Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 318 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER VIII

STANDING on the street, they looked at the busy firemen. Cranston said,

"We'll just be in the way here."

"Let's have some coffee till they have it under control." Cardona agreed.

They stepped across the serpentine coils of hose that filled the street in front of Depper's house.

Across the street in a lunch counter, the two friends sat and sipped their

coffee and watched the firemen going about their business of outwitting man's oldest friend, and enemy. There was no smoke coming from the roof now.

"Firebug besides being a killer?" Cardona asked.

"I don't think so. The fire in the studio was for a reason. I think this one was set for a reason too. Wouldn't be surprised if the reason was one of the causes of Depper's death."

"Could be," Cardona said tiredly. The firemen were just about finished now.

Cranston gulped down the last of coffee and said, "Say, I meant to ask you

before, but things have been popping so fast I haven't had the chance."

"What?"

"The movie film. Is it developed?"

Looking even more disconsolate, Cardona said,"Yeah. It's been developed."

"Have you run it off yet?"

"Uh huh."

"Well?"

Cardona ran his hands through his thinning hair. "Without giving this murderer credit for being a superman, do you think he could have known that Jasper Twittle was going to make a movie of the television show?"

"Seems pretty far-fetched, unless Twittle and the killer are friends."

"I know... I know. And yet... when I ran the film off... it was of the kill."

"I see."

"Only thing I can figure is that the killer had a dummy film taken at rehearsal maybe... and he switched it in!"

"I wonder."

"Why would a smart character like our killer set fire to the studio, get away from a group of people without anyone noticing it, clout Twittle on the head, open the can of film and then not fog it or set fire to it?"

"It doesn't seem to add up, at that."

"If on the other hand the killer had a dummy film and that was switched in, why then the thing makes a little more sense."

"You think," Cranston said, "that there was some clue to the killer's identity in the actual filming of the murder?"

"Some little thing that he got worried about when he heard Twittle was on the way down..." Cardona poured his coffee down his throat and lit a cigarette.

"Knowing how unreliable eye witness testimony is, he figured he was safe even if

ten thousand people were watching the playlet. But he feared what would happen if we could run the film over and over again."

"Seems to me if your hypothesis is correct, it shouldn't be too hard to find which of the people concerned could have been a friend of Twittle."

"That little guy!" Cardona shook his head. "I couldn't get him out of headquarters after he acted as overseer on developing the film. Characters...

nothing but characters."

They walked out of the luncheonette.

Cranston said, "In one way, that's the most important thing for us to keep

in mind in this case."

"Huh?" Cardona's attention was focussed on the building across the street.

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