men who spent most of their time sitting around the barrel playing cards.
âWhatâs going on, Doc? Excuse me, maâam, but we heard youâd found a body at the bottom of the cliffs.â
âItâs true, Gus,â Doc Spiver said. âDo all of you know Mr. Quinlan and Sally, Amabelâs niece?â
âYes, we do, Doc,â Purn Davies, the man whoâd wanted to marry Amabel, said. âNow whatâs happening? Be quick telling us. I donât want the ladies to hear about it and be distressed.â
âSally and Mr. Quinlan found a womanâs body.â
âWho is she? Do you recognize her?â This from Hal Vorhees.
âNo. Sheâs not from around here, I donât think. I couldnât find anything on her clothes either. You find anything, Mr. Quinlan?â
âNo. The county sheriff is sending someone over soon. A medical examiner as well.â
âGood,â Doc Spiver said. âLook, she could have been killed by anything. Me, Iâd say it was an accident, but who knows? I canât run tests, and I havenât the tools or equipment to do an autopsy. As I said, I vote for accident.â
âNo,â Sally said. âNo accident. Someone killed her. I heard her screaming.â
âNow, Sally,â Doc Spiver said, holding out his hand to her, that hand heâd been wiping, âyouâre not thinking that the wind you heard was this poor woman screaming.â
âYes, I am.â
âWe never found anything,â Reverend Vorhees said. âWe all looked a good two hours.â
âYou just didnât look in the right place,â Sally said.
âWould you like something to calm you?â
She stared at the old man who had been a doctor for many more years than her mother had been alive. Sheâd met him the previous day. Heâd been kind, if a little vague. She knew he didnât want her here, that she didnât belong here, but as long as she was with Amabel, he would continue being kind. Come to think of it, all the folk sheâd met had been kind, but she still felt they didnât want her here. It was because theyâd found out she was a murdered manâs daughterâthat had to be it. She wondered if they would turn her in now that she and James had found the womanâs body, the woman Sally had heard screaming.
âSomething to calm me,â she repeated slowly, âsomething to calm me.â She laughed, a low, very ugly laugh that brought Quinlanâs head up.
âIâd better get you something,â Doc Spiver said, turned quickly, and ran into an end table. The beautiful Tiffany lamp crashed to the floor. It didnât break.
He didnât see it, James realized. The damned old man was going blind. He said easily, âNo, Doc. Sally and I will be on our way now. The detective from the Portland police will tell the sheriff to come here. If youâd let them know weâll be at Amabelâs house?â
âYes, certainly,â Doc Spiver said, not looking at them. He was on his knees, touching the precious Tiffany lamp, feeling all the lead seams to make certain it wasnât cracked.
They left him still on the floor. All the other men were silent as death in the small living room with its rich wine-red Bokhara carpet.
âAmabel told me he was blinder than a bat,â Sally said as they stepped out into the bright afternoon sunlight. She stopped cold.
âWhatâs wrong?â
âI forgot. I canât have the police knowing Iâm here. Theyâll call the police in Washington, theyâll send someone to get me, theyâll force me to go back to that place or theyâll kill me or theyâllââ
âNo, they wonât. I already thought of that. Donât worry. Your name is Susan Brandon. Theyâll have no reason to question that. Just tell them your story and theyâll leave you be.â
âI
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