Stubb said, “I wouldn’t make that kind of joke, Ozzie. I don’t think it’s going to go over here.”
“What kind would you make?” Barnes asked.
The telephone rang.
Stubb said, “Sandy, I want you to take Ozzie and get him out of here. Right now. I’ll talk to Proudy if I can and tell you whatever I find out.”
Dr. Bensen was on the telephone. “What’s that?” he said. “That doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Where can I take him?” The short girl looked doubtfully at Barnes.
“You’ve got an apartment? You live alone?”
“So far, damn it.”
“Well, you just got a roommate. What’s the phone number?”
“Mr. Stubb, it’s freezing out there. He’s got to have more than those things.”
Barnes added, “I’ll say I do. I got a blind date tonight.”
“Then she won’t be able to see how you’re dressed. Split, you dumb bastard. Get out of here, or you may not ever get out.”
Dr. Bensen slammed down the telephone, produced a handkerchief from somewhere in his white coat, and patted his gleaming forehead. “That damn fool Roberts is telling them to discharge the Gypsies. Excuse me. I have to see what he’s up to. I’ll try and find out what’s keeping Proudy too.” He went through the doorway, and they heard him whispering urgently to the nurse in the room beyond.
“I think you’re right,” Sandy said. “I think we’d better go. All of us.”
“In a minute,” Stubb said. He was looking out the barred window at the city under its blanket of snow. It was nearly dark.
“I need clothes,” Barnes muttered. “I’d like to get my eye back too, but I don’t think there’s much chance of that.”
Sandy asked, “What are you waiting for?” She was buttoning her coat.
“I’m waiting because he’s still out there,” Stubb told her. “We may be able to talk Ozzie past the nurse, but I want to give Bensen time to get away from the area.”
The nurse’s voice penetrated the door like the anguished squawk of a gull. She was telling someone he could not use the telephone.
“That’s our break,” Stubb said. “Come on.”
In the outer room, a man with curly black hair and pierced ears was pushing the buttons of a complicated looking telephone while holding off the nurse with one hand.
“Don’t worry, Miss!” Stubb shouted. “We’ll get him out of here for you. Ozzie, grab his other arm! Sandy, you hang up the phone!”
The man was thin, but wiry and a kicker. As soon as they had him in the hallway, Stubb whispered to Barnes, “Okay, let him go.”
The man rushed back toward the office, arriving at the door just in time to collide full tilt with Sandy Duck and knock her down. He leaped over her like a hunted buck, the flash of white supplied by a large handkerchief trailing from his hip pocket, and vanished again into Dr. Bensen’s office. The nurse shrieked.
One of the patients on the benches that lined the hall rose and helped Sandy up. The rest watched, dull-eyed. “Thanks,” she said.
Stubb asked, “You hurt?”
“Just rumpled.” She tried to thrust a hand down the neck of her wool blouse. “I think my underwear is in trouble.”
“Here,” the patient who had helped her up said. “Let me do that for you.” He seemed perfectly serious and sincere.
“Never mind.” Sandy tugged at a strap. “I’ve got it.”
“Come on,” Stubb said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Aren’t you going to help the Gypsies?”
“Not now. The first thing is to get Barnes out. Then I’ll come back and see about them. I’ll try to talk to Proudy too.”
The patient said, “I don’t think the Gypsies need much help, Mr. Stubb. There’s a doctor and a fat nurse, and a Gypsy nurse and one of the attendants, and a little boy who are going around letting them loose.”
Stubb turned to stare at him. “How’d you know my name? You’re …”
“No I’m not, Mr. Stubb. I’m Richard Albright Chester.”
“Nimo the Clown! Do you know, I don’t think I would have recognized you if you hadn’t yelled at us while we were talking to Davidson. I wanted to see about you when I got the chance, but we had something else to do first, and then Ozzie came in.”
“You’re a clown?” Sandy asked. They had been hurrying down the hall; now she pushed the button for the elevator.
“Not just at present, no. But I have this strange ability to become a clown sometimes.”
Barnes looked at him curiously. “When the moon is full, or something?”
