Free There is No Return by Anita Blackmon Page B

stammered.
    Chet Keith shook his head. “I haven’t mentioned the sheriff.”
    “Allan means,” interposed Lila Atwood quickly, “that we all knew Uncle Thomas had sent for the sheriff.”
    Chet Keith eyed her steadily but she had a gaze as level as his own. “Did you know your uncle had summoned an officer?” he asked Judy Oliver suddenly.
    She shook her head, and with a smile Lila Atwood amended her previous statement. “I should have said that any of us could have heard him telephoning. It was just before dinner, and we were all in Aunt Dora’s sitting room.”
    “I see,” murmured Chet Keith.
    Captain French abruptly realized that he was cutting no sort of figure in the proceedings. “Mr Keith is right,” he said. “You must all remain here until the authorities arrive.” He twisted the ends of his moustache nervously. “Though heaven knows, the thing is clear enough.”
    Dora Canby roused herself from the apathy in which she seemed to have sunk. “He tried to put her away,” she said. “If Gloria had lived her father would have put her in an institution.” She stretched out her hands to Sheila Kelly in a gesture of passionate tenderness.
    “He ruined your life, my darling, just as he ruined mine. You had to kill him, didn’t you? Mother knows you had to kill him.”
    “Don’t! Oh, please don’t!” cried Sheila Kelly, in an agonized voice.
    Judy Oliver sobbed once. “It’s too awful! I can’t bear it!”
    She turned blindly and again would have buried her face upon Jeff Wayne’s shoulder, but he moved aside and glared at Sheila Kelly.
    “What I want to know is,” he demanded in a smothered voice, “where is the other half of those scissors?”
    Allan Atwood flung out his hands in a wild gesture. “I suppose she is saving it for the rest of us!” he cried. “She hated us all! As much as she hated him!”
    Hogan Brewster smiled. “It was you, wasn’t it, Allan, who told Thomas Canby that his daughter put arsenic in his soup?”
    “I didn’t!” cried Allan Atwood furiously. “I merely told him that I saw Gloria take some of the weed killer from the shelf in the gardener’s room.”
    “Gloria only took the weed killer to kill a mouse in the attic. It was annoying her,” murmured Dora Canby. “You told me so, didn’t you, darling?” she asked Sheila Kelly.
    The girl flung her a despairing glance. “Please, Mrs Canby,” she said brokenly.
    The professor suddenly came to life. “It’s all your fault!” he cried, shaking his fist at the girl. “You couldn’t let well enough alone. Do you realize that we’ll both go to the electric chair for this night’s work?”
    “I don’t get it,” whispered young Patrick Oliver.
    The professor gave him a malevolent glance. “At that we may have company,” he said.
    Allan Atwood laughed unpleasantly. “Take care, Pat, that you don’t get the other half of those scissors in your throat. If I remember rightly our cousin Gloria had it in for you too; something about Judy’s ear, I think.”
    “Gloria did not intend to chip Judy’s ear with the can opener,” said Dora Canby with a shudder. “It was an accident, wasn’t it, darling?” she asked Sheila Kelly.
    The girl quivered all over, though this time she did not protest, and Patrick Oliver flung her a bitter glance. “Sure it was an accident,” he said, “but if I hadn’t jogged her elbow she would have gouged Judy’s eye out.”
    Dora Canby glanced at him reproachfully. “Gloria believed that Judy had stolen Jeff’s heart away from her.”
    Jeff Wayne’s hands clenched. “Gloria was mistaken,” he said, staring steadily at Sheila Kelly. “Gloria is the only woman I ever loved or can love.”
    Judy Oliver caught her breath as if he had struck her, but Dora Canby smiled at her and then at Jeff.
    “I know, I know, my boy,” she said softly. “You belong to Gloria, doesn’t he, darling?” she asked Sheila Kelly.
    The girl flung out her arms in a gesture of