Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
THE FILM MYSTERY
BY
ARTHUR B. REEVE
AUTHOR OF
"The Soul Scar" "The Adventuress" and Other Craig Kennedy Scientific
Detective Stories
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. A CAMERA CRIME II. THE TINY SCRATCH III. TANGLED MOTIVES IV. THE FATAL SCRIPT V. AN EMOTIONAL MAZE VI. THE FIRST CLUB VII. ENID FAYE VIII. LAWRENCE MILLARD IX. WHITE-LIGHT SHADOWS X. CHEMICAL RESEARCH XI. FORESTALLED XII. EMERY PHELPS XIII. MARILYN LORING XIV. ANOTHER CLUE XV. I BECOME A DETECTIVE XVI. ENID ASSISTS XVII. AN APPEAL XVIII. THE ANTIVENIN XIX. AROUND THE CIRCLE XX. THE BANQUET SCENE XXI. MERLE SHIRLEY OVERACTS XXII. THE STEM XXIII. BOTULIN TOXIN XXIV. THE INVISIBLE MENACE XXV. ITCHING SALVE XXVI. A CIGARETTE CASE XXVII. THE FILM FIREXXVIII. THE PHOSPHORUS BOMB XXIX. MICROSCOPIC EVIDENCE XXX. THE BALLROOM SCENE XXXI. PHYSOSTIGMIN XXXII. CAMERA EVIDENCE
THE FILM MYSTERY
I
A CAMERA CRIME
"Camera!"
Kennedy and I had been hastily summoned from his laboratory in the cityby District-Attorney Mackay, and now stood in the luxurious, ornatelibrary in the country home of Emery Phelps, the banker, at Tarrytown.
"Camera!—you know the call when the director is ready to shoot a sceneof a picture?—well—at the moment it was given and the first andsecond camera men began to grind—she crumpled—sank to thefloor—unconscious!"
Hot and excited, Mackay endeavored to reenact his case for us with allthe histrionic ability of a popular prosecutor before a jury.
"There's where she dropped—they carried her over here to thisdavenport—sent for Doctor Blake—but he couldn't do a thing for her.She died—just as you see her. Blake thought the matter so serious, soalarming, that he advised an immediate investigation. That's why Icalled you so urgently."
Before us lay the body of the girl, remarkably beautiful even as shelay motionless in death. Her masses of golden hair, disheveled, addedto the soft contours of her features. Her wonderfully large blue-grayeyes with their rare gift for delicate shades of expression wereclosed, but long curling lashes swept her cheeks still and it was hardto believe that this was anything more than sleep.
It was inconceivable that Stella Lamar, idol of the screen, beloved ofmillions, could have been taken from the world which worshiped her.
I felt keenly for the district attorney. He was a portly little man ofthe sort prone to emphasize his own importance and so, true to type, hehad been upset completely by a case of genuine magnitude. It was asthough visiting royalty had dropped dead within his jurisdiction.
I doubt whether the assassination of a McKinley or a Lincoln could haveunsettled him as much, because in such an event he would have had thewhole weight of the Federal government behind him. There was noquestion but that Stella Lamar enjoyed a country-wide popularity knownby few of our Presidents. Her sudden death was a national tragedy.
Apparently Mackay had appealed to Kennedy the moment he learned theidentity of Stella, the moment he realized there was any question aboutthe circumstances surrounding the affair. Over the telephone the littleman had