“I’m afraid I don’t know. Check with Admissions.”
“The Gypsies will have done that already. They didn’t believe Admissions, I guess.”
“Cross-cultural distrust.” Dr. Bensen nodded. “But it wasn’t the Gypsies you wanted to talk to me about, was it?”
“No. We’re here about a policeman called Sergeant Proudy.” Stubb paused. “Maybe I should explain that I’m a detective. Sandy here’s a reporter.”
Dr. Bensen nodded again. “Sergeant Proudy’s not one of my patients, I’m afraid.”
“He’s Dr. Roberts’s, as we understand it. But we can’t find Dr. Roberts, and we have to talk to Proudy. Here’s the situation, Doctor. Proudy thinks we’re after him—”
Dr. Bensen motioned Stubb to silence and pressed buttons, bringing a new page up on the terminal on his desk. “Yes, I see Dr. Roberts has diagnosed paranoia.”
“So he was watching us last night. Trying to keep an eye on what he thought we were about to do. You follow me?”
“Certainly. That type of behavior is common in these cases. Since the subject is a police officer, I would be surprised if it did not occur.”
“But the thing was, somebody else was watching us too. Right, Sandy?”
The short girl nodded. “We’re pretty sure of it.”
Dr. Bensen smiled at her. “Who was it?”
“Watching us, you mean?” She looked helplessly at Stubb.
“We don’t know, Doctor. That’s what we’re trying to find out. You see, we think that since Proudy was watching us, he may have seen the others who were watching too.”
“I see. Why do you think these ‘others’ feel the need to keep you under observation?”
“We don’t know,” Stubb said.
Sandy leaned forward. “We think we’ve stumbled into something big. If we knew who was keeping an eye on us—who besides Sergeant Proudy, I mean—we might know what it is. At least, we’d have a better idea.”
“And what were you doing in the hotel room last night while these people were watching you?”
“Nothing. Just talking.” Sandy looked to Stubb again.
“Did it ever occur to you that someone might be listening? That they might even be using some form of electronic device?”
“Not at the time.” Stubb shook his head glumly. “But then, we didn’t have any reason to think somebody might be on to us. You’re right though, Doc. There could have been. Or something could have been planted there this morning. I didn’t think of this until later, but the maid came around awfully early.”
“You have no idea why these people are after you?”
“No,” Stubb said.
Sandy said, “No.”
“Did you ever talk to Sergeant Proudy before he was brought here?”
“Yeah, a little.”
“Did he tell you why he was watching you?”
“Not then. I don’t think he was, then. Later he told a friend of mine some crazy stuff, something about our wanting to rule the world.”
“And do you?”
“Want to rule the world?” Stubb looked astounded. “Hell, no.”
“Why not? Surely it would be a most gratifying experience. Think of the good you could do! Besides, you could have whatever you wanted: palaces all over the world, royal guards to enforce your will, hundreds of women. Are you sure you wouldn’t want all that?”
“Okay, it’s a deal. But I’ll tell you what—I’ll trade you my shot at the job for a conversation with Proudy.”
“I see,” Dr Bensen said. He made a note on his pad. “Mr. Stubb, is your disinclination to rule the world based upon the feeling that you are inadequate to the task? It’s a very big job, after all.”
“I guess you could say that.”
“Possibly you feel you’re too short. Napoleon was a very short man too, shorter even than you are, I believe, and yet he came as near to ruling the world as anyone has in the past thousand years.”
“Doctor, I don’t like short jokes.”
“I wasn’t making a joke.”
Sandy said, “Well, you were very rude.”
“Would both of you stand, please?”
Stubb snarled, “You go to hell.”
“I just wanted to show you that even though Ms. Duck wears rather moderate heels for so small a woman—no more than two inches, I would say—she is taller in them than you are.”
