"Fred had said he'd have your O.K. to execute the second snake by noon
and that everything about her was top-secret."
That was enough. "Get Fred and this top-secret snake in here, Anita, and
right now! Forget about that call to the Director."
"Yes, _sir_!" she said, and went out with a swish of skirts.
* * * * *
But Fred came in alone. I decided it was about time to get him back on
his heels. "Don't you give a damn about my orders?" I growled at him.
His eyebrows shot up. "I distinctly told Anita I wanted you to bring
that other snake in _with_ you. I know Anita got the message to you."
[Illustration]
But it didn't shake him up. Fred Plaice came right toward my desk,
leaned over and put his hands on it, and looked me in the eye. "Gyp," he
said. "Gyp, this is once you're going to let me have _my_ way."
"Not that it makes any difference," I snapped. "But why?"
"That's exactly what I'm not going to tell you," he said. "Listen, Gyp,
have I ever tried to stick it in you, in any form?"
Fred's a hot-shot. He's the hardest-charger among my Section Chiefs. But
I had never found his ambitions extending to my own job as head of the
Division of Psychic Investigation. "You're still here," I conceded. "I
guess I never caught you at it, Fred."
"And you never will, Gyp," he said. "You've given me the greatest breaks
a guy ever got. This time I'm returning the favor."
"By _executing_ a telepath?" I demanded. "And a woman, at that!"
He didn't ask me how I knew, but I could see it annoyed him.
"The biggest break you ever got," he insisted. "This thing is so hot it
will burn you to death. Another crypto-telepath, right here in the
District. I want to make summary disposition of her, and I don't want
you to so much as look at the papers. Just give me instructions to use
my own discretion."
Talk about a blank check. "Fred," I said, searching for words that
wouldn't offend him. "I have more confidence in you than in any man I've
ever worked with. But _execution_! Sure, three years ago, when the
President declared the psychic emergency, we were killing the most
fatally dangerous ones. But that's a couple years behind us. I just
can't go that far without more reason than you've given me."
"It's perfectly legal," Fred said sullenly and beside the point.
"Congress has given you summary--"
"Of course," I cut in. "What F.B.I. man would suggest an illegal course
of action? But why should I delegate? If this is so touchy, I should
handle it myself. Why delegate?"
"Simply because, I ask it," he said. "And because you trust me. Listen,
Gyp," he added, almost passionately. "Don't ask me any more questions.
I've said too much already. If you know _why_, it wouldn't be right for
you to delegate. Do as I ask. Trust me. I'm saving you a world of
trouble."
"Boy, oh boy!" I said. "This doesn't sound like the way to stay out of
trouble. What is so dangerous about this telepath?"
"Nothing doing," Fred said. "I know I'm asking for a blank check.
There's no other way for me to help you play it."
"This is your own idea, Fred?"
"Sure."
"Talked it over with Anita?"
He shook his head furiously. "I wouldn't compromise you, Gyp, and not
with _her_!"
That settled it. I would trust Anita with the crown jewels.
"No dice, Fred," I said. "Give me the facts."
"Gyp," he pleaded. "_Don't_ ask for them!"
"The facts!"
He straightened up from where he had hung over my desk during the whole
argument. "This cuts my guts right out," he said. "Suspect apprehended
around two o'clock this morning and now in detention at the City Jail.
Native white female, age fifty-eight. Named Maude Tinker." He stopped.
I couldn't start. Maude Tinker! My given name is Joseph Tinker--although
they all call me Gyp. "What ..." I got out at last. "What did she
look...?"
He nodded, looking sick. "She's a gypsy, if that's what you mean, Gyp,"
he said to me. "I'm sorry. You _know_ I'm sorry."
"Has she made any statement, Fred?" I asked softly, staring at the
surface of my desk.
"She demanded to be taken at once to the Chief of the Division of
Psychic Investigation, Mr. Joseph Tinker," he said.
"Give any reason?"
He was quiet for a while, until I looked up. "She said," Fred told me,
"she said Gyp Tinker was her son."
I smiled wanly at him. "Obviously I can't let a statement like that go
unchallenged, not in my position as the man charged with extirpating the
danger of the snakes," I said.
"Obviously," Fred agreed. "Now that you know about it. If you had done
as I asked, Gyp ..."
"Get her over here, Fred," I said. "I'll see her at once. And send Anita
in as you leave."
"Sure, Gyp," he said, starting for the door.
"And thanks, Fred," I said. "But it never would have worked."
"Maybe not," he conceded from the door. "But the guy in the jam would
have been me, not you."
* * * * *
I turned my swivel around and stared out the window at the Mall and
didn't move until the light scent of Anita's perfume reminded me that I
had asked her to come in.
I swung around. "You watch out for that Fred Plaice," Anita said, almost
scoldingly.
"You mean, start watching my back, like I never did before? How did I
get this far?"
Her frown softened a little. "You don't miss many bets," she said. "Not
my Gypper. But this thing of Fred's holding back on the other telepath
he picked up last night has all the earmarks of a real slippery move."
"Did Fred tell you anything about it on the way out?"
"Just that he was bringing the telepath from the City Jail right back
with him, and that you wanted to see her at once."
"This snake is a woman, aged fifty-eight, Anita," I told her. "She gave
the name of Maude Tinker and says she's my mother," I added, without any
particular expression.
Anita laughed. "Oh, _no_!" she said. "What they won't think of next!"
But her face sobered in an instant, and she bent forward, almost
whispering the rest: "Gyp! You mean that Fred Plaice took her seriously!
That he was trying to get _rid_ of her?"
"He felt it would be better if I never knew about it," I admitted. "What
do you think I should do, Anita?"
Her heart-shaped face grew more solemn. "I think it would be bad to try
to cover it up," she decided. "And I'm glad you didn't let Fred do that
to you. Some newscast would be sure to get hold of the story and there'd
be snide accusations. All this talk recently about the heredity of psi
powers is bad, too. That's what she's trying to cash in on. And if the
public thought that the man in charge of catching and pulling the fangs
of all the snakes was a hereditary telepath, they'd be after your scalp
in no time."
"So?"
"Scotch it. See her, face her down, prove her charge is ridiculous, and
ship her west."