“I’m under contract to him for another two years. I can’t leave him.”

I let my fingers stroke her knee.

“What kind of guy is Salzer? I’ve heard he’s a quack.”

She slapped my hand.

“He’s all right. Maybe he is a quack, but the people he treats are just over-fed. He starves them and collects. You don’t have to be a qualified man to do that.”

My hand strayed back to her knee again.

“Do you think you could be a clever, smart girl and find out if Maureen is in the sanatorium?” I asked, and began a complicated manoeuvre.

She slapped my hand, hard this time.

“There you go again—Maureen.”

I rubbed the back of my hand.