Leila sat open-mouthed. But there was no need for her to say anything; the words came now from Leo Chaikoski in a jerky torrent.
"You've seen how it is. He controls the Woollies, like he dominates everything else around him. The rest of us know the technique, too—but we can't do anything with them. He's strong. He made the Woolly kill Chandler—and he could kill Paige or me the same way—or you. Yes, he could kill you, too, if he wanted to. He has us all in his hands." The young man's voice had sunk lower and lower, and a thread of mortal terror ran through it.
"That's why he can murder us and never be caught." Leo's scarred face twisted with impotent rage. "I'd kill him ... but he always has the gun ... and the Woollies. If I had a gun, I could do it...." He grasped pleadingly at the girl's limp hand on the arm of her chair. "Do you happen to have a gun?"
"No," said Leila curtly. Her blue eyes stared into space, past Leo and his fear; her mind raced, envisaging the widening ripples of consequence that were even now spreading throughout the whole System from the death of a mechanic. If that death had been murder—had the killer acted without considering those consequences?
Leo's abject terror gave the weight of truth to his accusation—a weird indictment, but no more preposterous than the simple fact that a Woolly had killed a man. But there was still something missing, the fundamental—
"Why?" said Leila suddenly, almost to herself. "I don't doubt that Paul's capable of murder. But it would have to be for profit."
"The motive?" Leo hesitated, then, "Oh, that's simple. He sabotaged the radio. Chandler was going to fix it ... he wasn't afraid. So Paul made the Woolly kill him."
Now Leila too glanced apprehensively at the door. She exclaimed, "But this makes less and less sense. Why should Paul Gedner want the radio out of commission?"
Leo was silent, avoiding her penetrating gaze; at last he said sullenly, "Chandler wanted to send a message."
Leila's hands tightened on the arms of her chair. "What message?" she persisted fiercely.