Kennedy turned to me, expression really serious. "Is this the way
they carry on in the picture world, Walter?" he asked. "Is this
the usual thing or--or an exception?"

I flushed. "It's very much an exception," I insisted. "The film
people are just like other people, some good and some bad.
Probably three-quarters of all this is gossip."

"I hope so." He straightened. "The only thing to do is to go
after them one at a time and disentangle all the conflicting
threads. It looks as though there will be any number of possible
false leads and so we must be careful and deliberate. I think
I'll question each in turn--here."

He walked over to the fireplace, stopping for just a moment to
glance at the body of Stella. Then he pulled the blinds down
halfway, so that the room seemed somber and gruesome. He drew a
chair so that the different individuals as he examined them,
would be unable to lose sight of the dead woman. His arrangements
completed, he faced the district attorney.

"Manton first," he directed.

In an instant I caught the psychology of it--the now darkened
library, the beautiful body still lying on the davenport, the
quiet and quick arrival of ourselves. If anything could be
extracted from these people, surely it would be betrayed under
these surroundings.