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“There’s one more thing I want to check. I sent Herbie Chandler to look into that trouble on the eleventh but I don’t trust him. Will you wait on the main mezzanine?”

His hands were surprisingly gentle for his size. It was an interesting face as well, with a hint of determination, she thought.

“All right,” she agreed. “I’ll wait.”

Marsha Preyscott wished she had spent her nineteenth birthday some other way. It had been a mistake to come here. But as always, and rebelliously, she had sought something different, which was what Lyle Dumaire had promised.

She had known that boy for years and dated occasionally. His father was president of one of the city’s banks as well as a close friend of her own father. Without thinking about it, she said yes, when he asked whether she wanted to come with him upstairs to the small, crowded suite 1126-7. There were more people than she expected, and some of the boys were already very drunk. One of the girls had passed out.

Something was happening in the adjoining room, to which the door was closed, though a group of boys, whom Lyle Dumaire had joined – leaving Marsha alone – was there. She heard a question, “What was it like?” but the answer was lost in a shout of laughter. When she realized, or at least suspected, what was happening, disgust made her want to leave.

If her father had come home as he promised, she would not have been here now [4] . Instead, there would have been a birthday celebration at home. But he had not come home. Instead, he had telephoned from Rome. Perhaps, there were some things in Rome, which he wouldn’t tell her about, just as she would never tell him what was happening in room 1126 now.

Youth was a dull time, Marsha often thought, especially when you had to share it with others the same age as yourself. There were moments – and this was one – when she longed for companionship that was more mature. She would not find it though in Lyle Dumaire.

Others were beginning to leave the suite. One of the older boys whom she knew as Stanley Dixon came out from the other room, “… girls said they’re going.”

“Why not somebody from here?” It was Lyle Dumaire’s voice, much less under control than it had been earlier.

“Yeah, but who?”

Marsha ignored them. The suite was almost cleared. If Lyle planned to escort her, Marsha thought, she would turn him down.

Then she heard the outer door close. Stanley Dixon was standing in front of it, his hands behind him. The lock clicked.

“Hey, Marsha,” Lyle Dumaire said. “What’s the big rush?”

Marsha had known Lyle since childhood, but now there was a difference.

“I’m going home.”

“Aw, come on. Have a drink.”

“No, thank you.”

“You’re going to be a good girl, aren’t you?”

“Some of us have had a good time already. It’s made us want more of the same,” said Dixon. The other two, whose names she didn’t know, were grinning.

“I’m not interested in what you want.” Though her voice was firm, she was aware of an underlying note of fear.

“Listen, Marsha,” Lyle blustered. “We know you want to. All girls want to. Eh, fellas?”

They began to move closer.

“If you touch me I shall scream.”

Suddenly, without seeming to move, Dixon was behind her, clapping a big sweaty hand across her mouth, another holding her arms. She struggled, and tried to bite the hand, but without success.

“Listen, Marsha,” Lyle said, “you’re going to get it, so you might as well enjoy it.”

Lyle had the other arm and together they were forcing her toward the adjoining bedroom.

“Somebody grab her feet.” The remaining boy took hold. With a sense of unreality Marsha felt herself being carried through the bedroom doorway.

“Get her things off,” someone said.

There were twin beds in the room. Resisting wildly, Marsha was forced backward onto the nearest. A moment later she lay across it, her head pressed back cruelly. All she could see was the ceiling above.

Dixon was half sitting on the bed, near her head. She felt hands holding her. She attempted to kick but her legs were pinned down. Someone tore her dress.

“I’m first,” Stanley Dixon said. “Somebody take over here.”

Her legs were still held firmly, but Dixon’s hand on her face was moving, another taking its place. It was an opportunity. As the new hand came over, Marsha bit fiercely. She felt her teeth go into flesh, meeting bone.

Inflating her lungs, Marsha screamed. “Help! Please help me!”

Only the last word was cut off by Stanley Dixon’s hand. She heard him snarl, “You fool! You stupid goon!”

“She bit me!”

There was a knock on the outside door.

“Christ! Somebody did hear.”

“What do we do?”

The knocking was repeated.

“I’ll go,” said Dixon. He murmured to one of the others, “Hold her down and this time don’t make any mistake.”

The lock clicked.

“Excuse me, sir. I’m an employee of the hotel. I happened to be passing and heard someone cry out.”

“Well, thanks. But it was only my wife having a nightmare.”

Twisting her body sideways, Marsha freed her mouth. “Help!” she called before she could be stopped.

She heard the new voice say, “I’d like to come in, please.”

“This is a private room. I told you my wife is having a nightmare.”

“I’m sorry, sir; I don’t believe you.”

The hands upon Marsha removed themselves. A young Negro was entering. In his early twenties, he had an intelligent face and was neatly dressed. “Let the young lady go.”

“Take a look, fellas,” Dixon said. “Take a look at who’s giving orders. You asked for it, nigger boy.” His right fist blow would have felled the young Negro, but in a single movement the other moved sideways. In the same instant the Negro’s own left fist landed with a crack at the side of his attacker’s face.

A hand on his cheek, Dixon said, “Let’s get him!”

Assaulted by three, the Negro went down. Marsha heard the thud of blows and also a growing hum of voices in the corridor. The others heard the voices as well and hurried out of the room hastily.

The young Negro was rising from the floor, his face bloody.

Outside, a new, authoritative voice asked. “Where is the disturbance, please?”

“In there.”

The door opened wide and then closed from the inside.

Peter McDermott asked, “What happened?”