Victor was left speechless. He looked to Schiller for help and said quietly, "Maybe that's exactly why he didn't choose to blow up my laboratory. Either way, we need to solve this..."
Then he looked at Chick again and said, "There's still quite a while before the Christmas dance. Why not find another dance partner?"
"He clearly promised me! I wasn't the one who did anything wrong! Why should I have to endure this humiliation?!" Chick was highly agitated. "And he... he..."
Victor froze when he heard the pronoun he used, then sighed. "He found a girl?"
Chick did not answer, but his expression made the answer obvious. Victor felt a splitting headache coming on. He sat down on the sofa and drained a cup of black coffee in two gulps. Mrs. Edson finally realized this was not a topic she should keep listening to, so she used making coffee as an excuse to leave.
"What I'm more curious about is how you tried to hang yourself." Schiller looked at his neck. There were no ligature marks on it, so he must have been rescued before he was actually suspended.
"There's a beam above the Cryogenics physics laboratory," Victor said. "Physics laboratories never have sealed ceilings, because there are a lot of pipes running overhead, and ceilings interfere with inspections. So he could hang a rope from it."
"He tied a knot?"
"What?"
"After throwing the rope over the beam, did he tie a knot from below?"
"I don't remember," Victor said. "It was chaos. Everyone was busy getting him down, and no one looked at the rope. Is there a problem?"
"No. It only means this was his first suicide attempt, so he had no experience." Schiller said, "It's difficult to hang yourself with a rope over a narrow