On the other hand, he knew that von Liegnitz
had a reputation for being--shall we say--a ladies' man. What happened
after that followed naturally."

Mike watched everyone at the table. No one moved.

"So the killer, realizing that he had failed twice, decided to do the
job himself. First, he went into the low-power room and slugged the man
on duty. He intended to kill him, but he didn't hit hard enough. When
that man wakes up, he'll be able to testify against the killer.

"Then the killer ordered Snookums to tear out the switches. He had made
sure that Snookums would be waiting outside. Before he called Snookums
in, of course, he had to put the duty man in a tool closet, so that the
robot wouldn't see him. He told Snookums to wait five minutes and then
smash the switches and head back to his cubicle.

"Then the killer went to my room and waited. When the lights went out
and the door opened, he intended to go in and smash my skull, making it
look as though either Mellon or Snookums had done it.

"But he didn't figure on my awakening as soon as the switches were
broken. He heard me moving around and decided to wait until I came out.

"But I heard him breathing. It was quite faint, and I wouldn't have
heard it, except for the fact that the air conditioners were off. Even
so, I couldn't be sure.

"However, I knew it wasn't Snookums. Snookums radiates a devil of a lot
more heat than a human being, and besides he smells of machine oil.

"So I pulled my little trick with the boots. The killer waited and
waited for me to come out, and I was already out. Then Chief Multhaus
approached from the other direction. The killer knew he'd have to get
out of there, so he went in the opposite direction. He met Snookums, who
was still obeying orders. Snookums smacked into me on his way down the
hall.

"He could do that, you see, because I was an angel. If he hurt me of his
own accord, I couldn't take revenge on anyone but him. And there was no
necessity to obey my orders, either, since he was obeying the orders of
the killer, which held precedence.

"Then, to further confuse things, the killer went to Mellon's room. The
physician was in a drugged stupor, so the killer carried him out and put
him in an unlikely place, so that we'd think that perhaps Mellon had
been the one who'd tried to get me."

He had everyone's eyes on him now. They didn't want to look at each
other.

Pete Jeffers said: "Mike, if Mellon was poisoned, like