“He’s cheating the government,” Skip pointed out nastily, “and he deserves to be cheated a little himself.” It was infantile reasoning, but Skip put heat and conviction into it. “He’s a crook. I ought to turn him in to the income-tax cops.”

“Oh, don’t do that!”

“I’m not going to. I just said I ought to. I’m going to help myself to some of the money; I’ll let him pay me for keeping my mouth shut.”

She sat so still, like a crouched animal, not saying anything, that Eddie knew she was afraid to have the conversation go on. She was afraid of what Skip would say next. At the same time she must have been doing some agonizing recapitulation, trying to recall all she had told him.

“We’ve got to make plans.” Skip circled his knees with his arms, leaned his head on them as if thinking. “You’ll have to find out exactly where the money is. Does he keep his room locked?”

“No, but I’m not supposed to ever go in there!” she cried.

“Where is his room?” He waited, and she said nothing, and Skip went on: “Upstairs? Near where you sleep?”

“No. Downstairs, next to the library. Oh, Skip, don’t do this crazy thing!”

“Crazy, crazy, is that all you’ve got in your head?” He reached for her, pulled her nearer; she almost sprawled on her face. “It’s up to you, this first part of it, finding the money and seeing how much it is, or a rough guess, and making sure we hit the place just after he’s gone and when he won’t be coming back for a while very soon. You get it?”

“I couldn’t do it!”

“Chick, you’ve already done the main job, fingering the guy.”

“What’s that?”

“Letting somebody know who can use the information.”

“I was just . . . talking. Passing time.”

“Not with me you weren’t.” Her head was bent close and Skip was stroking her hair; Eddie could see the movement of his hand against her head. He heard crying, too. Karen was crying in desperate entreaty. “I like you a lot and you like me, and we can pull this off with Eddie here to help——”

“I’d have to leave home!” she wept.

“For Chrissakes, don’t you want to? You want to live with that old dame, taking her charity, all your life?”

She hung there in silence, as if on the point of some terrible decision. “She’s been awfully——”

“Good to you?” Skip mocked. “Treated you like a daughter?”