Evening star., 1941-08-09
CHAPTER XIII.


a minute. 1t was almost as If I
killed her, letting her wear my
wrap"
Don't talk stuff, Carol" I said
~It wasn't your fault that she
leaned against that scenery and
messed up her own jacket"
Carol said, her lips quivering ::
"And then when I saw her I
laughed! stood there and laughed" !"
JEFF took her roughly by the arm.
"Drink this. Or do have to hit you
again?"
Carol tipped back the glass and
drained It. Her hand went Imply
down on the table and the glass
rolled across the top, stopping with
a clink against the china book
end. She watched it for a moment,
then turned toward the bedroom.
I started to follow her but jeff
caught me by the hand, holding me
back. Let her alone"
7 sank down beside him on the
studio couch. My eyes were burn
ing with a tired ache, my whole
body felt cold. somehow, and de-
tached. jeff was looking hard at
the door through which Carol had
gone.
Jeff, who did it?"
jeff ouirked an eyebrow. do you
think I know?"
You know something. You lis
tened to them talking. The police, I
mean. I didn't. I tried, but I
couldn't. They talked in circles" J"
"They were going in circles"
"But they must know something,
they have something to go on. 1t
isn't like the poisoning. They have
A Kitchen Knife.
"The knife came from the kitchen.
Tom Nelson recognized it at once;
he saw it in the cabinet drawer the
first day of rehearsals at the Colony.
He hasn't noticed it since, nobody
has. Anybody could've sneaked it
out of the drawer, any time. No."
he went on quickly as opened my
mouth, mo fingerprints. Wiped of
clean"
But they must have some idea
about some one.
"The only idea they have is who
didn't do it. That's as far as they
can get"
who do they think didn't do
It"
You. You were on stage. Ben
Kerry. He was on stage"
That couldn't be ALL"
"Not quite. Carols eliminated y
"Of course"
st mean she has an allbi be-
cause Peterson and I were with
her from the moment she left the
stage until you screamed
1 said in disgust: Those three
eliminations are lot Of help. No
body else?"
Listen, Haila. There were
twenty-seven people backstage to-
night when Eve North was murder
ed. They say nobody came in and
nobody went out. Twelve stage
hands, six people in the cast. Alice
Mcdonald, Tommy Nelson and
Phoebe, Clint Bowers, and the door
man, Eve North's maid and Peter
son, SULLIVAN and I. You and Kerry
and Carol are out. The detectives
and I are out. Nobody else"
Eve North is out" reminded
him.
"Yea, and that leaves twenty.
Tommy Nelson brought the cur
tain down the second you screamed.
So he was near the rope at the other
side of the stage from Eve. But he
has no witnesses to his movements
between the time of Ewes exit and
your scream. Phoebe Thompson
was on that side of the stage, but
even she can't check on Tommy.
She says she was standing in the
wings with her eyes glued on you,
trying to think of some line to
throw you to get you out of the
mess. Kerry had stuck you in, and
she didn't see Tommy, didn't know
he was there until he lowered the
curtain. And Tommy can't check
on Phoebe, so neither of them has
an alibi."
Fifteen Suspects.
what about Sullavan? He was
on that side of the stage"
"Sullavan's no help. In the dark
he couldn't tell Steve Brown from
Phoebe in her slacks. There were
twenty-seven people moving about
backstage. Nobody can remember
when or where they saw any one
else. Peterson nearly went nuts
before he realized that this was one
murder that wasn't going to be
solved by placing people at the time
of the crime"
But, JEFF, there must be some
alibisl"
Not enough of them to help
much. Five of the stagehands were
IN the basement and they alibi each
other"
And where were the rest?"
Around someplace. At the light
switch, in the prop room, on the
stairs into the basement. No alibis
Bowers was sitting on that pile of
first act furniture in back of the set
and he saw people moving about
But that's all they were, just people
no specific persons. 1t was too dark
He thinks he saw Amelia coming out
of the kitchen when you screamed
but he isn't even sure of that"
What about the rest of the cast
Jeff?"
well, Philip Ashley was in his
room on the third floor making a
change. Alice's room is next to his
and she was in it, but that doesn't
give either of them an alibi unfortu-
nately for she had her door closed
and was wrapped up in script
Neither of them saw or heard the
other. Steve was in his dressing
room too, on the second floor, but
Kerry has the room next to hi;
and Kerry was on stage. So that
leaves Steve minus an alibi."
stop, jeff, I'm dizzy"
You and me, too. And Peterson
He finally ended up with Is suspects
And I'm adding another one fol
good measure"
"Who?"
Greeley Morris"
sErtf ho OF the Ia