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Page 9
Kennedy nodded. I could see, however, that he made a mental note
of his intention to question the girl's former husband.
All at once another thought struck me and I became eager. It was
a possible explanation of the mystery.
"Listen, Craig," I began. "Suppose Millard wanted to make up and
she didn't. Suppose that she refused to see him or to meet him.
Suppose that in a jealous fit he--"
"No, Walter!" Kennedy headed me off with a smile. "This wasn't an
ordinary murder of passion. This was well thought out and well
executed. Not one medical examiner in a thousand would have found
that tiny scratch. It may be very difficult yet to determine the
exact cause of death. This, my dear Jameson"--it was playful
irony--"is a scientific crime."
"But Millard--"
"Of course! Anyone may be the culprit. Yet you tell me Millard
did not contest her divorce and that it would have been very easy
for him to file a counter-suit because everyone knew of her
relationship with Manton. That, offhand, shows no ill-will on his
part. And now we find this note from him, which at least is
friendly in tone--"
I shrugged my shoulders. It was the same blind alley in which my
thoughts had strayed upon the train on our way out.
"It's too early to begin to try to fasten the guilt upon anyone,"
Kennedy added, as we returned to the library through the living
room. Then he turned to Mackay. "Have you succeeded in gleaning
any facts about the life of Miss Lamar?" he asked. "Anything
which might point to a motive, so that I can approach the case
from both directions?"
"If you ask me," the little district attorney rejoined, "it's a
matter of tangled motives throughout. I--I had no sword to cut
the Gordian knot and so"--graciously--"I sent for you."
"What do you mean by tangled motives?" Kennedy ignored the
other's compliment.
"Well!" Mackay indicated me. "Mr. Jameson explained about her
divorce. No one heard whom she named as corespondent. That's an
unknown woman in the case, although it may not mean anything at
all. Then there's Lloyd Manton and all the talk about his affair
with Miss Lamar. Some one told one of my men that Manton's wife
has left him on that account."
"Did you question Manton?"
"No, I thought I ought to leave all that to you. I was afraid 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--"
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