Part 42 (2/2)
”Yes!” Mackay picked it up. ”Watkins, the camera man, watched it for me while Jameson and I went after that drug.”
Kennedy stooped down quickly, but it was locked and had not been tampered with.
In the corridor by the dressing rooms we met Kauf, and Kennedy stopped him.
”How long would it take to make a print from the scene where s.h.i.+rley took the poison?”
”We could have it ready in half an hour, in a case of grim necessity.”
”Half an hour?” I exclaimed at that, in disbelief. ”You couldn't begin to dry the negative in that time, Kauf.”
He glanced at me tolerantly. ”We make what is called a wet print; that is, we print from the negative while it is still wet and so we only have the positive to dry. Then we put it on drums in a forced draught of hot air. The result is not very good, but it's a fine thing sometimes to get a picture of a parade or some accident in a theater right after it happens.”
”Will you do it for me, Kauf?” Kennedy broke in, impatiently. ”This is a case of grim necessity,” he added.
Kauf hurried off and we made our way across the yard to the stairs leading down into the bas.e.m.e.nt and to the projection room specified by Kennedy. Here Manton was waiting, uneasy, flushed, his face gathered in a frown and his hands clenching and unclenching in his nervousness.
”Do you--do you know who it is?” he demanded.
”Not yet,” Kennedy replied. ”First I must marshal all my evidence.”
”Who--who do you want present in the projection room?”
”Mr. Phelps, Mr. Millard, and--yourself, Mr. Manton. Miss Loring and Miss Faye. Mr. Gordon. Anyone else who wishes, if there is room.”
”Phelps, Millard, Gordon, and the two girls are inside already.”
”Good! We will start at once.”
Manton turned, to lead the way in. At that moment there was a call from the yard. We stopped, looking up. It was s.h.i.+rley.
”Wait just a minute,” he cried. He was so weak that the two extra men who were helping him virtually supported his weight. On his face was a look of desperate determination. ”I--I must see this too!” he gasped.
x.x.xII
CAMERA EVIDENCE
Coming in from the bright light of open day, the projection room seemed a gloomy, forbidding place, certainly well calculated to break down the reserve of perhaps the cleverest criminal ever pitting his skill against the science of Craig Kennedy.
It was a small room, long and not so wide, with a comparatively low ceiling. In order to obviate eye strain the walls were painted somberly and there were no light colors in evidence except for a nearly square patch of white at the farther end, the screen upon which the pictures were projected. The illumination was very dim. This was so that there would be no great contrast between the light reflected from the images cast upon the screen during pictures and the illumination in the room itself between reels; again designed to prevent strain upon the eyes of the employees whose work was the constant examination of film in various stages of its a.s.sembly.
The chairs were fastened to the floor, arranged in tiny crescents and placed so as not to interfere with the throw of the pictures from behind. The projection machines themselves, two in number in order to provide continuous projection by alternating the reels and so threading one machine while running the other, were in a fireproof booth or separate room, connected with the tiny auditorium only by slits in the wall and a sort of porthole through which the operator could talk or take his instructions.
Directly beneath the openings to the booth were a table equipped with a shaded lamp, a stand for ma.n.u.scripts, and a signal b.u.t.ton. Here the film cutters and editors sat, watching the subject upon which they worked and making notes for changes, for bits of superfluous action to be cut out, or for t.i.tles or spoken inserts to be moved. At a signal the operator could be instructed to stop at any point, or to start, or to wind back and run some given piece over again. The lights in the room were controlled from within the booth and also by a switch just at the side of the door. A telephone on the table offered a connection with any part of the studio or with the city exchanges, so that an official of the company could be reached while viewing a picture.
As we entered I tried to study the different faces, but found it a hopeless task on account of the poor light. Kennedy took his place at the little table, switching on the little shaded lamp and motioning for Mackay to set the traveling bag so he could open it and view the contents. Then Mackay took post at the door, a hand in his pocket, and I realized that the district attorney clasped a weapon beneath the cover of his clothing, and was prepared for trouble. I moved over to be ready to help Kennedy if necessary. As Kennedy took his key, unlocking the bag, it would have been possible to have heard the slightest movement of a hand or foot, the faintest gasp of breath, so tense was the silence.
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