The Film Mystery | Page 4

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