"It was too good an opportunity to miss," Inskipp went on. There was
no stopping the man. "One night when you were under sedation the good
doctor found the alcohol we had seen fit to include in one of your
supply packages. He of course took advantage of this shipping error and
a Corps surgeon made a little operation of his own."
"Then you have been following me and watching ever since?"
"That's right. But this was your case, just as much as it would have
been if you knew we were there."
"Then why did you move in for the kill like this?" I snapped. "I didn't
blow the whistle for the marines."
This was the big question of the hour and the only one that mattered to
me. Inskipp took his time about answering.
"It's like this," he drawled, and took a sip of his drink. "I like a
new man to have enough rope. But not so much that he will hang himself.
You were here for what might be called a goodly long time, and I wasn't
receiving any reports about revolutions or arrests you had made."
What could I say?
His voice was quieter, more sympathetic. "Would _you_ have
arrested her if we hadn't moved in?" That was the question.
"I don't know," was all I could say.
"Well I damn well knew what I was going to do," he said with the old
venom. "So I did it. The plot is well nipped before it could bud and
our multiple murderess is offplanet by now."
"Let her go!" I shouted as I grabbed him by the front of the jacket and
swung him free of the ground and shook him. "Let her go I tell you!"
"Would you turn her loose again--the way she is?" was all he answered.
Would I? I suppose I wouldn't. I dropped him while I was thinking about
it and he straightened out the wrinkles in the front of his suit.
"This has been a rough assignment for you," he said as he started to
put the flask away. "At times there can be a very thin line between
right and wrong. If you are emotionally involved the line is almost
impossible to see."
"What will happen to her?" I asked.
He hesitated before he answered. "The truth--for a change," I told him.
"All right, the truth. No promises--but the psych boys might be able
to do something with her. If they can find the cause of the basic
aberration. But that can be impossible to find at times."
"Not in this case--I can tell them."
He looked surprised at that, giving me some small satisfaction.
"In that case there might be a chance. I'll give positive orders that
everything is to be tried before they even consider anything like
personality removal. If that is done she is just another body, of which
there are plenty in the galaxy. Sentenced to death she's just another
corpse--of which there is an equal multitude."
I grabbed the flask away from him before it reached his pocket, and
opened it. "I know you Inskipp," I said as I poured. "You're a born
recruiting sergeant. When you lick them--make them join."
"What else," he said. "She'd make a great agent."
"We'd make a great team," I told him and we raised our cups.
"_Here's to crime._"