“So then I telephoned to Dr. Balman,” went on Maida hurriedly. “It was so dark I couldn’t see the directory, so I had to ask Information for the number. He finally answered and said he would be right out. It’s as dark as a black cat all over the building.”
“Did you call Dr. Hajek?”
“Yes. That is, I knocked at his door and called him several times but couldn’t wake him. Girls from other wings are running around in the dark, there near the general office. Nobody has lights and the bell that connects with the basement is out of order. At least, they can’t rouse Higgins.”
I thought rapidly. Such a situation! No lights, a storm, frightened patients—it only needed the news of the radium theft and this strange death to complete our demoralization.
“We can’t both leave this room,” I thought aloud. “We must not leave him alone. His death is so strange—so——”
Maida must have been struck with something in my manner for she gripped my arm.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean,” I replied with difficulty, speaking through oddly stiff lips, “I mean that—I’m afraid this is—is murder.”
She shrank back, her face as white as the dishevelled sheets.
“Not—that!”