Chapter 12
RAPIDLY, Cellini Smith ripped the stocking from around Chloe's neck and leaned over, searching for pulse and heart beat. Perhaps it was imagination, but he thought he detected a faint flutter of life.
He lifted her from the bed to the floor, rolled her on her stomach and, straddling her back, began to apply artificial respiration. She had first been knocked unconscious by a cold cream jar that lay on the bed, and then the stocking had been noosed around her throat. He began to shout, and when someone appeared at the door, he snapped over his shoulder:
"Call an ambulance. Tell them it's suffocation and to bring an oxygen tank."
A girl screamed, and the party-makers crowded around Cellini.
"Get the hell back! Open the windows."
He saw the Ghost's comic face. "You stand by th
