"You're in it with me, Passarelli." "Never met you," he said, getting up. "Thanks for the drink." He started for the door. "That witch has the Stigma after all," I said to his back. That stopped him. He came back and poked his angry face into mine. "You had her tested?" "Professor Lindstrom, at Columbia," I told him. "She is slick as a whistle. Lindstrom fell for her yarn that it was sleight of hand--but it was HC. I'd have sworn it didn't exist." "Well," he said. "Well, well. All right, Maragon. What's the jam you're in?" "You suggested I should represent her, and I'm going to. But with the Stigma? That's more than I bargained for. You know no reputable attorney can afford to represent a Psi. Not if he wants any Normal business. Too much feeling." "Going to duck out on her?" "Damned if I'll welch!" I said, more hotly than I had meant to. "You sure don't seem very shaken up by the news." "It's not any news to me," Passarelli said tightly. "You forget that I've had first-hand experience with that little lady. She gave me the business right in my courtroom. I'm no credulous egghead like Lindstrom. I know the difference between sleight of hand and an hallucination. She made me see just what she wanted me to see." "Now you know why I think you're in the same jam, Judge," I said. "You'll look great running for office, with your opposition telling the public how a Psi foozled your vision. They'll stomp on the loud pedal about how you let her get away with it and wangle a 'Not Guilty' verdict when she was guilty as sin." "Yes," he agreed. "It's a hot potato, all right." "There's just one out," I insisted. "That girl would have made restitution long ago if the Bank would have permitted it. And I've been asking myself how come--why should the Bank get sniffy and not want its money back?" That was the right question. He went back to the easy-chair and sat down. His eyes came up to meet mine, and then he held out his glass. I splashed some more Pinch in it. "Politics, politics," he mourned. "The social workers are after me on this thing. They _want_ that girl to be in a jam. They've asked me to work on the Bank, asked that I make sure restitution can't be made. They want the threat of a Federal indictment to hang over her head." "Why?" "So she'll agree to my committing her to their care. You know what they try to do--it's the doctrine of sterilization. Remove young Psis from the Psi society--cut them loose from their natural contacts, force them to quit using their powers. It's the same technique they use on narcotic violators, if they aren't too deeply committed to drugs." "And you are really resisting that?"