"What about the first kid?"
"Well, she died, the first kid did. In childbirth. It was something that happens, you know. My wife's a little woman; the baby was smothered."
"I see. And what kind of story do you want to tell?"
"It's not my idea." A hint of stubbornness glimmered in his dull eyes. "It's that Andrusco guy's. He wants me to tell how the baby was born a—mutant."
"What?"
"He wants me to release a story saying the baby was a freak. The kid was born at home, you see. The only other person who saw her, besides me and my wife, was this doctor we had. And he died a couple of years back."
Tom slumped in his chair. This was pushing public relations a little far.
"Well, I dunno," he said. "If the baby was really normal—"
"It was normal, all right. Only dead, that's all."
Tom stood up. "Okay, Sergeant Spencer. Let me think it over, and I'll give you a buzz before the end of the week. All right?"