He dared not pull up his shirt as yet. It could very easily have the effect of making him fade partially from Stokely's view, and might provoke the big man into blazing away at him.
It was quite possible that Stokely would shoot anyhow, though under the circumstances his aim might not be at its best.
"You lie!" Stokely said suddenly, as between clenched teeth. "The only way you could know about yourself would be if I didn't have it. Then you'd know where Evans must have seen it."
"One minute ago," said Archer, "that would have been true. And if you had thought of it a minute ago, instead of just now, things might have been different. But putting yourself in my position with respect to Evans, or in his with respect to me, was too big a step for your egocentric mind. You haven't quite done it yet, or you would understand this:
"If you hadn't shown the aura, I would have known instantly that I did. Also, Evans would have known about himself, immediately. But we didn't know, immediately. None of us did. And there is only one way we could all see it and remain uncertain. That is for all of us to have it. I didn't know, you both didn't know—and therefore I knew. Can you follow that?"
After a pause, Archer went on: "Incidentally, I wouldn't let a dog die the way both of you are going to in the next few minutes unless you do something about it. That's why I've taken the trouble to explain it."
Evans suddenly cleared his throat, and his voice came plaintively: "Uh—are you sure I've got it, Mr. Archer?" The necessity of the conclusion was clearly beyond him.
"Quite sure," Archer returned, noting that Evans had sought the truth from him instead of his own colleague in crime.
"That's good enough for me." Evans' motions showed dimly that he was making the injection.
But Archer spared him only a glance and turned back to watching Stokely. The latter had not yet moved.