VII
In a pause Rosemary looked away and up the table where Nicole sat between Tommy Barban and Abe North, her chow’s hair foaming and frothing in the candlelight. Rosemary listened, caught sharply by the rich clipped voice in infrequent speech:
‘The poor man,’ Nicole exclaimed. ‘Why did you want to saw him in two?’
‘Naturally I wanted to see what was inside a waiter. Wouldn’t you like to know what was inside a waiter?’
‘Old menus,’ suggested Nicole with a short laugh. ‘Pieces of broken china and tips and pencil stubs.’
‘Exactly, but the thing was to prove it scientifically. And of course doing it with that musical saw would have eliminated any sordidness.’
‘Did you intend to play the saw while you performed the operation?’ Tommy inquired.
‘We didn’t get quite that far. We were alarm
