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Page 10
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.
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