"Let me get this straight, Howard," Marion said. "You made a deal with Fitzmartin. You were going to have the girl find the money. Then you were going to turn it over to Fitzmartin in return for Ruth's safety. You made that deal yourself. You thought you could handle it better than we could. Is that it?" "I thought that was the only way it could be handled. But he crossed me up. He followed us." "We could have grabbed him when he got to the river. We'd have gotten to Ruth earlier. If she dies, you're going to be responsible." I looked at him for the first time in over an hour. "I don't see it that way." "Did he say how he killed Grassman? You told us why he did it." "He hit him on the head with a piece of pipe." "What do you think the Rasi girl was going to do when you turned the money over to Fitzmartin? Assuming that it went the way you thought it would go." "I guess she wouldn't have liked it." "Why didn't she come and get the money herself, once she knew where it probably was?" "I haven't any idea. I think she felt she needed help. I think she decided I could help her. I think she planned to get away with all of it somehow after we were both well away from here. When I was sleeping. Something like that. I think she thought she could handle me pretty easily." "How many shots did he fire into the cave?" "I wasn't counting. Maybe twenty." A doctor came into the room. Marion stood up. "What's the score, Dan?" The doctor looked at us disapprovingly. It was as though we were responsible for what had happened to Ruth. "I think I can say that physically she'll be all right She's young and she has a good body. She might mend quite rapidly. It's hard to say. It will depend on her mental condition. I can't answer for that. I've seldom seen anyone handled more brutally. I can give you a list. Dislocated thumb. Broken shoulder. Two cracked ribs. A cracked pelvis. She was criminally attacked. Two broken toes. We nearly missed those. She was beaten about the face. That wouldn't have killed her. It was the shock and exposure that nearly did it, came awfully close to doing it. She's been treated for shock. She's out of her head. She doesn't know where she is. We just put her to sleep. I say, I can't estimate mental damage." I stood up. "Where is she?" The doctor stared at me. "I can't let you see her. There's no point in seeing her." I moved closer to him. "I want to see her." He stared at me and then took my wrist, put his finger tips on my pulse. He took a pencil flashlight out of his pocket and shone it directly into my eye from a few inches away. He turned to the captain. "This man should be in bed." Marion sighed. "Have you got a bed?" "Yes." "Okay. I'll have to put a guard on the door. This man is under arrest. But look. Just let him look in the door at Ruth. Maybe he earned that much. I don't know."