"No one of us saw what Crandall did. We have to guess by the results. It would be nice if we could report of how he did it. It probably was quite spectacular, but we missed the fireworks. In any case, he did get Irina out of the prison I had put her in…. I should have listened to Professor Romney and released her myself under conditions, but I guess I was too scared…. Romney was too scared of my not releasing her, but he knew that I could not be moved. So, he did the next best thing. He sends Flynn back to Benchleytown to keep an eye on things and report. Which made Beverly very happy."
-0-
"You are back? All is forgiven? Beverly said enthusiastically.
"Yes. He said to just keep my eye on things. And also, to see if I have learned my lesson."
"How can he know that?"
"He knows that we are getting closer. And he wants to see if I can accept Amos feeding off you without me getting jealous. Even when I see how you enjoy it."
"He has to make it enjoyable, you realized. He does not want us trying to fight him off. And if we find it pleasant, we are willing to repeat it."
"I know that there is a sexual element on it, which makes it harder to accept. But as I said, I am on probation."
-0-
"Well, I can tell you this much." Stuart Raft sighed "Owen Raft was my brother. My twin. That they got it right on the show. They did not mention it, but we had the same… problem. That's why he ended up in the clutches of Maurice Crandall. He wanted an easy solution, not the discipline we had to practice since puberty." He sighed. "He always wanted things to come the easy way. That's why he was a criminal. By the time I came to Benchleytown I had washed my hands off him. It was no pleasant seeing him here, I had to pretend I did not see him. And he, well, he knew better than to approach me. The last time we met we got violent, and he was the loser of the fight"
"That explains what happened afterwards."
"In any case all I had to do was work at my job, and prepare for the confrontation that would happen when Mrs. Grady came back. I knew that it would be messy, but I figured out if I kept my head down, did my job, and assured her that my loyalty was to the firm not whoever was in charge, I'd be OK"
"Which is what happened, in spite of all the fireworks."
"So, we had a lull for a few days. Crandall released Irina and "disciplined" her when she insisted that he had tricked her andthat he held no power over her. But there was more. Of course, Crandall could not keep from hearing about the "patchwork man" that had been seen in the area. Remember if was a quiet time so all the townspeople got to talk about was what had happened a couple of month past. George Midler, and Lawson's death, and all the misdeeds that were blamed on Ann Benchley – even the ones that she had nothing to do with. Crandall knew that there was something of interest for him. And he realized that Wendy did know more than she let out."