Evening star., 1941-09-05
CHAPTER XII

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room locked =. from the outside.
There was an inquest, of course,
and the coroner's verdict was death
by some person or persons unknown.
There wasn't scrap of evidence,
there never was, and the case went
unsolved. But it could have been
solved. There was witness. Eve
North saw Clint Bowers lock that
door,"
But, JEFF, why? Why did he do
it?"
He was rather reticent about the
motive. 1t involved woman who
Is still living. No one knew about
that woman and Clint Bowers but
the juvenile. He tried blackmail
-. he worked on both of them, and
when neither could meet his de-
mands he threatened exposure. And
he meant it.
Bowers never thought of killing
the boy to protect himself and the
woman. He wasn't a murderer ). 4.
not in those days. He thought there
was no way out.
But, then, between the acts that
night fire broke out in the theater.
1t was none of Bowers doing. A
short behind the switchboard caused
1t. No one person could actually be
blamed. The flames swept through
the draperies and scenery and in a
moment the place was filled with
overpowering smoke.
Bowers slapped wet cloth across
his face and rushed to the dressing
rooms. He found no one in any of
them until he reached the top floor.
And there he found mis- blackmailing
friend cropping Historically for his
door. In trying TO save his ward
robe, apparently, he had waited a
moment too long; the smoke had
got him.
Hadn't Heard Eve.
Bowers took one step toward him
and stopped. If, instead of leading
him to safety, he shut the door and
turned the key! The flames were
gaining headway; the entire thea
ter would surely be demolished. No
one would ever know that the door
had been locked. No one would
have seen him do it. So Clint Bow
ers turned the key and rushed
out of the theater.
He was wrong on both points. of
course. Eve North, trapped in her
dressing room at the other end of
the hall, had seen him turn the key
before she slipped into uncon-
seriousness, overcome by the smoke.
Bowers hadn't seen her, hadn't
heard her gasp for help.
And consequently Eve was left
10 burn almost to death. The
firemen got to her in time, but they
didn't get to the juvenile until it
was too late. And they did discover
that the door had been locked.
II don't know if Eve ever knew
why Bowers had killed the boy. But
that didn't matter. She didn't have
to present the police with a motive
10 have Bowers hanged. She had
plenty; she had been an eyewitness
to the murder. But Eve never talked.
Perhaps her own tragedy kept her
quiet. Or perhaps, even then, she
was saving her knowledge for a
little nest egg"
JEFF stopped long enough to
beckon the waiter. I've got to
have another drink: my throat's
parched. That damn fire" He
asked for another brandy and
large glass of water. Now where
was ~. he asked. II wasn't listen
Ing to myself"
Eve Started Slipping.
When she got out of the hos
pital, despite her SCARED back and
arms that so few knew about she
took up her career again. She be-
came famous and wealthy, the
darling of the early 2Os. Then she
started slipping, her looks were
going, her youth fading and she
wasn't good enough actress. She
was down, out"
Poor Eve"
yeah, poor Eve, she had to re-
sort to blackmail, a very esoteric
type of blackmail. BY then Bowers
was the white-haired boy of the
American theater. She simply said
TO him, You produce for me,
darling; star me, or else the whole
world will know what young man
locked another young man in his
dressing room in the Detroit thea
ter FIRE" What could he do?"
He could produce for her"
Exactly. He produced for her
and starred her, and ruined him
self financially and artistically. 1t
must have torn him to pieces to do
all those bedroom comedies and bad
French translations after all the
beautiful stuff he had been pro-
ducing. 1t ripped him to shreds.
The theater was his life. Some
people let that happen to their lives.
Why. Haila?"
60 on, darling
swell, finally it got him. 1t was
either Eve or he. Rather selfishly
he decided it would be Eve. He
just told US that he looked for
play for two years that would give
him chance to kill her. Finally he
1ouno Green Apples" 1t was per-
feet. 1t had drinking scene exactly
in the right place. But Phoebe
Thompson forgot to put the flowers
on the table. Eve, the trouper, rear
ranged the glasses instead of the
flowers, and Carol, not Eve, got the
poison.
His Chance Came.
Bowers dropped the poison into
Ewes glass just before the curtain
went up on the third act. And
what he must have gone through
when Carol got it . and when the
play turned out to be hit! He told
las If Eve hadn't figured out the
poison was meant for her, he would
have let her live, because Green
Apples" would have made enough
money to put him back where he
could produce other plays, too, the
kind he wanted to do"
I suddenly remembered, "When
you went in to talk to Eve between
the acts the second night -
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