CHAPTER ONE
I
THE telephone bell rang sharply as Janey Conrad came briskly down the stairs. She was wearing her new evening dress: a strapless, sky-blue creation, the bodice of which was covered with silver sequins. She was looking her best, and she was aware of it.
At the sound of the telephone bell she stopped in mid-stride. Her animated expression turned to exasperated anger: a transformation as swift and as final as the turning off of an electric lamp.
“Paul! Don’t answer it,” she said in the cold quiet voice that always came with her anger.
Her husband, a tall, loose-limbed, powerfully built man in his late thirties came out of the lounge. He was wearing a tuxedo and carried a soft black hat in his hand. When Janey had first met him he had reminded her very sharply of James Stewart, and the resemblance had been the main reason why she had married him.
“But I’ve got to answer it,” he said in his soft, drawling voice. “I may be wanted.”
“Paul!” Her voice rose a little as he walked over to the telephone and picked up the receiver.
He grinned at her, motioning with his hand for her to be quiet.
“Hello?” he said into the mouthpiece.