might put them on their guard."

"Good!" Kennedy was pleased. "Did you learn anything else?"

"This deputy of mine obtained all these things by gossiping with
the girl who plays the maid, and so they may not be reliable. But
among the players it is reported that Werner, the director, was
having an affair with Stella also, and that Merle Shirley, the
'heavy' man, was seen with her a great deal recently, and that
Jack Gordon, the leading man, who was engaged to marry her as
soon as her decree was final, was jealous as a consequence, and
that Miss Loring, playing the vampire In the story and engaged to
Shirley, was even more bitter against the deceased than Gordon,
Miss Lamar's fiance.

"That made eight people with possible motives for the crime. When
I got that far I gave it up. In fact"--Mackay lowered his voice,
suddenly--"I don't like the attitude of Emery Phelps. This is his
house, you know, and he is the financial backer of Manton
Pictures, yet there seems to be an undercurrent of friction
between Manton and himself. I--I wanted him to show me some
detail of the arrangement of things in the library, but he
wouldn't come into the room. He said he didn't want to look at
Miss Lamar. There--there was something--and, I don't know. If he
is concerned in any way--that would make nine."

"You think Miss Lamar and Phelps--"

Mackay shook his head. "I don't know."