He took her purse from the uniformed policeman and removed the gun.
"But why, tell me. Were you jealous of Alice, perhaps?" His pipe jumped
as he smiled confidentially.
"Certainly not!" she said. "I did it to save the human race from
suicide."
The men smiled, amused.
"Lock her up until we decide," the man in tweed instructed the florid
policeman. He gave her the purse, minus the gun.
* * * * *
A bony, disapproving matron led her to a cell and locked her into it.
Amanda requested pencil and paper.
The matron frowned but brought them. Placing the paper against her
purse, she began composing a statement to the press, making clear her
motives.
The filmed sequence still played on the small Wall opposite her cell.
She glanced up occasionally at the faces and smiled.
She had almost completed the statement when the filmed sequence ended.
The small, oily emcee appeared upon the Wall. "Ladies and gentlemen,"
he said.
She waited expectantly for the death announcement.
"Our stars!" He flung out his arms dramatically.
And the four stars pranced, smiling, across the Wall. Kippie, Bass,
Alice and Lester.
Amanda jumped to the bars. It was not a film.
"Matron!" she screamed. "Matron!" Frantically she stared at the four
actors whom she had murdered and who were alive and smiling.
"Matron!"