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Page 106
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.
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