As he drives, Simon pumps Augie for information. Since Augie knows Simon won’t be able to tell a soul, Augie gives. He’s been hired to kill the Saint by someone named Ronald Stanton. Having found out all he can, Simon presses down hard on the accelerator and the car stars tire-screeching through traffic. Augie demands he stops, threatens to shoot him, all of which has no influence on Templar. ‘’Please, Mr. Templar, stop!’’ begs Augie. Simon obliges by stamping on the brakes. Augie’s head hits the windshield and Templar liberates the gun. ‘’M. Templar, what was the idea?’’ Augie demands in a shocked voice. ‘’Don’t you realize, we could have been killed?’’

Stanton allows Simon into the house. ‘’You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Templar. I am constitutionally incapable of violence. That’s why I’m forced to depend upon dullards like Augie.’’ Stanton has a rapid fire, tenor voice, and comes across as quite likeable in an amoral sort of way. ‘’As a matter of fact, I’m really in every way unsuited for the sort of work I’ve engaged in. I should have been an artist. I have the soul of an artist, the temperament of an artist, the intellect of an artist…’’ ‘’Then why aren’t you an artist?’’ ‘’My paintings stink. So, you find me a swindler instead. Degrading…but a man must live….’’

Simon doesn’t contradict him. ‘’Well, now, to business,’’ says the garrulous Mr. Stanton. ‘’I suppose you’ve come here for your money….’’ ‘Have I?’’ says Simon in surprise. ’’….yes, since Augie failed me, I suppose I’ll have to pay.’’

He goes to his unlocked safe (he can never remember the combination) and pulls out some money. ‘’No, no this is only $12,000.’’ ‘’Only $12,000.’’ Simon repeats in a noncommital voice. ‘’Yes,’’ Stanton says apologetically. ‘’You see, I really didn’t expect you. If you come to the office tomorrow, I’ll give you the other three. Will you be there?’’ ‘’Unless I wake up in the meantime,’’ Simon says, trying to control hysterical laughter. ‘’Good night, Mr. Stanton.’’

Linda finds Simon crumpled on the floor in Briggs’ office. He’s just reviving as she calls his name. She helps him to his feet and he leans on her, groggily. Linda peppers him with questions he can’t answer, til he asks one of his own. ‘’Is Mr. Stanton in?’’ ‘’Yes, he’s been in all morning. So I couldn’t understand why…’’ Their dialog falters as they remain comfortably together, but then Stanton enters the room and they part quickly. Stanton views them indulgently, and professes complete surprise and distress when they inform him that Simon had been knocked out.

Simon follows Stanton into his office. Stanton hands over the remaining three thousand dollars. ‘’We’re agreed this settles my account with you, eh?" Stanton confirms. Simon agrees. ‘’But I’ve still got an account to settle with Mr. Briggs,’’ he says grimly.

Simon asks Linda what Stanton’s racket is. ‘’Why, he’s in the real estate business.’’ ‘’So it says on his door, but what’s his racket?’’ ‘’I don’t understand.’’ ‘’I wonder.’’ Linda goes on to say that all she knows is that Mr. Stanton has had some big project under way, he’s been selling stock in it. ‘’So that’s it,’’ says Simon. ‘’…You don’t pay off somebody to the tune of fifteen thousand dollars for a legitimate business deal.’’

‘’I don’t know much about it,’’ Linda says, ‘’I’ve only worked for him a short while. Whom did he pay off?’’ ‘’Me.’’ ‘’You! But you said you didn’t know him!’’ ‘’I didn’t.’’

Simon explains that he thinks Briggs had been blackmailing Stanton about his shady business dealings. Anticipating that Stanton wouldn’t like being blackmailed, he hadn’t given his own name, but used that of the Saint, because of the Saint’s reputation. (‘’It’s a name that carries weight with the underworld,’’ says the Robin Hood of Modern Crime). He’d probably intended to send a messenger for the money, but Stanton had decided to take matters into his own hands and send an assassin after the Saint. Then, when the Saint had turned up asking to see Mr. Stanton, Briggs had worried that secret would be revealed, so he’d knocked Simon out and made his escape. After revealing all these deductions to Linda, the Saint has recovered his equamity, he suggests that they order dinner.

Stanton explains that he’d paid $15,000 to Simon for silence. He’d hoped that Simon would repay him, for same. The police are searching for the man who was in Brigg’s office that morning. If Augie were present, Stanton could offer Simon the choice between arrest or freedom. But since Augie failed him again, the whole matter becomes an academic question. Stanton continues ingratiatingly. ‘’You can’t blame me for trying. After all, you would have done the same….no hard feelings…’’

Simon telephones Linda, and asks her to meet him at Stanton’s office. She peppers him with questions, but finally agrees. At the office, they leave the lights off – in case Stanton should come calling. Simon had seen him packing at his house, and wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up. Simon goes into Brigg’s office, and then buzzes Linda on the intercom. ‘’…well, I’ll be right out.’’ ‘’Did you find what you were looking for?’’ ‘’Yes.’’

Just as Simon returns to the outer office, Stanton walks in. Simon turns on the lights. ‘’…Seems you’ve beaten me, Templar, to everything but…the draw! Put up your hands!’’ ‘’I thought gunplay was out of your line, Mr. Stanton.’’ ‘’Sometimes one is forced to take matters into one’s own hands. But I assure you I don’t relish it so please do as I say. Because if I’m forced to shoot you, I know I shall be quite ill.’’

Simon is able to rest the gun away from Mr. Stanton, prompting Stanton to comment that perhaps Augie isn’t as incompetent as he had thought. Gunplay can be very complicated. Simon tells Linda to call the police. ‘’The police!’’ squeaks Stanton. ‘’But you can’t. You promised!’’ ‘’I didn’t promise anything, Stanton,’’ Simon says cruelly. ‘’That was Briggs.’’

‘’…Are you trying to say that I killed Briggs?’’ Stanton says, incredulous. ‘’It’s as good a story as that I did,’’ says Simon. Linda makes the phone call. ‘’Templar! You’re making a big mistake,’’ says Stanton hysterically. ‘’I know, but I wanted to give Linda a chance to complete the call.’’ Simon reveals that he knows it was Linda who killed Briggs the day before – while he was lying unconscious. When he’d come to see Stanton, she’d left her desk to get Briggs, instead of buzzing him on the intercom. Clearly she’d done that to alert Briggs that their plan had gone wrong. And she’d killed him to prevent him from talking. ‘’You, you!’’ says Linda angrily. ‘’Careful, Linda,’’ chastises Simon. ‘’Remember, I’m a Saint!’’