mind, Henry, she might not even report the burglary of her apartment .”
    “ But if she does . . .”
    “ Let her. You know nothing about it .”
    ”She…she 's been injected ,” Dunv i lle said, flustered. “ What about the marks ?”
    “ Give her a tetanus shot and a painkiller. Use the same holes .”
    Dunville appeared to consider it. Then his jaw tight ened. He began to shake his head. The man called Wein berg reached for his right hand, forced it open, then wrapped his own fist around the offending middle finger. “ Must I put it another way, Henry ?” he asked, gently.
    ”N . . . no .”
    “ My bandages come off in three days. One week after that, Bonnie and I...''He corrected himself. “ Barbara and I ... will be gone from