The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1943-01-19
Mr.: MUIR lsls
lakes I: CASE
by George
Harmon
Coke

riveted on the knob. After a while
she knew she would have to go
over and turn it. Fear had eaten
away all bodily warmth now, and
yet as she started towards that
door the room was suddenly close
and her blood began to pound.
1t took an intense effort of win
to make herself touch that white
china knob, an even greater will
to turn il. But she did, quickly,
determinedly, so that the light be-
hind her spilled feebly over the
floor of the closet and the CHASTITY
picture struck her all at once
the angle of the body, the tilted
head, the pallid face, stained all
along one side with blood.
That much she saw in that first
horrifying inStant-the body-oh.
thank God, not Delia's. but a
man's-and then the floor tilted
under her, and her, eyes closed,
and she leanad against the wall,
clinging to the door to keep the
room from spinning.
She stood there for a long mo-
ment, fighting hard against her
nausea. She dared not open her
eyes until she had CROPPED her way
along the wall and then, grateful
for its support, she leaned back
against it, all faint and sick in
side, and said, her voice a frozen
whisper: Della! Della, where are
your"
Rahiud TT,o n,cx
Joyce was never sure how
- long she stood there. To her
it seemed forever before her
strength came back and she got
her nerves in hand. Then she
pushed away from the wall. She
Strengthened her shoulders. After
that she tried to rationalize her
fears.
= Her first sane reaction after the
shock of finding that thing of hor-
ror on the closet floor was one of
overpowering relief. Then, on the
heels of that relief had come an
other thought no less terrifying
than the first. Just because a man
had been murdered did not mean
that Della had not suffered the
same fate. If she had actually
seen the killer
A sudden noise brought her
mind back to the moment and she
stiffened again, every sense alert.
1t was queer sound, muff1ed and
indistinct. coming from off to one
side. From the hall, she thought.
or the anteroom.
Della" she said again and
started towards the open door
way.
There was no answer, but she
did not stop, and when she gained
the adjoining room she paused,
looking for light or a switch.
The sound came again, a low
moaning, and with it the soft
raSpir1g of something across the
floor.
Over behind the door a shadow
moved and stood out darker than
its surroundings. Joyce trembled
with quick new hope and started
forward, seeing the shadow move
again and knowing now that this
was Della, that she was alive. A
light switch cleaned and caught
her eye next to the door and she
stopped to press it; then the room
was bright and her heart was in
her throat and she was on her
knees beside the girl
Apparently she had been lying
on her back because when Joyce
saw her she had pushed up on one
arm and her eyes, dazed and
enormous against the dead white
background of her face, did not at
once focus.
Its Joyce, darling. Joyce is
here. It's all right"
Her resiliency was amazing.
The color had come back into her
face and she had stopped trem-
bling. She put her finger to the
back of her head, explored it
gently and said: "Umm." A
twinge of pain slid across her
eyes and she added: Somebody
bopped me-"
Suddenly her rueful smile gave
way to look of quick alarm and
she thrust her hand in her pocket.
He got the envelope"
To be continued