DEATH IN THE CARDS

Two shots rang through the drawing room. Eight guests laid down their bridge hands, rushed to the library.

Mrs. Sybil Morton shrieked and fainted at the sight of her daughter, Alyne, stretched on the floor. Blood from a temple wound stained her white gown. Kneeling beside the girl, Doctor Karl Orman glanced at the fatal wound and pressed the dead girl close. Sobs shook his massive body.

Lying across a windowsill, head and arms dangling outside, was the body of a roughly dressed man.

“As we entered the library,” Doctor Orman told the Professor, “Alyne screamed. I was a step or two in back of her. Before I realized what was happening, the burglar knocked me down, shot Alyne and tried to escape by the window. Still a bit dazed, I rolled over on my side, pulled my gun and fired.”

“And hit the mark,” Fordney observed. The bullet entered the burglar’s back a few inches above the heart and lodged in that organ. Death was practically instantaneous. “You were in the army, Doctor?”

“Yes. Alyne and I became engaged in London. She was a WAC.”

“But,” said Fordney, “I understand her reason for going to the library was to return her engagement ring to you. She kept it in the library safe. What about that?”

“A passing impulse. We’d had words. She’s done it twice before. Ask her friends. They know.”

“Always carry a gun?”

“Frequently. I have a permit. My slum work takes me into some pretty unsavory spots.”

“Well, you’ll be prescribing for the inmates of Sing Sing shortly. Unofficially, of course—and until you go to the chair!”

Why was Fordney suspicious of Doctor Orman? Turn page for solution.