The taxi stopped in front of Molly's house. Stephanie got out and paid the driver.
    "I'll call for another one, thanks." She hesitated. "No, go ahead. Go." She walked up the steps and rang the bell.
    "Hello, Miss," the butler greeted her.
    "Um, hi. Is Molly home?"
    "She's working in the garden. Why don't you come in, and I'll let her know that you're here."
    "Thank you very much."
    "There should be some tea on the sideboard, just help yourself," he added, leaving her in the marble foyer.
    Stephanie wandered around for a moment, one eye on the stairwell leading up to the balcony. After a bit she wandered up the stairs, looking around from the higher vantage; she'd never been alone in the place before. One of the doors to the room off the balcony was slightly ajar.
    "I've never seen this one open before," she murmured, and pushed at it gently. Stepped inside, turned on the light. Reached into her pocket.
    "Stephanie, dear?" Molly called from below. "Oh, you're upstairs. Oh, you... I really wish you hadn't gone in there," she said softly. By the time she got up the stairs, Stephanie was no longer in the room, and a small window had been knocked ajar—only big enough for a cat.
    There were zombie tubes on the far wall.
    "Curiosity. Always such a problem," Molly murmured, turning off the lights as she left and closed the door.*

    At the WAMT studio where Boston Common was produced, the cast and crew watched TV in between shots. Tao and Horace didn't have much to do, since they were still working through the stuff filmed during those three weeks the Toy Man had reigned. Tao cheered every time Thunderbolt came on.
    "Doesn't he look cute?" she sighed.
    Horace watched with only half an eye, and made a number of phone calls during the day. "M-hm. Okay, I understand," he said, hanging up.
    Candi came in. "Tao, what's going on?"
    "Um, judging from what it looks like right now, a gorilla just beat your boyfriend up."
    "What?!"
    "It's all on camera...."
    "Oh, c'mon, he can't be beaten up by a mere gorilla!" They watched the replay together in horrified fascination, then the Wuxia breakout.
    "So how are things going?" Horace joined them. "Does it look like they're gonna win?"
    "I don't know, it looks like the bad guys are getting away, but they all seem to be all right," Tao told him.
    "Good, I'd hate to think that any of them would die yet."
    "Yet?" She gave him a weird look. "Dammit, Horace, you forgot your ID badge again."
    "Yeah, I know." A swift, violent moment later both women collapsed, unconscious.**

  * The editor would like to note that NONE of us saw this one coming. Not even Tom, unless he's just trying to make us feel better. Brian's idea of a clue is the fact that one of her married names is Wilson, and David Wilson ran the construction company that built the Black Whip's mansion.

**Finally fulfilling the warning Chandler gave us a real-time year and nearly 600 pages of text previously.

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