Part 40 (2/2)

Kennedy approached Kauf, then returned to us.

”He asks us to wait until he gets this one big scene. It's the climax of the picture, really, the unmasking of the 'Black Terror.' If we interrupt now he loses the result of half a day of preparation.”

”He may lose more than that!” muttered Mackay; and I wondered just whom the district attorney suspected.

”Is everyone here?” I asked. ”All seven?”

Gordon and s.h.i.+rley, of the men, and Marilyn and Enid, of course, were out on the floor of the supposed ballroom. Gordon I recognized because I remembered that he was to wear the garb of a monk. Marilyn was easily picked out, although the vivacity she a.s.sumed seemed unnatural now that we knew her as well as we did. Her costume was a glorious Yama Yama creation, of a faint yellow which would photograph dazzling white, revealing trim stockinged ankles and slender bare arms, framing face and eyes dancing with merriment and maliciousness. Unquestionably she was the prettiest girl beneath the arcs, never to be suspected as the woman who had braved the terrors of a film fire to rescue the man she loved. Enid was stately and serene in the gown of Marie Antoinette. In the bright glare her features took on a round innocence and she was as successful in portraying sweetness as Marilyn was in the simulation of the mocking evil of the vampire.

s.h.i.+rley interested me the most, however. I wondered if Kennedy still eliminated him in guessing at the ident.i.ty of the criminal. I called to mind the heavy man's presence in the bas.e.m.e.nt at the time of the explosion and McGroarty's information that he had been hanging about that part of the studio for some time previously. Some one had planted a cigarette case and stub to implicate Gordon, according to Kennedy's theory. s.h.i.+rley certainly had had opportunity to steal the towel from the locker as well as to point suspicion toward the leading man.

In the midst of my reverie s.h.i.+rley approached and pa.s.sed us. He was in the garb of Mephisto. Like the others, he had not yet masked his face.

A peculiar brightness in his eyes struck me and I nudged Kennedy.

”Belladonna,” Kennedy explained when he was beyond earshot.

”Oh!” I remembered. ”Enid told him to use it.”

”What?”

I repeated the conversation as near as I could reconstruct it.

”H-m! That's a new cure for smoke-burned eyes; no cure at all.”

I was unable to get any more out of Kennedy, however.

Manton I detected in the background with Phelps. The two men were arguing, as always, and it was evident that the banker was accomplis.h.i.+ng nothing by this constant hanging about the studio. Where previously my sympathy had been with Phelps entirely, now I realized that the promoter had won me. Indeed, Manton's interest in all the affairs of picture making at this plant had been far too sincere and earnest to permit the belief that he was seeking to wreck the company or to double-cross his backer.

Millard entered the studio as I glanced about for him. He handed some sheets to Kauf, then turned to leave. I attracted Kennedy's attention.

”You don't want Millard to get away,” I whispered.

Kennedy sent Mackay to stop him. The author accompanied the district attorney willingly.

”Yes, Mr. Kennedy?”

”As soon as this scene is over we're going down to the projection room; everyone concerned in the death of Miss Lamar and of Mr. Werner.”

The scenario writer looked up quickly. ”Do you--do you know who it is?”

he asked, soberly.

”Not exactly, but I will identify the guilty person just as soon as we are a.s.sembled down in front of the screen.”

s.h.i.+rley had left the studio floor, apparently to go to his dressing room. Now I noticed that he returned and pa.s.sed close just in time to hear Millard's question and Kennedy's answer. His eyes dilated. As he turned away his face fell. He went on into the set, but his legs seemed to wabble beneath him. I was sure it was more than the weakness resulting from his experience in the fire.

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