"Look, Tony, you know as well as I do that finding out what's in here will help us learn what's leaking."

"Yeah, but we didn't talk about it yesterday." He looked stubborn.

I talked fast. "I know we didn't If you want to play all consortiate, you can lick me on this one. For a while. But how will you feel when you read the next little story in the Valley section of the Tines about a kid who's going to vanish out of the universe forever some time in the next fifty or seventy or ninety years?"

"You fight dirty," he said with a fierce scowl.

"Only if I have to," I answered. "You're the one who told me you wanted to keep this site safe. Did you mean it, or was it so much fairy gold?"

He looked at his watch. It must have been a new one, because he didn't ask me what time it was. After about a minute and a half (my guess; I didn't bother checking), he said, "Very well, Inspector Fisher, I shall comply with your demand." Clearly we were out from under the rose.

More folders followed, too many for me to cany. Having decided to be helpful. Tony was very helpful: he got me a wheeled cart so I could trundle them down the path and out to my carpet. I said, "I hope losing these won't inconvenience your operation."

"I wouldn't give'em to you if it did," he said. "I have copies of everything. They're magically made, of course, so they aren't acceptable to you, but they'll keep this place running until I get the originals back."

I didn't say that might be a while. If we ended up going to court again to seek a closure order, the parchments would be sequestered for months, maybe for years if the dump's legal staff used all the appeals they were entitled to. Sudakis had to know that, too. But he seemed satisfied he could go on doing what he needed to do, so I didn't push him.