The Private Patient’s Secret
Cheryl didn’t take the time to think. As soon as she saw Mr Wilkes’ mysterious and unpleasant-looking visitor take out a gun, she knew she had to protect her patient and, heedless of the danger to herself, the determined nurse threw herself at the man even as he pulled the trigger. Cheryl seized the visitor’s wrist with one hand and expertly pushed at the weapon with the other. There was a loud report as the gun went off, the bullet thudding harmlessly into the carpeted floor of Wilkes’ room. Cheryl’s private patient sat back in his bed, eyes wide, hands instinctively splayed out in a protective gesture as Cheryl sent the gun spinning from his assailant’s grip. The white-uniformed nurse reacted immediately and bent to scoop the gun up smoothly before the bemused would-be assassin knew what was happening. Straightening up and breathing hard, the redheaded woman pointed the man’s weapon at him, “Don’t move, you!” she ordered. “I know how to use this!” The man glowered at Cheryl but did not resist and raised his arms in surrender. Keeping her eyes fixed on her prisoner, the nurse called out to Wilkes: “Are you all right, sir?” There was a pause before a shaky voice responded. “Yes, I-I think so, my dear…”
***
Later, as Cheryl securely bound the stranger’s hands behind his back with a length of bandage as he faced the wall, his head bowed, Cheryl turned to the still shocked-looking patient. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on, Mr Wilkes?” the former private detective asked him. “Or is it a secret?”
My interpretation of the story behind the cover to Private Detective magazine (August 1943), featuring the story Black Murder by Roger Torrey.
