Explore "The Problem of Cell 13" by Jacques Futrelle on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Having laid his story before his City Editor, Hatch sat down to consider the fragmentary writing. Obviously "sday" represented a day of the week -- either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, these being the only days where the letter "s" preceded the "day. " This seemed to be a definite fact, but still it meant nothing. True, Miss Field had last been seen on Wednesday, but then? -- nothing.
To the next part of the fragment Hatch attached the greatest importance. It was the possibility of a threat, -- -- "ill you. " Did it mean "kill you" or "will you" or "till you" or -- or what? There might be dozens of other words ending in "ill" which he did not recall at the moment. His imagination hammered the phrase into his brain as "kill you. " The "to the" -- the next words -- were clear, but meant nothing at all. The last letters were distinctly "ho," possibly "hope."