My fingers had closed on the blanket, gathering it in two knots. “I don’t know if this person believes in the concept of bystanders.”

Tick-Tick stood up with a sharp exhalation, and paced to the foot of the bed. (Was it the same bed? If so, that was where I’d stood.) “And that’s why you won’t leave it be.”

Until then I hadn’t considered whether or not I meant to leave it be. I’d still thought of myself as having been pressed into service by Sunny Rico. But I hadn’t behaved, the night before, like someone who was working against his will. Maybe I was as bad as the Ticker herself was, when faced with a puzzle. Whatever my motivation was, I didn’t feel up to analyzing it immediately. “I don’t know.”

She stood erect at the foot rail, as if behind a lectern. She looked, in fact, like a preacher who wasn’t very fond of the congregation. “Your duty as an honest citizen of Bordertown is to deplore evildoing. You are not obliged to tie a cape over your shoulders and search the alleys for it. You have a job, which you should do well, and leave others to do theirs. You did what you could for Rico. Then you did what you shouldn’t have, which harmed you and muddied the waters generally, I suspect. If so, no doubt you’ll hear it from Rico.” She leaned forward, her forearms pressing down on the railing. Her expression was noticeably less composed. “Leave it, Orient. Let it go. The police will take over.”

I had a headache banging at the front of my skull, and the smell of antibacterial soap was making me a little bit queasy. “I sort of thought you’d mention the consequences of my actions right off. You left out getting Walt killed and the evidence destroyed.”

Tick-Tick shook her head irritably. “Linn thought the doors were wired. Were they?”

I nodded.

“Then he would have opened one with or without you. Wallowing in unearned guilt won’t save you. Will you give it up now, or not?”

I hadn’t thought about it, and I wasn’t going to think about it then. “I’ll think about it,” I said.

“I do hope you’ll practice on something else first.”

I might have said something unforgivable, if Rico hadn’t appeared in the door to the room. I felt like a kid caught waging a name-calling fight. Rico looked from the Ticker to me, and said, to neither of us in particular, “This is a bad time, right?”

“That depends entirely on what for, and for whom,” Tick-Tick said, making all the consonants count.

Rico blinked. “I’ll figure that out and get back to you.” She turned her attention full on me and nodded. “My, you look lousy.”

“But I feel terrible,” I assured her.