The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-10-03
Shuahters
by VIRGINIA HANSON

would have lost my life that
night.
For the moment it gave me a
false sense Of security. I opened
the unstable notebook, saw that
it contained about three pages of
competent Gregg shorthand and,
concentrating on the little I could
remember from a high school
course. set myself to decipher it.
A few lines were enough to
tell me that this was merely the
d;ctation had given Sandra on
Tuesday. began to skip. pulling
out a phrase here md there, turn
ing the pages. reassuring myself
that there was nothing more.
Nothing more? l turned the last
page and saw, detached from the
rest of the text, a line Of four
characters.
/ puzzled over them for a mo-
ment. The first was the little
curved stroke that denotes the
hard sound of the letter c-kuh,
or k or can. The second character
seemed to be red. Can red-that
didn't make sense. No, vatican
reddl | went on to the last two,
which were more complex, with
tire two little strokes under each
that mean capitals. A title. With
that as a clue / deciphered them.
LOVERS Return! The manuscript
she had helped me copy. / was
right Can redd-noi What a fool
| Wasl Kay, read LOVERS Return
My fingers trembling with al
most unbearable .agerneSs. | tore
open the manil- envelope and
drew out the eighteen or twenty
typed pages.
started to read. | don't know
what l expected to fnd-under-
lined words. interlineations-
Have Decided
THERE was nothing. This was
L just the story | had written.
the pages l had copied and proof
read myself Sandra had done the
last six or eight rages Tipped
the manuscript over. chose a page
at random. scanned the lines. But
l mad proofread these pages. too
as she typed them. What
And then | remembered the
letter: About the middle it starts
20 60 haywire-"
/ fumbled the pages apart.
grabbed section out of the mid
die and began to read.
Page ten.
-tchdt any of you sag. I just
can't go on without him. Hes
lrhy, don't you understand? He's
part of my life:
That was no good. My own
deathless lines.
l had started to turn the page
when J. was struck by the strange
ly solid look of the lower half
of the sheet. No dialogue Para
graphs that begged to be short
ened Why. that would be solid
block in print
Mdribel flung back her silken
c7trlS and stared up at him trdg
icdlly. It's no use. Alfred. SIT
dolOn and | tCill tell you my
story:
What was this? Married. had
silken curls. all right, like all
proper pulp heroineS and maybe
she had a past, too. But this was
no way to introduce either. Mari
bel had certainly gone hay
wire
With more eagerness than any
shopgirl, l began to revel in Mari
bells past.
There is an impoSter aere, and
| am the only one tUho knotUS it,
In the beginning iUGS assured
that tCould only do harm by err
posing the inpoSt1tre. and l agreed
to keep silent. fo1 q price. / Sdt0.
and still see. no reason tUhy
should not be paid for a service
rendered. | needed the money
not for myself alone, but for the
man loUed. There is nothing
quite SO bitter as to be denied
Lore because Of poUerty-dnd that
poverty caused b. cQllouS
lCorld'S rejection of genius And
then he UdS killed. I still think
my husband killed him. and I
mean him to suffer for it. But my
OtOn future tGGS at stake. too.
had to decide bettceen immediate
reUenge. or security first. I'Ue
neUgr been anybody or had any
thing but the charity of strangers
When the only person | loUed lay
br1ttdlly murdered cared about
nothing but poUer. money. the
means to revenge myself on a
lUorld that has SholUn me no kind
ness. But something DdS said
about spies tUhich has set me
thinking. And haze not yet been
paid for my silence | intend to
giUe the impoSter one more
chance, but to safeguard myself
from one tDho may be a spy. /
haze decided to record tChdt I
knoU-
A shiver like a tickling feather
had started at the nape of my
neck and was zigzagging down
my backbone. My fingers fumbled
as l tried to flip the page and
something, l will never know
what, drew my eyes to the mirror.
The knob Of the bedroom door
was slowly turning.
Incredulous, / stared at the
mirror. / had searched that room.
There couldn't be anyone therel
| kept on watching the turning
knob for an instant of tranced
helpleSsneSS. Then a picture
flashed into my mind-Jeff dis
appearing into the bedroom. Fe-
licia at the corridor door. / heard
again the little sounds of JEFF
departing by the bedroom win
dow. The screen
had forgotten to latch thar