Show 1 " ii barracks He slammed the phone back in its cradle “Now what's the quickest way to your house? You’re in no condition to drive” The ranch house was stone prettily dressed in vines" and shrubbery standing back from the road in two acres of garden A State Police car was already parked in the driveway and beyond it an express company’s truck There was no hall In western fashion the front’ door led directly into the livirtg room but no working ranch house ever had a living room like this Painted walls velvety carpet and filmy nylon curtains were all the same pale primrose yellow The furniture was black ebony or teak upholstered in ivory and gold The only pictures were antique Chinese There were no fireplaces no heirlooms no books or children’s toys Willing felt as if he had walked into a stage setting rather than a home The sort of stage setting that wins a special word of praise from critics as “excitingly contemporary” or “theatrically effective” It was hard to believe in the reality of the smashed picture window and the pieces of glass on the lawn glittering tike slabs of thin ice It was harder to believe that the body bn the floor of the alcove beyond the living room was really a dead woman and not a dummy artfully contrived by an experienced stage manager She wore a flowing housecoat of ivory silk shot with silver threads that echoed the sparkle of the diamond brooch at her throat Her bright chestnut hair and painted scarlet lips stood out vividly against the deathly white of her skin She might have been asleep except for the forehead smooth and hard as marble where something had drilled a small hole ragged and bluish at the edges On one side of her a phone receiver dangled the length of its cord from a small table On the other side lay a deer rifle ” Blount’s voice broke “My own gun “And that’s the diamond brooch that was " missing He didn’t approach the alcove He turned away to the broken window as if this final irony was more than he could bear A lieutenant of State Police greeted Willing “How tong would you say she’s been dead doctor?” Willing made a quick examination “If I didn’t know otherwise I would say she could have died any time within the last hour As it is I can be more accurate Mr Blount heard the shot over the telephone just fifteen minutes ago Tell him Dick” Blount managed to get out the necessary words He was so shaken that the lieutenant turned back to Willing with relief Thcn you both heard the office phone and Mrs Blount 'ringing at about was talking to her husband when be heard the window crash over the phone She must have looked up and seen an intruder She screamed when he snatched her husA bind's rifle” The lieutenant glanced atanJ empty gunrack on the waU”And she dropped the phone when she was shot Of course you broke the connection when you used the phone in Blount’s downtown office to dial our barracks” ” Willing broke off He was “Who is looking questioningly towards the far end of the tong room A state trooper stood Continued on next page ' six-fifte- en 27 |