37
A Broken Engagement
‘Peculiar,’ murmured Fordney, as he examined the desk on which lay seven letters ready for mailing, three gray, one lavender, two pink, and one lemon-colored.
As he idly shaped the wax of the candle standing on the desk, he continued to ponder this unusual choice of color in stationery.
One of the letters was addressed to Dot Dalton, who had been murdered between eleven-forty and eleven-fifty. She was one of the guests at this house party in the Adirondacks.
All the letters were closed with black sealing wax stamped with the letter ‘F.’
At midnight, Fordney began his questioning.
‘What time did you retire?’ he asked Molly Fleming, in whose bedroom he was seated.
‘About ten,’ she replied.
‘Was your door locked?’
‘Yes.’