The girl screamed in pain, tried to get to her feet, slumped back to the floor. Blood ran from her mouth and nose in great streams. John saw this, realized now why they had changed the carpeting in the hall. Someone else had bled on it, necessitating the changes. Joan's husband? No, it could not have been he. The only person left was Keith Ainsworth. John had not seen him recently. He had been ill his room, supposedly.
Joan stopped her screaming after a time. Neither John nor Mrs. Ainsworth moved to assist her, letting her get to her feet by herself. She groaned, went to the bathroom, was gone from the room for several minutes.
"That's a lethal instrument, your shoes," he told Mrs. Ainsworth. "You ought to be careful with it. I noticed earlier that it was badly bent. Did you kill your hu
