Murder Round the Clock by Hugh Pentecost

Author:Hugh Pentecost
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Pierre (Fictitious character), Chambrun, Hotelkeepers, French Americans
Publisher: New York : Dodd, Mead
Published: 1985-07-25T04:00:00+00:00

Norman nodded, moistening his lips. "Frank was furious with everyone. But the person he hated most in the whole setup was Karl Richter," he said.

"Oh?"

"Richter was the one who was really fouling up the script," Norman said. "Karl and his bloody 'significances.' Just when we'd get Saville and the rest of them to agree about a sequence, Karl would blow it for us. He's a crazy egomaniac. He doesn't care about anyone's ideas but his own. He thinks directors are the only important people in show business. If he happened to turn up while Frank was there in the suite, they could certainly have got in an argument."

"He wasn't in the hotel," I said.

"He says he wasn't in the hotel," Chambrun said. He looked at Norman. "Is he a karate expert, Norman?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Norman said.

"Mark, it might be worth having a casual conversation with Richter," Chambrun said. "If he's still in the Trapeze Bar, and he isn't too stoned, you might be able to find out where he was last night between seven and eight without his thinking he was talking to the police. Use your best diplomatic technique."

The Trapeze Bar is suspended in space over the foyer to the Beaumont's Grand Ballroom. Its walls are a kind of Florentine grillwork, and some artist of the Calder school has decorated them with mobiles of circus performers working on trapezes. They sway slightly in the movement of air from a cooling system, giving the unusual effect that the whole place is swaying slightly. It's an extremely popular rendezvous for the famous and the near-famous before the lunch and dinner hours.

It was nearly six o'clock when I got there, and the room was crowded to the doors. I flagged Mr. Del Greco, the maitre d', and he pointed out Richter at a corner table.

"I was about to give him the polite heave-ho," Del Greco said. "He has to be potted to the eyes. He's been here for nearly four hours taking in one after another—Dutch gin on the rocks."

Richter wasn't alone. The attractive Sally Bevans was with him.

"Well, well, well," Richter said when I joined them. "The Beaumont's barker." He was deathly pale, but he seemed in control.

Miss Bevans smiled at me. "I finally got that martini," she said. "On the run."

"Sorry I couldn't have bought it for you," I said.

"Join us, by all means," Richter said as I pulled up a chair. "I have been summoned by the Mafia—my name for Saville and Company. I have been explaining to Sally that I'm not exactly in tiptop condition to involve myself in a story conference."

"They need you, Karl," Sally said. "Wally Cameron has come up with a whole new opening sequence."

"Convey the word that I need a little time for rehabilitation," Richter said. "A lot of hot coffee, a lot of cold shower— shall we say, after they've had dinner?"

"I'll report," Sally said. "But I have the feeling they'll descend on you en masse when Lieutenant Hardy is through with them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.