XXIV
THE INVISIBLE MENACE
Mackay and I exchanged glances. Kennedy busied himself putting awaysome of the more important bits of evidence in the case, placing thetiny tubes of solution, the blood smears, and other items together in acabinet at the farther corner of the laboratory. The vast bulk of hisparaphernalia, the array of glass and chemicals and instruments, heleft on the table for the morning. Then he faced us again, with a smile.
"Suppose you start up the percolator once more, Walter!" He took acigar and lighted it from the match I struck. "I believe I've earnedanother cup of coffee," he added.
Mackay had been fidgeting considerably since Kennedy's explanation ofthe possible danger to Shirley, as well as to ourselves or even toothers.
"Isn't there something we can do, Kennedy?" he exclaimed, suddenly. "Isit necessary to sit back and wait for this unknown to strike again?"
"Ordinarily," Kennedy replied, "on a case like this it has been mycustom to permit the guilty parties to betray themselves, as they willdo inevitably--especially when I call to my aid the recent discoveriesof science for the detection and measurement of fine and almostimperceptible shades of emotion. But now that I realize the presence ofthis menace I shall become a detective of action; in fact, I shall notstop at any course to hurry matters. The very first thing in themorning I shall go to the studio and I want you and Jameson along.I"--his eyes twinkled; it was the excitement at the prospect--"I mayneed considerable help in getting the evidence I wish."
"Which is--?" It was I who interposed the question.
Kennedy blew a cloud of smoke. "There are three ways of tracing down acrime, aside from the police method of stool pigeons to betray thecriminals and the detective bureau method of cross-examination underpressure, popularly known as the third degree."
"What are they?" Mackay asked, unaware that Kennedy needed littleprompting once he felt inclined to talk out some matter puzzling him.
"One is the process of reasoning from the possible suspects to the actitself--in other words, putting the emphasis on the motive. A second isthe reverse of the first, involving a study of the crime for clues andmaking deductions from the inevitable earmarks of the person for thepurpose of discovering his identity. The third method, except for someinvestigations across the water, is distinctly my own, the scientific.
"In all sciences," Kennedy went on, warming to his subject, "progressis made by a careful tabulation of proved facts. The scientific methodis the method of exact knowledge. Thus, in crime, those things are ofvalue to us which by an infinite series of empiric observations havebeen established and have become incontrovertible. The familiarexample, of course, is fingerprints. Nearly everyone knows that no twomen have the same markings; that the same man displays a pattern whichis unchanging from birth to the grave.
"No less certain is the fact that human blood differs from the blood ofanimals, that in faint variations the blood of no two people is alike,that the blood of any living thing, man or beast, is affected byvarious things--an infinite number almost--most of which are positivelyknown to modern medical investigators.
"In this case my principal scientific clue is the blood left upon theportiere by the man who took the needle the night following the murder.Next in importance is the fact, demonstrated by me, that some one atthe studio wiped a hypodermic on a towel after inoculating himself withantivenin. Of course I am presuming that this latter man inoculatedhimself and not some one else, because it is obvious. If necessary Ican prove it later, however, by analyzing the trace of blood. That isnot the point. The point is that whoever removed the needle prickedhimself and yet did not die of the venom--unless it was a person notunder our observation, an unlikely premise. Therefore, because of thislast fact, and because again it is obvious, I expect to find that thesame individual inoculated himself with antivenin and removed theneedle from the portiere; and I expect to prove it beyond possibilityof doubt by an analysis of his blood. A sample of the blood from thisperson will be identical with the spot on the portiere, and--much theeasier test--will contain traces of the antitoxin.
"With that much accomplished, a little of the, well--third degree, willbring about a confession. It is circumstantial evidence of thestrongest sort. Not only does a man take precautions against a givenpoison, but he is proved to be the one who removed the needle actuallyresponsible for Miss Lamar's death.
"My handicap, however, is that I have no justifiable excuse for takinga sample of blood from each of the people we suspect, or feel we mightsuspect. For that reason I was waiting until one of the other detectivemethods should narrow the field of suspicion. Now that there is themenace of another attempt to take a life I am forced to act. To-morrowwe will get samples of blood from everyone by artifice--or force!
"Meanwhile--" He hastened to continue, as though afraid we mightinterrupt to break his train of thought. "Meanwhile, to-night, let ussee if it is possible to accomplish something by the deductive method.
"Already I have gone into an analysis starting from the nature of thecrime and reasoning to the type of criminal responsible. The guiltyman--or woman--is a person of high intelligence, added to genuinecleverness. But for the results accomplished in this laboratory wewould be without a clue; our hands would be tied completely. Both MissLamar and Werner were killed by unusual poisons; deadly, and almostimpossible to trace. There was a crowd of people about in each case;yet we have no witnesses. Now who, out of all our people with possiblemotives, are intelligent enough and clever enough to be guilty?"
Kennedy glanced first at me, then at Mackay.
"Manton? Phelps?" suggested the district attorney.
"The promoter," Kennedy rejoined, "is the typical man of the businessworld beneath the eccentricity of manner which seems to cling toeveryone in the picture field. Ordinarily his type, thinking inmillions of dollars and juggling nickel and dime admissions or otherroutine of commercial detail is apart from the finer subtle passions oflife. When a business man commits murder he generally uses a pistolbecause he is sure it is efficient--he can see it work. The sameapplies to Phelps."
"Millard?" Mackay hesitated now to face the logic of Kennedy's keenmind. "He was Stella Lamar's husband!"
"Millard is a scenario writer and so apt to have a brain cluttered withall sorts of detail of crime and murder. At the same time an author isso used to counterfeiting emotion in his writings that he seldom takesthings seriously. Life becomes a joke and Millard in particular is abutterfly, concerned more with the smiles of extra girls and the favorof Miss Faye than the fate of the woman whose divorce from him was notyet complete. A writer is the other extreme from the business man. Thecreator of stories is essentially inefficient because he tries to feelrather than reason. When an author commits murder he sets a stage forhis own benefit. He is careful to avoid witnesses because they areinconvenient to dispose of. At the same time he wants the victim tounderstand thoroughly what is going to happen and so he is apt toaccompany his crime with a speech worded very carefully indeed. Then hemay start with an attempt to throttle a person and end up with ahatchet, or he may plan to use a razor and at the end brain his quarrywith a chair. He lives too many lives to follow one throughclearly--his own."
"How about Shirley?" I put in.
"At first glance Shirley and Gordon suggest themselves because bothmurders were highly spectacular, and the actor, above everything else,enjoys a big scene. After Werner's death, for instance, Shirleyliterally strutted up and down in that set. He was so full of thesituation, so carried away by the drama of the occasion, that he failedutterly to realize how suspicious his conduct would seem to anobserver. Unfortunately for our hypotheses, the use of venom and toxinis too cold-bloodedly efficient. The theatrical temperament must haveemotion. An actor cruel and vicious enough to strike down two people asMiss Lamar and Werner were stricken, of sufficient dramatic make-up toconceive of the manner of their deaths, would want to see them writheand suffer. He would select poisons equally rare and effective, butthose more slow and pa
inful in their operation. No, Walter, Shirley isnot indicated by this method of reasoning. The arrangement of thescenes for the murders was simply another detail of efficiency, not dueto a wish to be spectacular. The crowd about in each case has addedgreatly to the difficulty of investigation."
"Do you include Gordon in that?" Mackay asked.
"Yes, and in addition"--Kennedy smiled slightly--"I believe that Gordonis rather stupid. For one thing, he has had several fights in public,at the Goats Club and at the Midnight Fads and I suppose elsewhere.That is not the clever rogue. Furthermore, he had been speculating, notjust now and then, but desperately, doggedly. Clever men speculate, butscientific men never. Our unknown criminal is both clever andintelligent."
"That brings you to the girls, then," Mackay remarked.
Kennedy's face clouded and I could see that he was troubled. "To behonest in this one particular method of deduction," he stated, "I mustadmit that both Miss Faye and Miss Loring are worthy of suspicion. Thefact of their rise in the film world, the evidences of theirpopularity, is proof that they are clever. Miss Loring, in my few briefmoments of contact with her on two occasions, showed a grasp of thingsand a quickness which indicate to me that she possesses a rare order ofintelligence for a woman. As for Miss Faye"--again he hesitated--"onelittle act of hers demonstrated intelligence. When Shirley was standingguard in the set after Werner's death, and making a fool of himself,Millard evidently wanted to get over and speak to him, perhaps to tellhim not to let me find him searching the scene as though his lifedepended upon it, perhaps something else. But Miss Faye stopped him.Unquestionably she saw that anyone taking an interest in the remains ofthe banquet just then would become an object of suspicion."
"Do you really suspect Marilyn or Enid?" I inquired.
"If this were half a generation ago I would say without hesitation thatthe crime was the handiwork of a man. But now the women are ineverything. Young girls particularly--" He shrugged his shoulders.
Mackay had one more suggestion. "The camera men, the extras, thetechnical and studio staffs--they are not worthy of consideration, arethey?"
Kennedy shook his head.
The odor of coffee struck my nostrils and I turned to find thepercolator steaming. Kennedy leaned over, to take a whiff. Mackay rose.At that moment there was a sudden crash and the window-pane wasshattered. Simultaneously a flash of light and a deafening explosiontook place in the room, scattering broadcast tiny bits of glass fromthe laboratory table, splashing chemicals, many of them dangerous, overeverything.
Kennedy hurried to the wreck of his paraphernalia. In an instant heheld up a tiny bit of jagged metal.
"An explosive bullet!" he exclaimed. "An attempt to destroy myevidence!"