The maid strode down the corridor.
I turned to Sellers, and said, “You damn fool. Can’t you see what happened? She…”
Sellers slapped me across the mouth. “Shut up!”
He started me down the corridor. Claire Bushnell was crying.
Bertha Cool came lumbering along in the rear. Susie stood triumphantly in the doorway, holding it open.
I turned my head and said, pleadingly, “Bertha.”
Sellers slapped the side of my head so hard he almost broke my neck.
But in that brief glimpse I had behind me, I had seen Bertha Cool turning back.
We were half-way to the front door when the scream came from the living-room. Then there was the sound of a chair overturning, the sound of struggle, another scream, and Amelia Jasper was crying for help.
Bertha Cool’s voice said, “That does it. You damn liar. Keep still or I’ll break your neck… Frank, come back here!”