, the police
commissioner. He showed me a letter that Spencer had written just before
he--before he died. It was addressed to me, only Spencer had never
mailed it."

Andrusco looked sharply at the girl. "And what was in this letter?"

"He was upset," Tom said. "He wanted to back out of the deal we made.
Said the picture was a phoney. But the thing that's bothering the police
is the _tone_ of the damned letter. It just doesn't sound like a man
about to kill himself and his wife--"

"Is that all?" Livia took the drink from Andrusco's hand and sipped at
it. "I thought it was something serious."

"It is serious!" Tom looked sternly at her. "I want to know something,
Mr. Andrusco. You told me that picture was genuine. Now I want you to
tell me again."

The man smiled, with perfect teeth. "How do you mean, genuine? Is it a
picture of a genuine infant with scales?"

"Yes."

"I assure you. In that respect, the picture is absolutely genuine."

Tom thought it over.

"Wait a while. Was the story genuine, too?"

John Andrusco smiled. He sat on the sofa, and rubbed the palms of his
hands over his knees. Then he looked towards Livia Cord and said:

"Well--I didn't think we could hold out on our clever Mr. Blacker as
long as we have. So we might as well enlist his cooperation fully. Eh,
Livia?"

"I think so." The girl smiled, her teeth sharp.

"What does that mean?" Tom said.

"The infant," John Andrusco answered slowly, "was not Walter Spencer's
child. That, I'm afraid, was nothing more than a little white lie."

Tom looked confused.

"Then what was it?"

Livia finished her drink.

"It was my child."

* * * * *

The man and the woman, whose grins now seemed permanently affixed to
their faces, were forced to wait a considerable amount of time before
Tom Blacker was both ready and able to listen to their explanation.

Livia did most of the talking.

"You'll probably be horrified at all this," she said, with a trace of
amusement around her red mouth. "Particularly since you and I have
been--" She paused, and looked towards Andrusco with a slight lift of
her shoulder. "Well, you know. But you needn't feel too squeamish, Tom.
After all, I was born and raised on Earth. I am, you might say, an
honorary Earth woman."

Tom's eyes bulged at her.

"This civilization from which my husband and I claim ancestry is perhaps
no older than your own. Unfortunately, we were not blessed with