“Can you hear me?” He guessed she was standing near the door.
“Perfectly,” he replied.
“Well, here’s the tale and there isn’t much to it. After you two went home this evening, Deb and I came upstairs. We got undressed and then went into her room, just across the hall from mine. I guess we talked for about an hour. She was telling me—oh, about this and that—whatever we talked about has nothing to do with what happened later.” Her voice grew fainter as she moved to another part of the room, but Bill could still hear her well enough. “After that I came back here. When Daddy’s away, I always lock my door, and it’s a mighty lucky thing I did tonight. I probably wouldn’t be talking to you now if I’d left it open. Deb locked hers, too, but it’s a warm night, and after I was in bed I heard her open it. I thought it might be a good idea to get more air myself, but the breeze was blowing in at this side of the house, and I was too lazy to get up. While I was thinking about it, I must have fallen asleep.
“Well, the next thing I knew, I heard Deb scream. Then I heard her shout—‘They’ve got me, Dorothy—phone Osceola!’ She knew I had an extension in my room, of course. She didn’t call again, and I figured someone had slugged her. The phone is right by my bed, but it took an awful time to get central. I could have killed that girl by the time she said ‘Number, please’ ... then when I gave her yours, it seemed an age before you answered. Then when we were cut off, I guessed that one of the thugs had cut the wires. Somebody tried my door, and I ran over to the bureau and got my little automatic. I was scared silly, but I knew you and Osceola would soon be here, so that helped a lot. I was just starting for the door, when the strangest thing happened. I heard the key turn in the lock and before I could do anything to stop it, the door was pushed open.”
“Wait a mo. Yes, the key sticks out about an eighth of an inch on this side. They must have got hold of it with a pair of pincers.”
“So that’s it! I couldn’t imagine—well, let me tell you, the sight of that key turning in the lock all by itself gave me the creeps!”
“What did you do when the door opened?”
“I started right in firing—of course I didn’t know what I was shooting at, but for a few minutes I had ’em buffaloed, I guess. Suddenly they made a rush. I fired once more, then beat it for the window and went through it—” She opened the door and came into the hall, clad now in a simple white linen dress. Bill saw that she had put on a pair of white tennis shoes and socks.
“Well, you’re some quick dresser—” he got up from the chair.
Dorothy smiled and made him a little bow. “And I timed it nicely, didn’t I? Just to the end of my speech—”