The Whipping Boys

As Miss Maggs, the sitter-in, made her way nervously home, a clock struck one and the town's lights were switched off. ÊFootsteps came up behind her. ÊShe broke into a desperate run. ÊAnd later a doctor pronounced that she literally died of fright. ÊIn a provincial town, innocently preparing for the local bard, who was there to suspect but the rowdy gang of youngsters led by Nick Salter? ÊBut Nick's young wife swore to an alibi for him during the hours concerned. ÊAnd so Sergeant Brent- a trifle embarrassed as a beneficiary under the will of the deceased- had to look deeper into a case in which teenagers might too easily be made the whipping boys for the crimes of others.