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Show - CHAPT CUAPTl.B CUAPTlB } . . X'1 X1 X'1filE XflTI1B ' filE STOBT STORY TUBS THUS rAB rAR Todd Mcfflao alCKlD.O'D Mcffla alCKlD .O'D .OD OD . o > ' Gcoi-tioe Gcoi tioe Georglae - Wreth Wyetb and Dnd imkll .maU maU . daugbter dncbterBarbr , Barby w.re wre wer . * < fitltlir bltm " III Mr . * P Pctlioily .body body . try tryIng trylnt Ing to lolve oln tho tb tbl'Drd.r . mnrder /l'Drd.r lDrd.r l'Drd.r lDrdr / ' . of Adollo Adolllle * Till CHAPTER X " l , lBHERE were a few gentle ques quesbans questions BHERE THERE bans from the doctor 'You You 'Youcan ' Yoican can t have just fallen down those thosestaIrs thosistairs staIrs , , man it 1f iou ou were going gomg up upYour upYour Your foot slipped7 slipped ? But how diethat dld dldthat that knock you down half iflight7 iflight7Todd a afhght'1 fhght'1 fhght1 ' Todd a s gaze traveled tra\eled tra eled \ slowly slowlyfrom slowlyfrom from face to face After what whatseemed whatseemed seemed a long wait Walt he shook hIs histiMri nnii + iraKsiv C ' 'I I I can cant t seem to remember remember much much , ' he said s31d excepthat except exceptthat that the lights wouldn t work 11started I d dstarted started up the stairs stalrs anyway , siI so soI I went on ' , ' , Somebody took the bulbs out outHorace , , Borace began m 1D his hls hushed VOiceC VOiceBut voice voice'But C ' 'But But But , what vhat were you doing domgfeaid " II3ld Mary Helen shnUy shnlly Whswere Why Whywere were you on those stairs stalrs at aUf aU " 'Why Why ' Why not not7 ? ' Todd murmured murmuredfeebly murmurecfeebly feebly His eyelids flickered . . ' I Iwas : was in lD the garden-shortest garden shortest garden - shortest way wayfrom wasfrom from there to my bedroom- bedroom bedroomThe bedroom - ' The others exchanged swIft swIftglances swiffglances glances glancesC glancesBut 'But But C ' But what then McKmnon7 McKm . non ? the doctor insisted inslsted 'Ho-wdid 'Ho Ho wdid ' How Howdid - did you fall fall7 ? ' , Then- Then ThenTodd Then - ' Todd said sald and gazed gazedvaguely gazedvaguely vaguely into space 'Then Then ' Then-no Then no ThennoIt - noIts It s black All black " His VOIce VOIcetraIled voicetrailed traIled awa > To Georgme all the terror terTor anddistrust and anddistrust distrust of the last few da sstruck s sstruck struck inward . . She thought Inca Incaherently incoherently herently of the hard Tillsit TillSlt e es esand esand and the T Till'at Tillat hlt ' secrets , of accusa accusabans accusabons bans implied JlIlplJed and spoken and the theaunt theaunt aunt with Wlth the reticule in 1D Todd s sstory aetory story and a door opening openmg whenan when whenan an old woman invited death to enter en enter ter her roomWe room roomWeve We Weve ve got in too deep , she shethought shethought thought in m panic pamc We Weve ve started startedsomethmg startedeometbing somethmg that thats s going gomg on mex mexorably mexorably orably to finish msh itself , and if we weget weget get in its way- way wayGEORGINE way - GEORGINE GEORGINE opened the doorvy door doorand and looked in m Todd slttmg slttmgon sittingon on the edge of the bed bed , , met her herglance herglance glance and got up swiftly sW1ftly 'Yes Yes 'YesI ' YesIm I m really all right rlght he murmur murmured murmured ed in m answer to her gesture hard hardly hardly ly a bruise bnnse it if the truth weretold weretoldI were weretold told toldI I gathered something somethmg of ot the thelIort theeort lIort said sald Georgme in a low tone toneabutting , , shuttmg the door behind behmd her "A A "Afine "Afine Afine " fine performance chiam chum Black Blackall Blackall all black ' " ' Heaven give me meItrength mettrength Itrength Itrength'Dear 'Dear Dear ' Dear Georgme I beg you notto not notto to snap your ej e es at me ' He Hegnnned Hegrinned gnnned unrepentantly 'That That ' That was wasthe wasthe the most innocent mnocent li 11 Ie expenment experimenta expenmenta a man ever made and I got a fine finesurpnse fineeurpnsa surpnse from it No I was not notgomg notgoing gomg up to the attic atbc in the dark darkstickmg darksticking stickmg my head out for someoneto someone someoneto to bop me There shouldnt shouldn t have havebeen havebeen been anyone there ' 'Wel1 Wel1 ' ' Well what were you doing for forheaven forheavens heaven s sake sake7 ? ' C CYes 'Yes Yes ' Yes , , Im 1m scared again ag3ln " ahe aheadded sheadded added defiantly defiantlyC defiantlyGood C ' Good and scared scaredand scaredand and I m in no state to considerlogic conslder conslderogtc } ogtc Todd they re trying to keepBs keep keeplis lis here here , , by one means or another anotherjust , just so they can get us-as us as us - as they theyvery theyvery very nearly got you on the stairs Stalrs ' . 'Take Take ' it easy 0he 0 ' he said tran tranqwlly tranqmlly qwlly That 'That ' wasn t as bad as It Itlooked itlooked looked In the first place whatI what I was doing domg wasnt wasn t foolhardy Itunply I IJlIlply ! JlIlply wanted to go up those en enclosed enclosed closed stairs stalrs without trying trymg to be beqUIet bequiet qUIet to see if the others would wouldhear wouldhear hear me and come to investigate investigateI I meant to step out on the second secondfloor secondfloor floor without Wlthout going gomg near theattic the theatbc atbc ' levelly"someone levellysomeone level1y"someone 'And And ' , And " he went on level1y "someone someone " did hear me someone someonewho someonewho who was already up there and andknew andknew knew that I might nught come up through upthrough , that well weU at any mo moment moment ment " . 'No No ' I didnt d1dn t really real1y fall Youmight You Youmlght mlght say I slid down the bams bamsters banisters ters on my hands ' said Todd al lently sllently allently chuckling chuckhng 'Knocked Knocked ' my mywmd mywind wmd bythen out for a minute mmute and by then I heard the light hght cavalry cavalrycharging cavalrycharging andit charging up the front stairs stalrs and it dogWorked occurred to me to play dead dog Worked fine too tooIt It " ItC ItDid C ' Did It Indeed It took a year yearoff off yearoff offmy my life bfe lifeB . B .I I .ISHALL SHALL try to restore It my mydear * ' dear eaid said Todd gravely "But But " gravely"But gravelyBut " consider NeIla Nellaa s solicitudecalling SOhcltude calling SOhcltudecalling for the doctor at once it ittook took him hun a fainsh famsh tune to get to the tothe 'phone phone ' too Consider Conslder how op opFortune opportune portune SUSle Susies a visit was wa and the act came down from the fromthe second floor to find me and Mary andMary Helen came up the enclosed enclosedstairs enclosedetairs stairs from the first floor floor-almost floor almost flooralmostas - almostas as if It I were being hemmed in BOthat so sothat that if Fd rd wanted to chase my mygiant | giant mygiant bat toward the basement , > 1 Id d have bumped Into Mrs Craneand Crane ; and been headed hE'aded ' off All very re rewarcllng rewarding warcllng 1 ' see Couldn t have been bet better better ter if It you d planned it Todd MeEinnon Mc McKmnon Kmnon If you d layoff lay off these ex'DerJments ex 'DerJments- 'DerJments DerJments 'DerJments0 ' - 0 "I I c'1 c1 " ' give gI\e gI e , \ vou my word this was wasnt 11 t planned ' 'All All ' right But if you got to tothmkmg tothinking thmkmg of yourself as a great greatdetective greatdetective detective after all you ve said sald- sald saldlo - I l\o l o \ o He frowned a little htUe I 1m 1mno mno no detective except that-wen that wen that - welliou ou remember what we said sald about aboutthe aboutthe the transparent mask lit It Th The . e o ? . . < , . eac .Ilc Ilc . lo.m.d lom.d lomd coned . . to point poillt tl t ) GII GIIb.rt Oilbert b.rt brt . Uri Mn Pejbody P.body Pbody . I turbtna "u.balld u.balld uballd " . bat bnt anT anTm.mb.r in ; member m.mb.r mmb.r mmbr . . of 1 th tho . Umlly family tould .ould ould . ha.e hae h . be'D beD be'DJ"Dllly bencnllty ' J"Dllly JDllly : " ODO On * Itlgl nifft t wi will 110 * . eicryon . .ryon ryon . * . waf wafpia w wplnc plnc pia ) * } , In & , bridce brldg . Todd In.1 In1 nel . * . cd od ont Bt SOOB 80011 You know-who know who know - who killed klUed Miss MissTiIlSl MissTillsit7 MissTillsit7'I TiIlSl t 1 ' 1'I 'I I ' think thmk so ' 'Well Well ' , Well don dont t tell me ' " ' s31d s31dGeorgme saidGeorgme Georgme in a vigorous whlsper whlsper"At whisper"At whisperAt "At At " least not until we were re far taiaway , away She got up 'Jve Jve ' , I ve hadenough had , enough of this thlS I want to go homeand home homeand and forget it " 'You You ' You re quite right . . Why don t tyou tyou you go to bed now and before you youknow youknow know it it 11 be morning mornmg and wecan we can- can - Go to bed7 bed " mean ' 'Are Are ' Are ou crazy9 crazy ? After all thesegoings these thesegomgs gomgs on I m not even planmng planningto planmngto to take my clothes off let alone alonelIe alonelie lIe there in m the dark ' III be up if thatould that \ would \\ould ould help helpany helpany any any'What What 'What ' for Todd Todd7 Todd7'If ? 'If If ' our impulsive impUlS1Ve fnend goesup goes goesup ' said sald Todd Todddellberately Todddeliberately up to the attic again agam dellberately dellberatelyC C ' 'hes hes he s going gomg to get getcaught getcaught caught in the act " sounds of people going gomg to tobed tcbed BHE THE bed diminished dimmlshed and died dled to tosIlence tcsilence sIlence It was nearly one o 0 clockGeorgme cIoek cIoekGeorgtne Georgtne peered cautiously caubously intothe into intothe the hall and saw that Todd was wasalready wasalready already there on the plush settee setteeby setteeby by her bedroom door doorLeave ; Leave our door open he saId saIdon saidon on the barest thread of breath breath'Leaves breathLeaves 'Leaves Leaves ' us in m shadow and lIghts lIghtsup lightsup up the stairs stalrs stairsShe stalrsShe She lowered herself carefully carefullyto to a . seat beside beslde him hlm When they theywere theywere were together there didn dldn t seem seemany seemany any great gTeat danger about this thlS VIgIl VIgIlIt vigilit It felt ridiculous ridlculous and hollow holIow ' , Are you sure everyone is in 1 ' 1she 7she she "aid aid "ald ald " in a whisper as soft ashis as ashis his own'Yes own 'Yes Yes ' Yes , and asleep I hope " . ' ; : . l ; : . - - & . - < . : ' < : . r- r : - rF . ; ? F ' , What made you pick on Nella ? ' ' "Todd Todd " dear , you made a mis mistake mistake take m in letting lettmg so much bme bmeelapse timeelapse elapse between our last talk and andthlS andthis thlS one oneSo oneSo7 So ? 'Yes Yes ' Yes I ve had time to thlnk thinkWill . , W111 you take me away now7 now ? 'Now Now ' Now7 ? His smooth head turn turned turned ed slowly slowlyYes Yes But if we let them know knowwe knowwe we re going gomg they 11 find some way wayto wayto to keep us I know you want to tostay tostay stay to-to to to - to see things thlngs out to a afimsh afinish fimsh You think thmk something somethmg a s dueto due dueto to happen tonight tomght . . But couldn couldntwe t tweskip we-skip we skip - skip the last act and get out outbefore outbefore before the crowds7 crowds ? Look Todd ToddYou ToddYou You said sald you youd d guessed all the theanswers theanswers answers but you re not a detec detecbve detective bve you re not a pohceman pohcemanyoure policemanyou youre re not even a private pnvate citizenwhos cltizen cltizenwho who s seen a crime committedThis cOmmltted cOmmlttedThlS ThlS is all aU m the past the cnmmal cnmmalpart criminalpart part at least Isn isnt t It it7 ? Well then thenI thenwhat thenwhat I what do you have to do about It it7 ? 'What What ' What do I have to do 7 " Todd s swhlsper swhisper whlsper NothingI NothmgI came at last ' Nothmg I don dont t know of ot any way to seejustice see seeJustice Justice bodyhas done Miss Tillsit Tlllslt s body has been ashes for all aU of four fouryears fouryears years and there is no other proof proofthat that a murder was commlttpti , And still stilI you want to stay and andsee andsee see this out out7 out7No ? No Not it iou ou want to go this thisbadly badly How long will WIU it take you vouto youto to pack7 pack ? ' ' It Its s all done Georgine Georgme whis whispered whiapered pered relief'Then in m a half sob of relief reliefT 'Then Then ' " 1 Iu U put my "ycoat ycoat " coat on T Todd onTodd histeet began to ease himself to his hisstarting teet and get the car out of the theshed shed It 11 roll down Without my starting startlng mystartlng the engine engme ' He bent to toher her ear You won t be afraid afrald to sta tostay tosta alone _ for five ' . _ . - . . ' ' _ - - - " n - fo minutcs'1 minutcs1 . , . ' r ( _ an anything couldscream went wrong you could scream you know ' She heard the front door open openthrough and openand close softly as he passed through passedthrough but ahe she doubted that anyone thatanyone else would have sensed it ItShe She herown slipped shpped quietly qUletly back Into her herI own room leaVIng that door open I openthe the merest crack audstood end aud stood look fternrdii .rton\ard .rtonard .rton rton ard . fternrdiiey \ * . -ey ey w"T wT - " "eard eard " ie rd .ralh-rDlhln .ralhrDlhln .ralh ralh rDlhln . r h - rn hlni : opitalri DPltalro they tb.y tby . found fOUlld Todd lying ll'ln llln ' ( appor apporenUy pp renUy enUy nnoniclon IInwnscloul * on the tho lloor floor Whll While . . . . eryon .ryon ryon . W ITM " " bUlY b y be h let lot Ooor OwtiMlinoir & , ! " " know he bo Will OK ing mg round carefully carefulIy to sure surethat surethat that everything everythmg was packed She Shecould Shecould could carry her own bag and andTodd andTodds Todd s light hght one and he could couldtake couldtake take Barby With care Barby Barbywould Barbywould would not wake at all If she sheshould theshould should and they were caught caught- caught caughtShe - She lifted hfted her head and atood atoodgazmg stoodgazing gazmg incredulously " it 1t tpe the wall wallThe wallThe The lowest attic stair stalr had creakedI creakedShe creaked creakedShe She could see perfectly The ThelIght Thelight I , lIght illuminated lllummated the full fulI lower lowerhalf half of the flight thght but there was wasnobody wasnobody nobody at all on the stairs stairsOHE OHE C'HE CHE ' was sitting Sltbng on the floor ; : , ? when Todd came back a few fewmmutes fewminutes mmutes later Her palms were werepressed werepressed pressed to her e ; } es and she was wassaymg wassaying saymg to herself in a low vOIce voice'Ive voiceIve ' , I ve gone mad I must have havegone havegone gone mad ' C ' 'Georgine Georgine Georgme CGeorgme what is it it7 ? ' He Heknelt Hemelt knelt beside beslde her ' " when I saw sawnothing "I I 'I I ' couldn t scream nothmg at all alI could I I7 ? She took tookdown tookdown down her bands hands and looked at hlm himdull dulI e ed G get everyone upjust up Just to tell them there wasn t anyone any but f footsteps ? 7Wait one on the stairs stalrs Walt a minute mmute What is thlS this7 ' " ' 'The The ' The treads creaked one after afteranotller afteranother anotller and no one was there ' He was halfway to his hlS feet feetwhen feetwhen when she caught c.aught . at him hlm No NoTodd NoTodd Todd ' Don t go into mto that stairwell stair stairweU weU ' Please if I Ive ve ever asked askedyou askedyou you for anythmg- anythmg anythmg'No anything - ' 'No No ' No listen hsten to me ' She took a adeep adeep deep breath and shuddered once oncestrongly oncestrongly strongly stronglyC C ' I know that wasn t a aghost aghost ghost of course It can cant t have havebeen havebeen been But But-It But It - its s some kind kmd oftrap of oftrap trap ' I m not so sure ' He was stIlI stIlIunruffled stillunruffled unruffled 'If If ' someone did engl englneer engineer neer that special speclal effect maybe we wewere wewere were meant to think thmk that we had hadbeen hadbeen been mistaken mlstaken all along that thatthere thatthere there had never been a living hvmg person per |