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Page 68
The sharp sound of our buzzer interrupted us. Because I was on my
feet I went to the door. To my amazement I found it was Phelps
who was our very early visitor.
"I hope you'll excuse this intrusion," he apologized to Kennedy,
pushing by me with the rudeness which seemed inherent in the man.
Then he recognized the sheet still spread out on the table. "I
see you, too, have been reading the Metropolitan."
"Yes," Kennedy admitted, languidly. "There is nothing about
Manton Pictures, though."
"Manton Pictures, hell!" In an instant Phelps exploded and the
thin veneer of politeness was gone. With a shaking finger he
pointed to the item which we had just been reading and
discussing. "Did you read that! Did you see the reference to
stabilizing the industry? STABILIZING! It ought to be spelled
stable-izing, for they lead all the donkeys into stalls and tie
them up and let them kick." He stopped momentarily for sheer
inability to continue.
"I suppose you don't know Manton is behind this Fortune
Features?"
"We were aware of the fact," Kennedy told him, quietly.
Phelps looked from one to the other of us keenly, as if he had
thought to surprise us and had been disappointed. Nervously he
began to pace the floor.
"Perhaps you know also that things haven't been going just right
with Manton Pictures?"
Kennedy straightened. "When I asked you at Tarrytown, just two
mornings ago, whether there was any trouble between Manton and
yourself, you answered that there was not."
Phelps flushed. "I didn't want to air my financial difficulties
with Manton. My--my answer was truthful, the way you meant your
question. Manton and I have had no words, no quarrel, no
disagreement of a personal nature."
"What is the trouble with Manton Pictures?"
"They are wasting money--throwing it right and left. That pay
roll of theirs is preposterous. The waste itself is beyond
belief--sometimes four and five cameras on a scene, retakes upon
the slightest provocation, even sets rebuilt because some minor
detail fails to suit the artistic eye of the director. Werner,
supposed to watch all the companies, doesn't half know his
business. In the making of a five-reel film they will overtake
sometimes as much as eighty or a hundred thousand feet of
negative in each of two cameras, when twenty thousand is enough
overtake for anyone. That alone is five to ten thousand dollars
for negative stock, almost fifteen with the sample print and
developing. And the cost of stock, Mr. Kennedy, is the smallest
item. All the extra length is long additional weeks of pay roll
and overhead expense. I put an auditor and a film expert on the
accounts of Stella Lamar's last picture. By their figures just
sixty-three thousand dollars was absolutely thrown away."
Kennedy rose, folding the newspaper carefully while he collected
his thoughts. "My dear Mr. Phelps," he stated, finally, "that is
simply inefficiency. I doubt if it is anything criminal;
certainly there is no connection with the death of Stella Lamar,
my only interest in Manton Pictures."
Phelps was very grave. "There is every connection with the death
of Stella Lamar!"
"What do you mean?"
"Mr. Kennedy, what I'm going to say to you I cannot substantiate
in any court of law. Furthermore I'm laying myself open to action
for libel, so I must not be quoted. But I want you to understand
that Stella was inescapably wound up with all of Manton's
financial schemes. His money maneuvers determined her social
life, her friends--everything. She was then, as Enid Faye will be
now, his come-on, his decoy. Manton has no scruples of any sort
whatsoever. He is dishonest, tricky, a liar, and a cheat. If I
could prove it I would tell him so, but he's too clever for me. I
do know, however, that he pulled the strings which controlled
every move Stella Lamar ever made. When she went to dinner with
me it was because Manton wished her to do so. She was his right
hand, his ears, almost his mouth. I have no doubt but that her
death is the direct result of some business deal of his--
something directly to do with his financial necessities."
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