Then anxiety for Brad swept over her again. There was no use trying to think of anything else. Unhappily she sank back into the leather chair. She pulled her father’s coat closer about her, sat on her feet again and was soon comfortably warm. The wind came in from the sea like giant breakers rolling up a beach. It crashed against the big building, then there would be a momentary lull before the next gust came. To Kitty’s alarm, now that she paused to listen, each blast seemed worse than the one that had just struck. As soon as she heard from Brad they would go back to the cottage for Billy and Jane. She had been through too many storms on the Gulf coast to feel safe in a small house on a night like this.
Under the circumstances it didn’t seem possible she could have dozed, but Kitty came to herself with a start at the sound of a key in the door. Instantly she was on the alert. Her father had given her his key. If it were he, she thought, he would have rapped and called to her to let him in. Cautiously she crouched deeper in the leather chair.
As the door swung inward noiselessly she saw by the light from the hall a tall familiar form step into the room. He closed the door softly, then switching on a flash he moved quickly toward the desk. As the flashlight circled about the desk top for a moment it tilted so that reflected illumination struck the sneak’s face. Her surmise had been correct; it was Lieutenant Cary.
In the dark corner the terrified girl watched breathlessly. Her eyes were just above the chair back, as Cary examined the order blanks in the large basket on the desk. Apparently finding what he wanted, he took up the sheaf of papers and buttoned them under his coat.
Kitty was almost beside herself with terror. So it was really Cary who did the underhand business that got both the Chief Pharmacist’s Mates into trouble. She couldn’t let him get away with it. But what in the world could she do in her defenseless position?
Lieutenant Cary was almost at the door when, without any premeditation, Kitty found herself saying in the fiercest tone she could command, “Don’t move another step, Lieutenant Cary, or I’ll shoot!”
“Don’t Move or I’ll Shoot!”