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Page 114
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."
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