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diff --git a/5270.txt b/5270.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83b35f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/5270.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9892 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Film Mystery, by Arthur B. Reeve + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Film Mystery + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Posting Date: September 15, 2012 [EBook #5270] +Release Date: March, 2004 +First Posted: June 23, 2002 +Last Updated: August 13, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FILM MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + +THE FILM MYSTERY + +BY + +ARTHUR B. REEVE + +AUTHOR OF + +"The Soul Scar" "The Adventuress" and Other Craig Kennedy Scientific +Detective Stories + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. A CAMERA CRIME + II. THE TINY SCRATCH + III. TANGLED MOTIVES + IV. THE FATAL SCRIPT + V. AN EMOTIONAL MAZE + VI. THE FIRST CLUB + VII. ENID FAYE + VIII. LAWRENCE MILLARD + IX. WHITE-LIGHT SHADOWS + X. CHEMICAL RESEARCH + XI. FORESTALLED + XII. EMERY PHELPS + XIII. MARILYN LORING + XIV. ANOTHER CLUE + XV. I BECOME A DETECTIVE + XVI. ENID ASSISTS + XVII. AN APPEAL + XVIII. THE ANTIVENIN + XIX. AROUND THE CIRCLE + XX. THE BANQUET SCENE + XXI. MERLE SHIRLEY OVERACTS + XXII. THE STEM + XXIII. BOTULIN TOXIN + XXIV. THE INVISIBLE MENACE + XXV. ITCHING SALVE + XXVI. A CIGARETTE CASE + XXVII. THE FILM FIRE +XXVIII. THE PHOSPHORUS BOMB + XXIX. MICROSCOPIC EVIDENCE + XXX. THE BALLROOM SCENE + XXXI. PHYSOSTIGMIN + XXXII. CAMERA EVIDENCE + + + + +THE FILM MYSTERY + + + + +I + +A CAMERA CRIME + + +"Camera!" + +Kennedy and I had been hastily summoned from his laboratory in the city +by District-Attorney Mackay, and now stood in the luxurious, ornate +library in the country home of Emery Phelps, the banker, at Tarrytown. + +"Camera!--you know the call when the director is ready to shoot a scene +of a picture?--well--at the moment it was given and the first and +second camera men began to grind--she crumpled--sank to the +floor--unconscious!" + +Hot and excited, Mackay endeavored to reenact his case for us with all +the histrionic ability of a popular prosecutor before a jury. + +"There's where she dropped--they carried her over here to this +davenport--sent for Doctor Blake--but he couldn't do a thing for her. +She died--just as you see her. Blake thought the matter so serious, so +alarming, that he advised an immediate investigation. That's why I +called you so urgently." + +Before us lay the body of the girl, remarkably beautiful even as she +lay motionless in death. Her masses of golden hair, disheveled, added +to the soft contours of her features. Her wonderfully large blue-gray +eyes with their rare gift for delicate shades of expression were +closed, but long curling lashes swept her cheeks still and it was hard +to believe that this was anything more than sleep. + +It was inconceivable that Stella Lamar, idol of the screen, beloved of +millions, could have been taken from the world which worshiped her. + +I felt keenly for the district attorney. He was a portly little man of +the sort prone to emphasize his own importance and so, true to type, he +had been upset completely by a case of genuine magnitude. It was as +though visiting royalty had dropped dead within his jurisdiction. + +I doubt whether the assassination of a McKinley or a Lincoln could have +unsettled him as much, because in such an event he would have had the +whole weight of the Federal government behind him. There was no +question but that Stella Lamar enjoyed a country-wide popularity known +by few of our Presidents. Her sudden death was a national tragedy. + +Apparently Mackay had appealed to Kennedy the moment he learned the +identity of Stella, the moment he realized there was any question about +the circumstances surrounding the affair. Over the telephone the little +man had been almost incoherent. He had heard of Kennedy's work and was +feverishly anxious to enlist his aid, at any price. + +All we knew as we took the train on the New York Central was that +Stella was playing a part in a picture to be called "The Black Terror," +that the producer was Manton Pictures, Incorporated, and that she had +dropped dead suddenly and without warning in the middle of a scene +being photographed in the library at the home of Emery Phelps. + +I was singularly elated at the thought of accompanying Kennedy on this +particular case. It was not that the tragic end of a film star whose +work I had learned to love was not horrible to me, but rather because, +for once, I thought Kennedy actually confronted a situation where his +knowledge of a given angle of life was hardly sufficient for his usual +analysis of the facts involved. + +"Walter," he had exclaimed, as I burst into the laboratory in response +to a hurried message, "here's where I need your help. You know all +about moving pictures, so--if you'll phone your city editor and ask him +to let you cover a case for the Star we'll just about catch a train at +One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street." + +Because the film world had fascinated me always I had made a point of +being posted on its people and their activities. I remembered the very +first appearance of Stella Lamar back in the days of General Film, when +pictures were either Licensed or Independent, when only two companies +manufactured worth-while screen dramas, when any subject longer than a +reel had to be of rare excellence, such as the art films imported from +France for the Licensed program. In those days, Stella rose rapidly to +prominence. Her large wistful eyes had set the hearts of many of us to +beating at staccato rate. + +Then came Lloyd Manton, her present manager, and the first of a new +type of business man to enter the picture field. Manton was essentially +a promoter. His predecessors had been men carried to success by the +growth of the new art. Old Pop Belman, for instance, had been a +fifth-rate oculist who rented and sold stereopticons as a side line. +With blind luck he had grasped the possibilities of Edison's new +invention. Just before the break-up of General Film he had become many +times a millionaire and it was then that he had sent a wave of laughter +over the entire country by an actual cable to William Shakespeare, +address London, asking for all screen rights to the plays written by +that gentleman. + +Manton represented a secondary phase in film finance. Continent Films, +his first corporation, was a stockjobbing concern. Grasping the immense +popularity of Stella Lamar, he had coaxed her away from the old studio +out in Flatbush where all her early successes had been photographed. +With the magic of her name he sold thousands of shares of stock to a +public already fed up on the stories of the fortunes to be made in +moving pictures. When much of the money so raised had been dissipated, +when Continent's quotation on the curb sank to an infinitesimal +fraction, then it developed that Stella's contract was with Manton +personally. Manton Pictures, Incorporated, was formed to exploit her. +The stock of this company was not offered to outside investors. + +Stella's popularity had in no way suffered from the business methods of +her manager. Manton, at the least, had displayed rare foresight in his +estimation of public taste. Except for a few attempts with established +stage favorites, photographed generally in screen versions of +theatrical classics and backed by affiliations with the producers of +the legitimate stage, Continent Films was the first concern to make the +five-reel feature. Stella, as a Continent player, was the very first +feature star. Under the banner of Manton Pictures, she had never +surrendered her position of pre-eminence. + +Also, scandal somehow had failed to touch her. Those initiated to the +inner gossip of the film world, like myself, were under no illusions. +The relations between Stella and Manton were an open secret. Yet the +picture fans, in their blind worship, believed her to be as they saw +her upon the screen. To them the wide and wistful innocence of her +remarkably large eyes could not be anything but genuine. The +artlessness of the soft curves of her mouth was proof to them of the +reality of an ingenuous and very girlish personality. + +Even her divorce had helped rather than harmed her. It seemed irony to +me that she should have obtained the decree instead of her husband, and +in New York, too, where the only grounds are unfaithfulness. The +testimony in the case had been sealed so that no one knew whom she had +named as corespondent. At the time, I wondered what pressure had been +exerted upon Millard to prevent the filing of a cross suit. Surely he +should have been able to substantiate the rumors of her association +with Lloyd Manton. + +Lawrence Millard, author and playwright and finally scenario writer, +had been as much responsible for the success of his wife as Manton, and +in a much less spectacular way. It was Millard who had written her +first great Continent success, who had developed the peculiar type of +story best suited for her, back in the early days of the one reel and +General Film. + +It is commonly known in picture circles that an actress who screens +well, even if she is only a moderately good artist, can be made a star +with one or two or three good stories and that, conversely, a star may +be ruined by a succession of badly written or badly produced vehicles. +Those of us not blinded by an idolatrous worship for the girl condemned +her severely for throwing her husband aside at the height of her +success. The public displayed their sympathy for her by a burst of +renewed interest. The receipts at the box office whenever her films +were shown probably delighted both Manton and Stella herself. + +I had wondered, as Kennedy and I occupied a seat in the train, and as +he left me to my thoughts, whether there could be any connection +between the tragedy and the divorce. The decree, I knew, was not yet +final. Could it be possible that Millard was unwilling, after all, to +surrender her? Could he prefer deliberate murder to granting her her +freedom? I was compelled to drop that line of thought, since it offered +no explanation of his previous failure to contest her suit or to start +counter action. + +Then my reflections had strayed away from Kennedy's sphere, the solving +of the mystery, to my own, the news value of her death and the events +following. The Star, as always, had been only too glad to assign me to +any case where Craig Kennedy was concerned; my phone message to the +city editor, the first intimation to any New York paper of Stella's +death, already had resulted without doubt in scare heads and an extra +edition. + +The thought of the prominence given the personal affairs of picture +players and theatrical folk had disgusted me. + +There are stars against whom there is not the slightest breath of +gossip, even among the studio scandal-mongers. Any number of girls and +men go about their work sanely and seriously, concerned in nothing but +their success and the pursuit of normal pleasures. As a matter of fact +it had struck me on the train that this was about the first time Craig +Kennedy had ever been called in upon a case even remotely connected +with the picture field. I knew he would be confronted with a tangled +skein of idle talk, from everybody, about everybody, and mostly without +justification. I hoped he would not fall into the popular error of +assuming all film players bad, all studios schools of immorality. I was +glad I was able to accompany him on that account. + +The arrival at Tarrytown had ended my reflections, and +Kennedy's--whatever they may have been. Mackay himself had met us at +the station and with a few words, to cover his nervousness, had whisked +us out to the house. + +As we approached, Kennedy had taken quick note of the surroundings, the +location of the home itself, the arrangement of the grounds. There was +a spreading lawn on all four sides, unbroken by plant or bush or +tree--sheer prodigality of space, the better to display a rambling but +most artistic pile of gray granite. Masking the road and the adjoining +grounds was thick, impenetrable shrubbery, a ring of miniature forest +land about the estate. There was a garage, set back, and tennis courts, +and a practice golf green. In the center of a garden in a far corner a +summerhouse was placed so as to reflect itself in the surface of a +glistening swimming pool. + +As we pulled up under the porte-cochere Emery Phelps, the banker, +greeted us. Perhaps it was my imagination, but it seemed to me that +there was a repressed animosity in his manner, as though he resented +the intrusion of Kennedy and myself, yet felt powerless to prevent it. +In contrast to his manner was the cordiality of Lloyd Manton, just +inside the door. Manton was childishly eager in his welcome, so much so +that I was able to detect a shade of suspicion in Kennedy's face. + +The others of the company were clustered in the living room, through +which we passed to reach the library. I found small opportunity to +study them in the rather dim light. Mackay beckoned to a man standing +in a window, presenting him to Kennedy as Doctor Blake. Then we entered +the long paneled chamber which had been the scene of the tragedy. + +Now I stood, rather awed, with the motionless figure of Stella Lamar +before me in her last pitiable close-up. For I have never lost the +sense of solemnity on entering the room of a tragedy, in spite of the +long association I have had with Kennedy in the scientific detection of +crime. Particularly did I have the feeling in this case. The death of a +man is tragic, but I know nothing more affecting than the sudden and +violent death of a beautiful woman--unless it be that of a child. + +I recalled a glimpse of Stella as I had seen her in her most recent +release, as the diaphragm opened on her receiving a box of chocolates, +sent by her lover, and playfully feeding one of them to her beautiful +collie, "Laddie," as he romped about upon a divan and almost smothered +her with affection. The vivacity and charm of the scene were in sad +contrast with what lay before me. + +As I looked more carefully I saw now that her full, well-rounded face +was contorted with either pain or fear--perhaps both. Even through the +make-up one could see that her face was blotched and swollen. Also, the +muscles were contorted; the eyes looked as if they might be bulging +under the lids; and there was a bluish tinge to her skin. Evidently +death had come quickly, but it had not been painless. + +"Even the coroner has not disturbed the body," Mackay hastened to +explain to Kennedy. "The players, the camera men, all were sent out of +the room the moment Doctor Blake was certain something more than a +natural cause lay behind her death. Mr. Phelps telephoned to me, and +upon my arrival I ordered the doors and windows closed, posted my +deputies to prevent any interference with anything in the room, left my +instructions that everyone was to be detained, then got in touch with +you as quickly as I could." + +Kennedy turned to him. Something in the tone of his voice showed that +he meant his compliment. "I'm glad, Mackay, to be called in by some one +who knows enough not to destroy evidence; who realizes that perhaps the +slightest disarrangement of a rug, for instance, may be the only clue +to a murder. It's--it's rare!" + +The little district attorney beamed. If he had found it necessary to +walk across the floor just then he would have strutted. I smiled +because I wanted Kennedy to show again his marvelous skill in tracing a +crime to its perpetrator. I was anxious that nothing should be done to +hamper him. + + + + +II + +THE TINY SCRATCH + + +Kennedy, before his own examination of the body, turned to Doctor +Blake. "Tell me just what you found when you arrived," he directed. + +The physician, whose practice embraced most of the wealthy families in +and around Tarrytown, was an unusually tall, iron-gray-haired man of +evident competency. It was very plain that he resented his unavoidable +connection with the case. + +"She was still alive," he responded, thoughtfully, "although breathing +with difficulty. Nearly everyone had clustered about her, so that she +was getting little air, and the room was stuffy from the lights they +had been using in taking the scene. They told me she dropped +unconscious and that they couldn't revive her, but at first it did not +occur to me that it might be serious. I thought perhaps the heat--" + +"You saw nothing suspicious," interrupted Kennedy, "nothing in the +actions or manner of anyone in the room?" + +"No, when I first entered I didn't suspect anything out of the way. I +had them send everyone into the next room, except Manton and Phelps, +and had the doors and windows thrown open to give her air. Then when I +examined her I detected what seemed to me to be both a muscular and +nervous paralysis, which by that time had proceeded pretty far. As I +touched her she opened her eyes, but she was unable to speak. She was +breathing with difficulty; her heart action was weakening so rapidly +that I had little opportunity to apply restorative measures." + +"What do you think caused the death?" + +"So far, I can make no satisfactory explanation." The doctor shrugged +his shoulders very slightly. "That is why I advised an immediate +investigation. I did not care to write a death certificate." + +"You have no hypothesis?" + +"If she died from any natural organic disorder, the signs were lacking +by which I could trace it. Everything indicates the opposite, however. +It would be hard for me to say whether the paralysis of respiration or +of the heart actually caused her death. If it was due to poison--Well, +to me the whole affair is shrouded in mystery. The symptoms indicated +nothing I could recognize with any degree of certainty." + +Kennedy stooped over, making a superficial examination of the girl. I +saw that some faint odor caught his nostrils, for he remained poised a +moment, inhaling reflectively, his eyes clouded in thought. Then he +went to the windows, raising the shades an additional few inches each, +but that did not seem to give him the light he wished. + +In the room were the portable arcs used in the making of scenes in an +actual interior setting. The connections ran to heavy insulated +junction boxes at the ends of two lines of stiff black stage cable. +Near the door the circuits were joined and a single lead of the big +duplex cord ran out along the polished hardwood floor, carried +presumably to the house circuit at a fuse box where sufficient amperage +was available. Kennedy's eyes followed out the wires quickly. Then, +motioning to me to help, he wheeled one of the heavy stands around and +adjusted the hood so that the full strength of the light would be cast +upon Stella. The arc in place, he threw the switch, and in the +sputtering flood of illumination dropped to his knees, taking a +powerful pocket lens from his waistcoat and beginning an inch by inch +examination of her skin. + +I gained a fresh realization of the beauty of the star as she lay under +the dazzling electric glow, and in particular I noticed the small +amount of make-up she had used and the natural firmness of her flesh. +She was dressed in a modish, informal dinner dress, of embroidered +satin, cut fairly low at front and back and with sleeves of some +gauzelike material reaching not halfway to her elbow, hardly sleeves at +all, in fact. + +Kennedy with his glass went over her features with extreme care. I saw +that he drew her hair back, and that then he parted it, to examine her +scalp, and I wondered what infinitesimal clue might be the object of +his search. I had learned, however, never to question him while he was +at work. + +With his eye glued to his lens he made his way about and around her +neck, and down and over her throat and chest so far as it remained +unprotected by the silk of her gown. With the aid of Mackay he turned +her over to examine her back. Next he returned the body to its former +position and began to inspect the arms. Very suddenly something caught +his eye on the inside of her right forearm. He grunted with +satisfaction, straightened, pulled the switch of the arc, wiped his +eyes, which were watering. + +"Find anything, Mr. Kennedy?" Doctor Blake seemed to understand, to +some extent, the purpose of the examination. + +Kennedy did not answer, probably preoccupied with theories which I +could see were forming in his mind. + +The library was a huge room of greater length than breadth. At one end +were wide French windows looking out upon the garden and summer house. +The door to the hallway and living room was very broad, with heavy +sliding panels and rich portieres of a velours almost the tint of the +wood-work. Between the door, situated in the side wall near the +opposite end, and the windows, was a magnificent stone fireplace with +charred logs testifying to its frequent use. The couch where Stella lay +had been drawn back from its normal position before the fire, together +with a huge table of carved walnut. The other two walls were an +unbroken succession of shelves, reaching to the ceiling and literally +packed with books. + +Facing the windows and the door, so as to include the fireplace and the +wide sweep of the room within range, were two cameras still set up, the +legs of their tripods nested, probably left exactly as they were at the +moment of Stella's collapse. I touched the handle of one, a Bell & +Howell, and saw that it was threaded, that the film had not been +disturbed. The lights, staggered and falling away from the camera +lines, were arranged to focus their illumination on the action of the +scenes. There were four arcs and two small portable banks of +Cooper-Hewitts, the latter used to cut the sharp shadows and give a +greater evenness to the photography. Also there were diffusers +constructed of sheets of white cloth stretched taut on frames. These +reflected light upward upon the faces of the actors, softening the +lower features, and so valuable in adding to the attractiveness of the +women in particular. + +All this I had learned from visits to a studio with the Star's +photoplay editor. I was anxious to impress my knowledge upon Kennedy. +He gave me no opportunity, however, but wheeled upon Mackay suddenly. + +"Send in the electrician," he ordered. "Keep everyone else out until +I'm ready to examine them." + +While the district attorney hurried to the sliding doors, guarded on +their farther side by one of the amateur deputies he had impressed into +service, Kennedy swung the stand of the arc he had used back into the +place unaided. I noticed that Doctor Blake was nervously interested in +spite of his professional poise. I certainly was bursting with +curiosity to know what Kennedy had found. + +The electrician, a wizened veteran of the studios, with a bald head +which glistened rather ridiculously, entered as though he expected to +be held for the death of the star on the spot. + +"I don't know nothin'," he began, before anyone could start to question +him. "I was outside when they yelled, honest! I was seeing whether +m'lead was getting hot, and I heard 'em call to douse the glim, an'--" + +"Put on all your lights"--Kennedy was unusually sharp, although it was +plain he held no suspicion of this man, as he added--"just as you had +them." + +As the electrician went from stand to stand sulkily, there was a +sputter from the arcs, almost deafening in the confines of the room, +and quite a bit of fine white smoke. But in a moment the corner of the +library constituting the set was brilliantly, dazzlingly lighted. To me +it was quite like being transported into one of the big studios in the +city. + +"Is this the largest portion of the room they used?" Kennedy asked. +"Did you have your stands any farther back?" + +"This was the biggest lay-out, sir!" replied the man. + +"Were all the scenes in which Miss Lamar appeared before her death in +this corner of the room?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +"And this was the way you had the scene lighted when she dropped +unconscious?" + +"Yes, sir! I pulled m'lights an'--an' they lifted her up and put her +right there where she is, sir!" + +Kennedy paid no attention to the last; in fact, I doubt whether he +heard it. Dropping to hands and knees immediately, he began a search of +the floor and carpet as minutely painstaking as the inspection he had +given Stella's own person. Instinctively I drew back, to be out of his +way, as did Doctor Blake and Mackay. The electrician, I noticed, seemed +to grasp now the reason for the summons which undoubtedly had +frightened him badly. He gave his attention to his lights, stroking a +refractory Cooper-Hewitt tube for all the world as if some minor scene +in the story were being photographed. It was hard to realize that it +was not another picture scene, but that Craig Kennedy, in my opinion +the founder of the scientific school of modern detectives, was +searching out in this strange environment the clue to a real murder so +mysterious that the very cause of death was as yet undetermined. + +I was hoping for a display of the remarkable brilliance Craig had shown +in so many of the cases brought to his attention. I half expected to +see him rise from the floor with some tiny something in his hand, some +object overlooked by everyone else, some tangible evidence which would +lead to the immediate apprehension of the perpetrator of the crime. +That Stella Lamar had met her death by foul means I did not doubt for +an instant, and so I waited feverishly for the conclusion of Kennedy's +search. + +As it happened, this was not destined to be one of his cases cleared up +in a brief few hours of intensive effort. He covered every inch of the +floor within the illuminated area; then he turned his attention to the +walls and furniture and the rest of the room in somewhat more +perfunctory, but no less skillful manner. Fully fifteen minutes +elapsed, but I knew from his expression that he had discovered nothing. +In a wringing perspiration from the heat of the arcs, but nevertheless +glad to have had the intense light at his disposal, he motioned to the +electrician to turn them off and to leave the room. + +"Find anything, Mr. Kennedy?" queried the physician once more. + +Kennedy beckoned all of us to the side of the ill-fated actress. +Lifting the right arm, finding the spot which had caused his +exclamation before, he handed his pocket lens to Doctor Blake. After a +moment a low whistle escaped the lips of the physician. + +Next it was my turn. As I stooped over I caught, above the faint scent +of imported perfume which she affected, a peculiar putrescent odor. +This it was which had caught Kennedy's nostrils. Then through the glass +I could detect upon her forearm the tiniest possible scratch ending in +an almost invisible puncture, such as might have been made by a very +sharp needle or the point of an incredibly fine hypodermic syringe. +Drawing back, I glanced again at her face, which I had already noted +was blotched and somewhat swollen beneath the make-up. Again I thought +that the muscles were contorted, that the eyes were bulging slightly, +that there was a bluish tinge to her skin such as in cyanosis or +asphyxiation. It may have been imagination, but I was now sure that her +expression revealed pain or fear or both. + +When I looked at her first I had been unable to forget my impression of +years. Before me there had been the once living form of Stella Lamar, +whom I had dreamed of meeting and whom I had never viewed in actual +life. I had lacked the penetration to see beneath the glamour. But to +Kennedy there had been signs of the poisoning at once. Doctor Blake had +searched merely for the evidences of the commoner drugs, or the usual +diseases such as cause sudden death. I recalled the cyanides. I thought +of curare, or woorali, the South American arrow poison with which +Kennedy once had dealt. Had Stella received an injection of some new +and curious substance? + +Mackay glanced up from his inspection of the mark on the arm. + +"It's an awfully tiny scratch!" he exclaimed. + +Kennedy smiled. "Yet, Mackay, it probably was the cause of her death." + +"How?" + +"That--that is the problem before us. When we learn just exactly how +she scratched herself, or was scratched--" Kennedy paced up and down in +front of the fireplace. Then he confronted each of us in turn, suddenly +serious. "Not a word of what I have discovered," he warned. + + + + +III + +TANGLED MOTIVES + + +"Do you wish to examine the people now?" Mackay asked. + +Kennedy hesitated. "First I want to make sure of the evidence +concerning her actual death. Can you arrange to have the clothes she +has on, and those she brought with her, all of them bundled up and sent +in to my laboratory, together with samples of her body fluids as soon +as the coroner can supply you?" + +Mackay nodded. This pleased him. This seemed to be tangible action, +promising tangible results. + +Again Kennedy glanced about in thought. I knew that the scratch was +worrying him. "Did she change her clothes out here?" he inquired. + +The district attorney brightened. "She dressed in a small den just off +the living room. I have a man posted and the door closed. Nothing has +been disturbed." + +He started to lead the way without further word from Kennedy, proud to +have been able once more to demonstrate his foresight. + +As we left the library, entering the living room, there was an +appreciable hush. Here were grouped the others of the party brought out +by the picture company, a constrained gathering of folk who had little +in common beyond the highly specialized needs of the new art of the +screen, an assembly of souls who had been forced to wait during all the +time required for the trip of Kennedy and myself out from New York, who +were compelled to wait now until he should be ready to examine them. + +I picked out the electrician in the semi-gloom and with him his fellow +members of the technical staff needed in the taking of the scenes in +the library. The camera men I guessed, and a property boy, and an +assistant director. The last, at any event, of all those in the huge +room, had summoned up sufficient nonchalance to bend his mind to +details of his work. I saw that he was thumbing a copy of the scenario, +or detailed working manuscript of the story, making notations in some +kind of little book, and it was that which enabled me to establish his +identity at a glance. + +In a different corner were the principals, two men and a girl still in +make-up, and with them the director, and Manton and Phelps. Apart from +everyone else, in a sort of social ostracism common to the studios, the +two five-dollar-a-day extras waited, a butler and a maid, also in +make-up. Oddly enough the total number of these material witnesses to +the tragedy was just thirteen, and I wondered if they had noticed the +fact. + +Doctor Blake turned to Kennedy the moment we left the library. + +"Do you feel it is necessary for me to remain any longer?" he asked. He +was apologetic, yet distinctly impatient. "I have neglected several +very important calls as it is." + +Kennedy and Mackay both hastened to assure the physician that they +appreciated his co-operation and that they would spare him as much +notoriety and inconvenience as possible. Then the three of us hurried +across and to the little den which had been converted into a dressing +room for Stella's use. + +Here were all the evidences of femininity, the little touches which a +woman can impart to the smallest corner in a few brief moments of +occupancy. It was a tiny alcove shut off from the rest of the living +room by heavy silk hangings, drawn now and pinned together so as to +assure her the privacy she wished. The one window was high and fitted +with leaded glass, but it was raised and afforded the maximum of light. +Stella's traveling bag sprawled wide open, with many of her effects +strewn about in attractive disarray. Her suit, in which she had made +the trip to Tarrytown, was thrown carelessly over the back of a chair. +Her mirror was fastened up ruthlessly, upon a handsome woven Oriental +hanging, with a long hatpin. Powder was spilled upon the couch cover, +another Oriental fabric, and her little box of rouge lay face downward +on the floor. + +As we pulled the curtains aside I caught the perfume which still clung +to her clothes in the library beyond. As Mackay sniffed also, Kennedy +smiled. + +"Coty's Jacqueminot rose," he remarked. + +With his usual swift and practiced certainty Kennedy then inspected the +extemporized dressing room. He seemed to satisfy himself that no subtle +attack had been made upon the girl here, although I doubt that he had +held any such supposition seriously in the first place. In my +association of several years with Kennedy, following our first intimacy +of college days, I had learned that his success as a scientific +detective was the result wholly of his thoroughness of method. To watch +him had become a never-ending delight, even in the dull preliminary +work of a case as baffling as this one. Mackay also seemed content just +to enact the role of spectator. + +Kennedy thumbed through the delicate intimacies of her traveling bag +with the keen, impersonal manner which always distinguished him; then +he found her beaded handbag and proceeded to rummage through that. +Suddenly he paused as he unfolded a piece of note paper, and we +gathered around to read: + +MY DEAR STELLA: Have something very important to tell you. Will you +lunch Tuesday at the P. G. tearoom? LARRY. + +"Tuesday--" murmured Kennedy. "And this is Monday. Who--who is Larry, I +wonder?" + +I hastened to answer the question for him. It was my first opportunity +to display my knowledge of the picture players. "Larry--that's +Lawrence, Lawrence Millard!" I exclaimed. Then I went on to tell him of +the divorce and the circumstances surrounding Stella's life as I knew +it. "It--it looks," I concluded, "as if they might have been on the +point of composing their differences, after all." + +Kennedy nodded. I could see, however, that he made a mental note of his +intention to question the girl's former husband. + +All at once another thought struck me and I became eager. It was a +possible explanation of the mystery. + +"Listen, Craig," I began. "Suppose Millard wanted to make up and she +didn't. Suppose that she refused to see him or to meet him. Suppose +that in a jealous fit he--" + +"No, Walter!" Kennedy headed me off with a smile. "This wasn't an +ordinary murder of passion. This was well thought out and well +executed. Not one medical examiner in a thousand would have found that +tiny scratch. It may be very difficult yet to determine the exact cause +of death. This, my dear Jameson"--it was playful irony--"is a +scientific crime." + +"But Millard--" + +"Of course! Anyone may be the culprit. Yet you tell me Millard did not +contest her divorce and that it would have been very easy for him to +file a counter-suit because everyone knew of her relationship with +Manton. That, offhand, shows no ill-will on his part. And now we find +this note from him, which at least is friendly in tone--" + +I shrugged my shoulders. It was the same blind alley in which my +thoughts had strayed upon the train on our way out. + +"It's too early to begin to try to fasten the guilt upon anyone," +Kennedy added, as we returned to the library through the living room. +Then he turned to Mackay. "Have you succeeded in gleaning any facts +about the life of Miss Lamar?" he asked. "Anything which might point to +a motive, so that I can approach the case from both directions?" + +"If you ask me," the little district attorney rejoined, "it's a matter +of tangled motives throughout. I--I had no sword to cut the Gordian +knot and so"--graciously--"I sent for you." + +"What do you mean by tangled motives?" Kennedy ignored the other's +compliment. + +"Well!" Mackay indicated me. "Mr. Jameson explained about her divorce. +No one heard whom she named as corespondent. That's an unknown woman in +the case, although it may not mean anything at all. Then there's Lloyd +Manton and all the talk about his affair with Miss Lamar. Some one told +one of my men that Manton's wife has left him on that account." + +"Did you question Manton?" + +"No, I thought I ought to leave all that to you. I was afraid I might +put them on their guard." + +"Good!" Kennedy was pleased. "Did you learn anything else?" + +"This deputy of mine obtained all these things by gossiping with the +girl who plays the maid, and so they may not be reliable. But among the +players it is reported that Werner, the director, was having an affair +with Stella also, and that Merle Shirley, the 'heavy' man, was seen +with her a great deal recently, and that Jack Gordon, the leading man, +who was engaged to marry her as soon as her decree was final, was +jealous as a consequence, and that Miss Loring, playing the vampire In +the story and engaged to Shirley, was even more bitter against the +deceased than Gordon, Miss Lamar's fiance. + +"That made eight people with possible motives for the crime. When I got +that far I gave it up. In fact"--Mackay lowered his voice, suddenly--"I +don't like the attitude of Emery Phelps. This is his house, you know, +and he is the financial backer of Manton Pictures, yet there seems to +be an undercurrent of friction between Manton and himself. I--I wanted +him to show me some detail of the arrangement of things in the library, +but he wouldn't come into the room. He said he didn't want to look at +Miss Lamar. There--there was something--and, I don't know. If he is +concerned in any way--that would make nine." + +"You think Miss Lamar and Phelps--" + +Mackay shook his head. "I don't know." + +Kennedy turned to me, expression really serious. "Is this the way they +carry on in the picture world, Walter?" he asked. "Is this the usual +thing or--or an exception?" + +I flushed. "It's very much an exception," I insisted. "The film people +are just like other people, some good and some bad. Probably +three-quarters of all this is gossip." + +"I hope so." He straightened. "The only thing to do is to go after them +one at a time and disentangle all the conflicting threads. It looks as +though there will be any number of possible false leads and so we must +be careful and deliberate. I think I'll question each in turn--here." + +He walked over to the fireplace, stopping for just a moment to glance +at the body of Stella. Then he pulled the blinds down halfway, so that +the room seemed somber and gruesome. He drew a chair so that the +different individuals as he examined them, would be unable to lose +sight of the dead woman. His arrangements completed, he faced the +district attorney. + +"Manton first," he directed. + +In an instant I caught the psychology of it--the now darkened library, +the beautiful body still lying on the davenport, the quiet and quick +arrival of ourselves. If anything could be extracted from these people, +surely it would be betrayed under these surroundings. + + + + +IV + +THE FATAL SCRIPT + + +I had no real opportunity to study Manton when he greeted us upon our +arrival, and at that time neither Kennedy nor I possessed even a +passing realization of the problem before us. Now I felt that I was +ready to grasp at any possible motive for the crime. I was prepared to +suspect any or all of the nine people enumerated by Mackay, so far as I +could speak for myself, and at the very least I was certain that this +was one of the most baffling cases ever brought to Craig's attention. + +Yet I was sure he would solve it. I waited most impatiently for the +outcome of his examination of Lloyd Manton. + +The producer-promoter was a well-set-up man just approaching middle +age. About him was a certain impression of great physical strength, of +bulk without flabbiness, and in particular I noticed the formation of +his head, the square broad development which indicated his intellectual +power, and I found, too, a fascinating quality about his eyes, deeply +placed and of a warm dark gray-brown, which seemed to hold a +fundamental sincerity which, I imagined, made the man almost +irresistible in a business deal. + +His weakness, so far as I could ascertain it, was revealed by his mouth +and chin, and by a certain nervousness of his hands, hands where a +square, practical palm was belied by the slight tapering of his +fingers, the mark of the dreamer. His mouth was unquestionably +sensuous, with the lips full and now and then revealing out of the +studied practiced calm of his face an almost imperceptible twitching, +as though to betray a flash of emotion, or fear. His chin was feminine, +softening his expression and showing that his feelings would +overbalance the cool calculation denoted by his eyes and the rather +heavy level brows above. + +As he entered the room, taking the chair indicated by Kennedy, he +seemed perfectly cool and his glance, as it strayed to the lifeless +form of Stella, revealed his iron self-control. The little signs which +I have mentioned, which betrayed the real man beneath, were only +disclosed to me little by little as Kennedy's questioning progressed. + +"Tell me just what happened?" Kennedy began. + +"Well--" Manton responded quickly enough, but then he stopped and +proceeded as though he chose each word with care, as if he framed each +sentence so that there would be no misunderstanding, no chance of wrong +impression; all of which pleased Kennedy. + +"In the scene we were taking," he went on, "Stella was crouched down on +the floor, bending over her father, who had just been murdered. She was +sobbing. All at once the lights were to spring up. The young hero was +to dash through the set and she was to see him and scream out in +terror. The first part went all right. But when the lights flashed on, +instead of looking up and screaming, Stella sort of crumpled and +collapsed on top of Werner, who was playing the father. I yelled to +stop the cameras and rushed in. We picked her up and put her on the +couch. Some one sent for the doctor, but she died without saying a +word. I--I haven't the slightest idea what happened. At first I thought +it was heart trouble." + +"Did she have heart trouble?" + +"No, that is--not that I ever heard." + +Kennedy hesitated. "Why were you taking these scenes out here?" + +It was on the tip of my tongue to answer for Manton. I knew that at one +time many fine interiors were actually taken in houses, to save +expense. I was sorry that Kennedy should draw any conclusion from a +fact which I thought was too well known to require explanation. +Manton's answer, however, proved a distinct surprise to me. + +"Mr. Phelps asked us to use his library in this picture." + +"Wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper in the long run to reproduce +it in the studio?" + +Manton glanced up at Kennedy, echoing my thought. Had Kennedy, after +all, some knowledge of motion pictures stored away with his vast fund +of general and unusual information? + +"Yes," replied the producer. "It would save the trip out here, the loss +of time, the inconvenience--why, in an actual dollars and cents +comparison, with overhead and everything taken into account, the +building of a set like this is nothing nowadays." + +"Do you know Mr. Phelps's reason?" + +Manton shrugged his shoulders. "Just a whim, and we had to humor it." + +"Mr. Phelps is interested in the company?" + +"Yes. He recently bought up all the stock except my own. He is in +absolute control, financially." + +"What is the story you are making? I mean, I want to understand just +exactly what happened in the scenes you were photographing today. It is +essential that I learn how everyone was supposed to act and how they +did act. I must find out every trivial little detail. Do you follow me?" + +Manton's mouth set suddenly, showing that it possessed a latent quality +of firmness. He glanced about the room, then rose, went to the farther +end of the long table, and returned with a thick sheaf of manuscript +bound at the side in stiff board covers. "This is the scenario, the +script of the detailed action," he explained. + +As Kennedy took the binder, Manton opened it and turned past several +sheets of tabulation and lists, the index to the sets and exterior +locations, the characters and extras, the changes of clothes, and other +technical detail. "The scenes we are taking here," he went on, "are the +opening scenes of the story. We left them until now because it meant +the long trip out to Tarrytown and because it would take us away from +the studio while they were putting up the largest two sets, a banquet +and a ballroom which need the entire floor space of the studio." He +turned over two or three pages, pointing. "We had taken up to scene +thirteen; from scenes one to thirteen just as you have them in order +there. It--it was in the unlucky thirteenth that she"--was it my +imagination or did he tremble, for just an instant, violently?--"that +she died." + +Kennedy started to read the script. I hurried to his side, glancing +over his shoulder. + +THE BLACK TERROR + +FEATURING STELLA LAMAH + +SCENE 1 + +LOCATION.--Remsen library. This is a modern, luxurious library set with +a long table in the center of the room, books around the walls, French +windows leading from the rear, and an entrance through a hallway to the +right through a pair of portieres. Note: E. P. wishes us to use his +library at Tarrytown. + +ACTION.--Open diaphragm slowly on darkened set as a spot of light is +being played on the walls and French windows in the rear. As the +diaphragm opens slowly the light vanishes, leaving the scene dark at +times and then brightened until, as the diaphragm opens full, we +discover that the light is that of a burglar's flash light, traveling +over the walls of the library. When the diaphragm is fully opened we +discover also a faint line of light streaming through the almost closed +portieres leading to the hallway outside. This ray of light, striking +along the floor, pauses by the library table, just disclosing the edge +of it but not revealing anything else in the room. The spotlight in the +hands of a shadowy figure roves across the wall and to the portieres. +As it pauses there the portieres move and the fingers of a girl are +seen on the edge of the silk. A bare and beautiful arm is thrust +through the portieres almost to the shoulder, and it begins to move the +portieres aside, reaching upward to pull the curtains apart at the +rings. + +SCENE 2 + +LOCATION.--Remsen library. Close foreground of portieres. + +ACTION.--Our heroine parts the portieres and stands revealed in the +spotlight's glare. She is in dinner gown and about her throat is a +peculiar locket of flashing jewels. She cries out and backs away, +closing the portieres. The spotlight retreats from the curtains, +leaving them dark. + +SCENE 3 + +LOCATION.--Hallway, Remsen house. Close foreground of portieres leading +to library. This hallway is lighted. + +ACTION.--The girl holding the portieres shut screams for help. + +SCENE 4 + +LOCATION.--Foot of stairway, Remsen house. + +ACTION.--The butler and maid are discovered talking. They hear the +girl's scream and start running. + +SCENE 5 + +LOCATION.--Hallway, Remsen house. Close foreground of portieres. + +ACTION.--The girl hears help coming and glances off to indicate that +she sees the butler and the maid. She continues to cling to the closed +curtains. + +SCENE 6 + +LOCATION.--Remsen library. Full shot. + +ACTION.--The unknown drops the spotlight to the floor and we first see +his legs crossing the rays of light on the floor. Then the spotlight +rolls, revealing the body of an elderly man of the American millionaire +type, lying crumpled against the table. Finally it rolls a little +farther and stops, directing its rays into the fireplace. + +SCENE 7 + +LOCATION.--Remsen hallway, outside library. + +ACTION.--The girl indicates determined resolve. She throws apart the +portieres with a quick motion of her arms and dashes inside. The +portieres close after her. The butler and maid come on running and +looking about. + +SCENE 8 + +LOCATION.--Remsen library. Full shot. + +ACTION.--The spotlight is showing into the fireplace when the girl +crosses quickly into its rays. She stoops into the light, revealing her +face and picking up the spotlight. She flashes it about the room, +pausing as it strikes the French windows and reveals the murderer +making his escape out on a balcony which is revealed in the background. +When the rays of light reach the murderer he deliberately turns. + +SCENE 9 + +LOCATION.--Remsen library. Close foreground of French windows. + +ACTION.--The intruder, now in the close foreground, pauses as he is +about to shut the window and blinks deliberately into the rays of +light, then laughs and closes the French windows. + +SCENE 10 + +LOCATION.--Hallway, Remsen home. Close foreground of portieres to +library. + +ACTION.--The butler and maid look around hopelessly. A young man, the +exact counterpart of the man who in the previous scene looked into the +spotlight at the French windows, comes up to the butler and demands to +know what has happened. The butler explains hurriedly that he heard his +mistress cry out for help. The young man steps to the portieres and +pauses. + +SCENE 11 + +LOCATION.--Remsen library. Full shot. + +ACTION.--The girl, using the spotlight, flashes it about the room and +down on the floor, seeing for the first time the body of the American +millionaire. + +SCENE 12 + +LOCATION.--Exterior Remsen house. Night tint. + +ACTION.--The murderer scrambles down a column from the upper porch and +leaps to the ground, darting across the lawn out of the picture. + +SCENE 13 + +LOCATION.--Remsen library. Full shot. + +ACTION.--The spotlight on the floor reveals the girl sobbing over the +body of the millionaire and trying to revive him. She screams and cries +out. The portieres are parted and from the lighted hallway we see the +young man, the butler, and the maid, who enter. The young man switches +on the lights and the room is revealed. The three cry out in horror. +The young man, glancing about, leaps toward the partly opened French +windows, drawing a revolver. As the girl sees him she screams again and +denotes terror. + +Finishing the thirteenth scene, Kennedy closed the covers and handed +the script to me. Then he confronted Manton once more. + +"What became of the locket about the girl's neck? In the manuscript +Miss Lamar is supposed to have a peculiar pendant at her throat. There +was none." + +"Oh yes!" The promoter remained a moment in thought. "The doctor took +it off and gave it to Bernie, the prop. boy, who's helping the +electrician." + +"Is he outside?" + +"Yes." + +"Now try to remember, Mr. Manton." Kennedy leaned over very seriously. +"Just who approached closely to Miss Lamar in the making of that +thirteenth scene? Who was near enough to have inflicted a wound, or to +have subjected her, suppose we say, to the fumes of some subtle poison?" + +"You think that--" Manton started to question Kennedy, but was given no +encouragement. "Gordon, the leading man, passed through the scene," he +replied, after a pause, "but did not go very near her. Werner was +playing the dead millionaire at her feet." + +"Who is Werner?" + +"He's my director. Because it was such a small part, he played it +himself. He's only in the two or three scenes in the beginning and I +was here to be at the camera." + +While Kennedy was questioning Manton I had been glancing through the +script of the picture. My own connection with the movies had consisted +largely of three attempts to sell stories of my own to the producers. +Needless to remark I had not succeeded, in that regard falling in the +class with some hundreds of thousands of my fellow citizens. For +everybody thinks he has at least one motion picture in him. And so, +though I had managed to visit studios and meet a few of the players, +this was my very first shot at a manuscript actually in production. I +took advantage of Kennedy's momentary preoccupation to turn to Manton. + +"Who wrote this script, Mr. Manton?" I asked. + +"Millard! Lawrence Millard." + +"Millard?" Kennedy and I exclaimed, simultaneously. + +"Why, yes! Millard is still under contract and he's the only man who +ever could write scripts for Stella. We--we tried others and they all +flivved." + +"Is Millard here?" + +Manton burst into laughter, somehow out of place in the room where we +still were in the company of death. "An author on the lot at the +filming of his picture, to bother the director and to change +everything? Out! When the scenario's done he's through. He's lucky to +get his name on the screen. It's not the story but the direction which +counts, except that you've got to have a good idea to start with, and a +halfway decent script to make your lay-outs from. Anyhow--" He sobered +a bit, perhaps realizing that he was going counter to the tendency to +have the author on the lot. "Millard and Stella weren't on speaking +terms. She divorced him, you know." + +"Do you know much about the personal affairs of Miss Lamar?" + +"Well"--Manton's eyes sought the floor for a moment--"Like everyone +else in pictures, Stella was the victim of a great deal of gossip. +That's the experience of any girl who rises to a position of prominence +and--" + +"How were the relations between Miss Lamar and yourself?" interrupted +Kennedy. + +"What do you mean by that?" Manton flushed quickly. + +"You have had no trouble, no disagreements recently?" + +"No, indeed. Everything has been very friendly between us--in a +strictly business way, of course--and I don't believe I've had an +unpleasant word with her since I first formed Manton Pictures to make +her a star." + +"You know nothing of her difficulties with her husband?" + +"Naturally not. I seldom saw her except at the studio, unless it was +some necessary affair such as a screen ball here, or perhaps in Boston +or Philadelphia or some near-by city where I would take her for +effect--" + +Kennedy turned to Mackay. "Will you arrange to keep the people I have +yet to question separate from the ones I have examined already?" + +As the district attorney nodded, Kennedy dismissed Manton rather +shortly; then turned again to Mackay as the promoter drew out of +earshot. + +"Bring in Bernie, the property-boy, before anyone can tell him to hide +or destroy that locket." + + + + +V + +AN EMOTIONAL MAZE + + +Bernie proved to be as stupid a youth as any I had ever seen. He +possessed frightened semi-liquid eyes and overshot ears and hair which +might have been red beneath its accumulation of dust. Without doubt the +boy had been coached by the electrician, because he began to affirm his +innocence in similar fashion the moment he entered the door. + +"I don't know nothin', honest I don't," he pleaded. "I was out in the +hall, I was, and I didn't come in at all until the doc. came." + +"I suppose you were anxious to see if the cable was becoming hot," +Kennedy suggested, gravely. + +"That's it, sir! We was lookin' at it because it was on the varnish and +the butler he says--" + +"Where's the locket?" interrupted Kennedy. "The one Miss Lamar wore in +the scenes." + +"Oh!" in disdain, "that thing!" With some effort Bernie fished it from +the capacious depths of a pocket, disentangling the sharp corners from +the torn and ragged lining of his coat. + +I glanced at it as Kennedy turned it over and over in his hands, and +saw that it was a palpable stage prop, with glass jewels of the +cheapest sort. Concealing his disappointment, Kennedy dropped it into +his own pocket, confronting the frightened Bernie once more. + +"Do you know anything about Miss Lamar's death?" + +"No! I don't know nothing, honest!" + +"All right!" Kennedy turned to Mackay. "Werner, the director." + +Of Stanley Werner I had heard a great deal, through interviews, +character studies, and other press stuff in the photoplay journals and +the Sunday newspaper film sections. Now I found him to be a high-strung +individual, so extremely nervous that it seemed impossible for him to +remain in one position in his chair or for him to keep his hands +motionless for a single instant. Although he was of moderate build, +with a fair suggestion of flesh, there were yet the marks of the artist +and of the creative temperament in the fine sloping contours of his +head and in his remarkably long fingers, which tapered to nails +manicured immaculately. Kennedy seemed to pay particular attention to +his eyes, which were dark, soft, and amazingly restless. + +"Who was in the cast, Mr. Werner? What were they playing and just +exactly what was each doing at the time of Miss Lamar's collapse?" + +"Well"--Werner's eyes shifted to mine, then to Mackay's, and there was +a subtle lack of ease in his manner which I was hardly prepared to +classify as yet--"Stella Lamar was playing the part of Stella Remsen, +the heroine, and--uh, I see your associate has the script--" + +He paused, glancing at me again. When Kennedy said nothing, Werner went +on, growing more and more nervous. "Jack Gordon plays Jack Daring, the +hero--the handsome young chap who runs down the steps and encounters +the butler and the maid in the hall just outside the library--" + +"Wasn't it his face in the French windows of the library at the same +time?" Kennedy asked. "Wasn't he the murderer of the father, also?" + +"No!" Werner smiled slightly, and there was an instant's flash of the +man's personality, winning and, it seemed to me, calculated to inspire +confidence. "That is the mystery; it is a mystery plot. While the parts +are played by Jack in both cases now, we explain in a subtitle a little +later that the criminal himself, the 'Black Terror,' is a master of +scientific impersonation, and that he changes the faces of his +emissaries by means of plastic surgery and such scientific things, so +that they look like the characters against whom he wishes to throw +suspicion. So while Jack plays the part it is really an accomplice of +the 'Black Terror' who kills old Remsen." + +Kennedy turned to me. "A new idea in the application of science to +crime!" he remarked, dryly. "Just suppose it were practicable!" + +"The 'Black Terror'" Werner continued, "is played by Merle Shirley. +You've heard of him, the greatest villain ever known to the films? Then +there's Marilyn Loring, the vampire, another good trouper, too. She +plays Zelda, old Remsen's ward, and it's a question whether Zelda or +Stella will be the Remsen heir. Marilyn herself is an awfully nice +girl, but, oh, how the fans hate her!" The director chuckled. "No +Millard story is ever complete without a vamp and Marilyn's been eating +them up. She's been with Manton Pictures for nearly a year." + +"You played the millionaire yourself?" + +"Yes, I did old Remsen." + +I realized suddenly, for the first time, that Werner was still in the +evening clothes he had donned for the part. On his face were streaks in +the little make-up that remained after his frequent mopping of his +features with his handkerchief. Too, his collar was melted. I could +imagine his discomfort. + +"Did you have any business with Stella?" Kennedy asked, using the stage +term for the minor bits of action in the playing of a scene. "Did you +move at all while she was going through her part?" + +"No, Mr. Kennedy, I was 'dead man' in all the scenes." + +"Show me how you lay, if you will." + +Obligingly, Werner stretched out on the carpet, duplicating his +positions even to the exact manner in which he had placed his hands and +arms. Rather to my own distaste, Kennedy impressed me to represent, I +am sure in clumsy fashion, the various positions of Stella Lamar. Most +painstakingly Kennedy worked back from the thirteenth scene to the +first, referring to the script and coaxing details of memory from the +mind of Werner. + +I grasped Kennedy's purpose almost at once. He was endeavoring to +reproduce the action which had been photographed, so as to determine +just how the poison had been administered. Of course he made no +reference to the tiny scratch and Mackay and I were careful to give no +hint of it to Werner. The director, however, seemed most willing to +assist us. I certainly felt no suspicion of him now. As for Kennedy, +his face was unrevealing. + +"When the film in the camera is developed--" I suggested to Kennedy, +suddenly. + +He silenced me with a gesture. "I haven't overlooked that, but the +scenes will be from one angle only and in a darkened set. I can +determine more this way." + +Somewhat crestfallen, I continued my impersonation of the slain star +not altogether willingly. Soon Kennedy had completed his reconstruction +of the action. + +"Who else entered the scene besides Gordon?" he asked. + +"The butler and the maid, after the lights were flashed on." + +"I'll question the camera men," he announced. "Who are they?" + +"Harry Watkins is the head photographer," Werner explained. "He's a +crackerjack, too! One of the best lighting experts in the country. Al +Penny's grinding the other box." + +"Let's have Watkins first." Kennedy nodded to Mackay to escort the +director from the room. + +Neither Watkins nor Penny were able to add anything to the facts which +Kennedy had gleaned from Manton and Werner. When he had finished his +patient examination of the junior camera man he recalled Watkins and +had both, under his eyes, close and seal the film cartridges which +contained the photographic record of the thirteen scenes. Dismissing +the men, he handed the two black boxes to Mackay. + +"Can you arrange to have these developed and printed, quickly, but in +some way so neither negative nor positive will be out of your sight at +any time?" + +Mackay nodded. "I know the owner of a laboratory in Yonkers." + +"Good! Now let's have the leading man." + +Jack Gordon immediately impressed me very unfavorably. There was +something about him for which I could find no word but "sleek." +Learning much from my long association with Kennedy I observed at once +that he had removed the make-up from his face and that he had on a +clean white collar. Since the linen worn before the camera is dyed a +faint tint to prevent the halation caused by pure white, it was a sure +sign to me that he had spruced up a bit. I knew that he was engaged to +Stella. Here in this room she lay dead, under the most mysterious +circumstances. There was little question, in fact, that she had been +murdered. How could he, really loving her, think of such things as the +make-up left on his face, or his clothes? + +I had to admit that he was a handsome individual. Perhaps slightly less +than average in height, and very slender, he had the close-knit build +of an athlete. The contour of his head and the perfect regularity of +rather large features made him an ideal type for the screen at any +angle; in close-ups and foregrounds as well as full shots. In actual +life there were little things covered by make-up in his work, such as +the cold gray tint of his eyes and the lines of dissipation about his +mouth. + +Kennedy questioned him first about his movements in the different +scenes, then asked him if he had seen or noticed anything suspicious +during the taking of any of them or in the intervals between. + +"I had several changes, Mr. Kennedy," he replied. "Part of the time I +was Jack Daring, my regular role, but I was also the emissary who +looked like Daring. I went out each time because I make up the emissary +to look hard. Werner wanted to fool the people a little bit, but he +didn't want them to be positive the emissary was Daring, as would +happen if both make-ups were the same." + +"Did you have any opportunity to talk to Miss Lamar?" + +"None at all. Werner was pushing us to the limit." + +"Did she seem her usual self at the start of the scene?" + +"No, she seemed a little out of sorts. But"--Gordon +hesitated--"something had been troubling her all day. She hardly would +talk to me in the car on the way out at all. It didn't strike me that +she acted any different when she went in to take the scene." + +"You were engaged to her?" + +"Yes." Gordon's eyes caught the body on the davenport before him. He +glanced away hastily, taking his lower lip between his teeth. + +"Had you been having any trouble?" + +"No--that is, nothing to amount to anything." + +"But you had a quarrel or a misunderstanding." + +His face flushed slowly. "She was to obtain her final decree early next +week. I wanted her to marry me then at once. She refused. When I +reproached her for not considering my wishes she pretended to be cool +and began an elaborate flirtation with Merle Shirley." + +"You say she only pretended to be cool?" + +For a few moments Gordon hesitated. Then apparently his vanity loosened +his tongue. He wished it to be understood that he had held the love of +Stella to the last. + +"Last night," he volunteered, "we made everything up and she was as +affectionate as she ever had been. This morning she was cool, but I +could tell it was pretense and so I let her alone." + +"There has been no real trouble between you?" + +The leading man met Kennedy's gaze squarely. "Not a bit!" + +Kennedy turned to Mackay. "Mr. Shirley," he ordered. + +By a miscalculation on the part of the little district attorney the +heavy man entered the room a moment before Gordon left. They came face +to face just within the portieres. There was no mistaking the +hostility, the open hate, between the two men. Both Kennedy and I +caught the glances. + +Then Merle Shirley approached the fireplace, taking the chair indicated +by Kennedy. + +"I wasn't in any of the opening scenes," he explained. "I remained out +in the car until I got wind of the excitement. By that time Stella was +dead." + +"Do you know anything of a quarrel between Miss Lamar and Gordon?" + +Shirley rose, clenching his fists. For several moments he stood gazing +down at the star with an expression on his face which I could not +analyze. The pause gave me an opportunity to study him, however, and I +noticed that while he had heavier features than Gordon, and was a +larger man in every way, ideally endowed for heavy parts, there was yet +a certain boyish freshness clinging to him in subtle fashion. He wore +his clothes in a loose sort of way which suggested the West and the +open, in contrast to Gordon's metropolitan sophistication and +immaculate tailoring. He was every inch the man, and a splendid +actor--I knew. Yet there was the touch of youth about him. He seemed +incapable of a crime such as this, unless it was in anger, or as the +result of some deep-running hidden passion. + +Now, whether he was angry or in the clutch of a broad disgust, I could +not tell. Perhaps it was both. Very suddenly he wheeled upon Kennedy. +His voice became low and vibrant with feeling. Here was none of the +steeled self-control of Manton, the deceptive outer mask which Werner +used to cover his thoughts, the nonchalant, cold frankness of Gordon. + +"Mr. Kennedy," the actor exclaimed, "I've been a fool, a fool!" + +"How do you mean?" + +"I mean that I allowed Stella to flatter my vanity and lead me into a +flirtation which meant nothing at all to her. God!" + +"You are responsible for the trouble between Miss Lamar and Gordon, +then?" + +"Never!" Shirley indicated the body of the star with a quick, +passionate sweep of his hand. Now I could not tell whether he was +acting or in earnest. "She's responsible!" he exclaimed. "She's +responsible for everything!" + +"Her death--" + +"No!" Shirley sobered suddenly, as if he had forgotten the mystery +altogether. "I don't know anything at all about that, nor have I any +idea unless--" But he checked himself rather than voice an empty +suspicion. + +"Just what do you mean, then?" Kennedy was sharp, impatient. + +"She made a fool of me, and--and I was engaged to Marilyn Loring--" + +"Were engaged? The engagement--" + +"Marilyn broke it off last night and wouldn't listen to me, even though +I came to my senses and saw what a fool I had been." + +"Was"--Kennedy framed his question carefully--"was your infatuation for +Miss Lamar of long duration?" + +"Just a few weeks. I--I took her out to dinner and to the theater +and--and that was all." + +"I see!" Kennedy walked away, nodding to Mackay. + +"Will you have Miss Loring next?" asked the district attorney. + +Kennedy nodded. + +Marilyn Loring was a surprise to me. Stella Lamar both on the screen +and in real life was a beauty. In the films Marilyn was a beauty also, +apparently of a cold, unfeeling type, but in the flesh she was +disclosed as a person utterly different from all my preconceived +notions. In the first place, she was not particularly attractive except +when she smiled. Her coloring, hair frankly and naturally red, skin +slightly mottled and pale, produced in photography the black hair and +marble, white skin which distinguished her. But as I studied her, as +she was now, before she had put on any make-up and while she was still +dressed in a simple summer gown of organdie, she looked as though she +might have stepped into the room from the main street of some +mid-Western town. In repose she was shy, diffident in appearance. When +she smiled, naturally, without holding the hard lines of her vampire +roles, there was the slight suggestion of a dimple, and she was +essentially girlish. When a trace of emotion or feeling came into her +face the woman was evident. She might have been seventeen or +thirty-seven. + +To my surprise, Kennedy made no effort to elicit further information +concerning the personal animosities of these people. Perhaps he felt it +too much of an emotional maze to be straightened out in this +preliminary investigation. When he found Marilyn had watched the taking +of the scenes he compared her account with those which he had already +obtained. Then he dismissed her. + +In rapid succession, for he was impatient now to follow up other +methods of investigation, he called in and examined the remaining +possible witnesses of the tragedy. These were the two extra +players--the butler and the maid, the assistant director, Phelps's +house servants, and Emery Phelps himself. For some unknown reason he +left the owner of the house to the very last. + +"Why did you wish these scenes photographed out here?" he asked. + +"Because I wanted to see my library in pictures." + +"Were you watching the taking of the scenes?" + +"Yes!" + +"Will you describe just what happened?" + +Phelps flushed. He was irritated and in no mood to humor us any more +than necessary. A man of perhaps forty, with the portly flabbiness +which often accompanies success in the financial markets, he was +accustomed to obtaining rather than yielding obedience. A bachelor, he +had built this house as a show place merely, according to the gossip +among newspaper men, seldom living in it. + +"Haven't about a dozen people described it for you already?" he asked, +distinctly petulant. + +Kennedy smiled. "Did you notice anything particularly out of the way, +anything which might be a clue to the manner in which Miss Lamar met +her death?" + +Phelps's attitude became frankly malicious. "If I had, or if any of us +had, we wouldn't have found it necessary to send for Prof. Craig +Kennedy, or"--turning to me--"the representative of the New York Star." + +Kennedy, undisturbed, walked to the side of Mackay. "I'll leave Mr. +Phelps and his house in your care," he remarked, in a low voice. + +Mackay grinned. I saw that the district attorney had little love for +the owner of this particular estate in Tarrytown. + +Kennedy led the way into the living room. Immediately the various +people he had questioned clustered up with varying degrees of anxiety. +Had the mystery been solved? + +He gave them no satisfaction, but singled out Manton, who seemed eager +to get away. + +"Where is Millard? I would like to talk to him." + +"I'll try to get him for you. Suppose--" Manton looked at his watch. "I +should be in at the studio," he explained. "Everything is at a +standstill, probably, and--and so, suppose you and Mr. Jameson ride in +with me in my car. Millard might be there." + +Kennedy brightened. "Good!" Then he looked back to catch the eye of +Mackay. "Let everyone go now," he directed. "Don't forget to send me +the samples of the body fluids and"--as an afterthought--"you'd better +keep a watch on the house." + + + + +VI + +THE FIRST CLUE + + +Manton's car was a high-powered, expensive limousine, fitted inside +with every luxury of which the mind of even a prima donna could +conceive, painted a vivid yellow that must have made it an object of +attention even on its familiar routes. It was quite characteristic of +its owner, for Manton, as we learned, missed no chance to advertise +himself. + +In the back with us was Werner, while the rest of the company were left +to return to the city in the two studio cars which had brought them out +in the morning. The director, however, seemed buried with his +reflections. He took no part in the conversation; paid no attention to +us upon the entire trip. + +Manton's mind seemed to dwell rather upon the problems brought up by +the death of Stella than upon the tragedy itself. The Star's photoplay +editor once had remarked to me that the promoter was 90 per cent +"bull," and 10 per cent efficiency. I found that it was an unfair +estimation. With all his self-advertisement and almost obnoxious +personality, Manton was a more than capable executive in a business +where efficiency and method are rare. + +"This has been a hoodoo picture from the start," he exclaimed, +suddenly. "We have been jinxed with a vengeance. Some one has held the +Indian sign on us for sure." + +Kennedy, I noticed, listened, studying the man cautiously from the +corners of his eyes, but making no effort to draw him out. + +"First there were changes to be made in the script, and for those +Millard took his own sweet time. Then we were handed a lot of negative +which had been fogged in the perforator, a thing that doesn't happen +once in a thousand years. But it caught us just as we sent the company +down to Delaware Water Gap. A whole ten days' work went into the +developer at once. Neither of the camera men caught the fog in their +tests because it came in the middle of the rolls. Everything had to be +done over again. + +"And accidents! We carefully registered the principal accomplice of the +'Black Terror,' a little hunchback with a face to send chills down your +back. After we had him in about half the scenes of a sequence of action +he was taken sick and died of influenza. First we waited a few days; +then we had to take all that stuff over again. + +"Our payroll on this picture is staggering. Stella's three thousand a +week is cheap for her, the old contract, but it's a lot of money to +throw away. Two weeks when she was under the weather cost us six +thousand dollars salary and there was half a week we couldn't do any +work without her. Gordon and Shirley and Marilyn Loring draw down +seventeen hundred a week between them. The director's salary is only +two hundred short of that. All told 'The Black Terror' is costing us a +hundred thousand dollars over our original estimate. + +"And now"--it seemed to me that Manton literally groaned--"with Stella +Lamar dead--excuse me looking at it this way, but, after all, it is +business and I'm the executive at the head of the company--now we must +find a new star, Lord knows where, and we must retake every scene in +which Stella appeared. It--it's enough to bankrupt Manton Pictures for +once and all." + +"Can't you change the story about some way, so you won't lose the value +of her work?" asked Kennedy. + +"Impossible! We've announced the release and we've got to go ahead. +Fortunately, some of the biggest sets are not taken yet." + +The car pulled up with a flourish before the Manton studio, which was +an immense affair of reinforced concrete in the upper Bronx. Then, in +response to our horn, a great wide double door swung open admitting us +through the building to a large courtyard around which the various +departments were built. + +Here, there was little indication that the principal star of the +company had just met her death under mysterious and suspicious +circumstances. Perhaps, had I been familiar with the ordinary bustle of +the establishment, I might have detected a difference. Indeed, it did +strike me that there were little knots of people here and there +discussing the tragedy, but everything was overshadowed by the aquatic +scene being filmed in the courtyard for some other Manton picture. The +cramped space about the concrete tank was alive with people, a mob of +extras and stage hands and various employees, a sight which held +Kennedy and me for some little time. I was glad when Manton led the way +through a long hall to the comparative quiet of the office building. In +the reception room there was a decided hush. + +"Is Millard here?" he asked of the boy seated at the information desk. + +"No, sir," was the respectful reply. "He was here this morning and for +a while yesterday." + +"You see!" Manton confronted Kennedy grimly. "This is only one of the +things with which we have to contend in this business. I give Millard +an office but he's a law unto himself. It's the artistic temperament. +If I interfere, then he says he cannot write and he doesn't produce any +manuscript. Ordinarily he cannot be bothered to work at the studio. +But"--philosophically--"I know where to get him as a general thing. He +does most of his writing in his rooms downtown; says there's more +inspiration in the confusion of Broadway than in the wilds of the +Bronx. I'll phone him." + +We followed the promoter up the stairs to the second and top floor. +Here a corridor gave access to the various executive offices. Its +windows at frequent intervals looked down upon the courtyard and the +present confusion. + +Werner, who had preceded us into the building, now came up. As Manton +bustled into his own office to use the telephone the director turned to +Kennedy, indicating the next doorway. + +"This is my place," he explained. "It connects with Manton, on one +side, through his reception room. You see, in addition to directing +Stella Lamar I have been in general charge of production and most of +the casting is up to me." + +Kennedy entered after Werner, interested, and I followed. The door +through to the reception room stood open and beyond was the one to +Manton's quarters. I could see the promoter at his desk, receiver at +his ear, an impatient expression upon his face. In the reception room a +rather pretty girl, young and of a shallow-pated type I thought, was +busy at a clattering typewriter. She rose and closed the door upon +Manton, so as not to disturb him. + +"The next office on this side is Millard's," volunteered Werner. "He's +the only scenario writer dignified with quarters in this building." + +"Manton has other writers, hasn't he?" Kennedy asked. + +"Yes, the scenario department is on the third floor across the court, +above the laboratory and cutting rooms." + +"Who else is in the building here?" + +"There are six rooms on this floor," Werner replied. "Manton, the +waiting room, myself, Millard, and the two other directors. Below is +the general reception room, the cashier, the bookkeepers and +stenographers." + +As Manton probably was having trouble obtaining his connection, and as +Kennedy continued to question Werner concerning the general arrangement +of the different floors in the different buildings about the +quadrangle, all uninteresting to me, I determined to look about a bit +on my own hook. I was still anxious to be of genuine assistance to +Kennedy, for once, through my greater knowledge of the film world. + +Strolling out into the corridor, I went to the door of Millard's room. +To my disappointment, it was locked. Continuing down the hall, I stole +a glance into each of the two directors' quarters but saw nothing to +awaken my suspicion or justify my intrusion. Beyond, I discovered a +washroom, and, aware suddenly of the immense amount of dust I had +acquired in the ride in from Tarrytown, I entered to freshen my hands +and face at the least. It was a stroke of luck, a fortunate impulse. + +The amount of money to be made in the movies had resulted, in the case +of Manton, in luxurious equipment for all the various departments of +his establishment. I had noticed the offices, furnished with a richness +worthy of a bank or some great downtown institution. Now, in the +lavatory, immaculate with its white tile and modern appointments, I saw +a shelf literally stacked, in this day of paper, with linen towels of +the finest quality. + +As I drew the water, hot instantly, my eye caught, half in and half out +of the wire basket beneath the stand, one of the towels covered with +peculiar yellow spots. Immediately my suspicions were awakened. I +picked it up gingerly. At close range I saw that the spots were only +chrome yellow make-up, but there were also spots of a different nature. +I did not stop to think of the unlikeliness of the discovery of a real +clue under these circumstances, analyzed afterward by Kennedy. I folded +the towel hastily and hurried to rejoin him, to show it to him. + +I found him with Werner, waiting for the results of Manton's efforts to +locate Millard. Almost at the moment I rejoined the two a boy came to +summon Werner to one of the sets out on the stage itself. Kennedy and I +were alone. I showed him the towel. + +At first he laughed, "You'll never make a detective, Walter," he +remarked. "This is only simple coloring matter-Chinese yellow, to be +exact. And will you tell me, too"--he became ironical--"how do you +expect to find clues of this sort here for a murder committed in +Tarrytown when all the people present were held out there and examined, +when we are the first to arrive back here? + +"Yellow, you know, photographs white. Chinese yellow is used largely in +studios in place of white in make-up because it does not cause +halation, which, to the picture people, is the bane of their existence. +White is too glaring, reflects rays that blur the photography sometimes. + +"If you will notice, the next time you see them shooting a scene, you +will find the actors' faces tinged with yellow. Even tablecloths and +napkins and 'white' dresses are frequently colored a pale yellow, +although pale blue has the actinic qualities of white for this purpose, +and is now perhaps more frequently used than yellow." + +I was properly chastened. In fact, though I did not say much, I almost +determined to let him conduct his case himself. + +Kennedy saw my crestfallen expression and understood. He was about to +say something encouraging, as he handed back the towel, when his eye +fell on the other end of it, which, indeed, I myself had noticed. + +He sobered instantly and studied the other spots. Indeed, I had not +examined them closely myself. They were the very faint stains of some +other yellow substance, a liquid which had dried and did not rub off as +the make-up, and there were also some small round drops of dark red, +almost hidden in the fancy red scrollwork of the lettering on the +towel, "Manton Pictures, Inc." The latter had escaped me altogether. + +"Blood!" Kennedy exclaimed. Then, "Look here!" The marks of the pale +yellow liquid trailed into a slender trace of blood. "It looks as if +some one had cleaned a needle on it," he muttered, "and in a hurry." + +I remembered his previous remark. The murder had been in Tarrytown. We +had just arrived here. + +"Would anyone have time to do it?" I asked. + +"Whoever used the towel did so in a hurry," he reiterated, seriously. +"It may have been some one afraid to leave any sort of clue out there +at Phelps's house. There were too many watchers about. It might have +seemed better to have run the risk of a search. With no sign of a wound +on Miss Lamar's person, it was pretty certain that neither Mackay nor I +would attempt to frisk everyone. It was not as though we were looking +for a revolver, if she were shot, or a knife, if she had been stabbed. +And"--he could not resist another dig at me--"and that we should look +in a washroom here for a towel was, well, an idea that wouldn't occur +to anyone but the most amateur and blundering sort of sleuth. It's +beginner's luck, Walter, beginner's luck." + +I ignored the uncomplimentary part of his remarks. "Who could have been +in the washroom just before me?" I asked. + +Suddenly he hurried through the waiting room to the door to Manton's +office, opening it without ceremony. Manton was gone. We exchanged +glances. I remembered that Werner had preceded us upstairs. "It means +Werner or Manton himself," I whispered, so the girl just behind us +would not hear. + +Kennedy strode out to the hall, and to a window overlooking the court. +After a moment he pointed. I recognized both the cars used to transport +the company to the home of Emery Phelps. There was no sign that either +had just arrived, for even the chauffeurs were out of sight, perhaps +melted into the crowd about the tank in the corner. + +"They must have arrived immediately behind us," Kennedy remarked. "We +wasted several valuable minutes looking at that water stuff ourselves." + +At that moment Werner's voice rose from the reception room below. It +was probable that he would be up to rejoin us again. I remembered that +he had not been at all at ease while Kennedy questioned him in +Tarrytown; that here at the studio he had been palpably anxious to +remain close at our heels. I felt a surge of suspicion within me. + +"Listen, Craig," I muttered, in low tones. "Manton had no opportunity +to steal down the hall after the girl closed the door, and--" + +"Why not!" he interrupted, contradicting me. "We had our backs to the +door while we were talking with Werner." + +"Well, anyhow, it narrows down to Manton and Werner because that is the +washroom for these offices--" + +"'Sh!" Kennedy stopped me as Werner mounted the stairs. He turned to +the director with assumed nonchalance. "How long have the other cars +been here?" he asked. "I thought we came pretty fast." + +Werner smiled. "I guess those boys had enough of Tarrytown. They rolled +into the yard, both of them, while you and Mr. Jameson and Manton were +stopping to watch the people in the water." + +"I see!" Kennedy gave me a side glance. "Where are the dressing rooms?" +he inquired. It was a random shot. + +Werner pointed to the end of the hall, toward the washroom. "In the +next building, on this floor--that is, the principals'. It's a rotten +arrangement," he added. "They come through sometimes and use our +lavatory, because it's a little more fancy and because it saves a trip +down a flight of stairs. Believe me, it gets old Manton on his ear." + + + + +VII + +ENID FAYE + + +Behind Werner was the assistant director, to whom I had given little +attention at the time of the examination of the various people in the +Phelps library. Even now he impressed me as one of those rare, +unobtrusive types of individuals who seem, in spite of the possession +of genuine ability and often a great deal of efficiency, to lack, +nevertheless, any outstanding personal characteristics. As a class they +are human machines, to be neither liked nor disliked, never intruding +and yet always on hand when needed. + +"This is Carey Drexel, my assistant," Werner stated, forgetting that +Kennedy had questioned him at Tarrytown, and so knew him. "There are a +few people I simply must see and I'm tied up, therefore, for perhaps +half an hour; and Manton's downstairs still trying to locate Millard +for you. But Carey's at your disposal, Mr. Kennedy, to show you the +arrangement of the studio and to cooperate with you in any way if you +think there's any possible chance of finding anything to bear upon +Stella's death here." + +If Werner was the man who had used the towel, I could see that he was +an actor and a cool villain. Of course no one could know, yet, that we +had discovered it, but the very nonchalance with which it had been +thrown into the basket was a mark of the nerve of the guilty man. It +was more than carelessness. Nothing about the crime had been haphazard. + +Kennedy thanked Werner and asked to be shown the studio floor used in +the making of "The Black Terror." Carey led the way, explaining that +there were actually two studios, one at each end of the quadrangle, +connected on both sides by the other buildings; offices and dressing +rooms and the costume and property departments at the side facing the +street; technical laboratories and all the detail of film manufacture +in a four-story structure to the rear. Most of Werner's own picture was +being made in the so-called big studio, reached through the dressing +rooms from the end of the corridor where we stood. + +I had been in film plants before, but when we entered the huge +glass-roofed inclosure beyond the long hallway of dressing rooms I was +impressed by the fact that here was a place of genuine magnitude, with +more life and bustle than anything I had ever imagined. The glass had, +however, been painted over, because of late years dark stages, with the +even quality of artificial light, had come into vogue in the Manton +studios in place of stages lighted by the uneven and undependable +sunlight. + +The two big sets mentioned by Manton, a banquet hall and a ballroom, +were being erected simultaneously. Carpenters were at work sawing and +hammering. Werner's technical director was shouting at a group of stage +hands putting a massive mirror in position at the end of the banquet +hall, a clever device to give the room the appearance of at least +double its actual length. In one corner several electricians and a +camera man were experimenting with a strange-looking bank of lights. In +the ballroom set, where the flats or walls were all in place, an +unexcited paperhanger was busy with the paraphernalia of his craft, +somehow looking out of his element in this reign of pandemonium. + +It seemed hard indeed to believe that any sort of order or system lay +behind this heterogeneous activity, and the incident which took Carey +Drexel away from us only added to the wonder in my mind, a wonder that +anything tangible and definite could be accomplished. + +"Oh, Carey!" Another assistant director, or perhaps he was only a +property boy, rushed up frantically the moment he saw Drexel. "Miss +Miller's on a rampage because the grand piano you promised to get for +her isn't at her apartment yet, and Bessie Terry's in tears because she +left her parrot here overnight, as you suggested, and some one taught +the bird to swear." The intruder, a youth of perhaps eighteen, was in +deadly earnest. "For the love of Mike, Carey," he went on, "tell me how +to unteach that screeching thing of Bessie's, or we won't get a scene +today." + +Carey Drexel looked at Kennedy helplessly. + +With all these troubles, how could he pilot us about? Later we learned +that this was nothing new, once one gets on the inside of picture +making. Props., or properties, particularly the living ones, cause +almost as much disturbance as the temperamental notions of the actors +and actresses. Sometimes it is a question which may become the most +ridiculous. + +Kennedy seemed to be satisfied with his preliminary visit to this +studio floor. + +"We can get back to Manton's office alone," he told Drexel. "We will +just keep on circling the quadrangle." + +Relieved, the assistant director pointed to the door of the +manufacturing building, as the four-story structure in the rear was +called. Then he bustled off with the other youth, quite unruffled +himself. + +When we passed through the heavy steel fire door we found ourselves in +another long hallway of fire-brick and reinforced-concrete +construction. Unquestionably there was no danger of a serious +conflagration in any part of Manton's plant, despite the high +inflammability of the film itself, of the flimsy stage sets, of +practically everything used in picture manufacture. + +Immediately we entered this building I detected a peculiar odor, at +which I sniffed eagerly. I was reminded of the burnt-almond odor of the +cyanides. Was this another clue? + +I turned to Kennedy but he smiled, anticipating me. + +"Banana oil, Walter," he explained, with rather a superior manner. "I +imagine it's used a great deal in this industry. Anyway"--a +chuckle--"don't expect chance to deliver clues to you in wholesale +quantities. You have done very well for today." + +A sudden whirring noise, from an open door down the hall, attracted us, +and we paused. This, I guessed, was a cutting room. There were a number +of steel tables, with high steel chairs. At the walls were cabinets of +the same material. Each table had two winding arrangements, a handle at +the operator's right hand and one at his left, so that he could wind or +unwind film from one reel to another, passing it forward or backward in +front of his eyes. + +There were girls at the tables except nearest the hall. Here a man +stopped now and then to glance at the ribbon of film, or to cut out a +section, dropping the discarded piece into a fireproof can and splicing +the two ends of the main strip together again with liquid film cement +from a small bottle. He looked up as he sensed our presence. + +"Isn't it hell?" he remarked, in friendly fashion. "I've got to cut all +of Stella Lamar out of 'The Black Terror,' so they can duplicate her +scenes with another star, and meanwhile we had half the negative +matched and marked for colors and spliced in rolls, all ready for the +printer." + +Without waiting for an answer from us, or expecting one, he gave one of +his reels a vicious spin, producing the whirring noise; then grasping +both reels between his fingers and bringing them to an abrupt stop, so +that I wondered he did not burn himself from the friction, he located +the next piece to be eliminated. + +We followed the hall into the smaller studio and there found a comedy +company at work. Without stopping to watch the players, ghastly under +the light from the Cooper-Hewitts and Kliegel arcs, we found a +precarious way back of the set around and under stage braces, to the +covered bridge leading once more to the corridor outside Manton's +office. + +Now the girl was absent from her place in the little waiting room. +Manton's door stood open. Without ceremony Kennedy led the way in and +dropped down at the side of the promoter's huge mahogany desk. + +"I'm tired, Walter," he said. "Furthermore, I think this picture world +of yours is a bedlam. We face a hard task." + +"How do you propose to go about things?" I asked. + +"I'm afraid this is a case which will have to be approached entirely +through psychological reactions. You and I will have to become familiar +with the studio and home life of all the long list of possible +suspects. I shall analyze the body fluids of the deceased and learn the +cause of death, and I will find out what it is on the towel, +but"--sighing--"there are so many different ramifications, so many--" + +Suddenly his eye caught the corner of a piece of paper slid under the +glass of Manton's desk. He pulled it out; then handed it to me. + +MEMORANDUM FOR MR. MANTON + +Have learned Enid Faye is out of Pentangle and can be engaged for about +twelve hundred if you act quickly. Why not cancel Lamar contract after +"Black Terror," if she continues up-stage? + +WERNER. + +"I caught the name Lamar," Kennedy explained. Then an expression of +gratification crept into his face. "Miss Lamar was 'up-stage'?" he +mused. "That's a theatrical word for cussedness, isn't it?" + +I paid little attention. The name of Enid Faye had attracted my own +interest. This was the little dare-devil who had breezed into the +Pacific Coast film colony and had swept everything before her. Not only +had she displayed amazing nerve for her sex and size, but she had been +pretty and beautifully formed, had been as much at home in a ballroom +as in an Annette Kellermann bathing suit. In less than six months she +had learned to act and had been brought to the Eastern studios of +Pentangle. Now it was possible that she would be captured by Manton, +would be blazoned all over the country by that gentleman, would become +another star of his making. + +"Let's go, Walter!" Kennedy, impatient, rose. I noticed that he folded +the little note, slipping it into his pocket. + +Out in the hall voices came to us from Werner's office. After some +little hesitation Kennedy opened the door unceremoniously. At the +table, littered with blue prints and drawings and colored plates of +famous home interiors, was the director. With him was Manton. Seated +facing them, in rare good humor, was a fascinating little lady. + +The promoter rose. "Professor Kennedy, I want you to meet Miss Enid +Faye, one of our real comers. And Mr. Jameson, Enid, of the New York +Star." + +She acknowledged the introduction to Kennedy gracefully. Then she +turned, rising, and rushed to me most effusively, leading me to a +leather-covered couch and pulling me to a seat beside her. + +"Mr. Jameson," she purred. "I just love newspaper men; I think they're +perfectly wonderful always. Tell me, do you like little Enid?" + +I nodded, confused and unhappy, and as red as a schoolboy. + +"That's fine," she went on, in the best modulated and most wonderful +voice I thought I had ever heard. "I like you and I know we're going to +be the best of friends. Tell me, what's your first name?" + +"Now, Enid," reproved Manton, in fatherly tones, "you'll have plenty of +time to vamp your publicity later. For the present, please listen to +me. We're talking business." + +"Shoot every hair of this old gray head!" she directed, pertly. + +She did not move away, however, I could feel the warmth of her, could +catch the delicacy of the perfume she used. I noted the play of her +slender fingers, the trimness of her ankle, the piquancy of a nose +revealed to me in profile--and nothing else. + +"This is your chance, Enid," Manton continued, earnestly and rather +eagerly. "You know the film will be the most talked about one this +year. We've got the Merritt papers lined up and that's the best +advertising in the world. Everyone will know you took Stella's place, +and--well, you'll step right in." + +She studied the tips of her boots, stretching boyish limbs straight in +front of her, then smoothing the soft folds of her skirt. + +"Talk money to me, Mr. Man!" she exclaimed. "Talk the shekels, the +golden shekels." + +"We're broke," he protested. "A thousand--" + +She shook her head. + +Werner broke in, suddenly anxious. "Don't pass up the chance, Enid," he +pleaded. "What can Pentangle do for you? And I've always wanted to +direct you again--" + +"I'll make it twelve hundred," Manton interrupted, "if you'll make the +contract personally with me. Then if Manton Pictures--" + +"All right!" She jumped to her feet, extending a hand straight forward +to each, the right to Manton, the left to Werner. "You're on!" + +I thought that I was forgotten. A wave of jealousy swept over me. After +all, she simply wanted me to write her up. In a daze I heard Manton. + +"You're a wise little girl, Enid," he told her. "Play the game right +with me and you'll climb high. The sky's the limit, now. I'll make +you--make you big!" + +With a full, warm smile she swung around to me and I knew I was not +being slighted, after all. + +"That's what Longfellow said, isn't it, Mr. Jameson?" + +"What?" My heart began to beat like a trip hammer. + +"Excelsior! Excelsior! It packs them in!" + +She laughed so infectiously that we all joined in. Then Manton turned +to Kennedy. + +"I've located Millard for you. He's to meet us at my apartment at +seven. It's six-thirty now. And you, Enid"--facing her--"if you'll +come, too, there's another man I want you to meet, and Larry, of +course, will be there--" + +Enid studied Kennedy. He was hesitating as though not sure whether to +accompany Manton or not. I never did learn what other course of action +had occurred to him. + +But I did notice that the little star, with her pert, upturned face, +seemed more anxious to have Kennedy go along than she was to meet the +mysterious individual mentioned without name by Manton. For an instant +she was on the point of addressing him, flippantly, no doubt. Then, I +think she was rather awed at Craig's reputation. + +All at once she shrugged her shoulders and turned to me, plucking my +sleeve, her expression brightening irresistibly. "You'll come, +too"--dimpling--"Jamie!" + + + + +VIII + +LAWRENCE MILLARD + + +It struck me on the trip to Manton's apartment that the film people +were wholly unfeeling, were even uninterested in the death of Stella +Lamar except where it interfered with their business arrangements. +Werner excused himself and did not accompany us, on the score of the +complete realignment of production necessary to place Enid in Stella's +part. It seemed to me that he felt a certain relish in the problem, +that he was almost glad of the circumstances which brought Enid to him. +His last words to Manton were, to be sure to have Millard recast the +action of the scenes wherever possible, so as to give Enid the better +chance to display her own personality. + +I marveled as I realized that the remains of Stella Lamar were scarcely +cold before these people were figuring on the star to take her place. + +As Manton talked, the thought crossed my mind that such a man needed no +publicity manager. I dismissed the idea that he might be capable even +of murder for publicity. But at least it was an insight into some +methods of the game. + +As our car mounted to the Concourse and turned Manhattanward I was +distinctly unhappy. Manton monopolized Enid completely, insisting upon +talking over everything under the sun, from the wardrobe she would need +in Stella's part and the best sort of personal advertising campaign for +her, to the first available evening when she could go to dinner with +him. + +She sat in the rear seat, between Kennedy and the promoter, which did +not add to my sense of comfort. The only consoling feature from my +viewpoint was that I was admirably placed to study her, and that Manton +held her so engrossed that I had every opportunity to do so unnoticed. +Because she had overwhelmed me so completely I did nothing of the kind. +I knew we were riding with the most beautiful woman in New York, but I +did not know the color of her hair or eyes, or even the sort of hat or +dress she wore. In short I was movie-struck. + +We stopped at last at a huge, ornate apartment house on Riverside Drive +and Manton led the way through the wide Renaissance entrance and the +luxurious marble hall to the elevator. His quarters, on the top floor, +facing the river, were almost exotic in the lavishness and barbaric +splendor of their furnishings. My first impression as we entered the +place was that Manton had purposely planned the dim lights of rich +amber and the clinging Oriental fragrance hovering about everything so +as to produce an alluring and enticing atmosphere. The chairs and wide +upholstered window seats, the soft, yielding divans in at least two +corners, with their miniature mountains of tiny pillows, all were +comfortable with the comfort one associates with lotus eating and that +homeward journey soon to be forgotten. There was the smoke of incense, +unmistakably. On a taboret were cigarettes and cigars and through heavy +curtains I caught a glimpse of a sideboard and decanters, filled and +set out very frankly. + +A Japanese butler, whom Manton called Huroki, took our hats and +retreated with a certain emanating effluvium of subtlety such as I had +known only once before, when the Oriental attendant left me on the +occasion of my only visit to an opium den in Chinatown. + +A moment later Millard, who had been waiting, rose to greet us. + +I would have guessed him to be an author, I believe, had I met him at +random anywhere in the city. He affected all the professional marks and +mannerisms, and yet he did so gracefully. I noticed, in the little hall +where Huroki placed our headgear, a single-jointed Malacca stick, a +dark-colored and soft-brimmed felt hat, and a battered brief-case. That +was Millard, unquestionably. The man himself was tall and loose-limbed, +heavy with an appearance of slenderness. His face was handsome, rather +intellectual in spite of rather than because of large horn-rimmed +glasses. His mouth and chin showed strength and determination, which +was a surprise to me. In fact, in no way did he seem to reveal the +artist. Lawrence Millard was a commercial writer, a dreamer never. + +First he greeted Enid, taking both of her hands in his. In this one +brief moment all my own little romance went glimmering, for I could not +blind myself to the softening of his expression, the welcoming light in +hers, the long interval in which their fingers remained interlaced. + +And then another thought came to me, hastened, fed and fattened upon my +jealousy. The sealed testimony in the case of Millard vs. Millard! +Could Enid, by any chance, be concerned in that? + +The next moment I dismissed the thought, or at least I thought I did +so. I tried to picture Enid's work on the Coast, to remember the short +time she had been in the East. It was possible Millard had known her +before she went to Los Angeles, but unlikely. + +Millard next turned to Kennedy. + +"I just learned of the tragedy a short while ago, Professor," he +exclaimed. "It is terrible, and so amazingly sudden, too! It--it has +upset me completely. Tell me, have you found anything? Have you +discovered any possible clue? Is there anything at all I can do to +help?" + +"I would like to ask a few questions," Kennedy explained. + +"By all means!" + +He extended a hand to me and I found it damp and flabby, as though he +were more concerned than his manner betrayed. He faced Kennedy again, +however, immediately. + +"Stella and I didn't make a go of our married life at all," he went on, +frankly enough. "I was very sorry, too, because I was genuinely fond of +her." + +"How recently have you seen her?" + +"Stella? Not for over a month--perhaps longer than that." + +Manton took Enid by the arm. It was evidently her first visit to the +apartment and he was anxious to show her his various treasures. + +Millard, Kennedy, and I found a corner affording a view out over the +Hudson. After Kennedy had described, briefly, the circumstances of +Stella's death, at Millard's insistence, he produced the note he had +found in her handbag. The author recognized it at once, without reading +it. + +"Yes, I wrote that!" Then just a trace of emotion crept into his voice. +"I was too late," he murmured. + +"What was it you wanted to say?" Kennedy inquired. + +Millard's glance traveled to Manton and Enid, a troubled something in +his expression. I could see that the promoter was making the most of +his tete-a-tete with the girl, but she seemed perfectly at ease and +quite capable of handling the man, and I, certainly, was more disturbed +at the interest of Millard. + +"I thought there was something about the business I ought to tell +Stella," he answered, finally. "Manton Pictures is pretty shaky." + +"Oh! Then Manton wasn't talking for effect when he told Miss Faye that +the company was broke?" + +"No, indeed! In fact, didn't Enid make her agreement with Manton +personally? That's what I advised her to do." + +Kennedy nodded. "But is Manton himself financially sound?" + +Millard laughed. "Lloyd Manton always has a dozen things up his sleeve. +He may have a million or he may owe a million." In the author's voice +was no respect for his employer. A touch of malice crept into his tone. +"Manton will make money for anyone who can make money for him," he +added, "that is, provided he has to do it." + +Kennedy and I exchanged glances. This was close to an assertion of +downright dishonesty. At that moment Huroki stole in on padded feet, as +noiseless as a wraith. + +"Yes, Huroki?" His master turned, inquiringly. + +"Mr. Leigh," was the butler's announcement. + +"Show him in," said Manton; then he hurried over to us. "Courtlandt +Leigh, the banker, you know." + +I imagine I showed my surprise, for Kennedy smiled as he caught my +face. Leigh was a bigger man than Phelps, of the highest standing in +downtown financial circles. If Manton had interested Courtlandt Leigh +in moving pictures he was a wizard indeed. + +It seemed to me that the banker was hardly in the apartment before he +saw Enid, and from that moment the girl engrossed him to the exclusion +of everything else. For Enid, I will say that she was a wonder. She +seemed to grasp the man's instant infatuation and immediately she set +about to complete the conquest, all without permitting him so much as +to touch her. + +"You'll excuse us?" remarked Manton, easily, as he drew Phelps and Enid +away. + +"See!" exclaimed Millard, in a low voice, frowning now as he watched +the girl. "Manton's clever! I've never known him unable to raise money, +and that's why I wanted Enid to have her contract with him personally. +If Manton Pictures blows up he'd put her in some other company." + +"He has more than one?" This seemed to puzzle Kennedy. + +"He's been interested in any number on the side," Millard explained. +"Now he's formed another, but it's a secret so far. You've heard of +Fortune Features, perhaps?" + +Kennedy looked at me, but I shook my head. + +"What is 'Fortune Features'?" Kennedy asked the question of Millard. + +"Just another company in which Manton has an interest," he replied, +casually. "That was why I said I advised that Enid make her contract +personally with Manton. If Manton Pictures goes up, then he will have +to swing her into Fortune Features--the other Manton enterprise, don't +you see?" He paused, then added: "By the way, don't say anything +outside about that. It isn't generally known--and as soon as anyone +does hear it, everybody in the film game will hear it. You don't know +how gossip travels in this business." + +Kennedy asked a few personal questions about Stella, but Millard's +answers indicated that he had not contemplated or even hoped for a +reconciliation, that his interest in his former wife had become +thoroughly platonic. Just now, however, he seemed unable to keep Manton +out of his mind. + +"Oh, Manton's clever!" he said, confidentially to Kennedy, as he +watched the promoter deftly maneuvering Leigh and Enid into a position +side by side. + +And indeed, as Millard talked, I began to get some inkling of how +really clever was the game which Manton played. + +"Why," continued Millard, warming up to his story--for, to him, above +all, a good story was something that had to be told, whatever might +result from it--"I have known him to pay a visit some afternoon to Wall +Street--go down there to beard the old lions in their den. He always +used to show up about the closing time of the market. + +"I've known him to get into the office of some one like Leigh or +Phelps. Then he'll begin to talk about his brilliant prospects in the +company he happens to be promoting at the time. If you listen to Manton +you're lost. I know it--I've listened," he added, whimsically. + +"Well," he continued, "the banker will begin to get restless after a +bit--not at Manton, but at not getting away. 'My car is outside,' +Manton will say. 'Let me drive you uptown.' Of course, there's nothing +else for the banker to do but to accept, and when he gets into Manton's +car he's glad he did. I don't know anyone who picks out such luxurious +things as he does. Why, that man could walk right out along Automobile +Row, broke, and some one would GIVE him a car." + +"How does he do it?" I put the question to him. + +"How does a fish swim?" said Millard, smiling. "He's clever, I tell +you. Once he has the banker in the car, perhaps they stop for a few +moments at a club. At any rate, Manton usually contrives it so that, as +they approach his apartment, he has his talk all worked up to the point +where the banker is genuinely interested. You know there's almost +nothing people will talk to you longer about than moving pictures. + +"Well, on one pretext or another, Manton usually persuades the banker +to step up here for a moment. Poor simp! It's all over with him then. +I'll never forget how impressed Phelps was with this place the first +time. There, now, watch this fellow, Leigh. He thinks this looks like a +million dollars. We're all here, playing Manton's game. We're his +menagerie--he's Barnum. I tell you, Leigh's lost, lost!" + +I did not know quite what to make of Millard's cynicism. Was he trying +to be witty at Manton's expense? I noticed that he did not smile +himself. Although he was talking to us, his attention was not really on +us. He was still watching Enid. + +"Then, along would happen Stella, as if by chance." + +Millard paused bitterly, as though he did not quite relish the telling +it, but felt that Kennedy would pry it out of him or some one else +finally, and he might as well have it over with frankly. + +"Yes," he said, thoughtfully, "but it all wasn't really Manton's fault, +after all. Stella liked the Bohemian sort of life too much--and Manton +does the Bohemian up here wonderfully. It was too much for Stella. +Then, when Phelps came along and was roped in, she fell for him. It was +good-by, poor Millard! I wasn't rapid enough for that crowd." + +I almost began to sympathize with Millard in the association into +which, for his living's sake, his art had forced him. I realized, too, +that really the banker, the wise one from Wall Street, was the sucker. + +Indeed, as Millard told it, I could easily account for the temptation +of Stella. To a degree, I suppose, it was really her fault, for she +ought to have known the game, shown more sense than to be taken in by +the thing. I wondered at the continued relations of Millard with +Manton, under the circumstances. However, I reflected, if Stella had +chosen to play the little fool, why should Millard have allowed that to +ruin his own chances? + +What interested me now was that Millard did not seem to relish the +attentions which the banker was paying to Enid. Was Manton framing up +the same sort of game again on Leigh? + +However, when Enid shot a quick glance at Millard in an aside of the +conversation, accompanied by a merry wink, I saw that Millard, though +still doubtful, was much more at ease. + +Evidently there was a tacit understanding between the two. + +Kennedy glanced over at me. Bit by bit the checkered history of Stella +Lamar's life was coming to light. + +I began to see more clearly. Deserting Millard and fascinated by Manton +and his game, she had been used to interest Phelps in the company. In +turn she had been dazzled by the glitter of the Phelps gold. She had +not proved loyal even to the producer and promoter. + +Perhaps, I reflected, that was why Millard was so apparently +complacent. One could not, under the circumstances, have expected him +to display wild emotion. His attitude had been that of one who thought, +"She almost broke me; let her break some one else." + +That, however, was not his attitude toward Enid now. Indeed, he seemed +genuinely concerned that she should not follow in the same steps. + +Later, I learned that was not all of the history of Stella. Fifteen +hundred dollars a week of her own money, besides lavish presents, had +been too much for her. Even Phelps's money had had no over-burdening +attraction for her. The world--at least that part of it which spends +money on Broadway, had been open to her. Jack Daring had charmed her +for a while--hence the engagement. Of Shirley, I did not even know. +Perhaps the masterful crime roles he played might have promised some +new thrill, with the possibility that they expressed something latent +in his life. At any rate, she had dilettanted about him, to the +amazement and dismay of Marilyn. That we knew. + +The dinner hour was approaching, and, in spite of the urgent invitation +of Manton, Leigh was forced to excuse himself to keep a previous +appointment. I felt, though, that he would have broken it if only Enid +had added her urging. But she did not, much to the relief of Millard. +Manton took it in good part. Perhaps he was wise enough to reflect that +many other afternoons were in the lap of the future. + +"What is Manton up to?" Kennedy spoke to Millard. "Is it off with the +old and on with the new? Is Phelps to be cast aside like a squeezed-out +lemon, and Leigh taken on for a new citrus fruit?" + +Millard smiled. He said nothing, but the knowing glance was +confirmation enough that in his opinion Kennedy had expressed the state +of affairs correctly. + +Millard hastened to the side of Enid at once and we learned then that +they had a theater engagement together and that Millard had the tickets +in his pocket. Once more I realized it was no new or recent +acquaintanceship between these two. Again I wondered what woman had +been named in Stella Lamar's divorce suit, and again dismissed the +thought that it could be Enid. + +Kennedy took his hat and handed me mine. "We must eat, Walter, as well +as the rest of them," he remarked, when Manton led the way to the door. + +I was loath to leave and I suppose I showed it. The truth was that +little Enid Faye had captivated me. It was hard to tear myself away. + +In the entrance I hesitated, wondering whether I should say good-by to +her. She seemed engrossed with Millard. + +A second time she took me clean off my feet. While I stood there, +foolishly, she left Millard and rushed up, extending her little hand +and allowing it to rest for a moment clasped in mine. + +"We didn't have a single opportunity to get acquainted, Mr. Jameson," +she complained, real regret in the soft cadences of her voice. "Won't +you phone me sometime? My name's in the book, or I'll be at the +studio--" + +I was tongue-tied. My glance, shifting from hers because I was suddenly +afraid of myself, encountered the gaze of Millard from behind. Now I +detected the unmistakable fire of jealousy in the eyes of the author. I +presume I was never built to be a heavy lover. Up and down my spine +went a shiver of fear. I dropped Enid's hand and turned away abruptly. + + + + +IX + +WHITE-LIGHT SHADOWS + + +"What do you think of it?" I asked Kennedy, when we were half through +our meal at a tiny restaurant on upper Broadway. + +"We're still fumbling in the dark," he replied. + +"There's the towel--" + +"Yes, and almost any one on Mackay's list of nine suspects could have +placed it in that washroom." + +"Well--" I was determined to draw him out. My own impressions, I must +confess, were gloriously muddled. "Manton heads the list," I suggested. +"Everyone says she was mixed up with him." + +"Manton may have philandered with her; undoubtedly he takes a personal +interest in all his stars." Kennedy, I saw, remembered the promoter's +close attentions to Enid Faye. "Nevertheless, Walter, he is first and +foremost and all the time the man of business. His heart is in his +dollars and Millard even suggests that he is none too scrupulous." + +"If he had an affair with Stella," I rejoined, "and she became +up-stage--the note you found suggested trouble, you know--then Manton +in a burst of passion--" + +"No!" Kennedy stopped me. "Don't forget that this was a cold-blooded, +calculated crime. I'm not eliminating Manton yet, but until we find +some tangible evidence of trouble between Stella and himself we can +hardly assume he would kill the girl who's made him perhaps a million +dollars. Every motive in Manton's case is a motive against the crime." + +"That eliminates Phelps, then, too. He nearly owned the company." + +"Yes, unless something happened to outweigh financial considerations in +his mind also." + +"But, good heavens! Kennedy," I protested. "If you go on that way +you'll not eliminate anyone." + +"I can't yet," he explained, patiently. "It's just as I said. We're +fishing in the dark, absolutely. So far we haven't a single basic fact +on which to build any structure of hypothesis. We must go on fishing. I +expect you to dig up all the facts about these people; every odd bit of +gossip or rumor or anything else. I'll bring my science to play, but +there's nothing I can do except analyze Stella's stomach contents and +the spots on the towel; that is, until we've got a much more tangible +lead than any which have developed so far." + +"Is there anything I can do to-night?" + +"Yes!" He looked at his watch. "There are two men who were very close +to Miss Lamar. Jack Gordon was engaged to her, Merle Shirley seemed to +have been mixed up with her seriously. All the picture people have +night haunts. See what you can find about these two men." + +"But I don't know where to find them offhand, and--" + +"Both belong to the Goats Club, probably. Try that as a start." + +I nodded and began to hurry my dessert. But I could not resist +questioning him. + +"You think they are the most likely suspects?" + +"No, but they were intimately associated with Miss Lamar in her daily +life and they are the two we have learned the least about." + +"Oh!" I was disappointed. Then I rallied to the attack for a final +time. "Who is the most likely one. Just satisfy my curiosity, Craig." + +He took a folded note from his pocket, opening it. It was the +memorandum from Manton's desk which I had mentioned. In a flash I +understood. + +"Werner!" I exclaimed. "They said he was mixed up with her, too. He was +the first back and out of the car and he had time to clean a needle on +the towel, had a better opportunity than anyone else. More"--I began to +get excited--"he was lying on the floor close to her in the scene and +could have jabbed her with a needle very easily, and--and he was +extremely nervous when you questioned him, the most nervous of all, +and--and, finally, he had a motive, he wanted to get Enid Faye with +Manton Pictures, as this note shows." + +"Very good, Walter." Kennedy's eyes were dancing in amusement. "It is +true that Werner had the best motive, so far as we know now, but it's a +fantastic one. Men don't commit cold-blooded murder just to create a +vacancy for a movie star. If Werner was going to kill Miss Lamar he +never would have written this note about Miss Faye." + +"Unless to divert suspicion," I suggested. + +He shook his head. "The whole thing's too bizarre." + +"Werner was close to her in the dark. All the other things point to +him, don't they?" + +"It's too bad everyone wasn't searched, at that," Kennedy admitted. +"Nevertheless, at the time I realized that Werner had had the best +opportunity for the actual performance of the crime and I watched him +very closely and made him go through every movement just so I could +study him. I believe he's innocent--at least as far as I've gone in the +case." + +I determined to stick to my opinion. "I believe it's Werner," I +insisted. + +"By the time you've dug up all the gossip about Gordon and Shirley you +won't be so sure, Walter." + +I was, however. Kennedy was not as familiar with the picture world as +I. I had heard of too many actual happenings more strange and bizarre +and wildly fantastic than anything conceivable in other walks of life. +People in the film game, as they call it, live highly seasoned lives in +which everything is exaggerated. The mere desire to make a place for +Enid might not have actuated Werner, granting he was the guilty man. +Nevertheless it could easily have contributed. And it struck me +suddenly, an additional argument, that Werner, of all of them, was the +most familiar with the script. He had been able to cast himself for the +part of old Remsen. There was not a detail which he could not have +arranged very skillfully. + +At the Goats Club I was lucky to discover a member whom I knew well +enough to take into my confidence by stating my errand. He was one of +the Star's former special writers and an older classman of the college +which had graduated Kennedy and myself. + +"Merle Shirley is not a member here," he said. "As a matter of fact, +I've only just heard the name. But Jack Gordon's a Goat, worse luck. +That fellow's a bad actor--in real life--and a disgrace to us." + +"Tell me all you know about him?" I asked. + +"Well, to give you an example, he was in here just about a week ago. I +was sitting in the grill, eating an after-theater supper, when I heard +the most terrible racket. He and Emery Phelps, the banker, you know, +were having an honest-to-goodness fight right out in the lobby. It took +three of the men to separate them." + +"What was it all about." + +"Well, Gordon owes money right and left, not a few hundred or some +little personal debts like that, but thousands and thousands of +dollars. I got it from some of the other men here that he has been +speculating on the curb downtown, losing consistently. More than that, +he's engaged to Stella Lamar--you knew that?--and he's been blowing +money on her. Then they tell me his professional work is suffering, +that his recent screen appearances are terrible; the result of late +hours and worry, I suppose." + +"The fight with Phelps was over money?" + +"Of course! I figure that he kept drawing against his salary at the +studio until the film company shut down on him. Then probably he began +to borrow from Phelps, who's Manton's backer now, until the banker shut +down on him also. At any rate, Phelps had begun to dun him and it led +to the fight." + +"That's all you know about Gordon?" + +"Lord! Isn't it enough?" + +I walked out of the club and toward Broadway, reflecting upon this +information. Could Gordon's debts have any bearing upon the case? All +at once one possibility struck me. He had been borrowing from Phelps. +Perhaps he had borrowed from Stella also. Perhaps that was the cause of +their quarrel. Perhaps she had threatened to make trouble--it was a +slender motive, but worth bringing to the attention of Kennedy. + +My immediate problem, however, was to obtain some information about +Merle Shirley. At first I thought I would make the rounds of some of +the better-known cafes, but that seemed a hopeless task. Suddenly I +remembered Belle Balcom, formerly with the Star. I recollected a +previous case of Kennedy's where she and I had been great rivals in the +quest of news. I recalled a trip we had made to Greenwich Village +together. Belle knew more people about town than any other newspaper +woman. Now, for some months, she had been connected with Screenings, a +leading cinema "fan" magazine, and would unquestionably be posted upon +the photoplayers. + +Luckily, I caught her at home. + +"Bless your soul," she told me over the phone, in delight, "I've just +been aching for some one to take me out to-night. We'll go to the +Midnight Fads and if Shirley isn't there the head waiter will tell you +all I don't remember. It was a glorious fight." + +She wouldn't say any more over the phone, but I was hugely curious. Had +there been another encounter with fists? And who had been involved? + +When she met me finally, at the Subway station, and when we obtained an +out-of-the-way table at the Fads, she explained. It seemed that Shirley +had met Stella there a number of times and that Gordon, at last, had +got wind of it. Gordon first had come up himself, quietly, pleading +with Stella. She had been in a high humor and had refused even to +listen to him. Then he had become insulting. At that Shirley knocked +him down. + +The head waiter, a witness of the affair, ordered Gordon put out, but +did not request Shirley or Stella to leave, because the other man had +been the aggressor without any question. After more than an hour Gordon +returned, quietly and unobtrusively, with another girl. From Belle's +description I knew it was Marilyn Loring. Taking another table, Marilyn +had stared at Shirley reproachfully while Gordon had glared at Stella. + +Shirley put up with this for just about so long. As Belle described it, +his face gradually became more and more red and he controlled himself +with increasing difficulty. Stella, seeing the coming of the storm, +tried to get him to go. He refused. She threatened to leave him. He +paid no attention. All at once he boiled over and with great strides +walked over to Gordon and mauled him all over the place. The leading +man had no chance whatever in the hands of the irate Westerner. Several +waiters, attempting to intervene, were flung aside. Only when Shirley +began to cool off were they able to eject the two men. Both Stella and +Marilyn had left, separately, before that. Neither of the men or women +had been at the Fads since, or at least the head waiter, called over by +Belle, so informed us. + +Unable to obtain any other facts of interest, I returned finally to the +apartment shared by Kennedy and myself. First he listened to my +account, plainly interested. Then, when I had concluded, he rose and +faced me rather gravely. + +"It's getting more and more complicated, Walter," he exclaimed. "After +you left I remembered that there was one point of investigation I had +failed to cover--Miss Lamar's home here in the city. I got our old +friend, First-Deputy O'Connor, on the wire and learned that at the +request of Mackay, from Tarrytown, they had sent a man up to the place +and that just an hour or less before I called they had located and were +holding her colored maid. I hurried down to headquarters and questioned +the girl." + +"Yes?" To me it sounded promising. + +"The negress didn't know a thing so far as the crime is concerned," +Kennedy went on, "but I gained quite an insight into the private life +of the star." + +"You mean--" + +"I mean I know the men who went to Miss Lamar's apartment, although +beyond the fact of her receiving them I can tell nothing, for she sent +the maid home at night; there were no maid's quarters." + +"Their visits may have been perfectly innocent?" + +"Of course! We can only draw conclusions." + +"Who were the various callers?" + +"Jack Gordon--" + +"Her fiance!" + +"Merle Shirley--" + +"Shirley admitted it when you questioned him." + +"Manton--" + +"Everyone knows that!" + +"Werner--" A side glance at me. + +I said nothing. My expression spoke for me. + +"And Emery Phelps!" + +At that I did show surprise. Although Mackay had hinted at something of +the kind, I, for one, had not considered the banker seriously. + +"Good heavens! Kennedy," I exploded. "She was mixed up with just about +every man connected with the company." + +"Exactly!" As usual, he seemed calm and unconcerned. + +I could regard the case only with increasing amazement--the bitter, +conflicting emotions of Manton and Phelps, of Daring, Shirley, and +Millard. With them all Stella had been the pretty trouble maker. + +"How do you suppose they could all remain in the same company?" I +showed my surprise at the situation. + +Kennedy pondered a moment, then replied: + +"A moment's reflection ought to give you one answer. I think, Walter, +they were either under contract or they had their money in the company. +They couldn't break." + +"I suppose so. What I wonder is, was Marilyn as jealous of Stella as +her screen character would make her in a story? She's the only one we +don't hear much about." + +Kennedy did not seem, at least at present, to give this phase of it +anything like the weight he credited to the frenzied financial +relations the case was uncovering. + +It was true, as I learned later, that Manton was at that very moment +doing perhaps as much as anyone else ever did to discredit the picture +game in Wall Street. + + + + +X + +CHEMICAL RESEARCH + + +The following morning I found Kennedy up ahead of me, and I felt +certain that he had gone to the laboratory. Sure enough, I found him at +work in the midst of the innumerable scientific devices which he had +gathered during years of crime detection of every sort. + +As usual, he was surrounded by a perfect litter of test tubes, beakers, +reagents, microscopes, slides, and culture tubes. He had cut out the +curious spots from the towel I had discovered and was studying them to +determine their nature. From the mass of paraphernalia I knew he was +neglecting no possibility which might lead to the hidden truth or +produce a clue to the crime. + +"Have you learned anything yet?" I asked. + +"Those brownish spots were blood, of course," was his reply as he +stopped a moment in his work. "In the blood I discovered some other +substance, though I can't seem to identify it yet. It will take time. I +thought it might be a drug or poison, but it doesn't seem to be--at +least nothing one might ordinarily expect." + +"How about the other spots, not the Chinese yellow?" + +"Another problem I haven't solved. I dissolved enough of them so that I +have plenty of material to study if I don't waste it. But so far I +haven't been able to identify the substance with anything I know. +There's a lot more work of elimination, Walter, before we're on the +road to the solution of this case. Whatever stained the towel was very +unusual. As near as I can make out the spots are of some protein +composition. But it's not exactly a poison, although many proteins may +be extremely poisonous and extremely difficult to identify because they +are of organic nature." + +I was disappointed. It seemed to me that he had made comparatively +little progress so far. + +"There's one thing," he added. "Samples of the body fluids of the +victim have been sent down by the coroner at Tarrytown and I have +analyzed them. While I haven't decided what it was that killed Stella +Lamar, I am at least convinced that it has something to do with these +towel spots. They are not exactly the same--in fact, I should say they +were complementary, or, perhaps better, antithetical." + +"The mark wasn't made by the needle which scratched her, then?" + +"That's what I thought at first, that the point used had been wiped off +on the towel. Then I decided that the spots had nothing to do with the +case at all. Now I believe there is some connection, after all." + +"I--I don't understand it," I protested. + +"It's very baffling," he agreed, absent-mindedly. + +"If the towel wasn't used to clean the fatal needle," I went on, "then +it may have been used before they went out instead of afterward." + +"Exactly. As a matter of fact, if I had not been so confused yesterday +by all the details of the case, by the many people involved, I would +have noticed at a glance that the blood spots on the towel could not +come from some one using it to wipe the needle. And any hypothesis that +it had been used out in Tarrytown was ridiculous, because Miss Lamar +was only scratched faintly and lost no blood. If I had been a little +more clever I might have been altogether too clever. I might possibly +have thrown the towel away, because there certainly was no logical +reason for connecting it with the crime." + +"Just when do you suppose Stella was pricked?" I asked. + +"That's a vital consideration. Just now I do not know the poison and so +cannot tell how quickly it acted." He began to put aside his various +paraphernalia. "Suppose we go at this thing by a process of deduction +rather than from the end of scientific analysis." He sat on a corner of +the bench. "What do we find?" he began. + +"While I've been working here with the test tubes and the microscope +I've been trying to reconstruct what must have happened, trying to +trace out every action of Stella Lamar as nearly as it is possible for +us to do so. I don't think we need to go back of their arrival at the +house, for the present. They seem to have been there a long while +before the taking of the particular scene, since there were twelve +other scenes preceding and since it requires time to put up the +electric lights and make the connections, as well as to set the +cameras, take tests, rearrange the furniture, and all the rest of it. + +"They arrived at the house in two automobiles; with the exception of +Phelps, who was there already, and Manton, who came in his own +limousine. That means that Miss Lamar had company on the trip out, the +principals probably riding with each other in one car. At the house +they were all more or less together. There were people about constantly +and it would seem as if there was small opportunity for anyone to +inflict the scratch which caused her death. I don't mean that it would +have been impossible to prick her. I mean that she would have felt the +jab of the point. In all likelihood she would have cried out and +glanced around. Take a needle yourself, sometime, Walter, and try to +duplicate the scratch on your own arm in such a way that you would not +be aware of it. + +"So you see I'm counting upon some sort of exclamation from Miss Lamar. +If she were inoculated with the poison with other folks about, it is +sure some one would have remembered a cry, a questioning glance, a +quick grasp of the forearm--for the nerves are very sensitive in the +skin there--" + +"No one did recall anything of the kind," I interrupted. + +"It is from that fact that I hope to deduce something. Now let's follow +her, figuratively, to her little dressing room. This was a part of the +living room where the rest waited. It is not a certainty, but yet +rather a sure guess, that if she had received a scratch behind those +thin silk curtains her cry would have been heard. What is even more +plausible is that she would have hurried out, or at least put her head +out, to see who had pricked her. + +"I made a very careful examination of that little alcove with the idea +that some artifice might have been used. It occurred to me that a +poisoned point could have been inserted in her belongings in some way +so that she would have brought about her own death, directly. To have +caught herself on a needle point in her bag, for instance, would not +have impressed her to the point of making a disturbance. She might have +checked her exclamation, in that case, because she would be blaming +herself. + +"But I found nothing in her things, nor did I discover anything in the +library. It seems to me, therefore, that we must look for a direct +human agency." + +A thought struck me and I hastened to suggest it. "Could some device +have been arranged in her clothes, Craig; something like the poison +rings of the Middle Ages, a tiny metal thing to spring open and expose +its point when pressed against her in the action of the scenes?" + +"That occurred to me at the time. That's why I asked Mackay to send all +her clothes down here, every stitch and rag of them. I've gone over +everything already this morning. Not only have I examined the various +materials for stains, but I've tested each hook and eye and button and +pin. I've been very careful to cover that possibility." + +"You think, then, she was scratched deliberately by some one during the +taking of the scenes?" + +"If you've followed my line of reasoning you will see that we are +driven to that assumption. Perhaps later I will make tests on a given +number of girls of Stella's general age and type and temperament to +show that they will cry out at the unexpected prick of a fine needle. +It's illogical to expect that a cry from Miss Lamar, even an +exclamation, would have passed unnoticed except during the excitement +of actual picture taking." + +Another inspiration came to me, but I was almost afraid to voice it. It +seemed a daring theory. "Could death have resulted from poison +administered in some other fashion, by something she had eaten, for +instance?" I ventured. "Couldn't the scratch be coincidental?" + +Kennedy shook his head. "There's the value of our chemical analysis and +scientific tests. Her stomach contents showed nothing except as they +might have been affected by her weakened condition. From Doctor Blake's +report--and he found no ordinary symptoms, remember--and from my own +observation, too, I can easily prove in court that she was killed by +the mark which was so small that it escaped the physician altogether." + +I turned away. Once more Kennedy's reasoning seemed to be leading into +a maze of considerations beyond me. How could the deductive method +produce results in a case as mysterious as this? + +"Having determined that Miss Lamar received the inoculation during the +making of one of the scenes, as nearly as we can do so," Kennedy went +on, "suppose we take the scenes in order, one at a time, from the last +photographed to the first, analyzing each in turn. Remember that we +seek a situation where there is not only an opportunity to jab her with +a needle, but one in which an outcry would be muffled or inaudible." + +I now saw that Kennedy had brought in the bound script of the story, +"The Black Terror," and I wondered again, as I had often before, at his +marvelous capacity for attention to detail. + +"'The spotlight on the floor reveals the girl sobbing over the body of +the millionaire,'" he read, aloud, musingly. "H'mm! 'She screams and +cries out.' Then the others rush in." + +For several moments Kennedy paced the floor of the laboratory, the +manuscript open in his hands. + +"We rehearsed that, with Werner; and we questioned everyone, too. And +remember! Miss Lamar, instead of crying out as she was supposed to do, +just crumpled up silently. So"--thumbing over a page--"we work back to +scene twelve. She--she was not in that at all. Scene eleven--" + +Slowly, carefully, Kennedy went through each scene to the beginning. +"Certainly a dramatic opening for a mystery picture," he remarked, +suddenly, as though his mind had wandered from his problem to other +things. "We must admit that Millard can handle a moving-picture +scenario most beautifully." + +Whether it was professional jealousy or the thought of Enid, rather +than the memory of my own poor attempts at screen writing, I certainly +was in no mood to agree with Kennedy, for all that I knew he was +correct. + +"Here!" He thrust the binder in my hands. "Read that first scene," he +directed. "Meanwhile I am going to phone Mackay to make sure he has had +the house guarded and to make double sure no one goes near the library. +We're going out to Tarrytown again, Walter, and in the biggest kind of +hurry." + +"What's the idea, Craig?" Kennedy's occasional bursts of +mysteriousness, characteristic of him and often necessary when his +theories were only half formed and too chaotic for explanations, always +piqued me. + +He did not seem to hear. Already he was at the telephone, manipulating +the receiver hook impatiently. "What a dummy I am!" he exclaimed, with +genuine feeling. "What--what an awful dummy!" + +Knowing I would get nothing out of him just yet, I turned to the scene, +reading as he told me. At first I could not see where the detail +concerned Stella Lamar in any way. Then I came to the description of +her introductory entrance, the initial view of her in the film. The +lines of typewriting suddenly stood out before me in all their +suggestive clearness. + + The spotlight in the hands of a shadowy figure roves across + the wall and to the portieres. As it pauses there the + portieres move and the fingers of a girl are seen on the + edge of the silk. A bare and beautiful arm is thrust through + almost to the shoulder and it begins to move the portieres + aside, reaching upward to pull the curtains apart at the + rings. + +"You think there's something about the portieres--" I began. + +Then I saw that Kennedy had his connection, that something disturbed +him, that some intelligence from the other end had caught him by +surprise. + +"You say you were just trying to get me, Mackay? You've something to +tell me and you want me to come right out--you have summoned Phelps and +he's on his way from the city also--?" + +"What happened?" I asked, as Kennedy hung up. + +"I don't know, Walter. Mackay said he didn't want to talk over the +phone and that we had just time to catch the express." + +"But--" + +"Hurry!" He glanced about as if wondering whether any of his scientific +instruments would help him. + + + + +XI + +FORESTALLED + + +On the train Kennedy left me, to look through the other cars, having +the idea that Phelps might be aboard also. But there were no signs of +the banker. We would reach Tarrytown first unless he had chosen to +motor out. + +Mackay was waiting at the station to meet us and to take us to the +house. The little district attorney was obviously excited. + +"Was the place guarded well last night?" asked Kennedy, almost before +we had shaken hands. + +"Yes--that is, I thought it was. That's what I want to tell you. After +you left with Manton and Werner the rest of the company packed up and +pulled out in the two studio cars. I was a little in doubt what to do +about Phelps, but he settled it himself by announcing that he was going +to town. The coroner came and issued the permit to remove the body and +that was taken away. I think the house and the presence of the dead +girl and all the rest of it got on Phelps's nerves, because he was +irritable and impatient, unwilling to wait for his own car, until +finally I drove him to the station myself." + +"Was anyone, any of those on our list of possible suspects at least, +alone in the room--or in the house?" + +"Not while I was there," Mackay replied. "I took good care of that. +Then, when everyone was gone and while Phelps was waiting for me, I +detailed two of my deputies to stay on guard--one inside and one +outside--for the night. I thought it sufficient precaution, since you +had made your preliminary examination." + +"And--" Kennedy nodded, seeking to hurry the explanation. + +"And yet," added Mackay, "some one entered the house last night in +spite of us." + +Kennedy fairly swore under his breath. He seemed to blame himself for +some omission in his investigation the previous afternoon. + +"How did it happen?" I asked, rather excitedly. + +"It was about three o'clock, the guards tell me. The man inside was +dozing in a chair before the living-room fireplace. He was placed so he +could command a view of the doorway to the library as well as the +stairs and reception hall. All at once he was awakened by a shot and a +cry from outside. He jumped up and ran toward the library. As he did so +the portieres bellied in toward him, as if in stiff sudden draught, or +as if some one had darted into their folds quickly, then out. With no +hesitation he drew his own weapon, rushing the curtains. There was no +one secreted about them. Then, with the revolver in one hand, he +switched on the lights. The room was empty. But one pair of French +windows at the farther end were wide open and it was that which had +caused the current of air. He ran over and found the lock had been +forced. It was not even an artistic job of jimmying." + +"What about the deputy posted outside?" prompted Kennedy. + +"That's the strange part of it. He was alert enough, but it's a big +house to watch. He swears that the first thing he knew of any trouble +was the sharp metallic click which he realized later was the sound made +by the intruder in forcing the catch of the French window. It was +pretty loud out in the quiet of a Tarrytown night. + +"He started around from the rear and then the next thing he caught was +the outline of a shadowy slinking figure as a man dropped out of the +library. He called. The intruder broke into a run, darting across the +open space of lawn and crashing through the shrubbery without any +further effort at concealment. My man called again and began to chase +the stranger, finally firing and missing. In the shrubbery a sharp +branch whipped him under the chin just as he obtained a clear view of +the outlined figure of his quarry and as he raised his weapon to shoot +again. The revolver was knocked from his hand and he was thrown back, +falling to the ground and momentarily stunned. Whoever broke into the +library got away, of course." + +"What did the intruder look like?" There was an eagerness in Kennedy's +manner. I grasped that the case was beginning to clarify itself in his +mind. + +Mackay shook his head. "There was no moon, you know, and everything +happened swiftly. + +"But was he tall or short or slender or stout--the deputy must have got +some vague idea of him at least." + +"It was one of my amateur deputies," Mackay admitted, reluctantly. "He +thought the man was hatless, but couldn't even be sure of that." + +"Were there footprints, or fingerprints--" + +"No, Mr. Kennedy, we're out of luck again. When he jumped out he fell +to his hands and knees in a garden bed. The foot marks were ruined +because his feet slid and simply made two irregular gashes. The marks +of his hands indicated to me, anyhow, that he wore heavy gloves, rubber +probably." + +"Any disturbance in the library?" + +"Not that I could notice. That's why I phoned you at once. I'm hoping +you'll discover something." + +"Well--" Kennedy sighed. "It was a wonderful opportunity to get to the +bottom of this." + +"I haven't told you all yet, Mr. Kennedy," Mackay went on. "There was a +second man, and--" + +"A second man?" Kennedy straightened, distinctly surprised. "I would +swear this whole thing was a one-man job." + +"They weren't together," the district attorney explained. "That's why I +didn't mention them both at once. But my deputy says that when he was +thrown by the lash of the branch he was unable to move for a few +seconds, on account of the nerve shock I suppose, and that while he was +motionless, squatted in a sort of sitting position with hands braced +behind him, just as he fell, he was aware of a second stranger +concealed in the shrubbery. + +"The second fellow was watching the first, without the question of a +doubt. While the deputy slowly rose to his feet this other chap started +to follow the man who had broken into the house. But at that moment +there was the sudden sound of a self-starter in a car, then the purr of +a motor and the clatter of gears. Number one spun off in the darkness +of the road as pretty as you please. Number two grunted, in plain +disgust. + +"By this time my deputy had his wind. His revolver was gone, but he +jumped the second stranger with little enough hesitation and they +battled royally for several minutes in the dark. Unfortunately, it was +an unequal match. The intruder apparently was a stocky man, built with +the strength of a battleship. He got away also, without leaving +anything behind him to serve for identification." + +"You have no more description than of the first man?" + +"Unfortunately not. Medium height, a little inclined to be stocky, +strong as a longshoreman--that's all." + +"Are you sure your deputy isn't romancing?" + +"Positively! He's the son of one of our best families here, a sportsman +and an athlete. I knew he loved a lark, or a chance for adventure, and +so I impressed him and a companion as deputies when I met them on the +street on my way up to Phelps's house just after the tragedy." + +Kennedy lapsed into thought. Who could the self-constituted watcher +have been? Who was interested in this case other than the proper +authorities? Apparently some one knew more than Mackay, more than +Kennedy. Whoever it was had made no effort to communicate with any of +us. This was a new angle to the mystery, a mystery which became deeper +as we progressed. + +At the house Kennedy first made a careful tour of the exterior, but +found nothing. Mackay had doubled his guards and had sent Phelps's +servants away so that there could be no interference. + +Once inside, I noticed that Kennedy seemed indisposed to make another +minute search of the library. He went over the frame of the French +window with his lens carefully, for fingerprints. Finding nothing, he +went back directly to the portieres. + +For several moments he stood regarding them in thought. Then he began a +most painstaking inspection of the cloth with the pocket glass, +beginning at the library side. + +I remembered that first scene in the manuscript which Kennedy had +insisted I read. I recalled the suspicion which had flashed to me +before the message from Mackay had disturbed both Kennedy's thoughts +and mine. Stella Lamar had thrust her bare arm through this curtain. A +needle, cleverly concealed in the folds, might easily have inflicted +the fatal scratch. It was for a trace of the poison point that Kennedy +searched. Of that I was sure, knowing his methods. + +I glanced up and down the heavy hanging silk, looking for the glint of +fine sharp steel as Kennedy had done before starting his inspection +with the glass. The color of the silk, a beautiful heavy velour, was a +strange dark tint very close to the grained black-brown of the +woodwork. Both the thickness of the material and its dull shade made +the portieres serve ideally for the purpose assumed now both by Kennedy +and myself. A tiny needle might remain secreted within their folds for +days. Nothing, certainly, caught my naked eye. + +At last a little exclamation from Kennedy showed us that he had +discovered something. I moved closer, as did Mackay. + +"It's lucky none of us toyed with these curtains yesterday," he +remarked, with a slight smile of gratification. "There might have been +more than one lying where Stella Lamar lies at the present moment." + +With wholesome respect neither Mackay nor myself touched the silk as +Kennedy pointed. There were two small holes, almost microscopic, in the +close-woven material. About the one there was the slightest +discoloration. Not a fraction of an inch away I saw two infinitesimal +spots of a dark brownish-red tinge. + +"What does it mean?" I asked, although I could guess. + +"The dark spots are blood, the discoloration the poison from the +needle." + +"And the needle?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. "That's where our very scientific culprit +has forestalled me, Walter! The needle was in these curtains all day +yesterday. Unfortunately, I did not study the manuscript, did not +attach any importance to Miss Lamar's scene at the portieres." + +"The man who broke in last night--" + +"Removed the needle, but"--almost amused--"not the traces of it. You +see, Walter, after all, the scientific detective cannot be forestalled +even by the most scientific criminal. There is nothing in the world +which does not leave its unmistakable mark behind, provided you can +read it. The hole in the cloth serves me quite as well as the needle +itself." + +Very suddenly a voice from behind us interrupted. + +"Find something?" + +I turned, startled, to see Emery Phelps. There was a distinct eagerness +in the banker's expression. + +"Yes!" Kennedy faced him, undisturbed, apparently not surprised. His +scrutiny of Phelps's face was frank and searching. "Yes," he repeated, +"bit by bit the guilty man is revealing himself to us." + + + + +XII + +EMERY PHELPS + + +"There--there is something the matter with the curtains?" Phelps +suggested. + +Kennedy pointed to the two holes and the spots. "Miss Lamar met her +death from poison introduced into her system through a tiny scratch +from a prepared needle." + +"Yes?" Phelps was calm now, and cool. I wondered if it were pretense on +his part. "What have these little marks to do with that?" + +"Don't you see?" rejoined Kennedy. "If some one had come here before +the scene in the picture was played; had thrust a small needle, perhaps +a hollow needle from a hypodermic syringe, through the heavy thickness +of this silk--thrust it in here, the point sticking out here--well, +there would be two holes left where the threads were forced apart, like +this!" Kennedy took his stickpin, demonstrating. + +"How could that cause Stella's death?" Phelps, at first quite upset +apparently by Kennedy's discovery, now was lapsing again into his +hostile mood. His question was cynical. + +"Try to recall Miss Lamar's actions," Kennedy went on, patiently. "What +was she supposed to do in the very first scene? 'The portieres move and +the fingers of a girl are seen on the edge of the silk. A bare and +beautiful arm is thrust through almost to the shoulder and it begins to +move the portieres aside, reaching upward to pull the curtains apart at +the rings.'" + +"Do you mean to tell me--" Phelps's eyes were very wide as he paused, +grasping the scheme and yet disbelieving--unless it all were a bit of +fine acting--"do you mean to tell me it is possible to calculate a +thing like that? How would anyone know where her arm would be?" + +"It is simpler than it sounds, Mr. Phelps." Kennedy was suddenly harsh. +"There is only one natural movement of an arm in that case. The culprit +was undoubtedly familiar with Miss Lamar's height and with her manner +of working. It is a bit of action which has to be repeated in both the +long shot and close-up scenes. Jameson here can tell you how many times +a scene is rehearsed. There probably were a dozen sure chances of the +needle striking the girl's bare flesh. You will see from the position +of the holes that it was arranged point downward and slightly turned +in, and on a particular fold of the curtain, too; showing that some one +placed it there only after a nice bit of calculation. Furthermore, it +was high enough so that there was little chance of anyone being pricked +except the star, whose death was intended." + +Phelps either seemed convinced, or else he felt it inadvisable to +irritate Kennedy by a further pretense of skepticism. + +A point occurred to me, however. "Listen, Craig!" I spoke in a low +voice. "Remember all the emphasis you placed upon the fact that she +would cry out. She was not supposed to cry out in that first scene." + +"No, Walter, but if you'll read the second, the close-up, you'll see +that the script actually calls for a cry. Now suppose she makes an +exclamation in the first instead. Nobody would think anything of it. +They would assume that she had played her action a little in advance, +perhaps. + +"And then consider this, too! Miss Lamar, receiving the scratch, would +cry out unquestionably. But she has been before the camera for years +and she is trained in the idea that film must not be wasted uselessly. +She would not interrupt her action for a little scratch because in +these circumstances any little startled movement would fit in with the +action. By the time the scene was over she would have forgotten the +incident. It would mean very little to her in the preoccupation of +bringing the mythical Stella Remsen into flesh-and-blood existence. The +poison, however, would be putting in its deadly work." + +"Wouldn't it act before the thirteenth scene--" I began. + +"Not necessarily. As a matter of fact, an actress, in the excitement of +her work, might resist the effects for a much longer period than some +one who realizes he is sick. Some day I'm going to write a book on +that. I'm going to collect hundreds of examples of people who keep +plugging along because they refuse to admit anything's the matter with +them. It's like Napoleon's courier who didn't drop until he'd delivered +his message and made his last precise military salute." + +One other thought struck me. "The blood spots on the curtain cannot be +Miss Lamar's if, as you say, the scratch brought no blood." + +"How about the nocturnal visitor who removed the needle in the dark? +Can't you imagine him pricking himself beautifully in his hurry." + +"Good heavens!" I felt the chills travel up and down my spine. "There +may be another fatality, then!" I exclaimed. + +Kennedy was noncommittal. "It would be too bad for justice to be +cheated in that fashion," he remarked. + +Phelps meanwhile had been listening to us impatiently. Finally he +turned to Mackay. + +"Was that all you called me out here for? Did you just want to show me +the pinholes in those portieres?" + +"Not exactly," Mackay replied, eyeing him sharply. "Some one forced his +way into this library last night. My guard saw him, and also saw a +second man who remained out in the shrubbery and seemed to be watching +the first. One shot was fired, but both men got away. An automobile was +waiting, perhaps two of them." + +"How does this concern me?" Phelps's voice rose in anger. He strode +into the library and over to the French windows, inspecting the damage +to the fine woodwork with steadily rising color. Then he hurried back +to the side of Mackay. + +"It's up to you, District-Attorney Mackay," he said, with a great show +of his ill feeling. "You practically forced me out of my own house. You +sent my servants away. You put your own guards in charge, young, +inexperienced deputies who don't know enough to come in when it's wet. +Now you have me make this trip out here in business hours just to show +me where a needle has been stuck in a curtain and where a pair of +imported window sashes have been ruined." + +Mackay was unruffled. "It is necessary, Mr. Phelps, that you look over +this room and see that nothing else has been disturbed; that there is +no further damage. Moreover, I thought you might be interested, might +wish to help us determine the identity of the intruder." + +"If there's any way I can really help you to do +that"--sarcastically--"I'll be delighted." + +"Were you here the night before the murder?" Mackay asked. + +"You know I seldom spend the night in Tarrytown. I have quarters in New +York, at the club, and recently I have been spending all my time in New +York, on account of the situation in the picture business." + +"You were not here the night before the murder, then?" + +"No!" + +"But you were out here yesterday before the actors arrived, before +Manton or any of his technical staff and crew came?" + +"I was out very early, to make sure the servants had the house ready." +Phelps was red now. "Are you insinuating anything, Mackay?" + +The little district attorney was demonstrating a certain quality of +dogged perseverance. "Some one put the needle in the curtain before the +company arrived. You probably were in the house at the time; or at the +least your servants were. Whoever did was the one who murdered Stella +Lamar." + +"And also," rejoined Phelps, tartly, "was the intruder who broke in +here last night and ruined my window sash. If you had had better guards +you might have caught him, too!" + +"Are you sure of your servants? Are they reliable--" + +"I never anticipated a murder and so I didn't question them as to their +poisoning proclivities when I engaged them. But you know where they are +and you can examine them. If I were you, Mackay--" + +"Gentlemen!" Kennedy hastened to stop the colloquy before it became an +out-and-out quarrel. Then he faced the banker. + +"Mr. Phelps," Kennedy's voice was soft, coaxing, "I don't think Mr. +Mackay quite understands. It would be a great service to me if you +would give the house a quick general inspection. You are familiar with +the things here, enough to state whether they have been disturbed to +any appreciable degree. You see, we do not know the interior +arrangements as they were before this unfortunate happening." + +With rather ill grace Phelps stalked up the steps, acceding to +Kennedy's request, but disdaining to answer. + +Kennedy turned to Mackay as the banker disappeared out of earshot. +"That's just to cool him off a bit. I have everything I came to get +right here." Producing a pair of pocket scissors, he cut the pierced +and spotted bit of silk from the portieres, ruthlessly. It was +necessary vandalism. + +"What was the poison, Mr. Kennedy?" Mackay asked, in a low voice. + +"I think that it was closely allied to the cyanide groups in its +rapacious activity." + +"But you haven't identified it yet?" + +"No. So far I haven't the slightest idea of its true nature. It seems +to have a powerful affinity for important nerve centers of respiration +and muscular co-ordination, as well as possessing a tendency to +disorganize the blood. I should say that it produces death by +respiratory paralysis and convulsions. To my mind it is an exact, +though perhaps less active, counterpart of hydrocyanic acid. But that +is not what it is or I would have been able to prove it before this." + +Mackay nodded, listening in silence. + +"You'll say nothing of this?" Kennedy added. + +"I'll be silent, of course." + +Heavy footsteps from the rear marked the return of Phelps, who had +covered the upper floors, descending by the back stairs so as to have a +look at the kitchen. + +"Everything seems to be all right," he remarked, half graciously. + +Kennedy led the way to the front porch. There he seemed more interested +in the weather than in the case, for he studied the sky intently. +Glancing up, I saw that the morning was still gray and cloudy, with no +promise that the sun would be able to struggle through the overhanging +moisture. + +"I don't think we'll go back to the city--that is, all the way in," he +remarked, speaking for both of us. "I want to go to the Manton studio +first. This is no day for exteriors and so they'll probably be working +there." He smiled at Phelps. "I want to see if any of our possible +suspects look as though they had been engaging in nocturnal journeys." + +Phelps had been rubbing his eyes. He dropped his hand so quickly that I +wanted to smile; then to cover his confusion he promptly offered to +drive us in. Mackay at the same time volunteered his car. + +Kennedy accepted the latter offer. As he thanked the banker I wondered +if any suspicion of that individual lurked in the back of his mind. +Phelps certainly had made a very bad impression upon me with his +antagonistic attitude, with his readiness to transform every question +into a personal affront. + +"Just one other thing, Mr. Phelps," exclaimed Kennedy, as we were about +to descend to Mackay's car. "Why did you wish the scenes in 'The Black +Terror' actually taken in your library?" + +Kennedy had asked the question before. Had he forgotten? I glanced at +the banker and read the same thought in his expression. + +"I--I'm proud of my library and I wanted to see it in pictures," he +replied, after some hesitation and with a little rancor. + +"Not to save money?" + +"It would be no appreciable saving." + +"I see." Kennedy was tantalizingly deliberate. "How long have you held +the controlling interest in Manton Pictures, Mr. Phelps?" + +"Uh"--in surprise--"nearly a year." + +"You could have had your library photographed at any time, then, simply +by stating your request as you did in this case. In that year there +have been pictures which would have served the purpose as well as this; +better, in fact, because in this picture the library seems to be dark +almost altogether. In other stories there probably were infinitely +better chances for the exhibition of the room. Why did you wait for +'The Black Terror'?" + +As a clear understanding of Kennedy's question and all it entailed +filtered into the mind of Phelps he became so red and flushed with +anger that I felt sure he was going to explode on the spot. + +"Because I didn't think of it before," he sputtered. + +"You said the situation in the picture business made it necessary for +you to stay in town. Is there any trouble between Manton and yourself?" + +"Not a bit!" + +"Was Stella Lamar making any trouble, of a business nature, such as +threatening to quit Manton Pictures?" + +"No!" Phelps' eyes now were narrowed to slits. + +"Are you sure?" + +With a great effort Phelps achieved a degree of self-control. He forced +a smile. His remark, presumed to be a pleasantry, I knew masked the +true state of his feelings. + +"As sure, Mr. Kennedy," he rejoined, awed by Kennedy's reputation even +in the full flood of his anger, "as sure as I am that I'd like to throw +you down these steps!" + + + + +XIII + +MARILYN LORING + + +The magic of Manton's name admitted us to the studio courtyard, and at +once I was struck by the change since the day before. Now the tank was +a dry, empty, shallow depression of concrete. The scenery, all the +paraphernalia assembled for the taking of water stuff, was gone. Except +for the parked automobiles in one corner and a few loitering figures +here and there the big quadrangle seemed absolutely deserted. + +In the general reception room Kennedy asked for Millard, but was told +he had not been out since the previous day. That was to be expected. +But Manton, it developed, was away also. He had telephoned in that he +would be detained until late afternoon on important business. I know +that I, for one, wondered if it were connected with Fortune Features. + +"It's just as well," Kennedy remarked, after convincing the boy at the +desk it was Manton's wish that we have the run of the place. "My real +object in coming was to watch the cast at work." + +We found our way to the small studio, called so in comparison with the +larger one where the huge ballroom and banquet sets were being built. +In reality it possessed a tremendous floor space. Now all the other +companies had been forced to make room for "The Black Terror" on +account of the emergency created by the death of Stella Lamar, and +there were any number of sets put up hastily for the retakes of the +scenes in which Stella had appeared. The effect of the whole upon a +strange beholder was weird. It was as though a cyclone had swept +through a town and had gathered up and deposited slices and corners and +sections of rooms and hallways and upper chambers, each complete with +furniture and ornaments, curtains, rugs, and hangings. Except for the +artistic harmony of things within the narrow lines of the camera's +view, nothing in this great armory-like place had any apparent relation +to anything else. Some of the sets were lighted, with actors and +technical crews at work. Others were dark, standing ready for use. +Still others were in varying states of construction or demolition. +Rising above every other impression was the noise. It was pandemonium. + +We saw Werner at work in a distant corner and strolled over. The +director was bustling about feverishly. I do not doubt that the grim +necessity of preparing the picture for a release date which was already +announced had resulted in this haste, without even a day of idleness in +respect for the memory of the dead star, yet it seemed cold-blooded and +mercenary to me. I thought that success was not deserved by an +enterprise so callous of human life, so unappreciative of human effort. + +Most of the cast were standing about, waiting. The scenes were being +taken in a small room, fitted as an office or private den, but +furnished luxuriously. Later I learned it was in the home of the +millionaire, Remsen, close off the library for which the actual room in +Phelps's home was photographed. + +Shirley and Gordon, I noticed, kept as far apart as possible. It was +quite intentional and I again caught belligerent glances between them. +On the other hand, both Enid and Marilyn Loring were calm and +self-possessed. Yet between these two I caught a coolness, a sort of +armed truce, in which each felt it would be a sign of weakness to admit +consciously even the near presence of the other. + +Werner was irascible, swearing roundly at the slightest provocation, +raging up and down at every little error. + +"Come now," he shouted, as we approached, "let's get this scene +now--number one twenty-six. Loring--Gordon! Shake a leg--here, I'll +read it again. 'Daring enters. He is scarcely seated at the desk, +examining papers, when Zelda enters in a filmy negligee. Daring looks +up amazed and Zelda pretends great agitation. Daring is not unkind to +her. He tells her he has not discovered the will as yet. Spoken title: +"I am sure that I can find a will and that you are provided for." +Continuing scene, Daring speaks the above. Zelda thanks him and +undulates toward the door with the well-known swaying walk of the +vampire. Daring turns to his papers and does not watch her further. She +looks over her shoulder, then exits, registering that she will get him +yet.'" Werner dropped his copy of the script. "Understand?" he barked. +"Make it fast now. We shouldn't do this over, but you were lousy +before, both of you!" Gordon extinguished a cigarette and entered the +set with a scowl. Marilyn rose and slipped out of a dressing gown +spotted with make-up and dark from its long service in the studios. +Underneath the wrapper the finest of silken draperies clung to her, +infinitely more intimate here in actuality and in the bright studio +lights than it would be upon the screen. I noticed the slim trimness of +her figure--could not help myself, in fact. And I saw also that she +shrank back just the least little bit before stepping to her place at +the door. It was modesty, a genuine girlish diffidence. In a moment I +revised my conception of her. Before, I had not been able to decide +whether Marilyn Loring was a woman with a gift for looking young, or a +flapper with the baffling sophistication affected these days by so many +of them. Now I knew somehow that she was just all girl, probably in her +early twenties. The brief instant of shyness had betrayed her. + +In the scene she changed. Marilyn Loring was an actress. The moment she +caught the click of the camera's turn there was a hardness about her +mouth, a faint dishonest touch to the play of her eye, a shameless +boldness to her movements concealed without concealment. In the flash +of a second she was Marilyn no longer, but Zelda, the ward of old +Remsen, an unscrupulous and willing ally of the "Black Terror." + +Werner damned the amount of footage used in the scene, then turned to +the next, with Enid and Gordon, in the same set, one of the necessary +retakes for which the room had been put up again. + +Enid had not noticed me and I somehow failed to shake off the feeling +of fear that the glance of Millard had given me. Faint heart I was, and +the answer was that I had yet to win the fair lady. To excuse myself I +pretended she was different under the lights. It was really true that, +as Zelda Remsen, Enid was not the fascinating creature I had met in +Werner's office. There was too much Mascaro on her lashes, too great an +amount of red and blue and even bright yellow in her make-up. In +striking contrast was the little coloring used by Stella Lamar, or even +Marilyn Loring. + +Enid's scene was a close-up in which the beginning of the love interest +in the story was shown. I noticed that as the cameras turned upon the +action the girl inch by inch shifted her position, almost +imperceptibly, until she was practically facing the lens. The +consequence was that Gordon, playing the lover, was forced to move also +in order to follow her face, and so was brought with his back toward +the camera. It was the pleasant little film trick known as "taking the +picture away" from a fellow actor. Enid was a "lens hog." + +The moment the scene was over Gordon rushed to Werner to protest. The +director, irritated and in a hurry, gave him small satisfaction. Both +players were called back under the lights for the next "take." As +Werner's back was turned Enid favored Gordon with a mischievous, +malicious glance. The leading man possessed very few friends, from what +I had heard. The new star evidently did not propose to become one of +them. + +"Let's pay our respects, socially," suggested Kennedy, at my elbow. + +I followed his glance and saw that Marilyn was seated alone, away from +the others, apparently forlorn. As we approached she drew her dressing +robe about her, smiling. With the smile her face lighted. It was in the +rare moments, just as her smile broke and spread, that she was pretty, +strikingly so. + +"Professor Kennedy," she exclaimed. "And Mr. Jameson, too! Sit down and +watch our new star." + +"What do you think of her?" Kennedy asked. + +"Enid?" Marilyn's expression became quizzical. "I think she's a clever +girl." + +"You mean something by that, don't you?" prompted Kennedy. + +She sobered. "No! Honestly!" For an instant she studied him with a +directness of gaze which I would have found disconcerting. "Don't tell +me"--she teased, again allowing the flash of a smile to illuminate her +features--"don't tell me the renowned and celebrated Professor Kennedy +suspects Enid Faye of murdering poor Stella to get her position." + +Kennedy laughed, turning to me. "There's the woman," he remarked. "We +may deduce and analyze and catalogue all the facts of science, but"--he +spread his palms wide, expressly--"it is as nothing against a woman's +intuition." Facing Marilyn again, he became frank. "You caught my +thought exactly, although it was not as bad as all that. I simply +wondered if Miss Faye might not have had something to do with the case." + +"Why?" I realized now that this Miss Loring, in addition to +considerable skill as an actress, in addition to rare beauty on the +screen, possessed a brain and the power to use it. She followed Kennedy +with greater ease than I, who knew him. + +"Why?" she repeated. + +"Perhaps it's the intuition of the male," he began, hesitatingly. + +She shook her head. "A man's intuition is not dependable. You see, a +woman gets her intuition first and fits her facts to it, while a man +takes a fact and then has an intuitive burst of inspiration as a +result. The woman puts her facts last and so is not thrown out when +they're wrong, as they usually are. But the man--I think, Professor +Kennedy, that you have some facts about Enid stored away and that +that's why you put a double meaning in my remark. Am I right?" + +He smiled. "I surrender, Miss Loring. You are right." + +"What is the little fact? Perhaps I can help you." + +"Miss Faye and Lawrence Millard seem to be old friends." + +"Oh! Maybe you wonder at the contents of the sealed testimony in the +case of Millard VS. Millard?" + +Kennedy nodded. + +"Do you want to know what I think?" she asked. + +"Please." + +"Well, I've worked with Stella nearly a year. It's my opinion she +divorced Millard because he asked her to do so." + +"No, no!" I balked at that, interrupting. "He could have obtained the +divorce himself if he had wanted it. Stella Lamar and Manton--" + +"That's talk!" she rejoined, with a show of feeling. "That's the thing +I hate about pictures. It's always talk, talk, talk! I'm not saying +Stella and old Papa Lloyd, as we used to call him, never were mixed up +with each other, but it's one thing to repeat a bit of gossip and quite +another thing to prove it. I'm not one to help give currency to any +rumor of immoral relationship until I'm pretty dog-gone sure it's true." + +"You think Miss Lamar wasn't as bad as painted?" asked Kennedy. + +"I'm sure of it, Mr. Kennedy. I've known Stella and I've known others +of her type. Fundamentally they're the kindest, truest, biggest-hearted +people on earth. When Stella and I shared a dressing room I often +caught her giving away this or that--frequently things she needed +herself. I've known her to draw against her salary to lend money to +some actor or actress whom she well knew would never repay her. +Stella's biggest fault was an overbalancing quality of sympathy. If she +ever did get mixed up with anyone you may bet it was because that +person played upon her feelings." + +"Have you any theory as to who killed her?" It was a direct question. + +"No!" The answer was quick, but then an amazing thing happened. Marilyn +suddenly colored, a flush which gathered up around her eyes above the +make-up and made me think of a country girl. She started to say +something else and then bit her tongue. Her confusion was surprising, +due, probably, to the unexpectedness of Kennedy's query. + +Kennedy seemed to wish to spare her. Undoubtedly her prompt negative +had been the truth. Some afterthought had robbed her of her +self-control. "Tell me why you said Miss Faye was a clever girl," he +directed. + +"Just because she puts her ambition above everything else and works +hard and honestly and sincerely, and will get there. That's what people +call being clever." + +"I see." + +Werner's voice, roaring through a megaphone, announced an interval for +lunch. Marilyn rose, laughing now, but still in a high color, conscious +perhaps that she had revealed some strong undercurrent of feeling. + +"If you'll escort me to my dressing room," she said, coaxingly, "and +wait until I slip into a skirt and waist, I'll initiate both of you to +McCann's across the street. We all eat there, players, stage hands, +chauffeurs--all but the stars, who have machines to take them +elsewhere." + +Kennedy glanced at me. "Delighted!" said I. + +"We haven't much time," she went on, leading the way. "Werner's on a +rampage to-day." + +"He isn't usually that way?" + +"It's Stella's death, I guess." She opened one of the steel fire doors. +"He's always that way, though, when he's been out the night before." + +I flashed a look at Kennedy. Could Werner have been at Tarrytown? + +In the long hallway of dressing rooms Marilyn stopped, grasping the +knob of her door. "It'll only take me--" she began. + +Then her face went white as the concrete of the floor, and that was +immaculate. An expression which might have been fear, or horror, or +hate--or all three, spread over her features, transforming her. + +Following the direction of her stare, I saw Shirley down the hall, just +as he stopped at his own door. He caught her glance suddenly, and his +own face went red. I thought that his hands trembled. + +Marilyn wheeled about, lips pressed tightly together. Throwing open the +door, she dashed into her room, slamming it with a bang which echoed +and re-echoed up and down the little hall. She had forgotten our +presence altogether. + + + + +XIV + +ANOTHER CLUE + + +Kennedy looked at me quizzically. "I guess we'd better not wait for +Miss Loring to initiate us to McCann's," he remarked. + +We found our way to the courtyard, and were headed for the gate when a +young man in chauffeur's cap and uniform intercepted us. I had noticed +him start forward from one of the cars parked in the inclosure, but did +not recognize him. + +"May I speak to you a moment, Professor Kennedy--alone?" + +"Mr. Jameson here is associated with me, is assisting me in this case, +if it is something concerning the death of Miss Lamar." + +"It is, sir. I saw you out at Tarrytown yesterday. McGroarty is my name +and I drove one of the cars the company went in. They were pointing you +out to me, and I'd read about you, and just now I says to myself +there's something I ought to tell you." + +"That's right." Kennedy lighted a cigar, offering one to the chauffeur. +"I'm not supernatural and often I'm able to solve a mystery only with +the help of all those who, like myself, want justice done." + +"Yes, sir! That's my way of looking at it. Well"--McGroarty blew a +cloud of smoke, appreciatively--"I do a good bit of driving for these +people, and this morning it was cloudy and dull, no good for exteriors, +but yet sort of so it might clear at any moment, and so I was ordered. +I brought my car and left it standing here in the yard while I went +over to McCann's--the lunch room, you know--for a cup of coffee. When I +came back"--again the cigar--"there still was nothing doing, and so I +thought--you know how it is--I thought I'd clean up the back of the old +boat, to kill time, not saying it wasn't needed. So I took out the +cocoa mat to beat it and what do I find on the floor--between the mat +and the rear seat it was, I guess--but this." + +He handed Kennedy some small object which glinted in the light. Looking +closely, I saw that it was a peculiarly shaped little glass tube. + +"An ampulla," Kennedy explained. "It's the technical name the doctors +have for such a container." + +"It must have been between the mat and the rear seat," the chauffeur +repeated. Then he discovered that his cigar was out. He struck a match. + +Kennedy turned the bit of glass over and over in his hand, examining it +carefully. I felt rather fearful, wondering if it might not contain +some trace of the deadly poison which had so quickly killed Stella +Lamar. I even half expected to see Kennedy find some infinitesimal +jagged edge or point which could have inflicted the fatal scratch. Then +I realized that McGroarty had handled the thing with impunity, perhaps +had carried it about half a day. + +Kennedy took his scarf pin. On the outside of the little tube there was +no trace of a label or marking of any sort. All about, on the inside, +however, the glass was spotted with dried light-yellow incrustations, +resembling crystals and at first apt to escape even the sharpest +scrutiny. With the pin Kennedy scaled off one of these and put it under +his pocket lens. But he came to no conclusion. Rather puzzled and +nettled, he dropped the tiny bit of substance back into the tube, then +replaced his pin in his scarf, and stowed this latest bit of possible +evidence in his pocket carefully. + +"How do you suppose it got in the car?" he asked. + +"Some one must have dropped it and it must have rolled in that space by +the edge of the mat," replied the chauffeur. "There was just room for +it, too! I never would have noticed it without taking up the mat." + +"It couldn't be broken, by being trampled on?" + +"Nope! Not a chance!" + +"How long could it have been there?" + +"Two or three or four days--since I cleaned up last." + +I remembered the cleverness shown by the guilty person in placing the +needle in the curtain. It seemed unlikely that this could be an +accident. "Isn't it possible," I suggested, "that this is a plant; that +the tube was put there deliberately, to throw us off the track?" + +"It's quite likely," he admitted. "On the other hand, Walter, the very +smartest criminal will do some foolish little thing, enough to ruin the +most careful plans and preparations." He turned to McGroarty. "Who rode +in your car yesterday?" + +"Mine's the principals' car," boasted McGroarty. "Going out I had Miss +Lamar, Miss Loring, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Shirley, and Mr. Werner. Coming +back Mr. Werner was with you, and Miss Lamar--well, there was only Miss +Loring and Mr. Gordon and Mr. Shirley." + +"Did you notice how they acted?" + +"They never says a word to each other on all the trip back, but I +didn't think it strange after what happened, although usually they're +always joking and laughing." + +"You brought the three to the studio here?" + +"Yes. They had to get out of make-up." + +"Did you leave the car then?" + +"No, I hit it right for the garage." + +"Were you away from the car at Tarrytown?" + +"Sure! That was a long wait. Peters, Manton's chauffeur, and I found a +couple of horseshoes and we were throwing them most of the time." + +"How long was the machine alone here in the yard this morning?" + +"A couple of hours, maybe. I knew the old boiler was safe enough, and +that if they wanted me they'd look over in McCann's." + +"Well," Kennedy extended his hand, "I thank you, and I won't forget +you, McGroarty." + +As soon as the chauffeur was out of earshot I faced Kennedy rather +eagerly, to forestall him if he had arrived at the same conclusion as +myself. + +"See! It's just as I thought yesterday!" + +"How's that, Walter?" + +"Werner! He rode out in that machine, but not back. In Manton's car he +was worried all the time. He probably knew he had dropped the tube. +Then he hurried up ahead of us and wiped the needle--" I stopped, +lamely. + +Kennedy smiled. "See, you're jumping at conclusions too fast. You +remember now that we decided that the towel has nothing directly to do +with the poison. In a way you cannot assume that this ampulla has, +either, although I myself feel sure on that point. But in any case no +one is eliminated. It is true Werner did not return in the same +automobile. It is also true that he had little opportunity to drop it +while others were in the car with him. When McGroarty was away from the +car anyone could have lost it, or--as you suggested a moment +ago--planted it there deliberately to divert suspicion." + +I felt the beginnings of a headache from all these confused threads of +the mystery. "Can't--Isn't there anyone we can say is innocent, at +least, even if we cannot begin to fasten the guilt upon somebody?" I +pleaded. + +Kennedy shook his head. "At this stage the one is as hard as the other. +I consider myself lucky to have collected as much material as I have +for the analysis of the poison." He tapped his pocket significantly. + +"Yoo-hoo!" A frankly shrill call in a feminine voice interrupted. We +both turned, to see Marilyn Loring hastening toward us. + +"Did you think I was going to forget you?" she asked, almost +reproachfully and much out of breath. "Let's hurry," she added. "This +is roast beef day." + +We started toward the gate once more, Marilyn between us, vivacious and +rather charming. I noticed that she made no reference to the incident +in the hallway, the precipitate manner in which she left us and the +very evident confusion of Merle Shirley. Kennedy, too, seemed disposed +to drop the matter, although it was obviously significant. For some +reason his mind was elsewhere, so that the girl was thrown upon my +hands. + +It struck me that, after all, she was attractive. At this moment I +found her distinctly good-looking. + +"Why do you 'vamp'?" I asked, innocently. "You don't seem to me, if +you'll pardon the personal remark, at all that type." + +She laughed. "It's all the fault of the public. They insist that I +vamp. I want to play girly-girly parts, but the public won't stand for +it; they won't come to see the picture. They tell the exhibitor, and he +tells the producer, and back I am at the vamping again. Isn't it +funny?" She paused a moment. "Take Gordon. Doesn't it make you laugh, +what the public think he is--clean-cut, hero, and all that sort of +thing? Little do they know!" + +All at once Kennedy stopped abruptly. We were close to the entrance, +just where a smart little speedster of light blue lined with white was +parked at the edge of the narrow sidewalk. The sun, after a morning of +uncertainty, had just struck through the haze, and it illuminated +Marilyn's face and hair most delightfully as we both turned, somewhat +in surprise. + +"I know you'll never forgive me, Miss Loring," Kennedy began, "but the +fact is that just before you came out we stumbled into a new bit of +evidence in the case and I believe that Jameson and I will have to +hurry in to the laboratory. Much as I would like to lunch with you, and +perhaps chat some more during scene-taking this afternoon--" + +It seemed to me that her eyes widened a bit. Certainly there was a +perceptible change in her face. It was interest, but it was also +certainly more than that. I felt that she would have liked to penetrate +the mask of Kennedy's expression, perhaps learn just what facts and +theories rested in his mind. + +"Is it--" Suddenly she smiled, realizing that Kennedy would reveal only +the little which suited his purpose. "Is it something you can tell me?" +she finished. + +He shook his head. His answer was tantalizing, his glance searching and +without concealment. "Only another detail concerning the chemical +analysis of the poison." + +"I see!" If she knew of the ampulla the answer would have been +intelligible to her. As it was, her face betrayed nothing. "I guess +I'll hurry on over alone, then," she added. She extended a hand to each +of us. Her grasp was warm and friendly and frank. "So long, and--and +good luck, for Stella's sake!" + +"Hello, folks!" + +The dancing bantering voice from behind us, with silvery cadence to its +laughter, could belong to no one but Enid Faye. I grasped that it was +her car which Kennedy leaned upon. I gasped a bit as I saw her directly +at my side, her dainty chamois motoring coat brushing my sleeve, the +sun which grew in strength every moment casting mottled shadows upon +her face through the transparent brim of her bobbing hat, in mocking +answer to the mirth in her eyes. + +For an instant she gazed after the retreating Marilyn. + +"Good-by, Marilyn! DEAR," she called, mega-phoning her hands. + +The other girl made no response. Laughing, Enid slipped a hand under my +arm, the firm pressure of her fingers thrilling me. She addressed +Kennedy, however. + +"Do you want a ride in to the city, both of you?" + +Kennedy brightened. "That would be fine! How far are you going?" + +"The Burrage. I have a luncheon engagement. That's Forty-fourth." + +"Can you drop us off at the university?" + +"Surely! Climb in. It's a tight fit, three in the seat, but fun. +And"--facing me--"I want Jamie between us, next to me!" + +As we rolled out of the studio inclosure she leaned forward on the +wheel to question Kennedy. + +"What did Marilyn Loring want? You seemed in deep confab!" + +"She volunteered to initiate us to McCann's, across the street." + +"Oh!" She skidded about a corner skillfully. "And--" + +"Well, we bumped into an additional piece of evidence and I thought +Jameson and I ought to hurry in to my laboratory instead." + +"I bet"--Enid giggled, readjusting her hat in the breeze--"I bet she +wanted to know what you'd found, right away. Didn't she?" + +"Yes!" Kennedy's face was noncommittal, "Why do you say that?" + +"Because she came into my room, just as we were getting ready for work +this morning. Perhaps I'm wrong, but from the way she kept asking me +questions about everyone from Manton down I got the idea she was +quizzing me, to see how much I knew. Of course this is only my first +day, but it seems to me that Marilyn is talking a great deal, without +saying very much. I've come to the conclusion she knows a good deal +more than she is telling anyone, and that she'd like to find out just +how much everyone else knows." + +Kennedy nodded almost absent-mindedly, without responding further. + +"Well"--Enid speeded up a bit--"not to change connections on the +switchboard, I think I'm going to like it with Manton Pictures." + +"Will they do justice to your work," Kennedy inquired, "putting you in +a partially finished picture in this way?" + +"That's where I'm in luck, real bang-up luck. Werner has directed me +before and knows just exactly how to handle me." + +"What about the story? That was built for Stella, wasn't it?" + +"Yes, but they're changing it here and there to fit me. Larry knows my +work, too! That's luck again for little Enid." + +"How long have you known Millard?" In a flash I realized Kennedy's +cleverness. This was the fact he had wished to unearth. The question +was as natural as could be. He had led up to it deliberately. I was +sure of that. + +"Four, nearly five years," she replied, unsuspiciously. Then suddenly +she bit her lip, although her expression was well masked. "That is," +she added, somewhat lamely--"that is, in a casual way, like nearly +everyone knows nearly everyone else in the film game." + +"Oh!" murmured Kennedy, lapsing into silence. + + + + +XV + +I BECOME A DETECTIVE + + +Important as it was to watch Enid and Marilyn, Werner and the rest, +Kennedy decided that it was now much more important to hold to his +expressed purpose of returning to the laboratory with our trophies of +the day's crime hunt. + +"For people to whom emotion ought to be an old story in their everyday +stage life, I must say they feel and show plenty of it in real life," I +remarked, as Enid set us down and drove off. "It does not seem to pall." + +"I don't know why the movie people buy stories," remarked Craig, +quaintly. "They don't need to do it--they live them." + +When we were settled in the laboratory once more Kennedy plunged with +renewed vigor into the investigation he had dropped in the morning in +order to make the hurried trip to the Phelps home in Tarrytown. + +I had hoped he would talk further of the probabilities of the +connection of the various people with the crime, but he had no comment +even upon the admission of Enid that she had known Millard for a period +long antedating the trouble with Stella Lamar. + +It seemed that, after all, he was quite excited at the discovery of the +ampulla and was anxious to begin the analysis of its scale-like +contents. I was not sure, but it struck me that this might be the same +substance which had spotted the towel or the portieres. If that were +so, the finding of it in this form had given him a new and tangible +clue to its nature, accounting for his eagerness. + +I watched his elaborate and thorough preparations, wishing I could be +of assistance, but knowing the limitations of my own chemical and +bacteriological knowledge. I grasped, however, that he was +concentrating his study upon the spots he had cut from the portieres, +in particular the stain where the point of the needle had been, and +upon the incrustations on the inner surface of the tube. He made +solutions of both of these and for some little time experimented with +chemical reactions. Then he had recourse to several weighty technical +books. Though bursting with curiosity, I dared not question him, nor +distract him in any way. + +Finally he turned to a cage where he kept on hand, always, a few of +those useful martyrs to science, guinea pigs. Taking one of the little +animals and segregating him from the others, he prepared to inoculate +him with a tiny bit of the solution made from the stain on the piece +cut from the portiere. + +At that I knew it would be a long and tiresome analysis. It seemed a +waste of time to wait idly for Kennedy to reach his conclusions, so I +cast about in my mind for some sort of inquiry of my own which I could +conduct meanwhile, perhaps collecting additional facts about those we +were watching at the studio. + +Somehow I could not wholly lose my suspicions of the director, Werner; +especially now as I marshaled the evidence against him. First of all he +was the only person absolutely in control of the movements of Stella +Lamar. If she did not bring up her arm against the curtains in a manner +calculated to press the needle against her flesh it certainly would not +seem out of the way for him to ask her to do it over again, or even for +him to direct changes in her position. This he could do either in +rehearsal or in retakes after the scene had actually been photographed. +It was not proof, I knew. Practically all of them were familiar with +the action of the scene, could guess how Werner would handle it. The +point was that the director, next to Millard, was the most thoroughly +conversant with the scenes in the script, had to figure out everything +down to the very location and angles of the camera. + +Another matter, of course, was the placing of the needle in the silk. +For that purpose some one had to go to Tarrytown ahead of the others, +or at least had to precede the others into the living room. Offhand I +was compelled to admit that this was easiest for Phelps--Phelps, the +man who had insisted that the scene be taken in his library. At the +same time, I knew it was quite possible for the director to have +entered ahead of anyone else, possible for him to have issued orders to +his people which would keep them out of the way for the brief moment he +needed. + +A third consideration was the finding of the ampulla in McGroarty's +car. Stella, Marilyn, Jack Gordon, Merle Shirley, and Werner had ridden +out together. Werner had not returned. While this fact did not indicate +definitely that he might have dropped it, coupled with the other +considerations it pointed the suspicion of guilt at the director. + +Then there was the finding of the towel in the washroom of the office +building at the studio. While Kennedy now said it was not used to wipe +the needle, while we now knew that the needle remained in the portieres +from the morning of Stella's death until late that night, yet Kennedy +affirmed the connection of the towel with the crime in some subtle way. +It was true that members of the cast sometimes used the washroom, yet +it was evident that Manton, Millard, and Werner, who had rooms on the +floor, were the more apt to be concerned in the attempt to dispose of +it. Against Manton I could see no real grounds for suspicion. In a +general way we had been compelled to eliminate Millard early in our +investigation. Again I was brought, in this analysis of the mystery, to +Werner. + +One other point remained--the identity of the nocturnal visitor to +Tarrytown. In connection with that I remembered the remark of Marilyn. +Werner was acting as he always acted when he was out late the night +before, she had said. While my theories offered no explanation of the +second man, the watcher, I saw--with an inner feeling of triumph--that +everything again pointed to the director. + +I determined not to tell my conclusion to Kennedy, yet. I did not want +to distract him. Besides, I felt he would disagree. + +"What do you think of this, Craig?" I suggested. "Suppose I start out +while you're busy and try to dig up some more facts about these people?" + +"Excellent!" was his reply. "I can't say how much longer my analysis +will keep me. By all means do so, Walter. I shall be here, or, if not, +I'll leave a note so you can find me." + +Accordingly, I took up my search, determined to go slowly and +carefully, not to be misled by any promising but fallacious clues. I +knew that Werner would be working at the studio, from all we had heard +in the morning. I determined upon a visit to his apartment in his +absence. + +From the telephone book I discovered that he lived at the Whistler +Studios, not far from Central Park on the middle West Side--a new +building, I remembered, inhabited almost entirely by artists and +writers. As I hurried down on the Subway, then turned and walked east +toward the Park, I racked my brain for an excuse to get in. Entering +the lower reception hall, I learned from the boy that the director had +a suite on the top floor, high enough to look over the roofs of the +adjoining buildings directly into the wide expanse of green and road, +of pond and trees beyond. + +"Mr. Werner isn't in, though," the boy added, doubtfully, without +ringing the apartment. + +"I know it," I rejoined, hastily. "I told him I'd meet him here this +afternoon, however." On a chance I went on, with a knowing smile, "I +guess it was pretty late when he came in last night?" + +"I'll say so," grinned the youth, friendly all of a sudden. He had +interpreted the remark as I intended he should. He believed that Werner +and I had been out together. "I remember," he volunteered, "because I +had to do an extra shift of duty last night, worse luck. It must have +been after four o'clock. I was almost asleep when I heard the taxi at +the door." + +"I wonder what company he got the taxi from?" I remarked, casually. "I +tried to get one uptown--" I paused. I didn't want to get into a maze +of falsehood from which I would be unable to extricate myself. + +"I don't know," he replied. "It looked like one of the Maroon taxis, +from up at the Central Park Hotel on the next block, but I'm not sure." + +"I think I won't go upstairs yet," I said, finally. "There's another +call I ought to make. If Mr. Werner comes in, tell him I'll be back." + +I knew very well that Werner would not return, but I thought that the +bluff might pave the way for getting upstairs and into the apartment a +little later. Meanwhile I had another errand. The boy nodded a good-by +as I passed out through the grilled iron doors to the street. Less than +five minutes afterward I was at the booth of the Maroon Taxi Company, +at the side of the main entrance of the Central Park Hotel. + +Here the starter proved to be a loquacious individual, and I caught +him, fortunately, in the slowest part of the afternoon. Removing a pipe +and pushing a battered cap to the back of a bald head, he pulled out +the sheets of the previous day. Before me were recorded all the calls +for taxicab service, with the names of drivers, addresses of calls, and +destinations. Although the quarters in the booth were cramped and close +and made villainous by the reek of the man's pipe, I began to scan the +lists eagerly. + +It had been a busy night even down to the small hours of the morning +and I had quite a job. As I came nearer and nearer to the end my hopes +ebbed, however. When I was through I had failed to identify a single +call that might have been Werner's. Several fares had been driven to +and from the Grand Central Station, probably the means by which he made +the trip to Tarrytown. In each case the record had shown the Central +Park Hotel in the other column, not the Whistler Studios. I was forced +to give up this clue, and it hurt. I was not built for a detective, I +guess, for I almost quit then and there, prepared to return to the +laboratory and Kennedy. + +But I remembered my first intention and made my way back to the +Whistler Studios. Anyhow, I reflected, Werner would hardly have +summoned a car from a place so near his home had he wished to keep his +trip a secret. It was more important for me to gain access to his +quarters. There it was quite possible I might find something valuable. +I wondered if I would be justified in breaking in, or if I would +succeed if I attempted it. + +Things proved easier than I expected. My first visit unquestionably had +prepared the way. The hallboy took me up in the elevator himself +without telephoning, took me to Werner's door, rang the bell, and spoke +to the colored valet who opened it. As I grasped the presence of the +servant in the little suite I was glad I had not tried my hand at +forcing an entrance. I had quite anticipated an empty apartment. + +The darky, pleasant voiced, polite, and well trained, bowed me into a +little den and proceeded to lay out a large box of cigarettes on the +table beside me, as well as a humidor well filled with cigars of good +quality. I took one of the latter, accepting a light and glancing about. + +Certainly this was in contrast with Manton's apartment. There was +nothing garish, ornate, or spectacular here. Richly, lavishly +furnished, everything was in perfect taste, revealing the hand of an +artist. It might have been a bit bizarre, reflecting the nervous +temperament of its owner. Even the servant showed the touch of his +master, hovering about to make sure I was comfortable, even to bringing +a stack of the latest magazines. I hope he didn't sense my thoughts, +for I cursed him inwardly. I wanted to be alone. Ordinarily I would +have enjoyed this, but now I had become a detective, and it was +necessary to rummage about, and quickly. + +The sudden ringing of the telephone took the valet out into the tiny +hall of the suite and gave me the opportunity I wished. + +Phelps apparently was calling up to leave some message for Werner, +which I could not get, as the valet took it. What, I wondered, was +Phelps telephoning here for? Why not at the studio? It looked strange. + +I lost no time in speculation over that, however. The moment I was left +to myself I jumped up and rushed to a writing desk, a carved antique +which had caught my eye upon my entrance, which I had studied from my +place in the easy chair. It was unlocked, and I opened it without +compunction. With an alert ear, to warn me the moment the colored boy +hung up, I first gazed rather helplessly at a huge pile of literary +litter. Clearly there was no time to go through all of that. + +I gave the papers a cursory inspection, without disturbing them, hoping +to catch some name or something which might prove to be a random clue, +but I was less lucky than Kennedy had been in his casual look at +Manton's desk the afternoon before. Still able to hear the valet at the +telephone, I reached down and opened the top drawer of the desk. Here +perhaps I might be more fortunate. One glance and my heart gave a +startled leap. + +There in a compartment of the drawer I saw a hypodermic needle--in +fact, two of them--and a bottle. On the desk was a fountain pen ink +dropper, a new one which had never been used. I reached over, pressed +its little bulb, uncorked the bottle, inserted the glass point, sucked +up some of the contents, placed the bulb right side up in my waistcoat +pocket, and recorked the bottle. Next I took and pocketed one of the +two needles, both of which were alike as far as I could see. + +Then I heard a good-by in the hall. I closed drawer and desk hastily. +As I caught the click of the receiver of the telephone on its hook I +was halfway across the floor. Before the colored boy could enter again +I was back in my chair, my head literally in a whirl. + +What a stroke of good fortune! I had no expectation of proving Werner +to be the guilty man by so simple a method as this, however. If he were +the slayer of the star he would be too clever to leave anything so +incriminating about. I have always quarreled with Poe's theory in The +Purloined Letter, believing that the obvious is no place to hide +anything outside of fiction. What I conceived, rather, was that Werner +really was a dope fiend. The nature of the drug Kennedy would tell me +very easily, from the sample. Establishing Werner's possession of the +needles was another point in my chain of presumptions, showing that he +was familiar with their use; and added to that was the psychological +effect upon him of the habit, a habit responsible in many other cases +for murders as skillfully carried out as that of Stella Lamar, often, +too, without the slightest shred of real motive. + +I recalled Werner's habitually nervous manner and was sure now that the +needles actually were used by him. Was it due to the high pressure of +his profession? Had that constant high tension forced him to find +relief in the most violent relaxation? + +Elated, I was tempted at first to crowd my luck. I wondered if I could +not discover another ampulla such as the chauffeur, McGroarty, had +picked up in his car. When Werner's servant, almost apologetically, +explained that the telephone message was from a near-by shop and that +he would have to leave me for a matter of ten or fifteen minutes, I +assured him that it was all right and that I would occupy myself with a +magazine. The moment he was out the door I sprang to action and began a +minute search of every nook and cranny of the rooms. + +But gradually a sense of growing fear and trepidation took hold of me. +Suppose, after all, Werner should return home unexpectedly? The colored +boy did not seem surprised that I should wait, a slight indication that +it was possible. Further, I could never tell when the darky might not +return himself, breaking in upon me without warning and discovering me. +At the best I was not a skillful investigator. I did not know just +where to look for hidden evidences of poison, nor was I able to work +fast, for fear of leaving too tangible marks of my actions behind me. A +great perspiration stood out on my forehead. Gradually a trembling took +hold of my limbs and communicated itself to my fingers. + +After all, it was essential that Werner be kept in ignorance of my +suspicions, granting they were correct. It would be fatal if I should +frighten him inadvertently, so that he would take to flight. Realizing +my foolhardiness, I returned to my chair at last, picking up a magazine +at random. I did so not a moment too soon. A slight sound caught my ear +and I looked up to see the valet already halfway into the room. His +tread was so soft I never would have heard him. + +"I don't think I'll wait any longer," I remarked, rising and stretching +slightly, as though I had been seated all the time. "I'll ring up a +little later; perhaps come back after I get in touch with Mr. Werner." + +"Who shall I say was here, sah?" the boy asked, with just a trace of +darky dialect. + +Above all I didn't want to alarm Werner. I could not repeat the +explanation I had allowed the attendant downstairs to assume from my +remark, that I was a friend who had been out with the director the +night before. I should have to take a chance that Werner's servant and +the hallboy would not compare notes, and that the latter would say +nothing to the director upon his arrival. + +"I'm an old friend from the Coast," I explained, with a show of taking +the negro into my confidence. "I wanted to surprise him and so"--I +slipped a half dollar into a willing palm--"if you'll say nothing until +I've seen him--" + +He beamed. "Yes, sah! You jus' count on George, sah!" + +Downstairs I wondered if I could seal the tongue of the youth who had +accommodated me before. Then I discovered that he had gone off duty. It +would be extremely unlikely that he would be about until the following +day. I smiled and hastened out to the street. + +Once in the open air again, I realized the full extent of the risk I +had taken. All at once it struck me that no amount of explanation from +either Kennedy or myself would serve to mollify Werner if he were +innocent and learned of my visit. I doubted, in this moment of +afterthought, that I would escape censure from Kennedy, who surely +would not want his case jeopardized by precipitate actions upon my +part. I began to run, to get away from the Whistler Studios as fast as +possible. + +Then I saw I had grown panicky and I checked myself. But I hurried to +the Subway and up to the university again, and to the laboratory, eager +to compare notes with Kennedy. + +"If I were Alphonse Dupin," he remarked, calmly, grasping my +excitement, "I would deduce that you have discovered something. I would +also deduce that you believe it important and that you have no +intention of withholding the information from me, whatever it is." + +"Correct," I answered, grinning in spite of myself. + +Then I handed him the needle, telling him in a few brief words of my +visit to Werner's apartment, of the hallboy's confirmation of a +nocturnal trip of some sort, of my search of the desk and some other +parts of the suite. "I fixed it so that he won't hear of my visit, at +least for some time. He won't suspect who it was, in any case." + +Kennedy examined the hypodermic. + +"Not like the one used," he murmured. + +"I thought that," I explained. "It simply indicates he is a dope fiend +and is familiar with the use of a needle. Here!" I produced the ink +filler which I had used to bring a sample of the contents of the +bottle. "This seems to be what he uses. What is it?" + +Kennedy sniffed, then looked closely at the liquid through the glass of +the tube. "It's a coca preparation," he explained. "If Werner uses +this, he's unquestionably a regular drug addict." + +"Well," I paused, triumphantly, "the case against the chief director of +Manton Pictures grows stronger all the time." + +"Not necessarily," contradicted Kennedy, perhaps to draw me out. + +"He's familiar with hypodermic syringes," I repeated. + +"Which doesn't prove that no one else would use one." + +"Anyhow, he was out until four A.M. last night and some one broke into +Phelps's house to--" + +"You can't establish the fact that he went out there. There are plenty +of other places he could have been until four in the morning." + +"But I can assume--" + +"If you are going to assume anything, Walter, why not assume he was the +second man, the man who watched the actual intruder?" + +I turned away, despairing of my ability to convince Kennedy. As a +matter of fact I had forgotten the other prowler at Tarrytown. + +Then I noticed that the one guinea pig in the separate cage was dead. +In an instant I was all curiosity to know the results of Kennedy's +investigations. + +"Did you make any progress?" I asked. + +"Yes!" Now I noticed for the first time that he was in fine humor. "I +had quite finished the first stage of my analysis when you came in." + +"Then what was it? What was the poison that killed Stella Lamar?" I +glanced at the stiff, prone figure of the little animal. + +Kennedy cleared his throat. "Well," he replied, "I began the study with +the discovery I made, which I told you, that strange proteins were +present." He picked up the ampulla and regarded it thoughtfully. Then +he fingered the bit of silk cut from the portieres. "It is a poison +more deadly, more subtle, than any ever concocted by man, Walter." + +"Yes?" I was painfully eager. + +"It is snake venom!" + + + + +XVI + +ENID ASSISTS + + +"A poison more subtle than any concocted by man!" repeated Kennedy. + +It was a startling declaration and left me quite speechless for the +moment. + +"We know next to nothing of the composition of the protein bodies in +the snake venoms which have such terrific and quick physiological +effects on man," Kennedy went on. "They have been studied, it is true, +and studied a great deal, but we cannot say that there are any adequate +tests by which the presence of these proteins can be recognized. + +"However, everything points to the conclusion now that it was snake +venom, and my physiological tests on the guinea pig seem to confirm it. +I see no reason now to doubt that it was snake venom. The fact of the +matter is that the snake venoms are about the safest of poisons for the +criminal to use, for the reason of the difficulty they give in any +chemical analysis. That is only another proof of the diabolical +cleverness of our guilty person, whoever it may be. + +"Later I'll identify the particular kind of venom used. Just now I feel +it is more important to discover the actual motive for the crime. In +the morning I have a plan which may save me further work here in the +laboratory, but for to-night I feel I have earned a rest and"--a +smile--"I shall rest by searching out the motives of these +temperamental movie folk a little more." As he spoke he slipped out of +his acid-stained smock. + +"What do you mean?" As often, he rather baffled me. + +"It's nearly dinner time and we're going out together, Walter, down to +Jacques'." + +"Why Jacques'?" + +"Because I phoned your friend Belle Balcom and she informed me that +that was the place where we would be apt to find the elite of the film +world dining." + +I acquiesced, of course. We hurried to the apartment first for a few +necessary changes and preparations, then we started for the Times +Square section in a taxi. + +"I never heard of the use of snake venom before," I remarked, settling +back in the cushions--"that is, deliberately, by a criminal, to poison +anyone." + +"There are cases," replied Craig, absently. + +"Just how does the venom act?" + +"I believe it is generally accepted that there are two agents present +in the secretion. One is a peptone and the other a globulin. One is +neurotoxic, the other hemolytic. Not only is the general nervous system +attacked instantly, but the coagulability of the blood is destroyed. +One agent in the venom attacks the nerve cells; the other destroys the +red corpuscles." + +"You suspected something of this kind, then, when you first examined +Stella Lamar?" + +"Exactly! You see, the victim of a snake bite often is unable to move +or speak. Doctor Blake observed that in the case of the stricken star. +Her nerves were affected, resulting in paralysis of the muscles of the +heart and lungs and giving us some symptoms of suffocation. Then the +blood, as a result of the attack of the venom, is always left dark and +liquid. That, too, I observed in the sample sent me from Tarrytown. + +"The snake," Kennedy continued, "administers the poison by fangs more +delicate than any hypodermic. Nature's apparatus is more precise than +the finest appliances devised for the use of a surgeon by our +instrument makers. The fangs are like needles with obliquely cut points +and slit-like outlets. The poison glands correspond to the bulb of a +syringe. They are, in reality, highly modified salivary glands. From +them, when the serpent strikes, is ejected a pale straw-colored +half-oleaginous fluid. You might swallow it with impunity. But once in +the blood, through a cut or wound, it is deadly." + +"There could be no snake in this case," I remarked. "The fangs of a +serpent make two punctures, don't they; while here there was just the +one scratch--" + +"Of course there were no fangs when the deed was actually done," he +rejoined, impatiently. "We've traced everything to the needle in the +portieres and it is my belief that it was part of an all-glass +hypodermic with a platinum-iridium point. It could hardly have been +anything like the coarser syringe used by Werner, nor do I think it +possible that the point of an ordinary needle would hold sufficient +venom, since it would dry and form a coating like the incrustation on +the inside of the ampulla McGroarty found." + +"That was the venom?" I asked. + +"Yes, I found it in the ampulla and in the stain on the portiere where +the needle had pierced through." + +"The towel, though--" + +"Is something else. First thing in the morning we'll follow that up, as +I promised you. Meanwhile let's concentrate on motives." + +A long line of private cars and taxicabs outside Jacques' testified to +the popularity of the restaurant. At the door stood a huge, bulking +negro resplendent in the glaring finery of his uniform. It seemed to me +that people literally were thronging into the place, for it was +cleverly advertised as a center of night life. + +Inside, the famous darky jazz band was in full swing. There was lilt +and rhythm to the melody produced by the grinning blacks, and not a +free arm or foot or shoulder or head of any of them but did not sway in +time to their syncopated music. + +We were shown to a table on a sort of gallery or mezzanine floor which +extended around three sides of the interior. Below, in the center, was +the space for dancing, surrounded by groups and pairs of diners. Stairs +led to the balcony on both sides, as though the management expected +none of their guests to resist the lure of the dance between courses. +The band, I noticed, was at the farther end, on an elevated dais, so +that the contortions of the various players could be seen above the +heads of those on the floor. + +We were at the rail so that we commanded a view of the entire place, a +location I guessed had been maneuvered by Kennedy with a word to the +head waiter. The only tables invisible to us were those directly +beneath, but it would be a simple matter to cross around during any +dance number to view them. + +As we took our seats the lights were dimmed suddenly. I realized that +we had arrived in the midst of the cabaret and that it was the turn of +one of the performers. Kennedy, however, seemed to enjoy the +entertainment, an example of his ability to gain recreation whenever +and however he wished, to find relaxation under the oddest or most +casual circumstances, out of anything from people passing on the street +to an impromptu concert of a street band. In scanty garments, in the +glare of a multi-colored spotlight, the girl danced a hybrid of every +dance from the earliest Grecian bacchanal to the latest alleged Apache +importation from Paris. + +I have often wondered at Jacques' and places of the sort. The +intermingling of eating and drinking and dancing was curious. What +possible bearing this terpsichorean monstrosity might have upon the +gastronomic inclinations of the audience it would have been difficult +to fathom. + +The lights flashed bright again and Kennedy gave our order. Meanwhile I +glanced about at the people below us. There was no one in sight I knew +until I leaned well over the rail, but upon doing that I felt little +chills of excitement run from the top to the bottom of my spine, for I +discovered in a very prominent situation at the very edge of the dance +floor a party of four, of whom three very much concerned us. Lloyd +Manton, back to the polished space behind him, was unmistakable in +evening clothes. These bunched at his neck and revealed his habitual +stoop as impartially as his business suits. Across from him, lounging +upon the table likewise, but more immaculately and skillfully tailored, +was Lawrence Millard. The writer, I noticed, flourished his cigarette +holder, fully a foot in length, and emphasized his remarks to the girl +on his right with a rather characteristic gesture made with the second +finger of his left hand. The girl was Enid, quite mistress of herself +in a gown little more than no gown; and the remarks were obviously +confidential. The other girl, engrossed in Manton, seemed a dangerously +youthful and self-conscious young lady. Her hair flamed Titian red and +her neck, of which she displayed not half as much as Enid, gave her +much concern. + +"Kennedy! Look!" I reached over to attract his attention. + +"Who's the second girl, I wonder?" He became as interested as I was. + +With a blatant flourish of saxophone and cornet and traps the band +began a jazzy fox-trot. Instantly there was a rush from the tables for +the floor. Enid jumped to her feet, moving her bare shoulders in the +rhythm of the music. Then Millard took firm hold of her and they wove +their way into the crush. It seemed to me that the little star was the +very incarnation of the dance. I envied her partner more than I dared +admit to myself. + +Manton and his companion rose also, but more leisurely. On her feet the +girl did not seem so young, although the second impression may have +been the result of the length of her skirt and the long slim, lines of +her gown. We watched both couples through the number, then gave our +attention to the food we had ordered. Another dance, a modified waltz, +revealed Enid in the arms of Manton. I tried to determine from her +actions if she felt any preference for the producer, or for Millard +when again she took the floor with him. It was an idle effort, of +course. The people surged out perhaps three or four times while we were +at our meal. Each time the party below jumped up in response to the +music. At our cigars, finally, I took to observing the other diners, +wondering what we had gained by coming here. + +Suddenly I realized that Kennedy was rising to greet some one +approaching our table. Turning, rising also, I went through all the +miseries of the bashful lover. It was Enid herself. + +"I caught sight of you looking over the rail while I was dancing," she +told Kennedy, accepting a chair pulled around by the waiter. "I knew +you saw me. Also I glanced up and found that you were perfectly well +aware of the location of our table. So"--engagingly--"unsociable +creature! Why didn't you come down and say 'Hello!' or ask me for a +dance?" + +"Perhaps I intended to a little later." + +"Yes!" she exclaimed, in mockery. "You see, since Mecca won't go to the +pilgrim, the pilgrim has to come to Mecca." + +"Did you ever hear of Mohammed and the mountain, Miss Faye?" Kennedy +asked. + +"Of course! That's the regular expression. But I agree with Barnum. As +he said, some people can be original some of the time and some people +can be original all of the time, and I propose to be original always, +like a baby with molasses." + +Kennedy laughed, for indeed she was irresistible. Then she turned to +me, placing one of her warm little hands upon mine. + +"And Jamie!" she purred. "Have you forgotten little Enid altogether? +Won't--won't YOU come down and dance?" + +"I--I can't!" I exploded, in agony. "I don't know how!" And I thought +that I would never dare trust myself with her glistening shoulders +clasped close to me, with her slim bare arm placed around my neck as I +had watched it slip about the collar of Millard. + +"Now that the pilgrim is at Mecca--" Kennedy suggested, interrupting +cruelly, as I thought. + +"Oh!" In an instant I sensed that I was forgotten, and I was hurt. +"There's something which came out this afternoon at the studio," she +began, "and I wonder if you know. Larry--that's Mr. Millard--assures me +it is true, and--and I think you ought to hear about it. I--I want to +assist all I can in solving the mystery of Stella Lamar's death, even +though Stella's unfortunate end has meant my opportunity." + +"What is it, Miss Faye?" Kennedy was studying her. + +"It's about Jack Gordon. He's been trying to hold up the company for +fifteen hundred a week, which would double his salary--perhaps you've +heard that?" + +Kennedy nodded, although it was news to him. "I've been thinking about +Gordon," he murmured. + +"Anyway," she went on, "it's gone around that he's desperately in need +of money and that that is why he's so insistent upon the increase. It +seems he owes everyone. In particular he owes Phelps some huge sums and +old Phelps is on his tail, hollering and raising Ned. Phelps, you know, +has uses for money himself just now. You had heard?" + +Again Kennedy evaded a direct answer. "Money is fearfully tight, of +course," he remarked, encouraging her to continue. + +"Yes," she repeated, "Phelps is terribly hard up and after Gordon. And +that's not all about our handsome leading man, Mr. Kennedy." She leaned +forward. A certain intensity crept into her voice. She began to toy +with his sleeve with the slender fingers of one hand, as though in that +manner to compel his greater attention. "You know Stella Lamar really +was in love with Jack Gordon. In fact she was daffy over him. And now +I've found out that he was borrowing money from her, was taking nearly +every cent she earned to sink in his speculations. Do you get that?" +Enid's eyes snapped. + +Most certainly I understood. I knew well the type of Stella. She had +made many men give up to her motor cars, expensive furs, jewelry, all +manner of presents. But in the end she had found one man to whom she in +turn was willing to yield all. But what of him? + +"In the last few weeks, they tell me, poor Stella disposed of many of +her handsome presents from men like Manton and Phelps and others, all +to get money to give to him. At the end she even raised money on her +jewelry. I--I think you'll find it all in pawn now, if you'll +investigate. I don't doubt but that poor Stella died without a penny to +her name." + +I was so surprised at this information that I failed to study Kennedy's +face. I was completely jolted from my own rapt contemplation of the +very soft curves of Enid's back. For here was a motive at last! Gordon +was a possible suspect I had failed to take even halfway seriously. Yet +the leading man was desperately pressed for money, had had a +disgraceful fight with Phelps as we already knew; and not only owed +huge sums to his fiancee as Enid now explained, but had quarreled with +her just prior to her death, according to his own admission in the +investigation at Tarrytown. + +Suddenly the music struck up once more. Enid rose, adjusting the straps +of her gown. + +"There!" she exclaimed, smiling abruptly. "I thought you ought to know +that, though I hate to peddle gossip. Now I must hurry back. I've been +away long enough. But come down later and dance." + +She swept off without further formality. An instant afterward we saw +her in the clasp of Millard once again. We watched during the number +and encore; then Kennedy called for the check. + +"Let's go up to the apartment," he suggested. "I'd like to talk some of +these things out with you. It will help me clarify my own impressions." + +Underneath the balcony I noticed Kennedy turn for a last glance at +Manton's party. I paused to look, also. Enid was leaning forward, +talking to Millard earnestly, emphasizing what she had to say with +characteristic movements of her head. + +"She's pumping Millard for more information about Stella Lamar," I +remarked. + +Kennedy had no comment. + + + + +XVII + +AN APPEAL + + +We strolled up Broadway, resisting the attraction of a garish new +motion-picture palace at which Manton's previous release with Stella +Lamar was now showing to capacity--much to the delight of the exhibitor +who greatly complimented himself on his good fortune in being able to +take advantage of the newspaper sensation over the affair. + +On we walked, Kennedy mostly in silent deduction, I knew, until we came +to the upper regions of the great thoroughfare, turned off, and headed +toward our apartment on the Heights, not far from the university. + +We had scarcely settled ourselves for a quiet hour in our quarters when +the telephone rang. I answered. To my amazement I found that it was +Marilyn Loring. + +"Is Professor Kennedy in?" she asked. + +"Yes, Miss Loring. Just a--" + +"Never mind calling him to the phone, Mr. Jameson. I've been trying to +find him all evening. He was not at the laboratory, although I waited +over an hour. Just tell him that there's something I am very anxious to +consult him about. Ask him if it will be all right for me to run up to +see him just a few minutes." + +I explained to Kennedy. + +"Let her come along," he said, as surprised as I was. Then he added, +humorously, "I seem to be father confessor to-night." + +After sinking back in my seat in comfort once more I observed a quiet +elation in Kennedy's manner. All at once it struck me what he was +doing. The multitude of considerations in this case, the many cross +leads to be followed, had confused me. But now I realized that, after +all, this was only the approved Kennedy method, the mode of procedure +which had never failed to produce results for him. Without allowing +himself to be disturbed by the great number of people concerned, he had +calmly started to pit them one against the other, encouraging each to +talk about the rest, making a show of his apparent inaction and lack of +haste so that they, in turn, would shake off the excitement immediately +following the death of the girl and thereby reveal their normal selves +to his keen observation. + +Not five minutes passed before Marilyn was announced. Evidently she had +been seeking us eagerly, for she had probably telephoned from a near-by +pay station. + +"Mr. Kennedy," she began, "I am going to find this very hard to say." + +"Really," he assured her, "there is no reason why you should not repose +your confidence in me. My only interest is to solve the mystery and to +see that justice is satisfied. Beyond that nothing would give me +greater happiness than to be of service to you." + +"It's--it's about Merle Shirley--" she started, bravely. Then all at +once she broke down. The strain of two days had been too much for her. + +Kennedy lighted a fresh cigar, realizing that he could best aid her to +recover her composure by making no effort to do so. For several moments +she sobbed silently, a handkerchief at her eyes. Then she straightened, +with a half smile, dabbing at the drops of moisture remaining. With her +wet eyes and flushed cheeks she was revealed to me again as a very +genuine girl, wholly unspoiled by her outward mask of sophistication. +Furthermore, at this instant she was gloriously pretty. + +"Again--why do you play vampire roles, Miss Loring?" I asked, as +quickly as the thought flashed to me. "I think you'd be an ideal +ingenue!" + +"About a thousand people have told me that," she rejoined. As she +replied her smile took full possession of her features. My idiotic +repetition, entirely out of place, had served to restore her +self-control to her. "No, the public won't stand for it. They've been +trained to know me as a vamp, and a vamp I remain." + +Facing Kennedy, she sobered. "Merle Shirley and I were engaged," she +went on. "That you know. Then poor Stella made a fool of him. She +didn't mean any harm, any real harm, but I don't think she knew how +deep he feels or just what a fiery temper he has. Finally he found out +that she was only playing with him. He was perfectly terrible. At first +I thought he had killed her in a burst of passion. I really thought +that." + +"Yes?" Kennedy was interested. He needed no pretense. + +"When I asked him point blank he said he didn't." A very wonderful +light came into Marilyn Loring's eyes at this instant. "Whatever else +he would do, Professor Kennedy, he wouldn't lie to me; that I know. He +would tell me the truth because he knows I would shield him, no matter +what the cost." + +"You simply want to assure me of his innocence?" suggested Kennedy. + +"No!" There was a touch of scorn to the little negative. "You don't +believe him guilty; you didn't even when I did." + +"Then--" + +"But he knows something--something about the murder of Stella--and he +won't tell me what it is. I--I'm afraid for him. He isn't sleeping at +night, and I believe he's watching somebody at the studio, and I +know--it's the WOMAN'S intuition, Professor"--she emphasized the word, +and paused--"he's in danger. He's in some great threatening danger!" + +"What do you wish me to do, Miss Loring?" + +"I want you to protect him and"--slowly she colored, up and around and +about her eyes as she always did, until she wasn't unlike an Indian +maid--"and no one must know I've been up to see you." + +Gravely Kennedy bowed her to the door, assuring her he would do all +that lay in his power. When he returned I was ready for him. + +"Now!" I exclaimed. "Now say it isn't Werner! Here is Merle Shirley +watching some one at the studio. Isn't that likely to be the director? +And if Shirley is watching Werner you have the explanation for the +second intruder at Tarrytown last night. Shirley is big enough and +strong enough to have given the deputy a nice swift tussle." + +"A little tall, I'm afraid," Kennedy remarked. + +"You can't go by the deputy's impressions. He didn't really remember +much of anything. Certainly he was unobserving." + +"Perhaps you're right, Walter." Kennedy smiled. "But how about Gordon?" +he added. "There's genuine motive--money!" + +"Or Shirley himself!" I attempted to be sarcastic. "There's genuine +motive. Stella made a fool out of him." + +"It wasn't a murder of passion," Kennedy reminded me. "No one in a +white heat of rage would study up on snake venoms." + +"If it were a slow-smoldering--" + +"Shirley's anger wasn't that kind." + +"But good heavens!" As usual I arrived nowhere in an argument with +Kennedy. "Circumstantial evidence points to Werner almost altogether--" + +"You've forgotten one point in your chain, Walter." + +"What's that?" + +"Whoever took the needle from the curtain last night scratched himself +on it and left blood spots on the portieres, tiny ones, but real blood +spots, nevertheless. That means the intruder inoculated himself with +venom. I doubt that the poison was so dry as to be ineffectual. If it +was Werner, how do you account for the fact that he is still alive?" + +"Do you"--I guess my eyes went wide--"do you expect to dig up a dead +man somewhere? Is there some one we suspect and haven't seen since +yesterday?" + +He didn't answer, preferring to tantalize me. + +"How do you account for it yourself?" I demanded, somewhat hotly. + +"Let's call it a day, Walter," he rejoined. "Let's go to bed!" + + + + + XVIII + +THE ANTIVENIN + + +I slept late in the morning, so that Kennedy had to wake me. When we +had finished breakfast he led the way to the laboratory, all without +making any effort to satisfy my curiosity. There he started packing up +the tubes and materials he had been studying in the case, rather than +resuming his investigations. + +"What's the idea?" I asked, finally, unable to contain myself any +longer. + +"You carry this package," he directed. "I'll take the other." + +I obeyed, somewhat sulkily I'm afraid. + +"You see," he added, as we left the building and hurried to the taxi +stand near the campus, "the next problem is to identify the particular +kind of venom that was used. Besides, I want to know the nature of the +spots on the towel you found. They certainly were not of venom. I have +my suspicions what they really are." + +He paused while we selected a vehicle and made ourselves comfortable. +"To save time," he went on, "I thought I'd just go over to the +Castleton Institute. You know in their laboratories the famous Japanese +investigator, Doctor Nagoya, has made some marvelous discoveries +concerning the venom of snakes. It is his specialty, a matter to which +he has practically devoted his life. Therefore I expect that he will be +able to confirm certain suspicions of mine very quickly, or"--a +shrug--"explode a theory which has slowly been taking form in the back +of my head." + +When we dismissed the taxi in front of the institute I realized that +this would be my first visit to this institution so lavishly endowed by +the multi-millionaire, Castleton, for the advancement of experimental +science. Kennedy's card, sent in to Doctor Nagoya, brought that eminent +investigator out personally to see us. He was the very finest type of +Oriental savant, a member of the intellectual nobility of the strange +Eastern land only recently made receptive to the civilization of the +West. When he and Kennedy chatted together in low tones for a few +moments it was hard for me to grasp that each belonged to a basic race +strain fundamentally different from the other. East and West had met, +upon the plane of modern science. The two were simply men of +specialized knowledge, the Japanese pre-eminent in one field, Kennedy +in another. + +Carefully and thoroughly Kennedy and Nagoya went over the results which +Kennedy had already obtained. After a moment Doctor Nagoya conducted us +to his research room. + +"Now let me show you," said the Oriental. + +In a moment they were deep in the mysteries of an even more minute +analysis than Kennedy had made before. I took a turn about the room, +finding nothing more understandable than the study holding Kennedy's +interest. Though I could not grasp it, curiosity kept me hovering close. + +"You see"--Nagoya spoke as he finished the test he was making at the +moment--"without a doubt it is crotalin, the venom of the rattlesnake, +Crotalus horridus." + +"There was no snake actually present," I hastened to explain, breaking +in. Then at a glance from Kennedy I stopped, abashed, for all this had +been made clear to the scientist. + +"It is not necessary," Nagoya replied, turning to me with the +politeness characteristic of the East. "Crotalin can be obtained now +with fair ease. It is a drug used in a new treatment of epilepsy which +is being tried out at many hospitals." + +I nodded my thanks, not wanting to interrupt again. + +Kennedy pressed on to the next point he wished established. "That was +the spot on the portieres. Now the ampulla." + +"Also crotalin." Doctor Nagoya spoke positively. + +"How about this solution?" Kennedy took from my package the tube with +the liquid made from the faint spots on the towel which I had found and +which had been our first clue. "It is not crotalin." + +The Japanese turned to his laboratory table. + +Kennedy muttered some vague suggestions which were too technical for me +but which seemed to enable Nagoya to eliminate a great deal of work. +The test progressed rapidly. Finally the savant stepped back, regarding +the solution with a very satisfied smile. + +"It is," he explained, carefully, "some of the very anticrotalus venin +which we have perfected right here in the institute." + +Kennedy nodded. "I suspected as much." There was great elation in his +manner. "You see, I had heard all about your wonderful work." + +"Yes!" Nagoya waved his hand around at the wonderfully equipped room, +only one detail in the many arrangements for medical research made +possible by the generosity of Castleton. "Yes," he repeated, proud of +his laboratory, as he well might be, "we have made a great deal of +progress in the development of protective sera--antivenins, we call +them." + +"Are they distributed widely?" Kennedy asked, thoughtfully. + +"All over the world. We are practically the only source of supply." + +"How do you obtain the serum in quantity?" + +"From horses treated with increasing doses of the snake venom." + +A question struck me as I remembered the peculiar double action of the +poison. "Can you tell me just how the antivenin counteracts the effects +of the venom?" I inquired of the savant. + +"Surely," he replied. "It neutralizes one of the two elements in the +venom, the nervous poison, thus enabling the individual to devote all +his vitality to overcoming the irritant poison. It is the nervous +poison that is the chief death-dealing agent, producing paralysis of +the heart and respiration. We advise all travelers to carry the +protective serum if they are likely to be exposed to snake bites." + +Kennedy picked up the tube containing the solution made from the towel +spots. "This antivenin was your product, doctor?" + +"Probably so," was the precise answer. + +"Then the purchasers can be identified," I suggested. + +"We have no record of ordinary purchasers," Nagoya explained, slowly. + +Kennedy was keenly disappointed at that, and showed it. However, he +thanked the scientist cordially, and we departed. Outside, he turned to +me. + +"Do you understand now why the night intruder at Tarrytown did not +die--if he is one of our suspects--from the scratch of the needle?" + +"You mean he had taken an injection of antivenin before--" + +"Exactly! We are dealing with a criminal of diabolical cleverness. Not +only did he make all his plans to kill Miss Lamar with the greatest +possible care, but he prepared against accident to himself. He was +taking no chances. He inoculated himself with a protective serum. The +needle of the syringe he used for that purpose he wiped upon the towel +you discovered in the washroom." + + + + +XIX + +AROUND THE CIRCLE + + +"I'd like to have another talk with Millard about that Fortune Features +affair," remarked Kennedy. + +It was the third morning after the death of Stella Lamar, and I found +him half through breakfast when I rose. About him were piled moving +picture and theatrical publications, daily, weekly, and monthly. At the +moment I caught him he had spread wide open the inner page of the Daily +Metropolitan, a sheet devoted almost exclusively to sports and the +amusement fields. + +I went around to glance over his shoulder. He pointed to a small item +under a heading of recent plans and changes. + + FORTUNE FEATURES + + It is hinted to the Metropolitan Man-about-Broadway, by those + in a position to know but who cannot yet be quoted, that + Fortune Features is about to absorb a number of the largest + competing companies. Rumors of great changes in the picture + world have been current for some weeks, and this is the first + reliable information to be given out. It is premature to give + details of the new combination, or to mention names, but + Fortune's strong backing in Wall Street will, we are assured, + have a stabilizing influence at a critical time in the + industry. + +"Seems to be a lot of hot air," I said. "There isn't a name mentioned. +Everything is 'by those in a position to know' and 'rumors of and 'it +is premature to give details... or mention names'--Bah!" + +Kennedy turned to places he had marked in several of the other +periodicals and papers and I read them. Each was substantially to the +effect of the note in the Metropolitan, although worded differently and +generally printed as a news item. + +"It's a feeler," Kennedy stated. "There's something back of it. When I +caught the reference to Fortune Features in the Metropolitan, which +I've been reading the past two days, I sent the boy out for every movie +publication he could find. Result: half a dozen repetitions of the hint +that Fortune is expanding. That means that it is deliberate publicity." + +"You think this has something to do with the case?" + +"I don't see the name of Manton mentioned once. Manton is a man who +seeks the front page on every opportunity. You remember, of course, +what Millard told us. Somehow I smell a rat. If nothing else develops +for this morning, I want to find Millard and talk to him again. I +believe Manton is up to something." + +The sharp sound of our buzzer interrupted us. Because I was on my feet +I went to the door. To my amazement I found it was Phelps who was our +very early visitor. + +"I hope you'll excuse this intrusion," he apologized to Kennedy, +pushing by me with the rudeness which seemed inherent in the man. Then +he recognized the sheet still spread out on the table. "I see you, too, +have been reading the Metropolitan." + +"Yes," Kennedy admitted, languidly. "There is nothing about Manton +Pictures, though." + +"Manton Pictures, hell!" In an instant Phelps exploded and the thin +veneer of politeness was gone. With a shaking finger he pointed to the +item which we had just been reading and discussing. "Did you read that! +Did you see the reference to stabilizing the industry? STABILIZING! It +ought to be spelled stable-izing, for they lead all the donkeys into +stalls and tie them up and let them kick." He stopped momentarily for +sheer inability to continue. + +"I suppose you don't know Manton is behind this Fortune Features?" + +"We were aware of the fact," Kennedy told him, quietly. + +Phelps looked from one to the other of us keenly, as if he had thought +to surprise us and had been disappointed. Nervously he began to pace +the floor. + +"Perhaps you know also that things haven't been going just right with +Manton Pictures?" + +Kennedy straightened. "When I asked you at Tarrytown, just two mornings +ago, whether there was any trouble between Manton and yourself, you +answered that there was not." + +Phelps flushed. "I didn't want to air my financial difficulties with +Manton. My--my answer was truthful, the way you meant your question. +Manton and I have had no words, no quarrel, no disagreement of a +personal nature." + +"What is the trouble with Manton Pictures?" + +"They are wasting money--throwing it right and left. That pay roll of +theirs is preposterous. The waste itself is beyond belief--sometimes +four and five cameras on a scene, retakes upon the slightest +provocation, even sets rebuilt because some minor detail fails to suit +the artistic eye of the director. Werner, supposed to watch all the +companies, doesn't half know his business. In the making of a five-reel +film they will overtake sometimes as much as eighty or a hundred +thousand feet of negative in each of two cameras, when twenty thousand +is enough overtake for anyone. That alone is five to ten thousand +dollars for negative stock, almost fifteen with the sample print and +developing. And the cost of stock, Mr. Kennedy, is the smallest item. +All the extra length is long additional weeks of pay roll and overhead +expense. I put an auditor and a film expert on the accounts of Stella +Lamar's last picture. By their figures just sixty-three thousand +dollars was absolutely thrown away." + +Kennedy rose, folding the newspaper carefully while he collected his +thoughts. "My dear Mr. Phelps," he stated, finally, "that is simply +inefficiency. I doubt if it is anything criminal; certainly there is no +connection with the death of Stella Lamar, my only interest in Manton +Pictures." + +Phelps was very grave. "There is every connection with the death of +Stella Lamar!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Mr. Kennedy, what I'm going to say to you I cannot substantiate in any +court of law. Furthermore I'm laying myself open to action for libel, +so I must not be quoted. But I want you to understand that Stella was +inescapably wound up with all of Manton's financial schemes. His money +maneuvers determined her social life, her friends--everything. She was +then, as Enid Faye will be now, his come-on, his decoy. Manton has no +scruples of any sort whatsoever. He is dishonest, tricky, a liar, and a +cheat. If I could prove it I would tell him so, but he's too clever for +me. I do know, however, that he pulled the strings which controlled +every move Stella Lamar ever made. When she went to dinner with me it +was because Manton wished her to do so. She was his right hand, his +ears, almost his mouth. I have no doubt but that her death is the +direct result of some business deal of his--something directly to do +with his financial necessities." + +Kennedy did not glance up. "Those are very serious assertions." + +"It is a very serious matter. To show how unscrupulous Manton is, I can +demonstrate that he is wrecking Manton Pictures deliberately. I've told +you of the waste. Only the other day I came into the studio. Werner was +putting up a great ballroom set. You saw it? No, that isn't the one I +mean. I mean the first one. He had it all up; then some little thing +didn't suit him. The next day I came in again. All +struck--sloughed--every bit of it--and a new one started. 'Lloyd,' I +said, 'just think a minute--that's my money!' What good did it do? He +even began to alter the new set! He would only go on, encouraging +Werner and the other directors to change their sets, to lose time in +trying for foolish effects, anything at all to pad the expense. + +"You think I am romancing, but you don't understand the film world," +Phelps hurried on angrily. "Do you know that Enid Faye's contract is +not with Manton Pictures but with Manton himself? That means he can +take her away from me after he has made her a star with my money, at my +expense. Why should he wreck Manton Pictures, you ask? Do you know +that, bit by bit, on the pretext that he needed the funds for this +that, or the other thing, Manton has sold out his entire interest in +the company to me? It is all mine now. I tell you," complained Phelps, +bitterly, "he couldn't seem to wreck the company fast enough. Why? Do +you realize that there isn't room both for this older company and the +new Fortune Features? Can you see that if Manton Pictures fails the +Fortune company will be able to pick up the studio and all the +equipment for a song? I'm the fall guy! + +"And yet, Kennedy, all the efforts to wreck Manton Pictures would have +failed, because 'The Black Terror' was too sure a success. In spite of +all the expense, in spite of every effort to wreck it, that picture +would have made half a million dollars. Stella's acting and Millard's +story and script would have put it over. But now Millard's contract has +expired and Manton has signed him for Fortune Features. Enid Faye will +be made a star by 'The Black Terror,' but she is not now the drawing +power to put it over big, as Stella would have done. I tell you, +Kennedy, the death of Stella Lamar has completed the wreck of Manton +Pictures!" + +Kennedy jumped to his feet. There was a hard light in his eyes I had +never seen before. + +"Do I understand you, Phelps?" he snapped. "Are you accusing Manton of +the cold-blooded murder of Stella Lamar to further various financial +schemes?" + +"Hardly!" Phelps blanched a bit, and I thought that a shudder swept +over him. "I don't mean anything like that at all. What I mean is that +Manton, in encouraging various sorts of dissension to wreck the +company, inadvertently fanned the flames of passion of those about her, +and it resulted in her death." + +"Who killed her?" + +"I don't know!" Grudgingly I admitted that this seemed open and frank. + +"At Tarrytown," Kennedy went on, "I asked you if Stella Lamar was +making any trouble, had threatened to quit Manton Pictures, and you +said no. Is that still your answer?" + +"For several months she had been up-stage. That was not because she +wanted to make trouble, but because she had fallen in love. Manton +found he couldn't handle her as he had previously." + +"Do you suspect Manton of killing her himself?" + +"I don't suspect anyone. That is an honest answer, Mr. Kennedy." + +"What do you know about Fortune Features?" + +The banker's eye fell on the newspaper again. "I know who this new Wall +Street fellow is. I've got my scouts out working for me. It's +Leigh--that's who it is. And I'm sore; I have a right to be." + +Phelps was getting more and more heated, by the moment. "I tell you," +he almost shouted, "this fake movie business is the modern gold-brick +game, all right. Never again!" + +I was amazed at the Machiavellian cleverness of Manton. Here he was, on +one hand openly working with, yet secretly ruining, the Manton +Pictures, while on the other hand he was covertly building up the +competing Fortune Features. + +Kennedy paced out into the little hall of our suite and back. He faced +our visitor once more. + +"Why did you come to see me this morning? At our last encounter, you +may recall you said you wished you could throw me down the steps." + +Phelps smiled ruefully. "That was a mistake. It was the way I felt, +but--I'm sorry." + +"Now--?" + +Again the black clouds overshadowed the features of the financier. "Now +I want you to bring out and prove the things I've told you." The malice +showed in his voice plainly, for the first time. "I want it proved in +court that Manton is a cheap crook. When you uncover the murderer of +Stella Lamar you will find that the moral responsibility for her death +traces right back to Lloyd Manton. I want him driven out of the +business." + +Kennedy's attitude changed. As he escorted Phelps to the door his tones +were self-controlled. "Anything of the sort is beyond my province. My +task is simply to find the person who killed the girl." + +When the financier was gone I turned to Kennedy eagerly. "What do you +think?" I asked. + +"I think, more than ever, that we should investigate Fortune Features. +Let's have a look at the telephone book." + +There was no studio of the new corporation in New York, but we did find +one listed in New Jersey, just across the river, at Fort Lee. We walked +from the university down the hill and over to the ferry. On the other +side a ten minutes' street-car ride took us to our destination. + +Facing us was a huge barn-like structure set down in the midst of a +little park. Inquiry for Manton brought no response whatever; rather, +surprise that we should be asking for him here. However, I reflected +that that was exactly what we ought to expect if Manton was working +under cover. The girl at the telephone switchboard, smiling at Kennedy, +had a suggestion. + +"They're taking a storm exterior down in the meadow," she explained. +"Perhaps he's down there, among the visitors--or perhaps there's +someone who will be able to give you some information." + +I glanced outdoors at the brightly shining sun. "A storm?" I repeated, +incredulously. + +"Yes," she smiled. "It might interest you to see it." + +Following her directions, we started across country, leaving the studio +building some distance behind and entering a broad expanse of meadow +beyond a thin clump of trees. At the farther end we could see a large +group of people and paraphernalia which, at the distance, we could not +make out. + +However, it was not long after we emerged from the trees that we +perceived they were photographing squarely in our direction. Several +began waving their arms wildly at us and shouting. Kennedy and I, +understanding, turned and advanced, keeping well out of the camera +lines, along the edge of the field. + +"Hello!" a voice greeted us as we approached the group standing back +and watching the action. + +To my surprise it was Millard, with the spectators. I looked about for +Manton but did not see him, nor anyone else we knew. + +"It's a storm and cyclone," said Millard, his attention rather on what +was going on than on us. + +For the moment we said nothing. + +The scene before us was indeed interesting. Half a dozen aeroplane +engines and propellers had been set up outside the picture, and +anchored securely in place. The wind from them was actually enough to +knock a man down. Rain was furnished by hose playing water into the +whirling blades, sending it driving into the scene with the fury of a +tropical storm. Back of the propellers half a dozen men were +frantically at work shoveling into them sand and dirt, creating an +amazingly realistic cyclone. + +We arrived in the midst of the cyclone scene, as the dust storm was +ending and the torrential rain succeeded. For the storm, a miniature +village had been constructed in break-away fashion, partially sawed +through and tricked for the proper moment. Many objects were controlled +by invisible wires, including an actual horse and buggy which seemed to +be lifted bodily and carried away. Roofs flew off, walls crashed in, +actors and actresses were knocked flat as some few of them failed to +gain their cyclone cellars. Altogether, it was a storm of such +efficiency as Nature herself could scarcely have furnished, and all +staged with the streaming sunlight which made photography possible. + +Pandemonium reigned. Cameras were grinding, directors were bawling +through megaphones, all was calculated chaos. Yet it took only a glance +to see that some marvelous effects were being caught here. + +At the conclusion I recognized suddenly the little leading lady, It was +the girl we had seen with Manton at Jacques' cabaret. + +"That's the way to take a picture," exclaimed Millard. "Everything +right--no expense spared. I came over to see it done. It's wonderful." + +"Yes," was Kennedy's answer, "but it must be very costly." + +"It is all of that," said Millard. "But what of it if the film makes a +big clean-up? I wouldn't have missed this for anything. Werner never +staged a spectacle like this in his life. Fortune Features are going to +set a new mark in pictures." + +"But can they keep it up? Have they the money?" + +Millard shrugged his shoulders. "Manton Pictures can't--that's a cinch. +Phelps has reached the end of his rope, I guess. I'm afraid the trouble +with him was that he was thinking of too many things besides pictures." + +There was no mistaking the meaning of the remark. Millard was still cut +by Stella's desertion of him for the broker. I caught Kennedy's glance, +but neither of us cared to refer to her. + +"Where can I find Manton now?" Kennedy asked. + +"Did you try his office at seven hundred and twenty-nine?" was +Millard's suggestion. + +"No; I wanted to see this place first." + +"Well, you'll most likely find him there. I've got to go back to the +city myself-some scenes of 'The Black Terror' to rewrite to fit Enid +better. I'll motor you across the ferry and to the Subway." + +At the Subway station, Millard left us and we proceeded to Manton's +executive offices in a Seventh Avenue skyscraper, built for and devoted +exclusively to the film business. + +Manton's business suite was lavishly furnished, but not quite as ornate +and garish as his apartment. The promoter himself welcomed us, for no +matter how busy he was at any hour, he always seemed to have time to +stop and chat. + +"Well, how goes it?" He pushed over a box of expensive cigars. "Have +you found out anything yet?" + +"Had a visit from Phelps this morning." Kennedy plunged directly into +the subject, watching the effect. + +Manton did not betray anything except a quiet smile. "Poor old Phelps," +he said. "I guess he's pretty uneasy. You know he has been speculating +rather heavily in the market lately. There was a time when I thought +Phelps had a bank roll in reserve. But it seems he has been playing the +game on a shoestring, after all." + +Manton casually flicked the ashes from his cigar into a highly polished +cuspidor as he leaned over. "I happen to have learned that, to make his +bluff good, he has been taking money from his brokerage business"--here +he nodded sagely--"his customers' accounts you know. Leigh knows the +inside of everybody's affairs in Wall Street. They say a quarter of a +million is short, at least. To tell you the truth, poor Stella took a +good deal of Phelps's money. Certainly his Manton Pictures holdings +wouldn't leave him in the hole as deep as all that." + +I reflected that this was quite the way of the world--first framing up +something on a boob, then deprecating the ease with which he was +trimmed. + +Was it blackmail Stella had levied on Phelps, I wondered? Was she +taking from him to give to Gordon? Had Stella broken him? Was she the +real cause of the tangle in his affairs? And had Phelps in insane +passion revenged himself on her? + +In the conversation with Manton there was certainly no hint of answer +to my queries. With all his ease, Manton was the true picture promoter. +Seldom was he betrayed into a positive statement of his own. Always, +when necessary, he gave as authority the name of some one else. But the +effect was the same. + +A hurried call of some sort took Manton away from us. Kennedy turned to +me with a whimsical expression. + +"Let's go!" he remarked. + +"What do you make of it, offhand?" I asked, outside. + +"We're going about in a circle," he remarked. "Strange group of people. +Each apparently suspects the other." + +"And, to cover himself, talks of the other fellow," I added. + +Kennedy nodded, and we made our way toward the laboratory. + +"I'll bet something happens before the day is over," I hazarded, for no +reason in particular. + +Kennedy shrugged. + +As we went, I cast up in my mind the facts we had learned. The +information from Manton was disconcerting, coming on top of what had +already been revealed about the inner workings of his game. If Phelps +had secretly "borrowed" from the trust accounts in his charge a quarter +of a million or so, I saw that his situation must indeed be desperate. +To what lengths he might go it was difficult to determine. + + + + +XX + +THE BANQUET SCENE + + +For once I qualified as a prophet. We were hardly in our rooms when the +telephone rang for Kennedy. It was District-Attorney Mackay, calling in +from Tarrytown. + +"My men have positive identification of one of the visitors to the +Phelps home the night after the murder," he reported. + +"Fine!" exclaimed Kennedy. "Who was it? How did you uncover his trail?" + +"You remember that my deputy heard the sound of a departing automobile? +Well, we have been questioning everyone. A citizen here, who returned +home late at just about that hour, remembers seeing a taxicab tearing +through the street at a reckless rate. He came in to see me this +morning. He made a mental note of the license number at the time, and +while nothing stuck with him but the last three figures, three sixes, +he was sure that it was a Maroon taxi. We got busy and have located the +driver who made the trip, from a stand at Thirty-third all the way out +and back. On the return he dropped his fare at the man's apartment. The +identification is positive." + +"Who is it?" Kennedy became quite excited. + +"Werner, the director." + +"Werner!" in surprise. "What are you going to do?" + +"Arrest him first--examine him afterward. I've sworn out the warrant +already, and I'm going to start in by car just as soon as we hang up. I +thought I'd phone you first in case you wanted to accompany me to the +studio." + +"We'll hurry there," Kennedy replied, "and meet you." + +"Outside?" + +"No, up on the floor." + +"You'll be there fifteen minutes to half an hour ahead of me. I hope +there is no way for anyone to tip him off so he can escape." + +"We'll stop him if he attempts it." + +"Good!" + +The courtyard of the studio of Manton Pictures, Incorporated, was about +the same as upon the occasions of our previous visits except that I +detected a larger number of cars parked in the inclosure, including a +number of very fine ones. Also, it seemed to me that there was a +greater absence of life than usual, as though something of particular +interest had taken everyone inside the buildings. + +The gateman informed us that Werner was working the large studio. We +made our way up through the structure containing the dressing rooms and +found the proper door without difficulty. When we passed through under +the big glass roof we grasped the reason for the lack of interest in +the other departments about the quadrangle. Here everyone was gathered +to watch the taking of the banquet scene for "The Black Terror." The +huge set was illuminated brightly, and packed, thronged with people. + +It was a marvelous set in many ways. To carry out the illusion of size +and to aid in the deceptive additional length given by the mirrors at +the farther end, Werner had decided against the usual one large table +arranged horseshoe-like, but had substituted instead a great number of +individual smaller tables, about which he had grouped the various +guests. The placing of those nearest the mirrors had been so arranged +as to give no double images, thus betraying the trick. The waiters, all +the characters who walked about, were kept near the front toward the +cameras for the same reason. It seemed as if the banquet hall was at +least twice its actual size. + +I saw that Millard had arrived ahead of us. Either the changing of the +scenes in his script to fit Enid had not taken him very long or else +the photographing of this particular bit of action had proved +sufficiently fascinating to draw him away from his work. I wondered at +first if he had come to the studio to use his office here, an +infrequent happening, from Manton's account. Then I realized that he +was in evening dress. Without doubt he planned to play a minor part in +the banquet. His presence was no accident. + +Then I picked out Manton himself from our point of observation in a +quiet corner selected by Kennedy for that purpose. It was evident that +the promoter had cleared up his business at the office rapidly since we +had left him there to go to our quarters on the Heights and had +departed immediately from the latter place so as to precede the +District Attorney here. + +Manton as well as Millard was in evening dress. A moment later I +recognized Phelps, and he, too, wore his formal clothes. In an instant +I grasped that Werner actually was saving money. Not only were these +officials of the company present to help fill up the tables, but I was +able now to pick out a number of the guests who were uneasy in their +make-up and more or less out of place in full-dress attire. They +certainly were not actors. One girl I definitely placed as the +stenographer from Manton's waiting room at the studio; then other +things caught my attention. I could not help but doubt the stories of +waste told us by Phelps as I looked over the scene before me. The use +of the mirrors to avoid building the full length of the floor did not +seem to fit in with the theory that Manton and Werner were making every +effort to wreck the company deliberately. + +I watched the financier for several moments, but did not detect +anything from his manner except that he seemed to feel ill at ease and +awkward in make-up. I picked out Millard again and this time found him +talking with Enid Faye and Gordon. Immediately I sensed a dramatic +conflict, carefully suppressed, but having too many of the outward +indications to fool anyone. In fact, a child would have observed that +Lawrence Millard and the leading man needed little urging to engage in +a scuffle then and there. Though Stella Lamar was dead, this was the +heritage she had left. Her touch had embittered two men beyond the +point of reconciliation--the husband who had been, and the husband who +was to be. Of the two, Millard had far the better control of himself, +however. + +After a brief word or so Gordon left them. At once I could see the +relief in the expressions of both the others. Again I wondered just +what might be between these two. It was an easy familiarity which might +have been as casual as it seemed to be, no more, or which might have +been a mask for something far deeper and more enduring, the schooled +outer cloak of an inner perfect understanding. + +Werner was by far the busiest of those waiting in the stifling heat +beneath the glass roof. He was in evening dress, prepared to take his +own place before the camera, and in straight make-up, so that he looked +nothing like the slain millionaire, the part he had played in the +opening scenes. I saw that he was a master in the art of make-up. I was +sure that he was more nervous than usual. It struck me that he needed +the stimulus of the drug he used, although later I knew that he must +have felt, intuitively, the coming of events which followed close upon +the attempt to photograph the action. + +As more of the people hurried up from the offices and around from the +manuscript and other departments, very conscious of their formal +attire, and as the regular players changed and adjusted the make-ups of +these amateurs, the banquet took on the proportions of a real affair. + +The members of the cast were placed at the table in the foreground. +Enid, Gordon, Marilyn, and a fourth man were assigned locations; after +which Werner proceeded to fill the seats in the rear. With the +exception of Millard and Phelps, none of the inexperienced people were +allowed to face the camera. Manton, whose features were familiar +through published interviews in many publicity campaigns, was placed to +one side opposite Phelps. Millard was given charge of a group +containing a number of giddy extra girls in somewhat diaphanous +costume, and seemed to be in his element. + +The tables themselves were prepared with perfect taste. I could see +that real food was being used, in order to achieve a greater degree of +realism, for a caterer had set up a buffet some distance out of the +scene from which to serve the courses called for in the script. Many of +the dishes were being kept hot, the steam curling from beneath the +covers in appetizing wisps. The wine, supposed to be champagne, was +sparkling apple juice of the best quality, and I don't doubt but that +before the days of prohibition Werner would have insisted upon the real +fizz water. In details such as these the director was showing no +economy. + +"All ready now?" Werner called, stepping back to a place at a table +which he had reserved for himself. "All set? Remember the action of the +script?" + +Instantly the buzz of conversation died and everyone turned to him. + +"No, no, no!" he exclaimed in vexation. "Don't go dead on your feet. +This is a banquet. You are having a good time. It's not a funeral! You +were all in just the right state of mind before, and you don't have to +stop and gape to listen to me. Keep right on talking and laughing. My +voice will carry and you can hear without getting out of your parts." + +I turned to Kennedy, to see how the picture-making struck him. I saw +that he was watching the two girls at the forward table closely and so +I faced about to follow his glance. Marilyn's face was red with anger, +while Enid, calm and rather malicious, was ignoring her to devote all +attention to Gordon. The leading man, bored and irritated, made no +effort to conceal a heavy scowl. In the momentary interval following +Werner's instructions, Marilyn lost all control of herself. + +"If you will pardon me, MISS Faye," she cried out in a voice which +carried over to us and with cutting accent upon the "Miss," "I think +that in this scene at least we should BOTH be facing the camera. If I +understand the scene in the script at all it is intended to show the +conflict between the two women over the one man seated between them. +Jack Daring is to be swayed first by Stella Remsen, then by Zelda. At +least this once I think the daughter of old Remsen and his ward are +playing roles of equal importance." + +For a moment I smiled, realizing that Marilyn was not going to let Enid +"take the picture away" from her as we had seen the new star do in one +of her first scenes with the leading man. Then I sobered, realizing +that it was the outer reflection of the deep-running passion of these +people. The cloud of Stella's death was over them still. + +Enid responded, but in tones too low for us to hear. A new flush of red +in Marilyn's face, however, demonstrated the power in the lash of the +other girl's tongue. Werner hurried over to them, not masking his own +irritation any too well. Without a word he began rearranging the table, +moving it slightly so that while there was no great difference in its +position he had yet made a show of satisfying Marilyn. In effect he +pleased neither. The two pretty faces closest to the camera were a +study in discontent. + +"I don't wonder that moving-picture directors are nervous," Kennedy +remarked. "Film manufacture must keep everyone under constant tension." + +"What do you make of the feeling between the different people?" I +asked. "Did you notice Millard and Gordon, and now Enid and Marilyn?" + +"There's something under cover," he rejoined; "something behind all +this. I get the impression that our suspects are watching one another, +like as many hawks. At various times most of them have glanced over at +us. They know we are here and are conscious they may be under +suspicion. Therefore I particularly want to see how those two girls act +when Mackay arrives to arrest Werner." + +The director, stepping back to his place, took a megaphone from his +assistant for use in the rehearsal. + +"Now you must act just as though this were a real banquet," he shouted. +"Try to forget that the Black Terror is lurking outside the window, +that an attack is coming from him. Remember, when the shot is fired you +must all leap up as though you meant it. Here! You--you--you--" +designating certain extra girls, "faint when it happens. That's not +until after the toast is proposed. I'll propose the toast from my table +and it will be the cue for Shirley, outside. Now don't get ahead of the +action. You amateurs, don't turn around to see if the camera is +working. We'll go through the action up to the moment I propose the +toast." The buzz of conversation rose slightly as though an effort was +being put into the gayety. I glanced about at some of the people who +were cast for only this one scene, wishing I could read lips, because I +was sure many of them talked of matters wholly out of place in this +setting. At the same time I kept an eye on the principals and upon +Werner. + +Finally the director was satisfied, after a second rehearsal. + +"All right," he bellowed, throwing the megaphone from the scene. +"Shoot!" + +At the same instant he dropped to his place and apparently was a guest +with no interest but in the food and wine before him. + +At the cameras-there were three of them-the assistant director kept a +careful watch of the general action. In actual time by the watch the +whole was very short, a second measuring to sixteen pictures or a foot +of film as I explained afterward to Kennedy. The entire scene perhaps +ran one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet. + +But on the screen, even to the spectators in the studio, the illusion +in a scene of the kind would be the duration of half an hour or even +more. This would be helped by close-ups of the individual action, +especially by the byplay between the principals, taken later and +inserted into the long shot by the film cutter. + +I know I was carried away by a sense of reality. It seemed to me that +waiters made endless trips to and fro, that here and there pretty girls +broke into laughter constantly or that men leaned forward every other +moment to make witty remarks; in fact I felt genuinely sorry I could +not take part in the festivities. I knew that danger, in the person of +the Black Terror as played by Shirley, lurked just out the window. I +felt delicious anticipatory thrills of fear, so thoroughly was I in the +spirit of the thing. Then I saw that Werner was about to propose the +toast, about to give the cue for the big action. + +"Watch him" whispered Kennedy. "He's an actor. He's taking that drink +just as though he meant every drop of it." + +Werner had raised his delicately stemmed glass as though to join his +neighbor in some pledge when a new idea seemed to strike him. He leaped +to his feet. + +"Let's drink together! Let's drink to our hero and heroine of the +evening!" + +Other voices rose in acclamation. The wine had been poured lavishly. +Glasses clinked and we could hear laughter. + +Suddenly at the window, back of everyone, appeared the evil, +black-masked figure of Shirley, eyes glittering menacingly from their +slits, two weapons glistening blue in his hands. + +At the same moment there was a terrible groan, followed by a scream of +agony. Werner staggered back, his left hand clutched at his breast. +From his right hand the glass which he had drained fell to the canvas +covered floor with an ominous dull crash. + +This was not in the script! Practically everybody realized the fact, +for the scene instantly was in an uproar. In the general consternation +no one seemed to know just what to do. + +Shirley was the first to act, the first to realize what had happened. +Dropping his weapons, reaching the side of the stricken director in one +leap, he supported him as he reeled drunkenly, then eased him to the +floor. Behind us, before I could look to Kennedy to see what he would +do, there was the gasp of a man out of breath from hurrying upstairs. I +turned, startled. It was Mackay. + +"Shall I make the collar?" he wheezed. At the same instant he saw the +gathering crowd in the set. "What--what's happened?" he asked. + +Kennedy had bounded forward only a few seconds after Shirley. As I +pushed through after him, Mackay following, I discovered him kneeling +at the side of Werner. + +"Some one send for a doctor, quick," he commanded, taking charge of +things as a matter of course. "Hurry!" he repeated. "He's gasping for +air and it'll be too late in a minute." + +Then he saw us. "Walter--Mackay"--he raised Werner's head--"push +everyone back, please! Give him a chance to breathe!" + +A thousand thoughts flashed through my head as politely but firmly I +widened the space about Kennedy and the director. Was this a case of +suicide? Had Werner known we were coming for him? Had he thought to +bring about his own end in the most spectacular fashion possible? Was +this the fancy of a drug-weakened brain? + +Suddenly I realized that Werner was trying to speak. One of the camera +men had helped Kennedy lift him to the top of a table, swept of its +dishes and linen, so as to make it easier for him to breathe. + +"Out in Tarrytown," he muttered, weakly, "that night--I +suspected--and--saw--" His voice trailed off into nothingness. Even the +motion of his lips was too feeble to follow. + +In an instant I grasped the cruel injustice I had done this man in my +mind. It was now that I remembered, in a flash, Kennedy's attitude and +was glad that Kennedy had not suspected him. + +"See!" I faced Mackay, speaking in quick, low tones so the others could +not hear. "I--we--have been totally and absolutely wrong in suspecting +Werner. Instead, it was he who has been playing our game--trying to +confirm his own suspicions. I've been entirely wrong in my deductions +from the discovery of his dope and needles." + +"What do you mean, Jameson?" The district attorney had been taken +completely off his feet by the unexpected developments. His eyes were +rather dazed, his expression baffled. "What do you mean?" + +"Why he was out at Tarrytown that night, all right, don't you +see--but--but he was the second man, the man who watched!" + +Mackay still seemed unable to comprehend. + +"There were two men," I went on, excitedly; covering my own chagrin in +my impatience at the little district attorney. "The one your deputy +struggled with was short, rather than tall, and very strong. That's +Werner! Can't you see it? Haven't you noticed how stockily and +powerfully the director is built?" + +"Werner must really have had some clue," murmured Mackay, dazed. + +It left me wondering whether the stimulation of the dope might not have +heightened Werner's imagination and urged him on in following something +that our more sluggish minds had never even dreamed. + +Meanwhile I saw that the doctor had arrived and that Kennedy had helped +carry Werner to a dressing room where first aid could be given more +conveniently. Now Kennedy hurried back into the studio, glancing +quickly this way and that, as though to catch signs of confusion or +guilt upon the faces of those about us. + +I colored. Instead of making explanations to Mackay, explanations which +could have waited, I might have used what faculties of observation I +possessed to aid Kennedy while he was giving first consideration to the +life of a man. As it was, I didn't know what had become of any of the +various people upon our list of possible suspects. As far as I was +concerned, any or every sign and clue to the attack upon Werner might +have been removed or destroyed. + +A sudden hush caused all of us to turn toward the door leading to the +dressing rooms. It was the physician. He raised a hand for attention. +His voice was low, but it carried to every corner of the studio: + +"Mr. Werner is dead," he announced. + + + + +XXI + +MERLE SHIRLEY OVERACTS + + +Appalled, I wondered who it was who had, to cover up one crime, +committed another? Who had struck down an innocent man to save a guilty +neck? + +Kennedy hurried to the side of the physician and I followed. + +"What symptoms did you observe?" asked Kennedy, quickly, seeking +confirmation of his own first impressions. + +"His mouth seemed dry and I should say he suffered from a quick +prostration. There seemed to be a complete loss of power to swallow or +speak. The pupils were dilated as though from paralysis of the eyes. +Both pharynx and larynx were affected. There was respiration paralysis. +It seemed also as though the cranial nerves were partially paralyzed. +It was typically a condition due to some toxic substance which +paralyzed and depressed certain areas of the body." + +Kennedy nodded. "That fits in with a theory I have." + +I thought quickly, then inquired; "Could it be the snake venom again?" + +"No," Kennedy replied, shaking his head; "there's a difference in the +symptoms and there is no mark on any exposed part of the body, as near +as I could see in a superficial examination." + +He turned to the physician. "Could you give me blood smears and some of +the stomach contents, at once? Twice, now, some one has been stricken +down before the very eyes of the actors. This thing has gone too far to +trifle with or delay a moment." + +The doctor hurried off toward the dressing room, anxious to help +Kennedy, and as excited, I thought, as any of us. Next Kennedy faced me. + +"Did you watch the people at all, Walter?" + +"I--I was too upset by the suddenness of it," I stammered. + +All seemed to have suspicion of some one else, and there was a general +constraint, as though even the innocent feared to do or say something +that might look or sound incriminating. + +I turned. All were now watching every move we made, though just yet +none ventured to follow us. It was as though they felt that to do so +was like crossing a dead line. I wondered which one of them might be +looking at us with inward trepidation--or perhaps satisfaction, if +there had been any chance to remove anything incriminating. + +Kennedy strode over toward the ill-fated set, Mackay and I at his +heels. As we moved across the floor I noticed that everyone clustered +as close as he dared, afraid, seemingly, of any action which might +hinder the investigation, yet unwilling to miss any detail of Kennedy's +method. In contrast with the clamor and racket of less than a half hour +previously there was now a deathlike stillness beneath the arched +ground-glass roof. The heat was more oppressive than ever before. In +the faces and expressions of the awed witnesses of death's swift hand +there was horror, and a growing fear. No one spoke, except in whispers. +When anybody moved it was on tiptoe, cautiously. Millard's creation, +"The Black Terror," could have inspired no dread greater than this. + +Of the people we wished to study, Phelps caught our eyes the first. +Dejected, crushed, utterly discouraged, he was slouched down in a chair +just at the edge of the supposed banquet hall. I had no doubt of the +nature of his thoughts. There was probably only the most perfunctory +sympathy for the stricken director. Without question his mind ran to +dollars. The dollar-angle to this tragedy was that the death of Werner +was simply another step in the wrecking of Manton Pictures. Kennedy, I +saw, hardly gave him a passing glance. + +Manton we observed near the door. With the possible exception of +Millard he seemed about the least concerned. The two, scenario writer +and producer, had counterfeited the melodrama of life so often in their +productions that even the second sinister chapter in this film mystery +failed to penetrate their sang-froid. Inwardly they may have felt as +deeply as any of the rest, but both maintained their outward composure. + +On Manton's shoulders was the responsibility for the picture. I could +see that he was nervous, irritable; yet, as various employees +approached for their instructions in this emergency he never lost his +grasp of affairs. In the vibrant quiet of this studio chamber, still +under the shadow of tragedy, we witnessed as cold-blooded a bit of +business generalship as has ever come to my knowledge. We overheard, +because Manton's voice carried across to us in the stillness. + +"Kauf!" The name I remembered as that of the technical, or art, +director under Werner, responsible for the sets of "The Black Terror." + +"Yes, Mr. Manton!" Kauf was a slim, stoop-shouldered man, gray, and a +dynamo of energy in a quiet, subservient way. He ran to Manton's side. + +"Remember once telling me you wanted to become a director, that you +wanted to make pictures for me?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +"You are familiar with the script of 'The Black Terror,' aren't you? +You know the people and how they work and you have sets lined up. How +would you like to finish the direction?" + +"But--but--" To the credit of the little man he dabbed at his eyes. I +guess he had been fond of his immediate superior. "Mr.--Mr. Werner is +d-dead--" he stammered. + +"Of course!" Manton's voice rose slightly. "If Werner wasn't dead I +wouldn't need another director at a moment's notice. Some one has to +complete 'The Black Terror.' We have all these people on salary, and +all the studio expense, and the release date's settled, so that we +can't stop. It's your chance, Kauf! Do you want it?" + +"Y-yes, sir!" + +"Good! I'll double your salary, including all this week. Now can you +finish this banquet set to-night, while you have the people--" + +"To-night!" Kauf's eyes went wide, then he started to flush. + +"Well, to-morrow, then! We simply can't lay off a day, Kauf!" + +"All--all right, sir!" + +It seemed to me that everyone in the place sensed the horror of this. +Literally, actually, Werner's body could not be cold. Even the police, +the medical examiner, had not had sufficient time to make the trip out +for their investigation. Yet the director's successor had been +appointed and told to hurry the production. + +I glanced at Phelps. He raised his head slowly, his expression lifting +at the thought that production was to continue without interruption. In +another moment, however, there was a change in his face. His eyes +sought Manton and hardened. His mouth tightened. Hate, a deep, +unreasoning hate, settled into his features. + +Kennedy, pausing just long enough to observe the promoter's appointment +of Kauf to Werner's position, continued on toward the set. Now as I +looked about I saw that Jack Gordon was missing, as well as Marilyn +Loring. Presumably they had gone to their dressing rooms. All the other +actors and actresses were waiting, ill at ease, wondering at the +outcome of the tragedy. + +Suddenly Kennedy stopped and I grasped that it was the peculiar actions +of Merle Shirley which had halted him. + +The heavy man was the only one of the company actually in the +fabricated banquet hall itself. Clinging to him still were the grim +flowing robes of the Black Terror. As though he were some old-fashioned +tragedian, he was pacing up and down, hands behind his back, head +bowed, eyes on the floor. More, he was mumbling to himself. It was +evident, however, that it was neither a pose nor mental aberration. +Shirley was searching for something, out in the open, without attempt +at concealment, swearing softly at his lack of success. + +Kennedy pushed forward. "Did you lose something, Mr. Shirley?" + +"No!" The heavy man straightened. As he drew himself up in his sinister +garb I thought again of the cheap actors of a day when moving pictures +had yet to pre-empt the field of the lurid melodrama. It seemed to me +that Merle Shirley was overacting, that it was impossible for him to be +so wrought up over the slaying of a man who, after all, was only his +director, certainly not a close nor an intimate relationship. + +"Mr. Kennedy," he stated, ponderously, "there has been a second death, +and at the hand which struck down Stella Lamar in Tarrytown. Somewhere +in this banquet hall interior there is a clue to the murderer. I have +kept a careful watch so that nothing might be disturbed." + +"Do you suspect anyone?" Kennedy asked. Shirley glanced away and we +knew he was lying. "No, not definitely." + +"Who has been in the set since I left with the doctor?" + +"No one except myself, that is"--Shirley wanted to make it clear--"no +one has had any opportunity to hide or move or take or change a thing, +because I have been right here all the time." + +"I see! Thanks, and"--Kennedy seemed genuinely apologetic--"if you +don't mind--I would prefer to make my investigation alone." + +Shirley turned on his heel and made for his dressing room. + +Meanwhile I had noticed a bit of by-play between Enid Faye and Lawrence +Millard, the only others of our possible suspects about. Enid first had +caught my eye because she seemed to be pleading with the writer, trying +to hold him. I gathered from the look of disgust on Millard's face that +he wanted to get Shirley out of the set before Kennedy should observe +the heavy man's odd reaction to the tragedy. While I had never seen +Millard and Shirley together, so as to establish in mind the state of +their feelings toward each other, this would seem to indicate that they +were friendly. Certainly Shirley was making a fool of himself. Enid +acted, I guessed, so as to prevent Millard's interference, probably +with the idea that Millard in some fashion might bring suspicion upon +himself. It struck me that Enid had a wholesome respect for Kennedy. + +At any rate, Millard watched the little scene between Kennedy and +Shirley with a quizzical expression. As Shirley left he shrugged his +shoulders, then he gave Enid's cheeks a playful pinch each and started +out after the heavy man in leisurely fashion. + +Just about the same moment Kennedy called me to his side. + +"Walter," he pleaded, in a low voice, "will you hurry out to the +dressing room where the doctor and I took Werner and get the blood +smears and sample of the stomach contents? I don't want to leave this, +because we must work fast and get all the data we need before the +police arrive. With perhaps a hundred people to question they'll be apt +to make a fine mess of everything. This is an outlying precinct where +we'll draw the amateurs, you know." + +I saw that Mackay was helping him and so I left cheerfully, making my +way as fast as I could toward the door through which both Shirley and +Millard had passed. + +In the hallway of the building devoted to dressing rooms I found that I +did not know which one contained Werner's body. This corridor was +familiar. Here Kennedy and I had waited for Marilyn Loring and had +witnessed the scene between Shirley and herself. Now I did not even +remember the location of her room. + +At last, on a chance, I tried a door softly. From within came whispered +voices of deep intensity. About to close it quickly, I realized +suddenly that I recognized the speakers in spite of the whispers. It +was Marilyn and Shirley. They were together. Now I recollected the +figured chintz which covered the wall and was to be seen through the +crack made by the open door. It was her room. They had not heard my +hand on the knob, nor the catch, did not know that anyone could +eavesdrop. + +"You see!" Her tones were the more vibrant "You waited!" + +"I had to!" + +"No! I advised you to act at once." + +"I couldn't! I can't even now!" + +"All right!" Her tone became bitter. "Go ahead, your own way. But you +must count the cost. You may lose me again, Merle Shirley." + +"How do you mean?" + +Her answer, in the faintest of whispers, staggered me. + +"If you have the blood of another man on your hands I'm through." + + + + +XXII + +THE STEM + + +Though my hands trembled so that I could hardly control them, I managed +to close the door softly and to back away down the hall without being +discovered. My head was spinning and I was dizzy. With my own ears I +had heard Marilyn Loring virtually betray the guilt of the man she +loved and whom therefore she had tried to shield. "If you have the +blood of another man on your hands--" What more could Kennedy want? + +I started to run toward the studio. Then recollection of my errand +stopped me. Kennedy wished the blood smears and stomach contents and +was anxious to get them before the arrival of the police. At first I +thought that all such evidence would be unnecessary now, after the +dialogue I had overheard, but it struck me as an afterthought that it +might be necessary still to prove Shirley's guilt to the satisfaction +of a court and jury, and so I rushed to the next dressing room and to +another, until I located the doctor and the body of the dead man. + +With the little package for Kennedy safely in my pocket I hurried out +again into the sweltering heat beneath the glass of the big studio, and +to the side of Kennedy and Mackay in the banquet-hall set. + +"You have a sample of each article of food now?" he was asking the +district attorney. "You are sure you have missed nothing?" + +"As far as possible I took my samples from the table where Werner sat," +Mackay explained. "When the prop. boy gets here with an empty bottle +and cork I'll have a sample of the wine. I think it's the wine," he +added. + +Kennedy turned to me. "You've got--" + +"In my pocket!" I interrupted. Then, rather breathlessly, I repeated +the conversation I had overheard. + +"Good Lord!" Mackay flushed. "There it is! Shirley's the man, and I'll +take him now, quick, without waiting for a warrant." + +"See!" I ejaculated, to Kennedy. "He killed Stella because she made a +fool of him and then, when Werner discovered that and followed him to +Tarrytown the other night, it probably put him in a panic of fear, and +so, to keep Werner from talking--" + +"Easy, Walter! Not so fast! What you overheard is insufficient ground +for Shirley's conviction, unless you could make him confess, and I +doubt you could make him do that." + +"Why?" This was Mackay. + +"Because I don't think he's guilty. At least"--Kennedy, as always, was +cautious in his statements, "not so far as anything we now know would +indicate." + +"But his anger at Stella," I protested, "and Marilyn's remark--"' + +"Miss Lamar's death was the result of a cool, unfeeling plan, not pique +or anger. The same cruel, careful brain executed this second crime." + +Mackay, I saw, was three-quarters convinced by Kennedy. "How do you +account for the dialogue Jameson overheard?" he asked. + +"Miss Loring told us that Shirley suspected some one and was watching, +and would not tell her or anyone else who it was. It seems most likely +to me that it is the truth, Mackay. In that case her remark means that +she believes his silence in a way is responsible for Werner's death." + +"Oh! If Shirley had taken you into his confidence, for instance--?" + +"I might possibly have succeeded in gaining sufficient evidence for an +arrest, thus averting this tragedy. But it is only a theory of mine." + +I scowled. It seemed to me that Kennedy was minimizing things in a way +unusual for him. I wondered if he really thought the heavy man innocent. + +"It's still my belief that Shirley is guilty," I asserted. + +A sound of confusion from the courtyard beneath the heavy studio +windows caught Kennedy's ear and ended the colloquy. From some of those +near enough to look out we received the explanation. The police had +arrived, fully three-quarters of an hour after Werner's death. + +"I'll get the little bottle of wine, sure," Mackay murmured, picking up +the food samples he had wrapped and crowding the bulky package into a +pocket. + +"I don't see why that would have been any easier to poison than the +food," was my objection. "Everyone was looking." + +"Very simple. The food was brought in quite late. Besides, it was +dished out by the caterer before the eyes of forty or fifty people or +more and there was no telling which plate would go to Werner's place. +The drinks were poured last of all. I remember seeing the bubbles rise +and wondering whether they would register at the distance." + +Kennedy did not look at me. "Did it ever occur to you," he went on, +casually, "that the glasses were all set out empty at the various +places long before, and that there might easily have been a few drops +of something, if it were colorless, placed in the bottom of Werner's +glass, with scarcely a chance of its being discovered, especially by a +man who had so much on his mind at the time as Werner had? He must have +indicated where he would sit when he arranged the camera stands and the +location of the tables." + +I had not thought of that. + +Kennedy frowned. "If only I could have located more of that broken +glass!" As he faced me I could read his disappointment. "Walter, I've +made a most careful search of his chair and the table and everything +about the space where he dropped. The poison must have been in the +wine, but there's not a tiny sliver of that glass left, nothing but a +thousand bits ground into the canvas, too small to hold even a drop of +the liquid. Just think, a dried stain of the wine, no matter how tiny, +might have served me in a chemical analysis." + +Very suddenly there was a low exclamation from Mackay. "Look! Quick! +Some one must have kicked it way over here!" + +Fully twenty feet from Werner's place in the glare of the lights was +the hollow stem of a champagne glass, its base intact save for a narrow +segment. In the stem still were a couple of drops of the wine, as if in +a bulb or tube. + +"Can it be the director's glass?" Mackay asked, handing it to Kennedy. + +Kennedy slipped it into his pocket, fussing with his handkerchief so +that the precious contents would not drip out. "I think so. I doubt +whether any other glass was broken. Verify it quickly." + +The police were entering now with Manton. Following them was the +physician. Mackay and I ascertained readily that no other glass had +been shattered, while Kennedy searched the floor for possible signs +that the stem was part of a glass broken where we had found it. +Unquestionably we had a sample of the actual wine quaffed by the +unfortunate Werner. Elated we strolled to a corner so as to give the +police full charge. + +"They'll waste time questioning everyone," Kennedy remarked. "I have +the real evidence." He tapped his pocket. + +The few moments that he had had to himself had been ample for him to +obtain such evidence as was destroyed in so many cases by the time he +was called upon the scene. + +A point occurred to me. "You don't think the poison was planted later +during the excitement?" + +"Hardly! Our criminal is too clever to take a long chance. In such a +case we would know it was some one near Werner and also there would be +too many people watching. Foolhardiness is not boldness." + +I took to observing the methods of the police, which were highly +efficient, but only in the minuteness of the examination of witnesses +and in the care with which they recorded names and facts and made sure +that no one had slipped away to avoid the notoriety. + +The actors and actresses who had stood rather in awe of Kennedy, both +here and in Kennedy's investigation at Tarrytown, developed nimble +tongues in their answers to the city detectives. The result was a +perfect maze of conflicting versions of Werner's cry and fall. In fact, +one scene shifter insisted that Shirley, as the Black Terror, had +reached Werner's side and had struck him before the cry, while an extra +girl with a faint lisp described with sobering accuracy the flight of a +mysterious missile through the air. I realized then why Kennedy had +made no effort to question them. Under the excitement of the scene, the +glamour of the lights, the sense of illusion, and the stifling heat, it +would have been strange for any of the people to have retained correct +impressions of the event. + +The police sergeant knew Kennedy by reputation and approached him after +a visit to the dead man's body with the doctor. His glance, including +Mackay and myself, was frankly triumphant. + +"Well," he exclaimed, "I don't suppose it occurred to any of you +SCIENTIFIC guys to search the fellow, now did it?" + +Kennedy smiled, in good humor. "Searching a man isn't always the +scientific method. You won't find the word 'frisk' in any scientific +dictionary." + +"No?" The police officer's eyes twinkled. There was enough of the Irish +in him to enjoy an encounter of this kind. "Maybe not, but you might +find things in a chap's pocket which is better." With a flourish he +produced a hypodermic syringe, the duplicate of the one I had +appropriated, and a tiny bottle. "The man's a dope," he added. + +"I knew that," replied Kennedy. "I examined his arm, where he usually +took his shots, and found no fresh mark of the needle." + +"That doesn't prove anything. Wait until the medical examiner gets +here. He'll find the fellow's heart all shot full of hop, or something. +I guess it isn't so complicated, after all. He was a hop fiend, all +right." + +"Still, there's nothing to indicate that he was a suicide." + +"Not suicide; accident-overdose," was the sergeant's reply. + +"How could he have died from an overdose of the drug, when he hasn't +taken any recently?" + +"Well"--unabashed--"then he croaked because he hadn't had a shot--the +same thing. Heart failure, either way. Excited, and all, you know, +making the scene. Maybe he forgot to use the needle at that." + +"Perhaps you're right." Kennedy shrugged calmly. What was the use of +disputing the matter? + +I started to protest against the detective's hypothesis. The idea of +any drug addict ever forgetting to take his stimulant was too +preposterous. But Kennedy checked me. All were now keenly listening to +the argument. Better, perhaps, to let some one think that nothing was +suspected than to disclose the cards in Craig's hand. I saw that he +wished to get away and had not spoken seriously. He turned to Mackay. + +"Walter and I will have to hurry to the laboratory. Would you like to +come along?" + +"You bet I would!" The district attorney showed his delight. "I was +just going to ask if I might do so. There's nothing for me in Tarrytown +to-day and this is out of my jurisdiction." + +As we turned away the police sergeant saw us and called across the +floor, not quite concealing a touch of professional jealousy. + +"The three of you were here at the time, weren't you?" + +"No," Kennedy answered. "Mr. Jameson and myself." + +"Well, you two, then! You're witnesses and I'll ask you to hold +yourself in readiness to appear at the hearing." + +I thought that the policeman was particularly delighted at his position +to issue orders to Kennedy, and I was angered. Again Craig held me in +check! + +"We'll be glad to tell anything we know," he replied, then added a +little fling, a bit of sarcasm which almost went over the other's head. +"That is," he amended, "as eye-witnesses!" + + + + +XXIII + +BOTULIN TOXIN + + +Mackay drove us to the laboratory in his little car and it was dark and +we were dinnerless when we arrived. Knowing Kennedy's habits, I sent +out for sandwiches and started in to make strong coffee upon an +electric percolator. The aroma tingled in my nostrils, reminding me +that I was genuinely hungry. The district attorney, too, seemed more or +less similarly disposed. + +As for Kennedy, he was interested in nothing but the problem before +him. He had been strangely quiet on the way, growing more and more +impatient and nervous, as though the element of time had entered into +the case, as though haste were suddenly imperative. Once the lights +were on in the laboratory he hurried about his various preparations. +The food samples he laid out, but he gave them no attention. The blood +smears and stomach contents he put aside for future reference. His +attack was upon the drop or two of liquid adhering to the stem of the +broken champagne glass. + +The entire chemical procedure seemed to be incomprehensible to Mackay +and he was fascinated, so that he had considerable trouble at times +keeping out of the way of Kennedy's elbow. Kennedy first washed the +stem out carefully with a few drops of distilled water, then he studied +the resulting solution. One after another he tried the things that +occurred to him, making tests wholly unproductive of results. Slowly +the laboratory table became littered completely with chemicals and +apparatus of all sorts, a veritable arsenal of glass. + +The sandwiches arrived, but Kennedy refused to drop his investigation +for a moment. I did succeed in making him take a cup of strong coffee, +and that was all. Over in a corner Mackay and I did full justice to the +food, finishing the hot and welcome coffee and then refilling the +percolator and starting it on the making of a second brew. The hours +lengthened, and when Mackay grew tired of watching with intense +admiration he joined me in the patient consumption of innumerable +cigarettes. + +Kennedy was filled with the joy of discovery. I noticed that he did not +stop even for the solace of tobacco. It seemed to me that at times his +nostrils dilated exactly like those of a hound on the scent. Finally he +held up a test tube and turned to us. + +"What is it?" I asked. "Some other poison as rare and little known as +the snake venom?" + +"No--something much more curious. In the stem of the glass I find the +toxin of the Bacillus botulinus." + +"Germs?" Mackay inquired. + +Kennedy shook his head. "Not germs, but the pure toxin, the poison +secreted by this bacillus." + +"What does it do?" was my question. + +"Well," thoughtfully, "botulism may be ranked easily among the most +serious diseases known to medical science. It is hard to understand why +it is not a great deal more common. It is one of the most dangerous +kinds of food poisoning." + +"Then the apple juice they used for the wine was bad, spoiled?" + +"No, not that. Werner was the only one stricken. Somebody put the pure +toxin in his glass. It was, as I suspected, deliberate murder, as in +the case of Miss Lamar. Bacillus botulinus produces a toxin that is +extremely virulent. Hardly more than a ten-thousandth of a cubic +centimeter would kill a guinea pig. This was botulin itself, the pure +toxin, an alkaloid just like that which is formed in meat and other +food products in cases of botulism. The idea might also have been to +make the death seem natural--due solely to bad food." + +"Do you suppose it was used because it was quick and was colorless, so +as not to be noticed in the glass?" I hazarded. + +Kennedy paced up and down the laboratory several times in thought. "To +me, Walter, this is another indication of the satanic cleverness of the +unknown criminal in the case. First Miss Lamar is to be killed. For +that purpose something was sought, probably, which could not be traced +easily to the perpetrator. In snake venom an agent was employed which +may be said to be almost ideal for the grim business of murder. It is +extremely difficult to identify in its results, it is comparatively +unknown, yet it is swift in action and to be obtained with fair ease. + +"Differing from most poisons, it may be inflicted through a prick so +slight as to be almost unnoticed by the victim. The scheme of fixing +the needle in the curtain was so simple and yet so effective that the +guilty person need never have feared its discovery under ordinary +circumstances, or its association with the girl's death, if some one +stumbled upon it accidentally. The idea of returning for the +death-dealing point was only one of the many details of a precautionary +measure upon which we have stumbled. Had I found it the next morning I +would have been unable, in all probability, to identify it as belonging +to or as obtained by any of our suspects. + +"You must realize, Walter, that with all the scientific aids I have +been able to bring to bear we possess almost no direct evidence. There +are no fingerprints, no cigarette stubs, no array of personal, intimate +clues of any sort to this criminal. These are the threads which lead +the detective to his quarry in fiction and on the stage. Here we lack +even the faintest description of the man, or woman if that is her sex. +It is murder from a distance, planned with almost meticulous care, +executed coolly and without feeling or scruple. + +"After the death of Miss Lamar I was not so sure but that the selection +of the snake venom was simply the inspiration of a perverted brain, the +evolution of the detailed method of killing her--an outgrowth of +someone's familiarity with studio life in general, with the script of +'The Black Terror' in particular. Now I realize that we are face to +face with the studied handiwork of a skilled criminal. These two deaths +may be his--or her--first departure into the realm of crime. But +potentially we have a super-villain. + +"I make that statement because of the manner of Werner's demise. It is +evident that the director stumbled on a clue to the murderer. If my +first hypothesis had been correct, if the use of snake venom and the +unlucky thirteenth scene had been largely a matter of blind chance in +the selection of poison and method, then we might have expected Werner +to be struck down in some dark street, or perhaps decoyed to his +death--at the best, inoculated with the same crotalin which had killed +Miss Lamar. + +"But let us analyze the method used in slaying the director. If he had +been blackjacked there would be the clue of the weapon, always likely +to turn up, the chance of witnesses, and also the likelihood in an +extreme case that Werner might not die at once, but might talk and give +a description of his assailant, or even survive. Much the same +objections--from the criminal's standpoint--obtain in nearly all the +accepted modes of killing a man. Even the use of venom a second time +possesses the disadvantage of a certain alertness against the very +thing on the part of the victim. Werner was a dope fiend, fully aware +of the potency of a tiny skin puncture. I'll wager he was on constant +guard against any sort of scratch. + +"On the other hand, the few drops of toxin in the glass possessed every +advantage from the unknown's standpoint. It was invisible, and as sure +in its action as the venom. Also it was as rare and as difficult to +trace. For, remember this. Botulism is food poisoning. If I had not +found the stem of that glass it would be absolutely impossible to show +that Werner died from anything on earth but bad food. That is why I do +not even take time to analyze the stomach contents. That is why I say +we are confronted by an archscoundrel of highest intelligence and +downright cleverness. More"--Kennedy paused for emphasis--"I realize +now the presence of a grim, invisible menace. It has just now been +driven home to me. The botulin, with its deadly paralyzing power, +sealed Werner's tongue even while he tried to tell me what he knew." + +Mackay was tremendously impressed by Kennedy's explanation. "Does this +mean," he asked, "that the guilty man or woman is some outsider? Those +we have figured as possible suspects would hardly have this detailed +knowledge of poisons." + +"There are two possibilities," Kennedy answered. "The real person +behind the two murders may have employed some one else to carry out the +actual killing, a hypothesis I do not take seriously, or"--again he +paused--"this may be a case of some one with intelligence starting out +upon his career of crime intelligently by reading up on his subject. It +is as simple to learn how to use crotalin or botulin toxin or any +number of hundreds of deadly substances as it is to obtain the majority +of them. In fact, if people generally understood the ease with which +whole communities could be wiped out, and grasped that it could be done +so as to leave virtually no clue to the author of the horror, they +might not sleep as soundly at night as they do. The saving grace is +that the average criminal is often clever, but almost never truly +scientific. Unfortunately, we have to combat one who possesses the +latter quality to a high degree." + +"What is the invisible menace of which you spoke, Craig?" I inquired. + +"The possibility of another murder before we can apprehend the guilty +person or gain the evidence we need." + +"Good heavens!" I imagine I blanched. "You mean--" + +"Werner was struck down, apparently, for no reason but that he had +guessed the identity of the villain. There is a second man in the +company who has certain suspicions and is acting upon them. If he is on +the right trail, by any chance--" Kennedy shrugged his shoulders +soberly. + +"Shirley?" + +"Exactly! And there is still another possibility." + +"What is that?" + +"Here in this laboratory I have blood spots made on the portieres at +the house of Phelps by the man who removed the needle, probably the +unknown himself, possibly his--or her--agent. In any case it is a clue +and--THE ONLY DIRECT AND INFALLIBLE CLUE IN EXISTENCE TO THE CRIMINAL! +Also I have the evidence of the snake venom and of the botulin toxin +here. Sooner or later the person who killed Werner because he suspected +things will wake up to the fact that we possess tangible proof against +him." + +I grew pale. "You mean, then, that you may be attacked yourself? That +even I--" + +Kennedy smiled, unafraid. But from the expression in his eyes I knew +that he took the thought of our possible danger very seriously. + + + + +XXIV + +THE INVISIBLE MENACE + + +Mackay and I exchanged glances. Kennedy busied himself putting away +some of the more important bits of evidence in the case, placing the +tiny tubes of solution, the blood smears, and other items together in a +cabinet at the farther corner of the laboratory. The vast bulk of his +paraphernalia, the array of glass and chemicals and instruments, he +left on the table for the morning. Then he faced us again, with a smile. + +"Suppose you start up the percolator once more, Walter!" He took a +cigar and lighted it from the match I struck. "I believe I've earned +another cup of coffee," he added. + +Mackay had been fidgeting considerably since Kennedy's explanation of +the possible danger to Shirley, as well as to ourselves or even to +others. + +"Isn't there something we can do, Kennedy?" he exclaimed, suddenly. "Is +it necessary to sit back and wait for this unknown to strike again?" + +"Ordinarily," Kennedy replied, "on a case like this it has been my +custom to permit the guilty parties to betray themselves, as they will +do inevitably--especially when I call to my aid the recent discoveries +of science for the detection and measurement of fine and almost +imperceptible shades of emotion. But now that I realize the presence of +this menace I shall become a detective of action; in fact, I shall not +stop at any course to hurry matters. The very first thing in the +morning I shall go to the studio and I want you and Jameson along. +I"--his eyes twinkled; it was the excitement at the prospect--"I may +need considerable help in getting the evidence I wish." + +"Which is--?" It was I who interposed the question. + +Kennedy blew a cloud of smoke. "There are three ways of tracing down a +crime, aside from the police method of stool pigeons to betray the +criminals and the detective bureau method of cross-examination under +pressure, popularly known as the third degree." + +"What are they?" Mackay asked, unaware that Kennedy needed little +prompting once he felt inclined to talk out some matter puzzling him. + +"One is the process of reasoning from the possible suspects to the act +itself--in other words, putting the emphasis on the motive. A second is +the reverse of the first, involving a study of the crime for clues and +making deductions from the inevitable earmarks of the person for the +purpose of discovering his identity. The third method, except for some +investigations across the water, is distinctly my own, the scientific. + +"In all sciences," Kennedy went on, warming to his subject, "progress +is made by a careful tabulation of proved facts. The scientific method +is the method of exact knowledge. Thus, in crime, those things are of +value to us which by an infinite series of empiric observations have +been established and have become incontrovertible. The familiar +example, of course, is fingerprints. Nearly everyone knows that no two +men have the same markings; that the same man displays a pattern which +is unchanging from birth to the grave. + +"No less certain is the fact that human blood differs from the blood of +animals, that in faint variations the blood of no two people is alike, +that the blood of any living thing, man or beast, is affected by +various things--an infinite number almost--most of which are positively +known to modern medical investigators. + +"In this case my principal scientific clue is the blood left upon the +portiere by the man who took the needle the night following the murder. +Next in importance is the fact, demonstrated by me, that some one at +the studio wiped a hypodermic on a towel after inoculating himself with +antivenin. Of course I am presuming that this latter man inoculated +himself and not some one else, because it is obvious. If necessary I +can prove it later, however, by analyzing the trace of blood. That is +not the point. The point is that whoever removed the needle pricked +himself and yet did not die of the venom--unless it was a person not +under our observation, an unlikely premise. Therefore, because of this +last fact, and because again it is obvious, I expect to find that the +same individual inoculated himself with antivenin and removed the +needle from the portiere; and I expect to prove it beyond possibility +of doubt by an analysis of his blood. A sample of the blood from this +person will be identical with the spot on the portiere, and--much the +easier test--will contain traces of the antitoxin. + +"With that much accomplished, a little of the, well--third degree, will +bring about a confession. It is circumstantial evidence of the +strongest sort. Not only does a man take precautions against a given +poison, but he is proved to be the one who removed the needle actually +responsible for Miss Lamar's death. + +"My handicap, however, is that I have no justifiable excuse for taking +a sample of blood from each of the people we suspect, or feel we might +suspect. For that reason I was waiting until one of the other detective +methods should narrow the field of suspicion. Now that there is the +menace of another attempt to take a life I am forced to act. To-morrow +we will get samples of blood from everyone by artifice--or force! + +"Meanwhile--" He hastened to continue, as though afraid we might +interrupt to break his train of thought. "Meanwhile, to-night, let us +see if it is possible to accomplish something by the deductive method. + +"Already I have gone into an analysis starting from the nature of the +crime and reasoning to the type of criminal responsible. The guilty +man--or woman--is a person of high intelligence, added to genuine +cleverness. But for the results accomplished in this laboratory we +would be without a clue; our hands would be tied completely. Both Miss +Lamar and Werner were killed by unusual poisons; deadly, and almost +impossible to trace. There was a crowd of people about in each case; +yet we have no witnesses. Now who, out of all our people with possible +motives, are intelligent enough and clever enough to be guilty?" + +Kennedy glanced first at me, then at Mackay. + +"Manton? Phelps?" suggested the district attorney. + +"The promoter," Kennedy rejoined, "is the typical man of the business +world beneath the eccentricity of manner which seems to cling to +everyone in the picture field. Ordinarily his type, thinking in +millions of dollars and juggling nickel and dime admissions or other +routine of commercial detail is apart from the finer subtle passions of +life. When a business man commits murder he generally uses a pistol +because he is sure it is efficient--he can see it work. The same +applies to Phelps." + +"Millard?" Mackay hesitated now to face the logic of Kennedy's keen +mind. "He was Stella Lamar's husband!" + +"Millard is a scenario writer and so apt to have a brain cluttered with +all sorts of detail of crime and murder. At the same time an author is +so used to counterfeiting emotion in his writings that he seldom takes +things seriously. Life becomes a joke and Millard in particular is a +butterfly, concerned more with the smiles of extra girls and the favor +of Miss Faye than the fate of the woman whose divorce from him was not +yet complete. A writer is the other extreme from the business man. The +creator of stories is essentially inefficient because he tries to feel +rather than reason. When an author commits murder he sets a stage for +his own benefit. He is careful to avoid witnesses because they are +inconvenient to dispose of. At the same time he wants the victim to +understand thoroughly what is going to happen and so he is apt to +accompany his crime with a speech worded very carefully indeed. Then he +may start with an attempt to throttle a person and end up with a +hatchet, or he may plan to use a razor and at the end brain his quarry +with a chair. He lives too many lives to follow one through +clearly--his own." + +"How about Shirley?" I put in. + +"At first glance Shirley and Gordon suggest themselves because both +murders were highly spectacular, and the actor, above everything else, +enjoys a big scene. After Werner's death, for instance, Shirley +literally strutted up and down in that set. He was so full of the +situation, so carried away by the drama of the occasion, that he failed +utterly to realize how suspicious his conduct would seem to an +observer. Unfortunately for our hypotheses, the use of venom and toxin +is too cold-bloodedly efficient. The theatrical temperament must have +emotion. An actor cruel and vicious enough to strike down two people as +Miss Lamar and Werner were stricken, of sufficient dramatic make-up to +conceive of the manner of their deaths, would want to see them writhe +and suffer. He would select poisons equally rare and effective, but +those more slow and painful in their operation. No, Walter, Shirley is +not indicated by this method of reasoning. The arrangement of the +scenes for the murders was simply another detail of efficiency, not due +to a wish to be spectacular. The crowd about in each case has added +greatly to the difficulty of investigation." + +"Do you include Gordon in that?" Mackay asked. + +"Yes, and in addition"--Kennedy smiled slightly--"I believe that Gordon +is rather stupid. For one thing, he has had several fights in public, +at the Goats Club and at the Midnight Fads and I suppose elsewhere. +That is not the clever rogue. Furthermore, he had been speculating, not +just now and then, but desperately, doggedly. Clever men speculate, but +scientific men never. Our unknown criminal is both clever and +intelligent." + +"That brings you to the girls, then," Mackay remarked. + +Kennedy's face clouded and I could see that he was troubled. "To be +honest in this one particular method of deduction," he stated, "I must +admit that both Miss Faye and Miss Loring are worthy of suspicion. The +fact of their rise in the film world, the evidences of their +popularity, is proof that they are clever. Miss Loring, in my few brief +moments of contact with her on two occasions, showed a grasp of things +and a quickness which indicate to me that she possesses a rare order of +intelligence for a woman. As for Miss Faye"--again he hesitated--"one +little act of hers demonstrated intelligence. When Shirley was standing +guard in the set after Werner's death, and making a fool of himself, +Millard evidently wanted to get over and speak to him, perhaps to tell +him not to let me find him searching the scene as though his life +depended upon it, perhaps something else. But Miss Faye stopped him. +Unquestionably she saw that anyone taking an interest in the remains of +the banquet just then would become an object of suspicion." + +"Do you really suspect Marilyn or Enid?" I inquired. + +"If this were half a generation ago I would say without hesitation that +the crime was the handiwork of a man. But now the women are in +everything. Young girls particularly--" He shrugged his shoulders. + +Mackay had one more suggestion. "The camera men, the extras, the +technical and studio staffs--they are not worthy of consideration, are +they?" + +Kennedy shook his head. + +The odor of coffee struck my nostrils and I turned to find the +percolator steaming. Kennedy leaned over, to take a whiff. Mackay rose. +At that moment there was a sudden crash and the window-pane was +shattered. Simultaneously a flash of light and a deafening explosion +took place in the room, scattering broadcast tiny bits of glass from +the laboratory table, splashing chemicals, many of them dangerous, over +everything. + +Kennedy hurried to the wreck of his paraphernalia. In an instant he +held up a tiny bit of jagged metal. + +"An explosive bullet!" he exclaimed. "An attempt to destroy my +evidence!" + + + + +XXV + +ITCHING SALVE + + +For once I rose with Kennedy. He preceded me to the laboratory after +breakfast, however, leaving me to wait for Mackay. When the little +district attorney arrived I noticed that he carried a package which +looked as though it might contain a one-reel film can. + +"The negative we took from the cameras at Tarrytown," he explained. +"Also a print from each roll, ready to run. I've been holding this as +evidence. Mr. Kennedy wanted me to bring it with me to-day." + +"He's waiting for us at the laboratory," I remarked. + +"He'll straighten everything up in a hurry, won't he?" + +"Kennedy's the most high-handed individual I ever knew," I laughed, "if +he sees a chance of getting his man." Then I became enthusiastic. +"Often I've seen him gather a group of people in a room, perhaps +without the faintest shred of legal right to do so, and there make the +guilty person confess simply by marshaling the evidence, or maybe +betray himself by some scientific device. It's wonderful, Mackay." + +"Do you think he plans something of that kind this morning?" + +I led the way to the door. "After what happened last night I know that +Kennedy will resort to almost anything." + +The district attorney fingered the package under his arm. "He might get +everyone in the projection room then, and make them watch the actual +photographic record of Stella's death--the scene where she scratched +herself--" + +"Let's hurry!" I interrupted. + +When we entered the laboratory we found Kennedy vigorously fanning a +towel which he had hung up to dry. I recognized it as the one I had +discovered in the studio washroom immediately following the first +murder. + +"This will serve me better as bait than as evidence," he laughed. "I +have impregnated it with a colorless chemical which will cling to the +fibers and enable me to identify the most infinitesimal trace of it. We +shall get up to the studio and start, well--I guess you could call it +fishing for the guilty man." He fingered the folds, then jerked the +towel down and flung it to me. "Here, Walter! It's dry enough. Now I +want you to rub the contents of that tiny can of grease, open before +you there, into the cloth." + +He hurried over to wash his hands. I spread the towel out on the table +and began to work in the stuff indicated by Kennedy. There was no odor +and it seemed like some patent ointment in color. At first I was +puzzled. Then, absently, I touched the back of one hand with the greasy +fingers of the other and immediately an itching set up so annoying that +I had to abandon my task. + +Kennedy chuckled. "That's itching salve, Walter. The cuticle pads at +your finger tips are too thick, but touch yourself anywhere else!--" He +shrugged his shoulders. "You'd better use soap and water if you want +any relief. Then you can start over again." + +At the basin I thought I grasped his little plot. + +"You're going to plant the towel," I asked, "so that the interested +party will try to get hold of it?" + +Evidently he thought it unnecessary to reply to me. + +"Why couldn't you just put it somewhere without all the preparation," +Mackay suggested, "and watch to see who came after it?" + +"Because our criminal's too clever," Kennedy rejoined. "Our only chance +to get it stolen is to make it very plain that it is not being watched. +Whoever steals it, however, possibly will reveal himself on account of +the itching salve. In any case I expect to be able to trace the towel +to the thief, no matter what efforts are made to destroy it." + +The towel was wrapped in a heavy bit of paper; then placed with a +microscope and some other paraphernalia in a small battered traveling +bag. Climbing into Mackay's little roadster, we soon were speeding +toward the studio. + +"Will you be able to help me, to stay with Jameson and myself all day?" +Kennedy asked the district attorney, after perhaps a mile of silence. + +"Surely! It's what I was hoping you'd allow me to do. I have no +authority down here, though." + +"I understand. But the police, or an outsider, might allow some of my +plans to become known." He paused a moment in thought. "The film you +brought in with you consists of the scenes on the rolls of negative in +use at the time of Miss Lamar's collapse. It may or may not include the +action where she scratched herself. Now I want the scenes up to +thirteen put together in proper order, first as photographed by one +camera, then as caught by the other. I'll arrange for the services of a +cutter, and for the delivery to me of any other negative or positive +overlooked by us when we had the two boxes sealed and given into your +custody at Tarrytown. Will you superintend the assembly of the scenes, +so that you can be sure nothing is taken out or omitted?" + +"Of course! I want to do anything I can." + +Upon arrival at the studio we detected this time all the signs of a +complete demoralization. The death of Werner, the fact that he had been +stricken down during the taking of a scene and on the very stage, had +served to bring the tragedy home to the people. More, it was a second +murder in four days, apparently by the same hand as the first. A sense +of dread, a nameless, intangible fear, had taken form and found its way +under the big blackened glass roofs and around and through the +corridors, into the dressing rooms, and back even to the manufacturing +and purely technical departments. The gateman eyed us with undisguised +uneasiness as we drove through the archway into the yard. In that +inclosure there were only two cars--Manton's, and one we later learned +belonged to Phelps. The sole human being to enter our range of vision +was an office boy. He skirted the side of the building as though the +menace of death were in the air, or likely to strike out of the very +heavens without warning. + +We found Kauf in the large studio, obviously unhappy in the shoes of +the unfortunate Werner. Probably from half-reasoned-out motives of +efficiency in psychology the new director had made no attempt to resume +work at once in the ill-fated banquet set, but had turned to the +companion ballroom setting, since both had been prepared and made ready +at the same time. + +Kennedy explained our presence so early in the morning very neatly, I +thought. + +"I would appreciate it," he began, "if you could place a cutter at the +disposal of Mr. Mackay. He has the scenes taken from the camera and +sealed at the time of Miss Lamar's death. I would like to have any +other film taken out there delivered to him and the whole joined in +proper sequence. Then, Mr. Kauf, if you could arrange to have the same +cutter take the film exposed yesterday when Mr. Werner--" + +"You think you might be able to see something, to discover something on +the screen?" + +"Exactly!" + +Kauf beamed. "Mr. Manton gave me orders to assist you in every way I +could, or to put any of my people at your disposal. More than that, Mr. +Kennedy, he anticipated you. He thought you might want to look at the +scenes taken yesterday and he rushed the laboratory and the printing +room. We'll be able to fix you up very quickly." + +"Good!" Kennedy nodded to Mackay and the district attorney hurried off +with Kauf. "Now, Walter!" he exclaimed, sobering. + +I picked up the traveling bag and together we strolled toward the +ballroom set. There most of the players were gathered already--in +make-up and evening clothes of a fancier sort even than those demanded +for the banquet. I saw that Kennedy singled out Marilyn. + +"Good morning," she said, cheerfully, but with effort. It was obvious +she had spent a nervous night. There were circles under her eyes ill +concealed by the small quantity of cosmetic she used. Her hands, +shifting constantly, displayed the loss of her usual poise. "You are +out bright and early," she added. + +"We've stumbled into a very important clue," Kennedy told her, with a +show of giving her his confidence. "In that bag in Walter's hand is one +of the studio towels. It contains a hint of the poison used to kill +Miss Lamar and--of utmost consequence--it has provided me with an +infallible clue to the identity of the murderer himself--or herself." + +It seemed to me that Marilyn blanched. "Where--where did you find it?" +she demanded, in a very awed voice. + +"In one of the studio washrooms." + +"It has been--it has been in the washroom ever since poor Stella's +death?" + +"No, not that! Jameson discovered it the same day but"--the very slight +pause was perceptible to me; Kennedy hated to lie--"I haven't realized +its importance until just this morning." + +Enid Faye, seeing us from a distance, conquered her dislike of Marilyn +sufficiently to join us. She was very erect and tense. Her eyes, wide +and sober and searching, traveled from my face to Kennedy's and back. +Then she dissembled, softening as she came close to me, laying a hand +on my shoulder and allowing her skirt to brush my trousers. + +"Tell me, Jamie," she whispered, her warm breath thrilling me through +and through. "Has the wonderful Craig Kennedy discovered something?" It +was not sarcasm, but assumed playfulness, masking a throbbing curiosity. + +"I found a towel in one of the studio washrooms," I answered, "and +Craig has demonstrated that it is a clue to the poison which killed +Stella Lamar as well as to the person who did it." + +Enid gasped. Then she drew herself up and her eyes narrowed. Now she +faced Kennedy. + +"How can the towel be a clue to the crime?" she protested. "Stella +was--was murdered way out in Tarrytown! Mr. Jameson found the towel +here!" + +Kennedy shrugged his shoulders. "I cannot tell you that--just yet." He +paused deliberately. "You see," he lied. "I have yet to make my +analysis." + +"But you know it's a clue to the--" + +"That towel"--he raised his voice, as though in elation--"that towel +will lead me to the murderer--infallibly!" + +Merle Shirley had come up in time to hear most of the colloquy between +Enid and Kennedy. At the last he flushed, clenching his fists. + +"If you can prove who the murderer is, Mr. Kennedy," he exploded, "why +don't you apprehend him before some one else meets the fate of Werner?" + +"I can do nothing until I return to my laboratory this afternoon. I +will not know the identity of the guilty person until I complete a +chemical analysis." + +One by one the various people possibly concerned in the two crimes +joined the group. This morning all the faces were serious; most of them +showed the marks of sleeplessness following the second murder. Kennedy +walked away, but I saw that Jack Gordon hastened to question both the +girls, ignoring their evident dislike for him. Among the others I +recognized Watkins, the camera man, and his associate. Lawrence Millard +came in and hastened to the side of Enid. As he drew her away to ask +the cause of the gathering I wondered at his early presence. The +scenario writer was typical of them all. The strange and unusual nature +of the crimes, the evident relationship between them, had drawn the +employees of Manton Pictures to the studio as a crowd of baseball fans +collects before a public bulletin board. Not one of them but was afraid +of missing some development in the case. In no instance could the +interest of a particular individual be taken as an indication of guilt. + +Phelps entered the studio from the door to the dressing rooms. +Disdaining to join the other group, he approached us to ask the cause +for the excitement. Kennedy explained, patiently, and I saw that Phelps +looked at the black bag uneasily. + +"I hope the guilty party is not a member of the company," he muttered. + +"Why?" Kennedy's mouth tightened. + +The financier grew red. "Because this picture has been crippled enough. +First a new star; now a new director--if it wasn't so preposterous I'd +believe that it was all part of a deliberate--" He stopped as if +realizing suddenly the inadvisability of vague accusations. + +"Don't you want justice done?" Kennedy inquired. + +"Of course!" Phelps tugged at his collar uncomfortably. "Of course, Mr. +Kennedy." Then he turned and hurried away, out of the studio. + +Gordon and Millard detached themselves from the others, coming over. + +"In which washroom was the towel found, Mr. Kennedy?" Gordon put the +question as though he felt himself specially delegated to obtain this +information. + +I wondered how Kennedy would evade a direct answer. To my surprise he +made no attempt at concealment. + +"The one on the second floor of the office building." + +Millard laughed, facing Gordon. "That puts it on myself--or the big +boss!" + +It struck me that the leading man was uneasy as he hurried back to the +others. Millard, still smiling, turned to say something to us, but we +were joined by Manton, entering from the other end of the big inclosure. + +"Good morning," the promoter exclaimed, somewhat breathless. "I just +learned you were here. Is--is there some new development. Is there +something I can do?" + +"I see you are not allowing anything to interfere with the making of +the picture," Kennedy remarked. "All the people seem to be here bright +and early." + +A shadow crept into Manton's face. "It seems almost as cold-blooded +as--as war," he admitted. "But I can't help myself, Mr. Kennedy. The +company has no money and if we don't meet this release we're busted." +All at once he lowered his voice eagerly. "Tell me, have you discovered +something? Is there some clue to the guilty man?" + +"He's found a towel," Millard put in, an expression of half amusement +on his face as he faced the promoter. "In some way it's a clue to the +identity of the murderer, an infallible clue, he says. He found it in +the washroom by our offices. Since Werner is dead, that points the +finger of suspicion at you or me." + +Manton's jaw dropped. His expression became almost ludicrous, as if the +thought that he could possibly be suspected himself was new to him. +Millard's eyes sobered a bit at his superior's confusion. + +"There's a door from the dressing rooms," Kennedy suggested. "Any of +the actors or actresses could have used the place." + +"Of course!" Manton grasped at the straw. "I had forgotten. There have +been complaints to me about the players using that room." + +"I have the towel with me, wrapped up in a paper in this grip," Kennedy +went on. "It's so very valuable as a bit of evidence--I wonder if I +could borrow a locker so as to keep it under lock and key until we're +ready to return to the laboratory?" + +"Sure! Of course!" Manton glanced about and saw the little knot of +people still gathered in the set. "Millard! Go over and tell Kauf to +get busy. He's losing time." Then he turned to us again. "Come on, Mr. +Kennedy, we have some steel lockers out by the property room." + +As we started across the floor I could see that Kennedy was framing a +question with great care. + +"Do you ever use snakes in films, Mr. Manton?" he asked. + +"Why, no!" The promoter stopped in his surprise. "That is, not if we +ever can help it. The censorship won't pass anything with snakes." + +"You have used them, though?" + +"Yes. Once we made a short-length special subject, nothing but snakes." +Manton became enthusiastic. "It was a wonder, too; a pet film of mine. +We made it with the direct co-operation and supervision of the greatest +authority on poisonous snakes in the country, Doctor Nagoya of +Castleton Institute." + + + + +XXVI + +A CIGARETTE CASE + + +Kennedy's face betrayed only a remote interest. "Have you any copies of +that particular film?" + +"Just the negative, I believe." + +"Could I have that for a few days?" + +"Of course!" Manton seemed to wish to give us every possible amount of +co-operation; yet this request puzzled him. "Would you care to go down +to the negative vaults with me?" + +Kennedy nodded. + +First we stopped in a lengthy corridor in the rear building, where +there were no great signs of life. Through a door I could see a long +room filled with ornaments, pictures, furniture, rugs, and all the vast +freak collections of a property room. Along the side of the hallway +itself was a line of steel lockers of recent design. + +Manton called out to an employee and he appeared after a long wait and +unlocked one of them. At Kennedy's direction I put the traveling bag in +the lower compartment, pocketing the key. Then we retraced our steps to +broad steel stairs leading up and down. We descended to the basement +and found ourselves in a high-ceilinged space immaculately clean and +used generally for storage purposes. + +"The film vaults," Manton explained, "are at the corner of the west +wing. They have to be ventilated specially, on account of the high +inflammability of the celluloid composition. Since the greatest fire +risk, otherwise, is the laboratory and printing departments, and next +to that the studios themselves with the scenery, the heat of the +lights, the wires, etc., we have located them in the most distant +corner of the quadrangle. The negative, you see, represents our actual +invested capital to a considerable extent. The prints wear out and +frequently large sections are destroyed and have to be reprinted. Then +sometimes we can reissue old subjects. All in all we guard the negative +with the care a bank would give actual funds in its vaults." + +In our many visits to the Manton studios I had been struck by the +scrupulous cleanliness of every part of the place. The impression of +orderliness came back to me with redoubled force as we made our way +around in the basement. Nothing seemed out of its proper position, +although a vast amount of various material for picture making was +stored here. We passed two projection rooms, one a miniature theater +with quite a bit of comfort, the other small and bare for the use of +directors and cutters. + +Finally we saw the vaults ahead of us. The walls were concrete, +matching the actual walls of the basement. There were two entrances and +the doors were double, of heavy steel, arranged so that an air space +would give protection in case of fire. At a roll-top desk, arranged for +the use of the clerk in charge of the negatives and prints, was a young +boy. + +"Where's Wagnalls?" demanded Manton. + +"He went out, sir," the boy replied, respectfully enough. "Said he +would be right back and for me to watch and not to let anything get +out." + +The promoter led the way into the first room. Here on all four sides +and in several rows down the center, like the racks in a public +library, were shelves supporting stacks of square thin metal boxes or +trays with handles and tightly fitting covers. Cards were secured to +the front of each, by clamps, giving the name of the picture and the +number under which the film was filed. I was surprised because I +expected to find everything kept in ordinary round film cans. + +"These are the negatives," Manton explained. He pulled out a box at +random, opening it. "The negative is not all spliced together, the same +length as the reels of positive, because the printing machines are +equipped to take two-hundred-foot pieces at a time, or approximate +fifths of a reel, the size of a roll of raw positive film stock. Then +whenever there is a change in color, as from amber daylight to blue +tint for night, the negative is broken because pieces of different +coloring have to go through different baths, and that also determines +the size of the rolls. The prints, or positives, in the other vaults, +are in reel lengths and so are kept in the round boxes in which they +are shipped." + +Kennedy glanced about curiously. "The negative of that snake picture is +here, you said?" + +Manton went to a little desk where there was a card index. Thumbing +through the records, he found the number and led us to the proper place +in the rack. In the box were only two rolls of negative, both were +large. + +"This was a split reel," the promoter began. "It was approximately four +hundred feet and we used it to fill out a short comedy, a release we +had years ago, a reel the first part of which was educational and the +last two-thirds or so a roaring slap-stick. We never made money on it. + +"But this stuff was mighty good, Mr. Kennedy. We practically wrote a +scenario for those reptiles. Doctor Nagoya was down himself and for the +better part of a day it wasn't possible to get a woman in the studio, +for fear a rattler or something might get loose." + +"Were there rattlers in the film?" + +"Altogether, I think. The little Jap was interesting, too. Between +scenes he told us all about the reptiles, and how their poison--" +Manton checked himself, confused. Was it because the thought of poison +reminded him of the two deaths so close to him, or was it from some +more potent twinge of conscience? "You'll see it all in the film," he +finished, lamely. + +"I may keep these for a little bit?" Kennedy asked. + +"Of course! I can have the two rolls printed and developed and dry +sometime this afternoon, if you wish." + +"No, this will do very well." + +Kennedy slipped a roll in each pocket, straining the cloth to get them +in. Manton opened a book on the little table, making an entry of the +delivery of the rolls and adding his own initials. + +"I have to be very careful to avoid the loss of negative," he told us. +"Nothing can be taken out of here except on my own personal order." + +I thought that Manton was very frank and accommodating. Surely he had +made no effort to conceal his knowledge of this film made with Doctor +Nagoya, and he had even mentioned the poison of the rattlesnakes. +Though it had confused him for a brief moment, that had not struck me +as a very decisive indication of guilty knowledge. After all, no one +knew of the use of crotalin to kill Stella Lamar except the murderer +himself, and Kennedy and those of us in his confidence. The murderer +might not guess that Kennedy had identified the venom. Yet if Manton +were that man he had covered his feelings wonderfully in telling us +about the film. + +My thoughts strayed to the towel upstairs. Had an attempt been made yet +to steal it from the locker? It seemed to me that we were losing too +much time down here if we hoped to notice anyone with itching hands. + +I realized that Kennedy had been very clever in including all our +suspects in hearing at the time he revealed the importance of the clue. +Of the original nine listed by Mackay, Werner was dead and Mrs. Manton +had never entered the case. Enid we had assumed to be the mysterious +woman in Millard's divorce, however, and the other six had all been +upon the floor in contact with Kennedy. First there was Marilyn, the +woman. Then the five men in order had displayed a lively interest in +the towel--Shirley, Gordon, Millard, Phelps, and Manton. + +Kennedy's voice roused me from my reverie. + +"Does this door lead through to the other vaults, Mr. Manton?" + +"Yes." The promoter straightened, after replacing the records of the +negative. "I designed this system of storage myself and superintended +every detail of construction. It is--" He checked himself with an +exclamation, noticing that the door was open. With a flush of anger he +slammed it shut. + +"I should think the connecting doors would be kept shut all the time," +Kennedy remarked. "In case of fire only one compartment would be a +loss." + +"That's the idea exactly! That's why I was on the point of swearing. +The boys down here are getting lax and I'm going to make trouble." +Manton turned back and called to the boy outside. "Where did you say +Wagnalls went?" + +"I don't know, sir! Sometimes he goes across to McCann's for a cup of +coffee, or maybe he went up to the printing department." + +Manton faced us once more. "If you'll excuse me just a moment I'm going +to see who's responsible for this. Why," he sputtered, "if you hadn't +called me around the rack I wouldn't have noticed that the door was +open and then, if there had been a fire--I--I'll be right back!" + +As Manton stormed off Kennedy smiled slightly, then nodded for me to +follow. We passed through into the rooms for positive storage. These in +turn had fireproof connecting doors, all of which were open. In each +case Kennedy closed them. Eventually we emerged into the main part of +the basement through the farther vault door. Nothing of a suspicious +nature had caught our attention. I guessed that Kennedy simply had +wished to cover the carelessness of the vault man in leaving the inner +doors wide open. + +At the entrance which had first admitted us to the negative room, +however, Kennedy stooped suddenly. At the very moment he bent forward I +caught the glint of something bright behind the heavy steel door, and +in the shadow so that it had escaped us before. As he rose I leaned +over. It was a cigarette case, a very handsome one with large initials +engraved with deep skillful flourish. + +"Who is 'J. G.'?" Kennedy asked. + +I felt a quiver of excitement. "Jack Gordon, the leading man." + +"What's an actor doing down in the film vaults?" he muttered. + +Slipping the case into his pocket, he glanced about on the floor and +something just within the negative room caught his eye. Once more he +bent down. With a speculative expression he picked up the cork-tipped +stub of a cigarette. + +At this instant Manton returned, breathing hard as though his pursuit +of the missing Wagnalls had been very determined. The butt in Kennedy's +fingers attracted his attention at once. + +"Did--did you find that here?" he demanded. + +Kennedy pointed. "Right there on the floor." + +"The devil!" Manton flushed red. "This is no place to smoke. By--by all +the wives of Goodwin and all the stars of Griffith I'm going to start +firing a few people!" he sputtered. "Here, sonny!" He jumped at the +boy, frightening him. "Close all these doors and turn the combinations. +Tell Wagnalls if he opens them before he sees me I'll commit battery on +his nose." + +Kennedy continued to hold the stub, and as Manton preceded us up the +stairs he hung back, comparing it with the few cigarettes left in the +case. Unquestionably they were of the same brand. + +On the studio floor Mackay was waiting for us. Under his arm was a reel +of film in a can. He clutched it almost fondly. + +"All ready!" he remarked, to Kennedy. + +Kennedy's face was unrevealing as he faced Manton. "This bit of film is +valuable evidence also. I think perhaps it would be safer in that +locker." + +"Anything at all we can do to help," stated Manton, promptly. "Shall I +show you the way again?" + +I produced the key, handing it to Kennedy as the four of us arrived in +the corridor by the property room. Kennedy slipped the bit of metal +into the lock; then simulated surprise very well indeed. + +"The lock is broken!" he exclaimed. "Some one has been here." + +Apparently the traveling bag had been undisturbed as we took it out. +Nevertheless, the paper containing the towel was gone. + +"This is no joke, Mr. Kennedy," protested Manton, in indignation. +"Where can I hire about a dozen good men to hang around and +watch--and--and help you get to the bottom of this?" + +Mackay, without releasing his grasp of the film, had been inspecting +the broken lock. + +"Look at the way this was done!" he murmured, almost in admiration. +"This wasn't the work of any roughneck. It--it was a dainty job!" + + + + +XXVII + +THE FILM FIRE + + +The bag lay open at my feet. The microscope and other paraphernalia +brought by Kennedy were untouched. Taking the film from Mackay and +placing the can in with the other things, Kennedy snapped the catch and +turned to me as he straightened. + +"I think our evidence is safest in plain sight, Walter. We'll carry it +about with us." + +Lloyd Manton seemed to be a genuinely unhappy individual. After some +moments he excused himself, nervously anxious about the turn of affairs +at the studio. Immediately I faced Kennedy and Mackay. + +"Manton's the only one who knew just where we put the bag," I remarked. +"When he left us in the basement he had plenty of time to run up and +steal the towel and return." + +"How about the itching salve?" + +"In his hurry he might have left the towel in the paper, intending to +destroy it later." + +Kennedy frowned. "That's possible, Walter. I had not thought of that. +Still"--he brightened--"I'm counting on human nature. I don't believe +anyone guilty of the crime could have that towel in his possession, +after the hints I have thrown out, without examining it so as to see +what telltale mark or stain would be apt to betray his identity." + +"You can see that Manton's the logical man?" + +"It would be easy for anyone else to follow and observe us." + +"Then--?" + +"First of all we must keep an eye out for any person showing signs of +the itching concoction. We must observe anyone with noticeably clean +hands. Principally, however, another thing worries me." + +"What's that, Mr. Kennedy?" asked Mackay. + +"Walter and I found a cigarette case belonging to Jack Gordon in the +basement; also a butt smoked three-quarters of the way down and left +directly in the negative room. The fire doors between the different +film vaults, which are arranged like the safety compartments in a ship, +were all open. I want to know why Gordon was down there and--well, I +seem to sense something wrong." + +"Good heavens! Craig," I interposed. "You don't attach any importance +to the fact that those doors were open!" + +"Walter, in a case of real mystery the slightest derangement of matters +of ordinary routine is a cause for suspicion." + +I had no answer, and as we re-entered the studio I devoted my attention +to the various people we had tabulated as possible suspects, noticing +that Kennedy and Mackay did likewise. + +Jack Gordon was in the ballroom scene in make-up. Kauf still was +concerned with technical details of the set and lighting, and, although +the cameras were set up, they were not in proper place, nor was either +camera man in evidence. With Gordon was Enid. From a distance they +seemed to be engaged in an argument of real magnitude. There was no +mistaking the dislike on the part of each for the other. + +Marilyn was the most uneasy of all of the principals. She was pacing up +and down, glancing about in frank distress of mind. I looked at her +hands and saw that she had crushed a tube of grease paint in her +nervousness. Not only her fingers were soiled, but there were streaks +on her arms where she had smeared herself unconsciously. As we watched +she left the studio, hurrying out the door without a backward glance. +Marilyn, at least, showed no indications of the salve, nor of painfully +recent acquaintance with water. + +Both Manton and Phelps were in evidence, decidedly so, I imagined, +from, the viewpoint of poor Kauf. Manton, at the heels of his new +director, was doing all he could to help. Phelps, following Manton +about, seemed to be urging haste upon the promoter. The result was far +from advantageous to picture making; it was concentrated distraction. + +Millard was poring over the manuscript, perched upon a chair the wrong +way so that its back would serve as a desk, engaged busily in making +changes here and there in the pages with a pencil. Like any author, it +was never too late for minor improvements and suggestions. I don't +doubt but that if Manton had permitted it, Millard would have been +quite apt to interrupt a scene in the taking in order to add some +little touch occurring to him as his action sprang to life in the +interpretation of players and director. At any rate, his hands seemed +more clean than those of either Manton or Phelps, proving nothing +because he was at a task not so apt to bring him into contact with dirt. + +"Shirley is missing," observed the district attorney, in an undertone. + +Kennedy faced me. "Give the bag to Mackay, Walter. While he keeps an +eye on the people up here we'll pay a visit to Shirley's dressing room, +and after that go down to the basement again. I can't account for +it--intuition, perhaps--but I'm sure something's wrong." + +The heavy man's dressing room, pointed out to us by some employee +passing through the hall, was empty. I led the way into Marilyn's +quarters, but again no one was about. In each case Kennedy made a quick +visual search for the towel, without result. We did not dare linger and +run the risk of giving away our trick; then, too, Kennedy was nervously +anxious to look through the basement once more. + +"I don't understand your suspicion of the state of affairs in the film +vaults," I confessed. + +"Why should Jack Gordon, the leading man, be down there?" he countered. + +"That--that really is a cause for suspicion, isn't it." + +"Now, Walter, think a bit!" We were crossing the yard, and so not apt +to be overheard. "Granting that Gordon actually had been down there, +why should the fact concern us? Manton explained that no negative or +positive can be given out except upon order. There is nothing down +there but film and so no other errand to bring the leading man to the +vault except to get some scenes or pieces showing his own work, and +that isn't likely." + +"Unless," I interrupted, "Gordon is the guilty man and wanted to get +the snake film before we did." + +"How could that be? When we asked Manton about the Doctor Nagoya +subject we went right down with him and procured it. I doubt anyone +could have overheard us as we talked about it, in any case." + +"Remember, Craig, we went to the locker first and it was some little +time before that fellow came out to unlock it and give us the key. And +when you questioned Manton we were passing right by all of them. Any +one could have heard the mention of the snake film." + +Kennedy frowned. "I believe you're right, Walter. Or it is possible +that the guilty person believed that the scenes taken out at Tarrytown, +or those taken when Werner died, revealed something and so would have +to be stolen or destroyed, and that they were kept in the vault. It is +even possible"--a gleam came into Kennedy's eyes--"it is even possible +that the mind smart enough to reason out the damaging nature of the +chemical analyses I was making, and clever enough to utilize an +explosive bullet in an effort to destroy the fruits of my work, would +also have the foresight to anticipate me and to realize that I might +guess the existence of a film showing snakes and suggesting the use of +venom." + +"It's damning to Gordon, all right," I said. + +"On the contrary, Walter." Kennedy lowered his voice as we entered the +building across the quadrangle and descended stairs leading directly +into the basement. "We have mentioned over and over again the +cleverness of our unknown criminal. That man, or woman, never would +drop a cigarette case with his or her initials and leave without it, +nor smoke a cigarette in a place he, or she, was not supposed to be." + +"What then?" + +"It's a plant; a deliberate plant to throw suspicion upon Gordon." + +"Why upon Gordon?" + +"I don't know that, unless because Gordon is supposed to have the best +possible motive for killing Miss Lamar--his money troubles--and so +becomes the logical man to throw the guilt upon." + +"As a matter of fact, Craig, why should the finding of that cigarette +case be a cause for suspicion at all? That's what I didn't understand +before." + +"Ordinarily it wouldn't be. But those open inner doors, the absence of +the man in charge--isn't it possible that we interrupted an attempt not +only to search for the particular damaging pieces of film, but perhaps +to destroy the whole? If some one acted between the time I asked +Manton about the snake film and the moment we arrived in the basement +to get it, that some one had to move very fast." + +"In which case it might have been Gordon, after all. The cigarette stub +may have been thrown in lighted to start a fire. He may not have had +time to pick up the case, not knowing just where he dropped it." + +Kennedy shrugged his shoulders. "It all shows the futility of trying to +arrive at a conclusion without definite facts. That is where science is +superior to deduction." + +"It's all a maze to me just now," I agreed. + +We made our way to the vaults in silence, and, to our surprise, found +that they were closed and that even the boy was gone now. The cellar, +as a whole, probably for the purpose of fire protection on a larger +scale, was divided into sections corresponding to the units of the +buildings above, and this time I noticed that the door through which we +had arrived before was closed also. Had Manton taken fright in earnest +at the possibility of fire, or had he given his employees a genuine +scare? + +We retraced our steps to the yard, and there the alert eye of Kennedy +detected a slinking figure just as a man darted into the protection of +a doorway. It was Shirley. Had he been watching us? Was he connected in +some way with the vague mystery Kennedy seemed to sense in connection +with the basement and the film vaults? + +Kennedy led the way to the entrance where Shirley had disappeared. Here +there was no sign of him; only steps leading up and down and the open +door to a huge developing room. Returning to the yard, we caught a +gesture from the chauffeur of a car standing near by and recognized +McGroarty, the driver who had found the ampulla a few days previously. + +"Excuse me, Mr. Kennedy," he apologized, as we approached. "I should +have come to you instead of making you two walk over to me, but it's +less suspicious this way." + +"What do you mean?" + +"You recognize me, McGroarty, the chauffeur as found the little bottle?" + +Kennedy nodded. + +"Well, I says to myself I ought to tell you, but I don't like to +because it might be nothing, you know!" + +"It might prove very valuable, McGroarty." Kennedy wanted to encourage +him. + +"Well, I've been sitting here for an hour, I guess. One of the other +directors is going out to-day and his people are late and so here I am. +Well, I don't like the way the heavy man Mr. Werner had--" + +"Shirley? Merle Shirley?" I spoke up. + +"That's him! Well, he's been, hanging and snooping around that building +over there, where you just saw him, for twenty minutes or more. I guess +he's gone in and out of that basement a dozen times. I says to myself, +maybe he's up to something. You know how it is?" + +Kennedy glanced at me significantly. Then he extended his hand to the +chauffeur. "Again I thank you, McGroarty. As I said before, I won't +forget you." + +"Now what?" I asked, as we drew away. + +"Shirley's dressing room, and the studio floor and Mackay." + +As we rather expected, the heavy man's quarters were deserted. I +thought that Kennedy would stop now to make a careful search, but he +seemed anxious to compare notes with the district attorney. + +"Nothing here," reported Mackay. + +"Shirley?" + +"Hasn't been a sign of him." + +I looked about the moment we arrived under the big glass roof. "Marilyn +Loring?" I inquired. + +"She's been missing, too!" All at once Mackay grinned broadly. "You +know, either there's no efficiency in making moving pictures at all, or +these people have all gone more or less out of their heads as the +result of the two tragedies. Look!" He pointed. "When you left me +Phelps and Manton were stepping on each other's toes, trying to help +that new director and about half driving him crazy; and now Millard +seems to have figured out some new way of handling the action and he's +over in the thick of it. It's worse than Bedlam, and better than a +Chaplin comedy." + +I was compelled to smile, although I knew that this was not uncommon in +picture studios. Manton, Phelps, Millard, and Kauf were in the center +of the group, all talking at once. Clustered about I saw Enid and +Gordon, both camera men, and a miniature mob of extra people. But as I +looked little Kauf seemed to come to the end of his patience. In an +instant or two he demonstrated real generalship. Shutting up Manton and +the banker and Millard with a grin, but with sharp words and a quick +gesture which showed that he meant it, he called to the others gathered +about, clearing the set of all but Enid and Gordon. He sent the camera +men to their places; then confronted Phelps and Manton and the scenario +writer once more. We could not hear his words, but could see that he +was asserting himself, was forcing a decision so that he could proceed +with his work. + +This seemed uninteresting to me. I remembered my success in my visit to +Werner's apartment, when I had essayed the role of detective. + +"Listen, Kennedy!" I suggested. "Suppose I go out by myself and see if +I can locate Shirley or Marilyn. Everyone else is right here where you +can--" + +At that instant a deafening explosion shook the studio and every +building about the quadrangle, the sound echoing and re-echoing with +the sharpness of a terrific thunderclap. + +Mixed with the reverberations, which were intensified by the high arch +of the studio roof, were the screams of women and the frightened calls +of men. Following immediately upon the first roar were the muffled +sounds of additional explosions, persisting for a matter of ten to +fifteen seconds. + +With every detonation the floor beneath our feet trembled and rocked. +Several flats of scenery stacked against a wall at our rear toppled +forward and struck the floor with a resounding whack, not unlike some +gigantic slap-stick. One entire side of the banquet set, luckily +unoccupied, fell inward and I caught the sound as the dainty gold +chairs and fragile tables snapped and were crushed as so much kindling +wood. + +Then--a fitting climax of destruction, withheld until this +moment--there followed the terrifying snap of steel from above. An +entire section of roof literally was popped from place, the result of +false stresses in the beams created by the explosion. Upon the heads of +the unlucky group in the center of the ballroom set came a perfect +hailstorm of broken and shattered bits of heavy ground glass. + +For an instant, an exceedingly brief instant, there was the illusion of +silence. The next moment the factory siren rose to a shrill shriek, +with a full head of steam behind it--the fire call! + +Kennedy dashed over to the scene where those beneath the shower of +glass lay, dazed and uncertain of the extent of their own injuries. + +"Where are the first-aid kits?" he shouted. "Bring cotton and bandages, +and--and telephone for a doctor, an ambulance!" + +It seemed to me that Kennedy had never been so excited. Mackay and I, +at his heels, and some of the others, unhurt, hurriedly helped the +various victims to their feet. + +Then we realized that by some miracle, some freak of fate, no one had +been hurt seriously. Already a property boy was at Kennedy's side with +a huge box marked prominently with the red cross. Inside was everything +necessary and Kennedy started to bind up the wounds with all the skill +of a professional physician. + +"Mackay," he whispered, "hurry and get me some envelopes, or some +sheets of paper, anything--quick!" And to me, before I could grasp the +reason for that puzzling request: "Don't let anyone slip away, Walter. +No matter what happens, I must bind up these wounds myself." + +A few moments later I understood what Kennedy was up to. As he finished +with each victim he took some bit of cotton or gauze with which he had +wiped their cuts, enough blood to serve him in chemical analysis, and +handed it to Mackay. The district attorney, very unobtrusively, slipped +each sample into a separate envelope, sealing it, and marking it with a +hieroglyph which he would be able to identify later. In this fashion +Kennedy secured blood smears of Manton and Phelps, Millard and Kauf and +Enid, Gordon, the two camera men, and a scene shifter. I smiled to +myself. + +Meanwhile a bitter, acrid odor penetrated through the windows and to +every part of the structure, the odor of burning film, an odor one +never forgets to fear. All those uninjured in the explosions had rushed +out to see the fire, or else to escape from any further danger, the +moment they recovered their wits. Manton, only cut at the wrist, and +impatient as Kennedy cleaned, dusted, and bound the wound, was the +first to receive attention. + +"The vaults!" he called, to the men who seemed disposed to linger +about. "For God's sake get busy!" The next instant he was gone himself. + +Enid was cut on the head. Tears streamed from her eyes as she clung to +Kennedy's coat, trembling. "Will it make a scar?" she sobbed. "Will I +be unable to act before the camera any more?" + +He reassured her. In the case of Millard, who had several bad scalp +wounds, he advised a trip to a doctor, but the scenario writer laughed. +Phelps was yellow. It seemed to me that he whimpered a bit. Gordon was +disposed to swear cheerfully, although a point of glass had penetrated +deep in his shoulder and another piece had gashed him across the +forehead. + +Finally Kennedy was through. He packed the little envelopes in the bag, +still in the possession of Mackay, and added the two rolls of film from +his pocket. Then, for the first time, he locked it. + +As he straightened, his eyes narrowed. + +"Now for Shirley," he muttered. + +"And Marilyn," I added. + + + + +XXVIII + +THE PHOSPHORUS BOMB + + +We rushed out into the courtyard, Kennedy in the lead, Mackay trailing +with the bag. Here there were dense clouds of fine white suffocating +smoke mixed with steam, and signs of the utmost confusion on every +hand. Because Manton, fortunately, had trained the studio staff through +frequent fire drills, there was a semblance of order among the men +actually engaged in fighting the spread of the blaze. Any attempt to +extinguish the conflagration in the vault itself was hopeless, however, +and so the workers contented themselves with pouring water into the +basement on either side, to keep the building and perhaps the other +vaults cool, and with maintaining a constant stream of chemical mixture +from a special apparatus down the ventilating system into and upon the +smoldering film. + +The studio fire equipment seemed to be very complete. There was water +at high pressure from a tank elevated some twenty to thirty feet above +the uppermost roof of the quadrangle. In addition Manton had invested +in the chemical engine and also in sand carts, because water aids +rather than retards the combustion of film itself. I noticed that the +promoter was in direct charge of the fire-fighters, and that he moved +about with a zeal and a recklessness which ended for once and all in my +mind the suspicion that Phelps might be correct and that Manton sought +to wreck this company for the sake of Fortune Features. + +In an amazingly quick space of time the thing was over. When the city +apparatus arrived, after a run of nearly three miles, there was nothing +for them to do. The chief sought out Manton, to accompany him upon an +inspection of the damage and to make sure that the fire was out. The +promoter first beckoned to Kennedy. + +"This is unquestionably of incendiary origin," he explained to the +chief. "I want Mr. Kennedy to see everything before it is disturbed, so +that no clue may be lost or destroyed." + +The fire officer brightened. "Craig Kennedy?" he inquired. "Gee! there +must be some connection between the blaze and the murder of Stella +Lamar and her director. I've been reading about it every day in the +papers." + +"Mr. Jameson of the Star," Kennedy said, presenting me. + +We found we could not enter the basement immediately adjoining the +vaults--that is, directly from the courtyard--because it seemed +advisable to keep a stream of water playing down the steps, and a +resulting cloud of steam blocked us. Manton explained that we could get +through from the next cellar if it was not too hot, and so we hurried +toward another entrance. + +Mackay, who had remained behind to protect the bag from the heat, +joined us there. + +"I've put the bag in charge of that chauffeur, McGroarty, and armed him +with my automatic," he explained. He paused to wipe his eyes. The fumes +from the film had distressed all of us. "Shirley and Marilyn Loring are +both missing still," he added. "I've been asking everyone about them. +No one has seen them." + +The fire chief looked up. "Everyone is out? You are sure everybody is +safe?" + +"I had Wagnalls at my elbow with a hose," Manton replied. "I saw the +boy around, also. No one else had any business down there and the +vaults were closed and the cellar shut off." + +The door leading from the adjoining basement was hot yet, but not so +that we were unable to handle it. However, the catch had stuck and it +took considerable effort to force it in. As we did so a cloud of acrid +vapor and steam drove us back. + +Then Kennedy seemed to detect something in the slowly clearing +atmosphere. He rushed ahead without hesitation. The fire chief +followed. In another instant I was able to see also. + +The form of a woman, dimly outlined in the vapor, struggled to lift the +prone figure of a man. After one effort she collapsed upon him. I +dashed forward, as did Mackay and Manton. Two of them carried the girl +out to the air; the other three of us brought her unconscious +companion. It was Marilyn and Shirley. + +The little actress was revived easily, but Shirley required the +combined efforts of Kennedy and the chief, and it was evident that he +had escaped death from suffocation only by the narrowest of margins. +How either had survived seemed a mystery. Their clothes were wet, their +faces and hands blackened, eyebrows and lashes scorched by the heat. +But for the water poured into the basement neither would have been +alive. They had been prisoners during the entire conflagration, the +burning vault holding them at one end of the basement, the door in the +partition resisting their efforts to open it. + +"Thank heaven he's alive!" were Marilyn's first words. + +"How did you get in the cellar?" Kennedy spoke sternly. + +"I thought he might be there." Now that the reaction was setting in, +the girl was faint and she controlled herself with difficulty. "I was +looking for him and as soon as I heard the first explosion I ran down +the steps into the film-vault entrance--I was right near there--and I +found him, stunned. I started to lift him, but there were other +explosions almost before I got to his side. The flames shot out through +the cracks in the vault door and I--I couldn't drag him to the steps; I +had to pull him back where you found us." She began to tremble. "It--it +was terrible!" + +"Was there anyone else about, anyone but Mr. Shirley?" + +"No. I--I remember I wondered about the vault man." + +"What was Mr. Shirley down there for, Miss Loring?" + +"He"--she hesitated--"he said he had seen some one hanging around +and--and he didn't want to report anything until he was sure. He--he +thought he could accomplish more by himself, although I told him he +was--was wrong." + +"Whom did he see hanging around?" + +"He wouldn't tell me." + +Shirley was too weak to question and the girl too unstrung to stand +further interrogation. In response to Manton's call several people came +up and willingly helped the two toward the comfort of their dressing +rooms. + +At the fire chief's suggestion the stream of water into the basement +was cut off. Manton led the way, choking, eyes watering, to the front +of the vaults. Feverishly he felt the steel doors and the walls. There +was no mistaking the conclusion. The negative vault was hot, the others +cold. + +"The devil!" Manton exclaimed. A deep poignancy in his voice made the +expression childishly inadequate. "Why couldn't it have been the +prints!" Suddenly he began to sob. "That's the finish. Not one of our +subjects can ever be worked again. It's a loss of half a million +dollars." + +"If you have positives," Kennedy asked, "can't you make new negatives?" + +"Dupes?" Manton looked up in scorn. "Did you ever see a print from a +dupe negative? It's terrible. Looks like some one left it out in the +wet overnight." + +"How about the 'Black Terror'?" I inquired. + +"All of that's in the safe in the printing room; that and the two +current five reelers of the other companies. We won't lose our +releases, but"--again there was a catch in his voice--"we could have +cleared thousands and thousands of dollars on reissues. All--all of +Stella's negative is gone, too!" To my amazement he began to cry, +without attempt at concealment. It was something new to me in the way +of moving-picture temperament. "First they kill her and now--now they +destroy the photographic record which would have let her live for those +who loved her. The"--his voice trailed away to the merest whisper as he +seemed to collapse against the hot smoked wall--"the devil!" + +The fire chief took charge of the job of breaking into the vault. First +Wagnalls attempted to open the combination of the farther door, but the +heat had put the tumblers out of commission. Returning to the entrance +of the negative vault itself, the thin steel, manufactured for fire +rather than burglar protection, was punctured and the bolts driven +back. A cloud of noxious fumes greeted the workers and delayed them, +but they persisted. Finally the door fell out with a crash and men were +set to fanning fresh air into the interior while a piece of chemical +apparatus was held in readiness for any further outbreak of the +conflagration. + +Manton regained control of himself in time to be one of the first to +enter. Mackay held back, but the fire chief, the promoter, Kennedy, and +myself fashioned impromptu gasmasks of wet handkerchiefs and braved the +hot atmosphere inside the room. + +The damage was irremediable. The steel frames of the racks, the cheaper +metal of the boxes, the residue of the burning film, all constituted a +hideous, shapeless mass clinging against the sides and in the corners +and about the floor. Only one section of the room retained the +slightest suggestion of its original condition. The little table and +the boxes of negative records, the edges of the racks which had stood +at either side, showed something of their former shape and purpose. +This was directly beneath the ventilating opening. Here the chemical +mixture pumped in to extinguish the fire had preserved them to that +extent. + +All at once Kennedy nudged the fire chief. "Put out your torch!" he +directed, sharply. + +In the darkness there slowly appeared here and there on the walls a +ghostly bluish glow persisting in spite of the coating of soot on +everything. + +Kennedy's keen eye had caught the hint of it while the electric torch +had been flashed into some corner and away for a moment. + +"Radium!" I exclaimed, entirely without thought. + +Kennedy laughed. "Hardly! But it is phosphorus, without question." + +"What do you make of that?" The fire chief was curious. + +"Let's get out!" was Kennedy's reply. + +Indeed, it was almost impossible for us to keep our eyes open, because +of the smarting, and, more, the odor was nauseating. A guard was posted +and in the courtyard, disregarding the curious crowd about, Kennedy +asked for Wagnalls and began to question him. + +"When did you close the vaults?" + +"About two hours before the fire. Mr. Manton sent for me." + +"Was there anything suspicious at that time?" + +"No, sir! I went through each room myself and fixed the doors. That's +why the fire was confined to the negatives." + +"Have you any idea why the doors were open when we went through?" + +"No, sir! I left them shut and the boy I put there while I went over to +McCann's said no one was near. He"--Wagnalls hesitated. "Once he went +to sleep when I left him there. Perhaps he dozed off again." + +"Why did you leave? Why go over to McCann's in business hours?" + +"We'd worked until after midnight the night before. I had to open up +early and so I figured I'd have my breakfast in the usual morning slack +time--when nothing's doing." + +"I see!" Kennedy studied the ground for several moments. "Do you +suppose anyone could have left a package in there--a bomb, in other +words?" + +Wagnalls's eyes widened, but he shook his head. "I'd notice it, sir! If +I do say it, I'm neat. I generally notice if a can has been touched. +They don't often fool me." + +"Well, has any regular stuff been brought to you to put away; anything +which might have hidden an explosive?" + +Again Wagnalls shook his head. "I put nothing away or give nothing out +except on written order from Mr. Manton. Anything coming in is negative +and it's in rolls, and I rehandle them because they're put away in the +flat boxes. I'd know in a minute if a roll was phony." + +"You're sure nothing special--" + +"Holy Jehoshaphat!" interrupted Wagnalls. "I'd forgotten!" He faced +Manton. "Remember that can of undeveloped stuff, a two-hundred roll?" +He turned to Kennedy, explaining. "When negative's undeveloped we keep +it in taped cans. Take off the tape and you spoil it--the light, you +know. Mr. Manton sent down this can with a regular order, marking on it +that some one had to come to watch it being developed--in about a week. +Of course I didn't open the can or look in it. I put it up on top of a +rack." + +"When was this?" + +"About four days ago--the day Miss Lamar was killed." + +The expression on Manton's face was ghastly. "I didn't send down any +can to you, Wagnalls," he insisted. + +"It was your writing, sir!" + +Kennedy rose. "What did you do with orders like that, such as the one +you claim came with the can of undeveloped negative?" + +"Put them on the spindle on that table in the vault." + +"Wet your handkerchief and come show me." + +When they returned Kennedy had the spindle in his hand, the charred +papers still in place. This was one of the items preserved in part by +the chemical spray through the ventilating opening above. + +"Can you point out which one it is?" Kennedy asked. + +"Let's see!" Wagnalls scratched his head. "Next to the top," he +replied, in a moment. "Miss Lamar's death upset everything. Only one +order came down after that." + +With extreme care Kennedy took his knife and lifted the ashy flakes of +the top order. "Get me some collodion, somebody!" he exclaimed. + +Wagnalls jumped up and hurried off. + +The fire chief leaned forward. "Do you think, Mr. Kennedy, that the +little can he told you about started the fire?" + +"I'm sure of it, although I'll never be able to prove it." + +"How did it work?" + +"Well, I imagine a small roll of very dry film was put in to occupy a +part of the space. Film is exceedingly inflammable, especially when old +and brittle. In composition it is practically guncotton and so a high +explosive. In this recent war, I remember, the Germans drained the +neutral countries of film subjects until we woke up to what they were +doing, while in this country scrap film commanded an amazing price and +went directly into the manufacture of explosives. Then I figure that a +quantity of wet phosphorus was added, to fill the can, and that then +the can was taped. The tape, of course, is not moisture proof entirely. +With the dampness from within it would soften, might possibly fall off. +In a relatively short time the phosphorus would dry and burn. +Immediately the film in the can would ignite. As happened, it blew up, +a minor explosion, but enough to scatter phosphorus everywhere. That, +in the fume-laden air of the vault--there are always fumes in spite of +the best ventilation system made--caused the first big blast and +started all the damage." + +Mackay had rejoined us in time to hear the explanation. "Ingenious," he +murmured. "As ingenious as the methods used to murder the girl and her +director." + +Breathless, Wagnalls returned with the collodion. We watched curiously +as Kennedy poured it over the charred remains of the second order on +the spindle. It seemed almost inconceivable that the remnants of the +charred paper would even support the weight of the liquid, yet Kennedy +used it with care, and slowly the collodion hardened before us, +creating a tough transparent coating which held the tiny fibers of the +slip together. At the same time the action of the collodion made the +letters on the order faintly visible and readable. + +"A little-known bank trick!" Kennedy told us. + +Then he held the slip up to the light and the words were plain. +Wagnalls had been correct. The order from Manton was unmistakable. The +can was to be kept in the negative vault for a week without being +opened, until a certain party unnamed was to come to watch the +development of the film. + +The promoter wet his lips, uneasily. "I--I never wrote that! It--it's +my writing, all right, and my signature, but it's a forgery!" + + + + +XXIX + +MICROSCOPIC EVIDENCE + + +Kennedy made some efforts to preserve the forged order which he had +restored with the collodion, but I could see that he placed no great +importance upon its possession. Gradually the yard of the studio had +cleared of the employees, who had returned to their various tasks. +Under the direction of one stout individual who seemed to possess +authority the fire apparatus had been replaced in a portable steel +garage arranged for the purpose in a farther corner, and now several +men were engaged in cleaning up the dirt and litter caused in the +excitement. + +Except in the basement there were few signs of the blaze. Manton +accompanied the fire chief to his car, then hurried up into the +building without further notice of us. Mackay went to McGroarty's +machine to claim the traveling bag containing our evidence. Kennedy and +I started for the dressing rooms. + +"I want to get blood smears of Shirley and Marilyn," he confided in a +low voice. "I shall have to think of some pretext." + +Neither of the two we sought were in their quarters and so we continued +on into the studio. Here we found Kauf at work; at least he was engaged +in a desperate attempt to get something out of his people. + +"Ye gods, Gordon!" we heard him exclaim, as we made our way through the +debris of the banquet set to the ballroom now dazzlingly bright under +the lights. "What if you do have to wear a bandage around your head? +It's a masked ball, isn't it? You've got a monk's cowl over everything +but your features, haven't you?" + +It struck me that the faces had never been more ghastly, although my +reason convinced me it was simply the usual effect of the Cooper-Hewitt +tubes. But there was no question but that the explosion had given +everyone a bad fright, that not an actress or actor but would have +preferred to have been nearly anywhere else but under the heat of the +glass roof, now a constant reminder of the accident because of the +gaping hole directly above them. + +Marilyn was in the center of the revelers in the set, already in +costume. Shirley I saw close to the camera men, standing uneasily on +shaky legs, shielding his eyes with one hand while he clung to a +massive sideboard for support with the other. He had not yet donned his +carnival clothes, nor essayed to put on a make-up. + +Enid Faye, the only one in sight whose spirits seemed to have rallied +at all, was offering him comfort of a sort. + +"You'll get by, all right, Merle, if you can keep on your pins, and +I'll say you deserve credit for trying it. There's"--she stepped back a +bit to study him--"there's just one thing. Your eyes show the result of +all that smoke and vapor--no color or luster at all. I--I wonder if +belladonna wouldn't brighten them up a bit and--well, get you by, for +to-day?" + +"I'll go out and get some at lunch." He smiled weakly. "I'll try +anything once." + +"That's the spirit!" She patted him on the shoulder, then danced on +into the center of the set, stopping to direct some barbed remark at +Marilyn. + +Kauf took his megaphone to call his people around him. There seemed to +be a certain essential competence about the little man, now that Manton +and Phelps and Millard were not about to bother him. While we watched +he succeeded in photographing one of the full shots of the general +action or atmosphere of the dance. Then he hurried to the side of +Shirley, to see if the heavy man felt equal to the task of resuming his +make-up once more. + +I found the time dragging heavy on my hands and I wished that Kennedy +would return to the laboratory or decide upon some definite action. +Though I racked my brain, I failed to think of a device whereby Kennedy +could get blood smears of Shirley or Marilyn without their knowledge. +Once more my reflections veered around to the matter of the stolen +towel and I wondered if that had been wasted effort on Kennedy's part; +if the fire had thrown out his carefully arranged plans to trap whoever +took it. + +Suddenly I realized that Kennedy was following a very definite +procedure, that his seeming indifference, his apparent idle curiosity +concerning the scene taking, masked a settled purpose. When Phelps +entered he approached him casually and turned to him with skilled +nonchalance, holding up a finger. + +"Will you lend me a pocket knife for a moment?" he asked, "to get a +hang-nail?" + +Phelps produced one, rather grudgingly. Kennedy promptly went over to +the window, as though seeking better light. Thereafter he avoided +Phelps. Soon the banker had forgotten the incident. + +Some time later Manton rushed in from the office. Kennedy maneuvered +his way to the promoter's side and waited his chance to borrow that +man's pocket knife under conditions when Manton would be the least apt +to remember it. Then he made his way around to Mackay and I saw that +both the acquisitions went into little envelopes of the sort used to +take the blood smears after the explosion and falling glass. + +Kennedy now seemed rather elated. Millard entered and he borrowed the +scenario writer's knife in exactly the same fashion as the others. No +one of the three men noticed his loss. I thought it lucky that all +three carried the article, and tried to guess how far Kennedy intended +to carry this little scheme. + +Kauf's announcement of lunch gave me my answer. It seemed that there +would be just half an hour and that the entire cast was expected to +make shift at McCann's rather than attempt to go to any better place at +a greater distance. Immediately Kennedy turned to me. + +"Hurry, Walter! Twenty minutes' quick work and then it's the laboratory +and the solution of this mystery." + +With Mackay and the bag we stole to the dressing rooms, waiting until +sure that everyone was downstairs. In Enid's chamber Kennedy glanced +about carefully but swiftly. When nothing caught his attention he +picked up her finger-nail file, gingerly, from the blunt end, slipping +it into one of the little envelopes which Mackay held open. Thereupon +the district attorney put his identifying mark upon the outside and we +went to the next room. + +It proved to be Gordon's. The general search was barren of result, but +the dressing table yielded another finger-nail file, handled in the +same manner as before. Then we entered Marilyn's room and left with the +file from her dressing stand. In Shirley's quarters, the last we +visited, we were in greater luck, however. While Kennedy and Mackay +abstracted the usual file, I discovered some bits of tissue paper used +in shaving. There was caked soap left to dry just as it had been wiped +from the razor. More, there was a blood stain of fair proportions. + +"Here's your smear, Kennedy," I exclaimed. + +"Good! Fine!" He faced Mackay. "Now I lack just one thing, a sample of +the blood of Miss Loring." + +"Is that all?" The district attorney brightened. "Let me try to get it! +I--I'll manage it in some way!" + +"All right!" Kennedy took the bag. "Explain your marks so I'll know--" +He stopped suddenly. "No, don't tell me anything. I'll make my chemical +analyses and microscopic examinations without knowing the identity in +the case either of the blood samples or the finger-nail files. If I +obtain results by both methods, and they agree, I'll return armed with +double-barreled evidence. Meanwhile, Mackay, you get a smear from Miss +Loring and follow us to the laboratory. I'll coax McGroarty to drive us +down, so you'll have your car and you can bring us back." + +The district attorney nodded. "Me for McCann's," he muttered. "That's +where she went to eat." He rushed off eagerly. + +Kennedy had no difficulty persuading McGroarty to put his particular +studio car at our disposal without an order from Manton or from the +director who had called him. In a very brief space of time we were at +the laboratory. + +"You expect to find the blood of one of those people showing traces of +the antivenin?" I grasped Kennedy's method of procedure, but wanted to +make sure I understood it correctly. Already I was blocking out the +detailed article for the Star, the big scoop which that paper should +have as a result of my close association with Kennedy on the case. "One +of those samples should correspond, I suppose, to the trace of blood on +the portieres?" + +"Exactly!" He answered me rather absently, being concerned in setting +out the apparatus he would need for a hasty series of tests. + +"Will the antivenin show in the blood after four, perhaps five days?" + +"I should say so, Walter. If it does not, by any chance, I will be able +to identify the blood, but that is much more involved and tedious--a +great deal more actual work." + +"I've got it straight, then. Now--" I paced up and down several times. +"The finger-nail files should show a trace of the itching salve? Is +that correct, Craig?" + +For a moment he didn't answer, as his mind was upon his paraphernalia. +Then he straightened. "Hardly, Walter! The salve is soluble in water. +What I shall find, if anything, is some of the fibers of the towel. You +see, a person's finger nails are great little collectors of bits of +foreign matter, and anyone handling that rag is sure to show some +infinitesimal trace for a long while afterward. If the person stealing +the towel filed or cleaned his nails there will be evidence of the +fibers on his pocket knife or finger-nail file. I impregnated the towel +with that chemical so that I would be able to identify the fibers +positively." + +"The use of the itching salve was unnecessary?" + +A quizzical smile crept across Kennedy's face. "Did you think I +expected some one to go walking around the studio scratching his hands? +Did you imagine I thought the guilty party would betray his or her +identity in such childish fashion, after all the cleverness displayed +in the crimes themselves?" + +"But you were insistent that I rub in the--" + +"To force them to wash their hands after touching the towel, Walter." + +"Oh!" I felt rather chagrined. "Wouldn't some pigment, some color, have +served the purpose better?" + +"No, because anyone would have understood that and would have taken the +proper measures to remove all traces. But the itching salve served two +purposes. It was misleading, because obviously a trap upon reflection, +and so it would distract attention from the impregnated fibers, my real +scheme. Then it was the best device of all I could think of, for it set +up a local irritation of the sort most calculated to make a person +clean his finger nails. The average man and woman is not very neat, +Walter. I was not sure but a scientific prodding was necessary to +transfer my evidence to some object I could borrow and examine under a +microscope." + +Meanwhile Kennedy's long fingers were busy at the preliminary +operations in his tests. He turned away and I asked no more questions, +not wishing to delay him. + +I noticed that first he examined the blood samples under the +microscope. Afterward he employed a spectroscope. But none of the +operations took any great amount of time, since he seemed to anticipate +his results. + +Mackay burst in upon us, very elated, and produced a handkerchief with +a bit of blood upon it. + +"I scratched her deliberately with the sharp point of my ring," he +chuckled. "I found her in the restaurant and the seat beside her was +empty. I--I talked about everything under the sun and I guess she +thinks I'm a clumsy boob! Anyhow she cried out when I did it, and got +red in the face for a moment; but she suspects nothing." + +Kennedy cut the spot from the handkerchief, put it in an envelope, and +turned back to his table. I drew Mackay into the corner. + +As the minutes sped by and Craig worked in absorbed concentration, +Mackay grew more and more impatient to get back to the studio. + +"Did you find anything?" repeated Mackay, for the tenth time. + +With a gesture of annoyance, Kennedy reached out for the nail files. + +"This is a grave matter," he frowned. "I must check it up--and double +check it--then I'm going back to the studio to triple check it. Let me +see what the nail files reveal. It will be a bare ten minutes more." + +Insisting that we remain back in the corner, he spread out the four +nail files and the open blades of the three pocket knives, setting each +upon the envelope which identified it. + +The next quarter of an hour seemed interminable. Finally Kennedy +started replacing the files and the pocket knives in their envelopes, +his face still wearing the inscrutable frown. Next he packed the blood +samples and other evidence in the traveling bag once more. + +Mackay was bursting with impatience, but Craig still refused to betray +his suspicions. + +"I must get back there--quick," he hastened. "I want everybody in the +projection room. In court, a jury might not grasp the infallibility of +the methods I've used. There would be a great deal of medical and +expert testimony required--and you know, Mackay, what that means." + +"Is it a man--or a woman you suspect?" persisted the district attorney. +"Three of the men had pocket knives and--" + +Kennedy led the way to the door without answering, and Mackay cut short +his hopeless quizzing as Craig nodded to me to carry the bag. + + + + +XXX + +THE BALLROOM SCENE + + +Sounds of music caught our ears as we entered the studio courtyard of +Manton Pictures. Carrying the bag with its indisputable proof of some +person's guilt, we made our way through the familiar corridor by the +dressing rooms, out under the roof of the so-called large studio. There +a scene of gayety confronted us, in sharp contrast with the gloomy +atmosphere of the rest of the establishment. + +Kauf, however, had thoroughly demonstrated his genius as a director. To +counteract the depression caused by all the recent melodramatic and +tragic happenings, he had brought in an eight-piece orchestra, +establishing the men in the set itself so as to get full photographic +value from their jazz antics. Where Werner and Manton had dispensed +with music, in a desperate effort at economy, Kauf had realized that +money saved in that way was lost through time wasted with dispirited +people. It was a lesson learned long before by other companies. In +other studios I had seen music employed in the making of soberly +dramatic scenes, solely as an aid to the actors, enabling them to get +into the atmosphere of their work more quickly and naturally. + +Under the lights the entire set sparkled with a tawdry garishness apt +to fool those uninitiated into the secrets of photography. On the +screen, colors which now seemed dull and flat would take on a soft +richness and a delicacy characteristic of the society in which Kauf's +characters were supposed to move. Obviously fragile scenery would seem +as heavy and substantial as the walls and beams of the finest old +mansion. Even the inferior materials in the gowns of most of the girls +would photograph as well as the most expensive silk; in fact, by long +experience, many of the extra girls had learned to counterfeit the +latest fashions at a cost ridiculous by comparison. + +Kennedy approached Kauf, then returned to us. + +"He asks us to wait until he gets this one big scene. It's the climax +of the picture, really, the unmasking of the 'Black Terror.' If we +interrupt now he loses the result of half a day of preparation." + +"He may lose more than that!" muttered Mackay; and I wondered just whom +the district attorney suspected. + +"Is everyone here?" I asked. "All seven?" + +Gordon and Shirley, of the men, and Marilyn and Enid, of course, were +out on the floor of the supposed ballroom. Gordon I recognized because +I remembered that he was to wear the garb of a monk. Marilyn was easily +picked out, although the vivacity she assumed seemed unnatural now that +we knew her as well as we did. Her costume was a glorious Yama Yama +creation, of a faint yellow which would photograph dazzling white, +revealing trim stockinged ankles and slender bare arms, framing face +and eyes dancing with merriment and maliciousness. Unquestionably she +was the prettiest girl beneath the arcs, never to be suspected as the +woman who had braved the terrors of a film fire to rescue the man she +loved. Enid was stately and serene in the gown of Marie Antoinette. In +the bright glare her features took on a round innocence and she was as +successful in portraying sweetness as Marilyn was in the simulation of +the mocking evil of the vampire. + +Shirley interested me the most, however. I wondered if Kennedy still +eliminated him in guessing at the identity of the criminal. I called to +mind the heavy man's presence in the basement at the time of the +explosion and McGroarty's information that he had been hanging about +that part of the studio for some time previously. Some one had planted +a cigarette case and stub to implicate Gordon, according to Kennedy's +theory. Shirley certainly had had opportunity to steal the towel from +the locker as well as to point suspicion toward the leading man. + +In the midst of my reverie Shirley approached and passed us. He was in +the garb of Mephisto. Like the others, he had not yet masked his face. +A peculiar brightness in his eyes struck me and I nudged Kennedy. + +"Belladonna," Kennedy explained when he was beyond earshot. + +"Oh!" I remembered. "Enid told him to use it." + +"What?" + +I repeated the conversation as near as I could reconstruct it. + +"H-m! That's a new cure for smoke-burned eyes; no cure at all." + +I was unable to get any more out of Kennedy, however. + +Manton I detected in the background with Phelps. The two men were +arguing, as always, and it was evident that the banker was +accomplishing nothing by this constant hanging about the studio. Where +previously my sympathy had been with Phelps entirely, now I realized +that the promoter had won me. Indeed, Manton's interest in all the +affairs of picture making at this plant had been far too sincere and +earnest to permit the belief that he was seeking to wreck the company +or to double-cross his backer. + +Millard entered the studio as I glanced about for him. He handed some +sheets to Kauf, then turned to leave. I attracted Kennedy's attention. + +"You don't want Millard to get away," I whispered. + +Kennedy sent Mackay to stop him. The author accompanied the district +attorney willingly. + +"Yes, Mr. Kennedy?" + +"As soon as this scene is over we're going down to the projection room; +everyone concerned in the death of Miss Lamar and of Mr. Werner." + +The scenario writer looked up quickly. "Do you--do you know who it is?" +he asked, soberly. + +"Not exactly, but I will identify the guilty person just as soon as we +are assembled down in front of the screen." + +Shirley had left the studio floor, apparently to go to his dressing +room. Now I noticed that he returned and passed close just in time to +hear Millard's question and Kennedy's answer. His eyes dilated. As he +turned away his face fell. He went on into the set, but his legs seemed +to wabble beneath him. I was sure it was more than the weakness +resulting from his experience in the fire. + +Kauf's voice, through the megaphone, echoed suddenly from wall to wall, +reverberating beneath the roof. + +"All ready! Everyone in the set! Masks on! Take your places!" + +At a signal the orchestra struck up and the couples started to dance. +It was a wonderfully colorful scene and I saw that Kauf proposed to +rehearse it thoroughly, doing it over and over without the cameras +until every detail reached a practiced perfection. In this I was +certain he achieved results superior to Werner's slap, dash, and bang. + +Then came the call for action. + +"Camera!" Kauf began to bob up and down. "Into it, everybody!" + +For fascination and charm this far exceeded the banquet scene which we +had witnessed in the taking previously. The music was surprisingly +good, so that it was impossible for the people not to get into the +swing, and the result was a riotous swirling of gracefully dancing +pairs; the girls, selected for their beauty, flashing half-revealed +faces toward the camera, displaying eyes which twinkled through their +masks in mockery at a wholly ineffectual attempt at concealment. + +Enid maintained her stately carriage, but made full use of the dazzling +whiteness of her teeth. Early she permitted the attentions of the +cowled monk whom she knew to be her lover. Marilyn was everywhere, +making mischief the best she could. Shirley stalked about in his +satanic red, which would photograph black and appear even more somber +on the screen. + +Of course the whole was not photographed in a continuous strip from one +camera position. I saw that Kauf made several long shots to catch the +general atmosphere. Then he made close-up scenes of all the principals +and of some of the best appearing extras. At one time he ordered a +panorama effect, in which the cameras "panned," swept from one side to +the other, giving a succession of faces at close range. + +Finally everything was ready for the climax. Shirley had been playing a +sort of Jekyll and Hyde role in which he was at once the young lawyer +friend of Enid and the Black Terror. Unmasked and cornered at this +function of a society terrified by the dread unknown menace, he was to +make the transformation directly before the eyes of everyone, using the +mythical drug which changed him from a young man of good appearance and +family to the being who was a very incarnation of evil. + +For once Kauf did not rehearse the scene. Shirley was obviously +weakened from his experience and the director wished to spare him. All +the details were shouted out through the megaphone, however, and I +grasped that the action of this part of the dance was familiar to +everyone; it was the big scene of the story toward which all other +events had built. + +Then came the familiar order. "Camera!" + +At the start of this episode the orchestra was playing and the dancers +were in motion. Suddenly Gordon, as the hero, strode up to Shirley and +unmasked him with a few bitter words which later would be flashed upon +the screen in a spoken title. Instantly a crowd gathered about, but in +such a way as not to obstruct the camera view. + +Cornered, seeing that flight was impossible unless he became the Black +Terror and possessed the strength and fearlessness of that strange +other self, Shirley drew a little vial from his breast pocket and drank +the contents. Evidently he knew his Mansfield well. Slowly he began to +act out the change in his appearance which corresponded with the +assumption of control by the evil within. His body writhed, went +through contortions which were horrible yet fascinating. It was almost +as though a new fearful being was created within sight of the +onlookers. Not only was the face altered, but the man's stature seemed +to shrink, to lose actual inches. I thought it a wonderful exhibition. + +The very next instant there came a groan from Shirley, something which +at once indicated pain and realization and fear. He lost all control of +himself and in a moment pitched forward upon the floor, sputtering and +clutching at the empty air. Another cry broke from between his lips, a +ghastly contracted shriek as treble as though from the throat of a +woman. + +This was no part of the story, no skillful bit of acting! It was real! +Even before I had grasped the full significance of the happening +Kennedy had dashed forward. The cameras still were grinding and they +caught him as he kneeled at the side of the stricken man. Hardly a +second afterward Mackay and I followed and were at Kennedy's side. Kauf +and the others, their faces weirdly ashen, clustered about in fright. + +A third time the invisible hand had struck at a member of the company. +"The Black Terror," with all the horror written into that story, +contained nothing as fearful as the menace to the people engaged in its +production. + +Shirley's skin was cold and clammy, his face almost rigid. While +conscious, he was helpless. Kennedy found the little vial and examined +it. + +"Atropin!" he ejaculated. "Walter!" He turned to me. "Get some +physostigmin, quick! Have Mackay drive you! It's--it's life or death! +Here--I'll write it down! Physostigmin!" + +As I raced madly out and down the stairs, Mackay at my heels, I heard a +woman's scream. Marilyn! Did she think him dead? + +Once in the car, headed for the nearest drug store, grasping wildly at +the side or at the back of the seat every few moments as the district +attorney skidded around curves and literally hurdled obstacles, I +remembered a forgotten fact. + +Atropin! That was belladonna, simply another name for the drug. Shirley +had procured the stuff for use in his eyes. Nevertheless, he had been +aware, undoubtedly, of its deadly nature. Passing by Kennedy and the +rest of us, he had overheard Kennedy state that the murderer would be +identified as soon as all could be assembled in the projection room. +The heavy man had not cared to face justice in so prosaic a manner. +With the same sense of the melodramatic which had led him to slay +Stella Lamar in the taking of a scene, Werner in the photographing of +another, he had preferred suicide and had selected the most spectacular +moment possible for his last upon earth. + +Yes, Shirley was guilty. Rather than wait the slow processes of legal +justice he had attempted suicide. Now we raced to save his life, to +preserve it for a more fitting end in the electric chair. + + + + +XXXI + +PHYSOSTIGMIN + + +The first drug store we found was unable to supply us. At a second we +had better luck. All in all, we were back at the Manton Pictures plant +in a relatively few minutes, a remarkable bit of driving on the part of +the district attorney. + +Shirley was still in the set. Kennedy at once administered the +physostigmin, I thought with an air of great relief. + +"This is one of the rare cases in which two drugs, both highly +poisonous, are definitely antagonistic," he explained. "Each, +therefore, is an antidote for the other when properly administered." + +Marilyn was chafing Shirley's cold hands, tears resting shamelessly +upon her lids, a look of deep inexpressible fear in her expression. + +"Will--will you be able to save him, Professor?" she asked, not once, +but a dozen different times. + +None of the rest of us spoke. We waited anxiously for the first signs +of hope, the first indication that the heavy man's life might be +preserved. It was wholly a question whether the physostigmin had been +given to him quickly enough. + +Kennedy straightened finally, and we knew that the crisis was over. +Marilyn broke down completely and had to be supported to a chair. +Strong, willing arms lifted Shirley to take him to his dressing room. + +At that moment Kennedy stood up, raising his voice so as to demand the +attention of everyone, taking charge of matters through sheer force of +personality. + +"I have come here this afternoon," he began, "to apprehend the man or +woman responsible for the death of Miss Lamar and Mr. Werner, for the +fire in the negative vault, and now for this attempt upon the life of +Mr. Shirley." + +Not a sound was evident as he paused, no movement save a vague, uneasy +shifting of position on the part of some of those who had been on the +point of leaving. + +"I have indisputable evidence of the guilty person's identity, but, +nevertheless, for reasons which I will explain to you I have not yet +completed my identification. To do so it is necessary that certain +photographed scenes be projected on the screen and that certain other +matters be made perfectly clear. I am very anxious, you see, to +eliminate the slightest possibility of error. + +"Mr. Mackay here"--Kennedy smiled, very slightly--"is the district +attorney with jurisdiction at Tarrytown. At my request, since +yesterday--or, to be exact, since the death of Mr. Werner warned us +that no time could be lost--he has carried a 'John Doe' warrant. +Immediately following my identification of the guilty person he--or +she--will be placed under arrest. The charge will be the murder of +Stella Lamar by the use of poison in a manner which I will explain to +you. The trial will take place at White Plains, the county seat of +Westchester County, where the murder occurred. Mr. Mackay informs me +that the courts there are not crowded; in fact, he personally has been +able to devote most of his time to this case. Therefore the trial will +be speedy and I am sure that the cold-blooded methods used by this +criminal will guarantee a quick sentence and an early trip to the +electric chair at Ossining. Now"--suddenly grim--"if everyone will go +down to the projection room, the larger one, we will bring matters to +their proper conclusion." + +I imagined that Kennedy's speech was calculated to spread a little +wholesome fear among the people we had considered suspects. In any case +that was the result, for an outsider, from the expressions upon the +various faces, might have concluded that several of them were guilty. +Each seemed to start off across the studio floor reluctantly, as though +afraid to obey Kennedy, yet unable to resist the fascination of +witnessing the identification of the criminal, as though feeling that +he or she individually might be accused, and yet unwilling to seek +safety at the expense of missing Kennedy's revelation of his methods +and explanation of their result. + +I drew him aside as quickly as I could. + +"Craig," I started, eagerly, "isn't this all unnecessary? Can't you see +that Shirley is the guilty man? If you will hurry into his room with +paper and pencil and get his confession before he recovers from his +fright and regains his assurance--" + +"What on earth, Walter!" Kennedy interrupted me with a look of surprise +which I did not miss even in my excitement. "What are you driving at, +anyway?" + +"Why, Shirley is the criminal. He--" + +"Nonsense! Wasn't an attempt made to kill him just now? Wasn't it +evident that he was considered as dangerous to the unknown as Werner, +the director? Hasn't he been eliminated from our calculations as surely +as the man slain yesterday?" + +"No!" I flushed. "Not at all, Craig! This was not an attempt at murder. +There were none of the criminal's earmarks noticeable at Tarrytown or +in the banquet scene." + +"How do you mean, Walter?" For once Kennedy regarded me seriously. + +"Why, you pointed out yourself that this unknown was exceptionally +clever. The attempt on Shirley, if it were an attempt, was not clever +at all." + +"Why?" + +"Why?" I was a little sarcastic, because I was sure of myself. "Because +the poison was atropin--belladonna. That is common. I've read of any +number of crimes where that was used. Do you think for a moment that +the mind which figured out how to use snake venom, and botulin toxin, +would descend to anything as ordinary as all this?" + +"Well, if it was not an attempt at murder, what was it?" + +"Suicide! It's as plain as the nose on your face. Shirley was passing +us as we were standing with Millard and as you told Millard we all were +to go to the projection room to identify the criminal. Therefore +Shirley knew he was at the end of his rope. With the theatrical +temperament, he took the poison just as he finished playing his last +great scene. It--it was a sort of swan song." + +"Quite a theory, Walter!" Now I knew Kennedy was unimpressed. "But, +where did he get the belladonna?" + +"For his eyes. After the smoke smart." + +"The drug is of no use against such inflammation." + +"No, but it served to brighten his eyes. Enid suggested it to him and +he went out and got it. It helped him play his scenes. It gave him the +glittering expression he needed in his characterization." + +Again Kennedy seemed to grasp my view. He hesitated for several +moments. Finally he looked up. + +"If Shirley is the criminal, and if he is above using as common a drug +as atropin for killing another man, then--then why isn't he above using +it upon himself?" + +That struck me as easy to answer. "Because if he is killing himself it +is not necessary for him to cover his tracks, or to do it cleverly, and +besides"--it was my big point--"he probably didn't decide to try to do +it until he overheard us and realized the menace. At that time he had +the belladonna in his pocket. He did not have an opportunity to procure +anything else." + +Kennedy grinned. "You're all wrong, Walter, and I'll show you where +your reasoning is faulty. In the first place if this criminal was the +type to commit suicide at the moment he thought he was about to be +caught he would be the type who would reflect upon that idea +beforehand. As his crimes show a great deal of previous preparation, so +we may assume that he would prepare for suicide, or rather for the +possibility that he might wish to attempt it. Therefore he would have +something better for that purpose than atropin." + +I shook my head, but Kennedy continued. + +"As a matter of fact, the use of that drug is not less clever than the +use of the venom or the toxin; it is more so. Stop and think a minute! +The snake venom was employed in the case of Miss Lamar's death because +it offered about the least possible chance of leaving telltale clues +behind. The snake poison could be inflicted with a tiny scratch, and in +such a way that an outcry from the girl would never be noticed. Nothing +but my pocket lens caught the scratch; only the great care I used in my +examination put us on the trail at all. + +"Now remember how Werner met his death. The toxin gave every symptom of +food poisoning. Except that we discovered the broken stem of the +wineglass we would never have been able to prove the tragedy anything +but accident. Very possibly we have Shirley to thank for the fact that +our one clue there was not removed or destroyed. + +"In both cases the selection of the poison was suited to the +conditions. Therefore, if an attempt was made to kill Shirley--and of +the fact I am sure--we might expect that the agent likewise would be +one least apt to create suspicion. There are no portieres, no +opportunity for the use of another venom; and besides, that has lost +its novelty, and so its value. Similarly there is no use of food or +wine in the scene, precluding something else along the toxin order. + +"Our unknown realizes that the safest place to commit murder is where +there is a crowd. He has followed that principle consistently. In the +case of the heavy man, who has a bit of business before the camera +where he drinks the contents of a little bottle, the very cleverest +thing is to use belladonna, because Shirley has employed it for his +eyes, and because"--maliciously, almost--"it leads immediately to the +hypothesis of suicide." + +"Ye gods, Craig!" A sudden thought struck me and rather terrified me. +"Do you suppose Enid Faye suggested the use of the drug to Shirley as +part of the scheme to kill him? Is she--" + +"I prefer," Kennedy interrupted--"I prefer to suppose that the guilty +person overheard her, or perhaps saw him buy it or learned in some +other way that he was going to use it." + +Completely taken up with this new line of thought, I failed to question +Kennedy further, and it was just as well because most of the people +were on their way down to the projection room, not only those we wished +present, but practically everyone of sufficient importance about the +studio to feel that he could intrude. + +Kennedy turned to Mackay, who had taken no part in our discussion, +although an interested listener. "You have the bag and all the +evidence?" + +"Yes!" Mackay picked it up. "Watkins, the camera man, watched it for me +while Jameson and I went after that drug." + +Kennedy stooped down quickly, but it was locked and had not been +tampered with. + +In the corridor by the dressing rooms we met Kauf, and Kennedy stopped +him. + +"How long would it take to make a print from the scene where Shirley +took the poison?" + +"We could have it ready in half an hour, in a case of grim necessity." + +"Half an hour?" I exclaimed at that, in disbelief. "You couldn't begin +to dry the negative in that time, Kauf." + +He glanced at me tolerantly. "We make what is called a wet print; that +is, we print from the negative while it is still wet and so we only +have the positive to dry. Then we put it on drums in a forced draught +of hot air. The result is not very good, but it's a fine thing +sometimes to get a picture of a parade or some accident in a theater +right after it happens." + +"Will you do it for me, Kauf?" Kennedy broke in, impatiently. "This is +a case of grim necessity," he added. + +Kauf hurried off and we made our way across the yard to the stairs +leading down into the basement and to the projection room specified by +Kennedy. Here Manton was waiting, uneasy, flushed, his face gathered in +a frown and his hands clenching and unclenching in his nervousness. + +"Do you--do you know who it is?" he demanded. + +"Not yet," Kennedy replied. "First I must marshal all my evidence." + +"Who--who do you want present in the projection room?" + +"Mr. Phelps, Mr. Millard, and--yourself, Mr. Manton. Miss Loring and +Miss Faye. Mr. Gordon. Anyone else who wishes, if there is room." + +"Phelps, Millard, Gordon, and the two girls are inside already." + +"Good! We will start at once." + +Manton turned, to lead the way in. At that moment there was a call from +the yard. We stopped, looking up. It was Shirley. + +"Wait just a minute," he cried. He was so weak that the two extra men +who were helping him virtually supported his weight. On his face was a +look of desperate determination. "I--I must see this too!" he gasped. + + + + +XXXII + +CAMERA EVIDENCE + + +Coming in from the bright light of open day, the projection room seemed +a gloomy, forbidding place, certainly well calculated to break down the +reserve of perhaps the cleverest criminal ever pitting his skill +against the science of Craig Kennedy. + +It was a small room, long and not so wide, with a comparatively low +ceiling. In order to obviate eye strain the walls were painted somberly +and there were no light colors in evidence except for a nearly square +patch of white at the farther end, the screen upon which the pictures +were projected. The illumination was very dim. This was so that there +would be no great contrast between the light reflected from the images +cast upon the screen during pictures and the illumination in the room +itself between reels; again designed to prevent strain upon the eyes of +the employees whose work was the constant examination of film in +various stages of its assembly. + +The chairs were fastened to the floor, arranged in tiny crescents and +placed so as not to interfere with the throw of the pictures from +behind. The projection machines themselves, two in number in order to +provide continuous projection by alternating the reels and so threading +one machine while running the other, were in a fireproof booth or +separate room, connected with the tiny auditorium only by slits in the +wall and a sort of porthole through which the operator could talk or +take his instructions. + +Directly beneath the openings to the booth were a table equipped with a +shaded lamp, a stand for manuscripts, and a signal button. Here the +film cutters and editors sat, watching the subject upon which they +worked and making notes for changes, for bits of superfluous action to +be cut out, or for titles or spoken inserts to be moved. At a signal +the operator could be instructed to stop at any point, or to start, or +to wind back and run some given piece over again. The lights in the +room were controlled from within the booth and also by a switch just at +the side of the door. A telephone on the table offered a connection +with any part of the studio or with the city exchanges, so that an +official of the company could be reached while viewing a picture. + +As we entered I tried to study the different faces, but found it a +hopeless task on account of the poor light. Kennedy took his place at +the little table, switching on the little shaded lamp and motioning for +Mackay to set the traveling bag so he could open it and view the +contents. Then Mackay took post at the door, a hand in his pocket, and +I realized that the district attorney clasped a weapon beneath the +cover of his clothing, and was prepared for trouble. I moved over to be +ready to help Kennedy if necessary. As Kennedy took his key, unlocking +the bag, it would have been possible to have heard the slightest +movement of a hand or foot, the faintest gasp of breath, so tense was +the silence. + +First Kennedy took out the various rolls of film. Looking up, he caught +the face of the operator at the opening in the wall and handed them to +him one by one. + +"Here are two sections of the opening of the story, scenes one to +thirteen of 'The Black Terror' put together in order, but without +subtitles. One is printed from the negative of the head camera man, +Watkins. The other is exactly the same action as taken by the other +photographer. We will run both, but wait for my signal between each +piece. Understand?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +"Now I am giving you two rolls which contain prints of the negative +from both cameras of the action at the moment of Werner's death. Those +are to be projected in the same way when I give you the signal. +Following that there will be two very short pieces which show the +attempt upon the life of Mr. Shirley. They are being rushed through the +laboratory at this moment and will be brought to you by the time we are +ready for them. Finally"--Kennedy paused and as he took the rolls of +negative of the snake film I could see that he hesitated to allow them +out of his hands even for a few moments--"here is some negative which +will be my little climax. It--it is very valuable indeed, so please be +careful." + +"You--you want to project the NEGATIVE?" queried the operator. + +"Yes. They tell me it can be done, even with negative as old and +brittle as this, if you are careful." + +"I'll be careful, sir! You punch the button there once to stop and two +to go. I'll be ready in a moment." As he spoke he disappeared and soon +we heard the unmistakable hiss of the arcs in his machines. + +Kennedy stooped and from the bag produced the little envelopes with the +pocket knives and nail files, the set of envelopes with the samples of +blood, the piece of silk he had cut from the portiere at Tarrytown, the +tiny bits he had cut from the towel found by me in the washroom of this +studio, and a microscope--the last, I guessed, for effect. + +Around in the semidarkness I could see the faces as necks were craned +to watch us. Kennedy's deliberateness, his air of certainty, must have +struck terror home to some one person in the little audience. Often +Kennedy depended upon hidden scientific instruments to catch the faint +outward signs of the emotions of his people in a seance of this sort, +to allow the comparison of their reactions in the course of his review +of the evidence, to give him what amounted to a very sure proof of the +one person's guilt. The very absence of some such preparation indicated +to me the extent of his confidence. + +At length he began his little lecture, for all the world as though this +were one of his classes at the University, as though there were at +stake some matter of chemical reaction. + +"I need not tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that this is a highly +scientific age in which we live." His tones were leisurely, +businesslike, cool. "Your own profession, the moving picture, with all +its detail of photography and electricity, its blending of art and +drama and mechanics, is indicative of that, but"--a pause for +emphasis--"it is of my own profession I wish to talk just now, the +detection and prevention of crime. + +"Criminals as a whole were probably the very first class of society to +realize the full benefit of modern science. Banks and business +institutions, the various detective and police forces, all grades and +walks of life have been put to it to keep abreast of the development of +scientific crime. So true has this been that it is a matter of common +belief with many people that the hand of the law may be defied with +impunity, that justice may be cheated with absolute certainty, just so +long as a guilty man or woman is sufficiently clever and sufficiently +careful. + +"Fortunately, the real truth is quite the reverse. Science has extended +itself in many dimensions of space. With the use of a microscope, for +instance, a whole new world is opened up to the trained detective. + +"Everyone knows now that the examination of hands and fingers is an +infallible aid in the identification of criminals and in the proof of +the presence of a suspect at the scene of a crime--I refer to +fingerprints, of course. But fingerprints are only one small detail in +this department of investigation. Our criminals know that gloves must +be worn, or any smooth surface wiped so as to remove the prints. In +that way they believe they cheat the microscope or the pocket lens. + +"As a matter of fact few people have thought of another way of gaining +evidence from the finger tips, but it is a method possible to the +scientist, and is not only practicable but exceedingly effective. In +time it will be recognized by all specialists in crime. Now I refer to +the deposits under the finger nail. + +"Indeed, it is surprising how many things find their way under the nail +and into the corners of the cuticle." Kennedy indicated the files and +pocket knives visible in the shaded square of light before him. "The +value of examining finger-nail deposits becomes evident when we realize +that everyone carries away in that fashion a sample of every bit of +material he handles. To touch a piece of cloth, even lightly, will +result in the catching of a few of its fibers. Similarly, the finger +nails will deposit either a small or large portion of their +accumulation upon such things as the knife blades or files used to +clean them; and there identification still is possible. Nothing in the +world is too infinitesimal for use as evidence beneath the microscope. + +"In classifying these accumulations"--Kennedy paused and the silence in +the little room was death-like--"we may say that there are some which +are legitimate and some which are not. It is the latter which concern +us now. The first day we were here at the studio, just four days ago +now, and immediately following the murder of Miss Lamar, Mr. Jameson +discovered a towel in the washroom on the second floor of the office +building. On that towel there were spots of Chinese yellow, make-up, as +though it had been used to wipe a face or hands by some actor or +actress. Those spots were unimportant. There were others, however, of +an entirely different nature, together with the mark of blood and a +stain which showed that a hypodermic needle had been cleaned upon the +towel before it was thrown in the basket." + +Kennedy leaned forward. His eyes traveled from face to face. "That +towel was a dangerous clue." Now there was a new grim element in his +voice. "That towel alone has given me the evidence on which I shall +obtain a conviction in this case. To-day I let it be known that it was +in my possession and the guilty man or woman understood at once the +value it would be to me. In order to gain additional clues I purposely +gave the impression that I had yet to analyze either the spots or the +trace of blood. I wanted the towel stolen, and for that purpose I +placed the bag containing it in a locker and left the locker unguarded. +I coated the towel with a substance which would cause discomfort and +alarm--itching salve--not with the idea that anyone would be foolish +enough to go about scratching before my eyes, but with the idea of +making that person believe that such was my purpose and with the idea +of driving him--or her--to washing his hands at once and, more, with +the idea of forcing him or scaring him into cleaning his fingernails. + +"I succeeded. On one of these files or knife blades I have found and +identified the fibers of that towel. I do not yet know the person, but +I know the mark placed by Mackay on the outside of the little envelope, +and when I tell Mackay the mark he will name the guilty person." + +"Mr. Kennedy!" Manton spoke up, impulsively, "every towel in the studio +is the same. I bought them all at the same time. The fibers would all +be alike. You have named seven people to me, including myself, as +possibly guilty of these--these murders. Your conclusions may be very +unjust--and may lead to a serious miscarriage of justice." + +Kennedy was unperturbed. "This particular towel, in addition to the +itching salve, was thoroughly impregnated with a colorless chemical +which changed the composition of the fibers in a way easily +distinguishing them from the others under the microscope. Do you see, +Mr. Manton?" + +The promoter had no more to say. + +"Now what connection has the towel with the case? Simply this!" Kennedy +picked up one of the tiny pieces he had cut out of it. "The poison used +to kill Miss Lamar was snake venom." He paused while a little murmur +went through his audience, the first sound I had detected. "These spots +on the towel are antivenin. The venom itself is exceedingly dangerous +to handle. The guilty man--or woman--took no chances, but inoculated +himself with antivenin, protection against any chance action of the +poison. The marks on the towel are the marks made by the needle used by +that person in taking the inoculation. + +"If you will follow me closely you will understand the significance of +this. Miss Lamar was killed by the scratch of a needle secreted in the +portieres through which she came, playing the scene in Mr. Phelps's +library. That I will prove to you when I show you the film. The night +following her death some one broke into the room there at Tarrytown and +removed the needle. In removing the needle that person scratched +himself, or herself. On the portieres I found some tiny spots of +blood." Kennedy paused to hold up the bit of heavy silk. "I analyzed +them and found that the blood serum had changed in character very +subtly. I demonstrated that the blood of the person who took the needle +contained antivenin, and if necessary I can prove the blood to come +from the same individual who wiped the needle on the towel in the +studio." + +Kennedy pressed the button before him, twice. "Now I want you to see, +actually see Miss Lamar meet her death." + +The lights went out, then the picture flashed on the screen before us, +revealing the gloom and mystery of the opening scene of "The Black +Terror." We saw the play of the flashlight, finally the fingers and +next the arm of Stella as she parted the curtains. In the close-up we +witnessed the repetition of her appearance, since the film was simply +spliced together, not "matched" or trimmed. Following came all the +action down to the point where she collapsed over the figure of Werner +on the floor. Before the camera man stopped, Manton rushed in and was +photographed bending over her. + +Kennedy's voice was dramatically tense, for not one of us but had been +profoundly affected by the reproduction of the tragedy. + +"Did you notice the terror in her face when she cried out? Was that +terror, really? If you were watching, you would have detected a slight +flinch as she brushed her arm up against the silk. For just a moment +she was not acting. It was pain, not pretended terror, which made her +scream. The devilish feature to this whole plot was the care taken to +cover just that thing-her inevitable exclamation. Now watch closely as +I signal the operator to run the same action from the other camera. +Notice the gradual effect of the poison, how she forces herself to keep +going without realization of the fact that death is at hand, how she +collapses finally through sheer inability to maintain her control of +herself a moment longer." + +During the running of the second piece the tense silence in the room +was ghastly. Who was the guilty person? Who possessed such amazing +callousness that an exhibition of this sort brought no outcry? + +"Now"--Kennedy glanced around in the dim light, switched on between the +running of the different strips--"I'm going to project the banquet +scenes and show you the manner of Werner's death." + +Scene after scene of the banquet flashed before us. Here the cutter had +not been sure just what Kennedy wanted and had spliced up everything. +We saw the marvelous direction of Werner, who little realized that it +was to be his last few moments on earth, and we grasped the beauty and +illusion of the set caused by the mirrors and the man's skill in +placing his people. Yet there was not a sound, because we knew that +this was a tragedy, a grim episode in which there was no human +justification whatever. + +Werner rose at his place. He proposed his toast. He drank the contents +of his glass. Then, his expression changed to wonderment and from that +to fear and realization, and he dropped to the floor. + +Kennedy's voice, interrupting, seemed to me to come from a great +distance, so powerfully was I affected by the bit of film. + +"The poison used to kill Mr. Werner was botulin toxin, selected because +its effects could not be diagnosed as anything other than ordinary food +poisoning. When we look at the print from the second camera's negative +you will notice how quickly it acted. It was the pure toxin, placed in +his glass before the wine was poured." + +Once more the unfortunate director's death was reproduced before us. + +"Struck down," exclaimed Craig, "as though by some invisible lightning +bolt, without mercy, without a chance, without the slightest bit of +compunction! Why? I'll tell you. Because he suspected, in fact knew, +who the guilty person was. Because he followed that person out to +Tarrytown the night the needle was removed from the portieres. Because +he was a menace to that person's life!" + +Kennedy turned to the operator. "Have those other scenes come down?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +"All right!" Kennedy faced the rest of us again. "There was, or rather +is, another person who suspects the identity of the criminal. To-day an +attempt was made upon the life of Shirley. Shirley will not tell whom +he suspects because he has no definite proof, yet for the mere fact +that he suspects he narrowly escaped the fate of Stella Lamar and +Werner." Kennedy pressed the button. "Witness the effort to kill the +man playing the part of the Black Terror." + +The print was terribly bad, in appearance almost a "dupe," due to the +speed with which it had been made. Nevertheless the two very brief +scenes rushed through for this showing were more absorbingly thrilling, +more graphic than anything ever to be seen even in a news reel at a +movie theater. + +"Notice!" Kennedy exclaimed. "He puts his hand in one pocket, he +fumbles, hesitates, then finds the bottle in the other. Whoever put the +poison in the vial replaced it in the wrong pocket. The film shows that +very clearly. The camera proves that it was not an attempt at suicide. +Yet the poison used was belladonna, selected because this victim had +purchased some and because it would seem sure, therefore, that he had +committed suicide." + +We sat in silence, listening, horrified. + +"There is still another matter," Kennedy went on, after a moment. "The +fire in the negative vault this morning was incendiary. I have proved +to the satisfaction of several of us that a bomb was constructed of wet +phosphorus and old film and placed in the vault by trickery four days +ago, the same day Stella Lamar was killed. Through a miscalculation the +phosphorus was slow in drying and the fire did not occur until to-day. +Thanks to that fact I have in my possession a bit of negative which the +murderer very likely wished to have destroyed; in fact, I believe its +destruction to be the motive in planning the fire in the vault." He +faced the operator. "Ready to run the negative?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +Kennedy pressed the button and when the projection machine threw its +picture upon the screen I saw something such as I had never imagined +before. Everything was black which should have been white and +everything white which should have been black. The two extremes shaded +into each other in weird fashion. In fact it was uncanny to watch a +negative projected and I followed, fascinated. + +"This is a film made with the co-operation of Doctor Nagoya of the +Castleton Institute and I am told by Mr. Manton that it is one of the +finest snake pictures ever made." Kennedy spoke fast, so that we would +get the full benefit of his explanation and so that it would not be +necessary to subject the negative to the wear and tear of the sprocket +wheels in the projection machine again. "I am running this for you to +show you the action of the rattlesnake, whose venom was used to kill +Miss Lamar, and to give you an idea of the source of the murderer's +knowledge of snake poison." + +At this moment Doctor Nagoya, whom I could barely recognize in the +inverted photography, seized one of the rattlers. It was a close-up and +we could see the reptile dart out its forked tongue, seeking to get at +the hands of the Japanese, locked firmly about its neck. Then another +man walked into the picture, holding a jar. At once the snake struck at +the glass. As it did so it was possible to see drops of the venom +projected into the jar. + +Other details followed and there were views of other sorts and breeds +of snakes, from the poisonous to the most harmless. The principal +scene, however, had been the one showing the venom. + +"Lights up!" + +The operator threw the switch again, stopping the film and at the same +time lighting the projection room. Kennedy stepped forward and turned +to face us. + +"There was this negative in the vaults." He spoke rapidly. "It bore a +certain name on the film, as editor. Some one knew that proof of the +possession of this knowledge of snakes might prove a powerful link in +the chain against him. If that had been a positive instead of a +negative, you would have recognized Doctor Nagoya's 'assistant.' There +was a double motive in blowing that vault--to destroy the company and +to protect himself. In fact, all the rest of the negative was +destroyed. Only by chance I saved this piece--the very one that he +wanted to destroy." + +Everyone waited breathlessly for Kennedy's next move. Suddenly Kennedy +flushed. I could see that he became genuinely angry. + +"In this room," he exclaimed, "there sits the most unscrupulous, +cold-blooded, inhuman being I have ever known. Yet he maintains +silence, believing still that he can defy the scientific evidence of +his crimes. I have not yet mentioned, however, the real proof of his +guilt." + +Kennedy picked up one of the little envelopes, one which contained a +blood smear. "During the explosion this morning a number of you were +cut by falling glass. You will remember that I bound up your cuts, +carefully cleansing each one and wiping away the blood. That gave me a +sample of the blood of everyone but Miss Loring and Mr. Shirley. +Subsequently, without their knowledge, I obtained a sample from each of +them. Thus I have a specimen from everyone concerned, or possibly +concerned in the murders." + +He glanced about, but even now there was no telltale revelation. + +"I have analyzed these and one shows that the person from whom I +obtained the sample has been inoculated with antivenin. The mark on the +envelope is the same as the mark on the envelope containing the towel +fibers, a double proof. Furthermore, I am prepared to show that it is +the same blood as the blood upon the portiere." He faced me. All at +once his voice carried the sharpness of a whip. "Walter, relieve Mackay +at the door and take his weapon. Let no one out. Mackay, come here!" + +An instant later the district attorney leaned over. He glanced at the +mark indicated by Kennedy, then whispered a name. The next instant +Kennedy rose. "I thought so," he muttered. + +Raising his voice, he addressed all of us. + +"Here is a man who thought crime so long that he believed he could get +away with--murder! Not only did he commit a second murder and plan a +third to cover the first, but he planted evidence against nearly all of +you. He dropped the ampulla in McGroarty's car to implicate any one of +four people. He coolly stole a cigarette case to put it where it would +be found after the film fire and clinch suspicion. + +"For all this, what justification has he had? Jealousy, jealousy of the +narrowest, most primitive, sort actuated him. Not only was he willing +to kill Stella Lamar, but he sought to destroy every foot of negative +in which she had appeared. He was jealous of her success, greater than +his, jealous of her interest in other men, greater than her interest in +him. Her divorce was maneuvered directly by him simply because he +thought it would hurt and humiliate her, and for no other reason. + +"When nothing seemed to stop her, on her upward climb, when he realized +that she was as ambitious as he was and that her position in the +picture world alone interested her, he sought by devious means, by +subtle schemes, by spreading dissatisfaction and encouraging +dissension, to wreck the company which had made her. At the end--he +killed her--waiting craftily until she was at the very climax of her +finest piece of work, the opening scenes of 'The Black Terror.'" + +There was bitterness in Kennedy's tones. "Before, I would not believe +that a man--" + +Suddenly the projection room was plunged into darkness. Some one had +pushed the wall switch close by me. I backed into the doorway, raising +my weapon to resist any attempt to escape. + +Almost at the same instant there were the sounds of a struggle. Kennedy +had dashed forward in the darkness, sure of the position of his man, +unafraid. + +A scream I recognized from the throat of Enid. I groped for the switch, +but the operator in the booth anticipated me. In the first burst of +illumination I saw that Kennedy had forced his antagonist back over the +front row of chairs. Almost I heard the crack of the man's spine. + +I caught a glimpse of the man's face and gasped at the murderous rage +as he struggled and strove to break Kennedy's iron grip. + +Enid was the first at Kennedy's side. With an expression I failed to +analyze until long afterward she sought to claw at the murderer's +unprotected features, twitching now in impotent fury. + +"You wrote that note for her to meet you at the tearoom," Kennedy +muttered, eyes narrowing grimly, "knowing she would be dead before that +time. You protected yourself against the poisoned needle in the +portieres--but--your own blood convicts you--Millard!" + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Film Mystery, by Arthur B. 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