Quint jumped up and hit the light switch, and we were plunged into darkness. Then he grabbed me and pulled me to the floor. My elbow bumped against the couch on the way down, and it stung, but I was too scared to care. "What are you doing?" I hissed.

"I didn't want them to see us," he whispered back."I had to move fast."

"Quint?" I said. "You were fast, but I don't think you were fast enough. I think they saw

us."

He groaned. "They heard our names, too."

I lifted my head slowly so that I could peek

out of the window again. If I saw Frank and

Red staring back at me, I knew I would just

die on the spot. But I didn't see them. In fact,

I couldn't see anything: they had pulled down the window blinds, and their apartment looked dark. "They're gone," I whispered to Quint. "Or at least, I can't see them anymore."

He stood up slowly and peeked across the way. Then, crouched down, he moved to the window and closed it. He scooted to the side of the window and pulled the cord that let the blinds down. Then he sat down next to me. He put his arm around me, and it felt good. I didn't think for a second about the Talk I'd wanted to have with him. I was feeling pretty shaky, and his arm was comforting. "Quint," I whispered, "we have to call the police."

He shook his head. "What would we tell them?" he asked. His voice sounded loud to me, and I tried to shush him. "It's okay," he said. "The window's closed." Quint seemed much calmer.

"We'd tell them that we witnessed two criminals planning a crime," I said, impatiently. I was still keeping my voice low.

"But we don't know what they were planning, or when it would happen," he said. "We don't have any real information at all. The police would probably just laugh at us. They'd think we were a couple of excited kids."