Julie was just returning from the desk when the telephone rang. Without waiting for Marie, who was probably in no condition to talk at the moment anyway, she continued to the hallway and answered it herself.
"Mrs. Pillsworth?" a male voice inquired heavily. "This is the police."
"Police?" Julie said. Her first thought turned instantly toward Marc. "My husband! Has something happened to Marc?"
"I'll say, lady," the voice replied. "He's been arrested."
"Arrested? What for?"
"Well, I don't know how to tell you, lady. It sounds silly, and you ain't going to believe it, but he was run in for attacking a statue."
"Attacking a statue!"
"That's what the description says. That an' a lot more that I can't repeat on the telephone. It seems like him and this little redheaded hell-cat...."
"Oh!" Julie broke in frigidly. "So she's mixed up in it, is she!"
Then suddenly the look of anger faded from Julie's face and became one of pure astonishment. As she had been talking, her attention had been drawn to the living room doorway by a movement there. Now, her eyes wide, she stared at a bottle suspended in thin air. Even as she watched, it moved a bit, tilted inquisitively, almost as though it were eavesdropping.