The Film Mystery | Page 9

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