t did you say, Malone?"

"Nothing," Malone said hastily. "Nothing at all." After a second another
query occurred to him. "You mean to tell me that only bars were robbed?
Nothing else?"

"Oh, no," Fernack said. "Bars are only part of it. Malone, why are you
asking me to tell you this?"

"Because I want to know," Malone said patiently.

"I still think--" Fernack began, and then said: "Never mind. But it
hasn't been only bars. Supermarkets. Homes. Cleaning and tailoring
shops. Jewelers. Malone, you name it, and it's been hit."

Malone tried valiantly to resist temptation, but he was not at his best,
and he lost. "All right," he said. "I will name it. Here's a list of
places that haven't even been touched by the rising crime wave: Banks,
for one."

"Malone!"

"Safes that have been locked, for another," Malone went on. "Homes with
wall safes--though that's not quite accurate. The homes may have been
robbed, but the safes won't have been touched."

"Malone, how much do you know?" Fernack said.

"I'll make a general rule for you," Malone said. "Any place that fits
the following description is safe: It's got a secure lock on it, and
it's too small for a human being to get into."

Fernack opened his mouth, shut it and stared downward, obviously
scanning some papers lying on the desk in front of him. Malone waited
patiently for the explosion--but it never came.

Instead, Fernack said: "You know, Malone, you remind me of an old friend
of mine."

"Really?" Malone said pleasantly.

"You certainly do," Fernack said. "There's just one small difference.
You're an FBI man, and he's a crook. If that's a difference."

"It is," Malone said. "And on behalf of the FBI, I resent the
allegation. And, as a matter of fact, defy the allegator. But that's
neither here nor there," he continued. "If that's the difference, what
are the similarities?"

Fernack drew in a deep, hissing breath, and when he spoke his voice was
as calm and quiet as a coiled cobra. "The both of you come up with the
damnedest answers to things. Things I never knew about or even cared
about before. Things I wish I'd never heard of. Things that don't have
any explanations. And--" He stopped, his face dark in the screen. Malone
wondered what color it was going to turn, and decided on purple as a
good choice.

"Well?" Malone said at last.

"And you're always so right it makes me sick," Fernack finished flatly.
He rubbed a hand through his hair and stared i