“To show you how my mind’s running. A couple of days ago, if I thought about it at all, it was as a good tool to pry off chunks of ice.” I ran a finger down its half-foot of round steel blade to the needle point. “Not a bad thing to pin a man to his clothes with. That’s the way I’m betting, on the level. I can’t even see a mechanical cigar lighter without thinking of filling one with nitroglycerine for somebody you don’t like. There’s a piece of copper wire lying in the gutter in front of your house⁠—thin, soft, and just long enough to go around a neck with two ends to hold on. I had one hell of a time to keep from picking it up and stuffing it in my pocket, just in case⁠—”

“You’re crazy.”

“I know it. That’s what I’ve been telling you. I’m going blood-simple.”

“Well, I don’t like it. Put that thing back in the kitchen and sit down and be sensible.”

I obeyed two-thirds of the order.