Marvella wanted to help Renfrew and Sigismund investigate Orly's murder. Renfrew wondered if that was a good idea, since it was one of Marvella's bathmats that had been the murder weapon.

But he was also programmed to be polite. Marvella had offered to help. So had Beatrice Anaconda. Well, it was best to let Beatrice decide. "Beatrice is my partner," Renfrew told Marvella, fudging things a little. "If she thinks you could be helpful, I will defer to her. In the meantime, let's work on getting me patched up as fast as possible."

Marvella thought this was a good plan. She directed her technician to start work on Renfrew immediately.

Meanwhile, back at Lake Serene Retirement Village, Beatrice was waiting in Sigismund's condo with nothing to do. She already had a case to work on, and it wasn't going well: the ambassador from Thwockisgreznia had collapsed and died in Boston's trendiest restaurant. The problem wasn't that the murder weapon was missing. The snake that bit him was in custody. What puzzled her was that the snake's poison glands had been removed. The ambassador had not eaten any food yet, so food poisoning was not a factor. He had had half a glass of Beaujolais, which had been tested for toxins and was apparently harmless.

Sigismund's car pulled up in front of the building. Beatrice held the door for him as he helped Renfrew limp inside.

"I thought Marvella's technician was going to patch you up," she told Renfrew.

"He did a quick scan and determined that the parts I need will have to be ordered. He'll have them tomorrow morning," Renfrew said.

"I am so sorry about what happened to you," Beatrice said. "Look on the bright side. You know how to use the Androidnet now. Maybe you can use it to research your case."

"Technically, it's our case," Renfrew corrected. "I fibbed a little. When Marvella offered to help, I told her you were my partner and would need to be in the loop. Anyway, have you found it helpful with the cases you've worked on?"

"Not at the moment," Beatrice said, averting her eyes. "I'm working on a case where a diner in a restaurant died after being bitten by a snake. But the snake's poison glands had been removed, and the diner had not eaten any food."

"Um, what had the snake been eating?" Renfrew asked.

"Just before biting the diner? I hadn't thought of that. Sigismund, do you mind if I use your phone? I need to ask the people at the crime lab some questions about a case I'm working on."

When the answer came, everyone was surprised: the snake had eaten a mouse smeared with peanut butter. "Okay, now find out if the ambassador was allergic to peanuts," Renfrew urged. It turned out that he was, and enough peanut butter was on the snake's fangs to kill him. "That'sthe easy part," Renfrew confessed. "The hard part is finding out who wanted him dead, and whether they knew about his allergy."

"I'll take it from there, Renfrew," Beatrice said gently, "but I am very impressed."

"You've come a long way," Sigismund said.

They heard another car pulling up in front of the building.

"Were you expecting someone?" Beatrice asked.

"Oh, dear," Sigismund said. "We may have guests, and Renfrew won't be able to serve drinks and snacks. "

Paulh