human
What do you think of it?
gpt
We're still fumbling in the dark,
human
There's the towel--
gpt
Yes, and almost any one on Mackay's list of nine suspects could have placed it in that washroom.
human
Well-- I was determined to draw him out. My own impressions, I must confess, were gloriously muddled.
gpt
Manton heads the list, I suggested.
human
Everyone says she was mixed up with him.
gpt
Manton may have philandered with her; undoubtedly he takes a personal interest in all his stars. Kennedy, I saw, remembered the promoter's close attentions to Enid Faye.
human
Nevertheless, Walter, he is first and foremost and all the time the man of business. His heart is in his dollars and Millard even suggests that he is none too scrupulous.
gpt
If he had an affair with Stella, I rejoined,
human
No! Kennedy stopped me.
gpt
Don't forget that this was a cold-blooded, calculated crime. I'm not eliminating Manton yet, but until we find some tangible evidence of trouble between Stella and himself we can hardly assume he would kill the girl who's made him perhaps a million dollars. Every motive in Manton's case is a motive against the crime.
human
That eliminates Phelps, then, too. He nearly owned the company.
gpt
Yes, unless something happened to outweigh financial considerations in his mind also.
human
But, good heavens! Kennedy, I protested.
gpt
If you go on that way you'll not eliminate anyone.
human
I can't yet, he explained, patiently.
gpt
It's just as I said. We're fishing in the dark, absolutely. So far we haven't a single basic fact on which to build any structure of hypothesis. We must go on fishing. I expect you to dig up all the facts about these people; every odd bit of gossip or rumor or anything else. I'll bring my science to play, but there's nothing I can do except analyze Stella's stomach contents and the spots on the towel; that is, until we've got a much more tangible lead than any which have developed so far.
human
Is there anything I can do to-night?
gpt
Yes! He looked at his watch.
human
There are two men who were very close to Miss Lamar. Jack Gordon was engaged to her, Merle Shirley seemed to have been mixed up with her seriously. All the picture people have night haunts. See what you can find about these two men.
gpt
But I don't know where to find them offhand, and--
human
Both belong to the Goats Club, probably. Try that as a start.
gpt
You think they are the most likely suspects?
human
No, but they were intimately associated with Miss Lamar in her daily life and they are the two we have learned the least about.
gpt
Oh! I was disappointed. Then I rallied to the attack for a final time.
human
Who is the most likely one. Just satisfy my curiosity, Craig.
gpt
Werner! I exclaimed.
human
They said he was mixed up with her, too. He was the first back and out of the car and he had time to clean a needle on the towel, had a better opportunity than anyone else. More --I began to get excited--
gpt
Very good, Walter. Kennedy's eyes were dancing in amusement.
human
It is true that Werner had the best motive, so far as we know now, but it's a fantastic one. Men don't commit cold-blooded murder just to create a vacancy for a movie star. If Werner was going to kill Miss Lamar he never would have written this note about Miss Faye.
gpt
Unless to divert suspicion,
human
The whole thing's too bizarre.
gpt
Werner was close to her in the dark. All the other things point to him, don't they?
human
It's too bad everyone wasn't searched, at that, Kennedy admitted.
gpt
Nevertheless, at the time I realized that Werner had had the best opportunity for the actual performance of the crime and I watched him very closely and made him go through every movement just so I could study him. I believe he's innocent--at least as far as I've gone in the case.
human
I believe it's Werner,
gpt
By the time you've dug up all the gossip about Gordon and Shirley you won't be so sure, Walter.