CHAPTER 5On a desert island somewhere in the blue Pacific, Fredericka was just reaching up to pick a large grapefruit for her breakfast when she was startled by the sound of tom-toms in the distance. She stood still and listened, tense with fear. The noise increased until it became rolling thunder and then, near at hand, she could hear the clamor of human voices, calling out again and again, as if in distress.
At this moment she woke up. The tom-toms became loud knocks at the front door of Miss Hartwell’s bookshop. The voices became one voice, calling, “Miss Wing,” and then, more urgently, “Miss Wing, are you there?”
With the sound, she returned from the dream to the nightmare of reality—the death of Catherine Clay and the long night. It was Thane Carey who was calling because the police
