s he
spoke to the computer tech. "I just don't figure Roy. His wife died in
a fire set by an arson bug, and he wants to--"

I kept on walking as the door clicked shut.

* * * * *

I was in my office at nine the next morning, after seven and a half
hours of sleep on one of the bunks in the ready room. The business
with Hammerlock Smith had taken more time than I had thought it would.
The big, stupid ape had been in a vicious mood, reeking of whisky and
roaring insults at everyone. His cursing was neither inventive nor
colorful, consisting of only four unlovely words used over and over
again in various combinations with ordinary ones, a total vocabulary
of maybe a dozen words.

It had taken four cops, using night-sticks, to get him into the paddy
wagon, and Dr. Brownlee had finally had to give him a blast of
super-tranquilizer with a hypogun.

"Boy, Inspector," one of the officers had said, "don't let anyone ever
tell you some of these guys aren't tough!"

I was looking over the written report. "What about this kid he
accosted in the bar? Hurt bad?"

"Cracked rib, sprained wrist, and a bloody nose, sir. The doc said
he'd be O.K."

"According to the report here, the kid was twenty-two years old. Smith
usually picks 'em younger."

The cop grinned. "Smith had to get his eventually, sir. This guy looks
pretty young, but he was a boxer in college. He probably couldn't've
whipped Smith, but he had guts enough to try."

"Think he'll testify?"

"Said he would, sir. We already got his signature on the complaint
while he was at the hospital. He's pretty mad."

Smith's record was long and ugly. Of the eight complaints made by
young boys who had managed to brush off or evade Hammerlock's
advances, six hadn't come to trial because there were no corroborating
witnesses, and the charges had been dismissed. Two of the cases had
come before a jury--and had resulted in acquittals. Cold sober, Smith
presented a fairly decent picture. It was hard to convince a jury of
ordinary citizens that so masculine-looking a specimen was homosexual.

The odd thing was that the psychopathic twist which got Hammerlock
Smith into trouble had been able to get him out of it again. Both
times, Smith's avowal that he had done no such disgusting thing had
been corroborated by a lie detector test. Smith--when he was
sober--had no recollection of his acts when drunk, and apparently
honestly believed that he was inc