"Manton? Phelps?" suggested the district attorney.
"The promoter," Kennedy rejoined, "is the typical man of the
business world beneath the eccentricity of manner which seems to
cling to everyone in the picture field. Ordinarily his type,
thinking in millions of dollars and juggling nickel and dime
admissions or other routine of commercial detail is apart from
the finer subtle passions of life. When a business man commits
murder he generally uses a pistol because he is sure it is
efficient--he can see it work. The same applies to Phelps."
"Millard?" Mackay hesitated now to face the logic of Kennedy's
keen mind. "He was Stella Lamar's husband!"
"Millard is a scenario writer and so apt to have a brain
cluttered with all sorts of detail of crime and murder. At the
same time an author is so used to counterfeiting emotion in his
writings that he seldom takes things seriously. Life becomes a
joke and Millard in particular is a butterfly, concerned more
with the smiles of extra girls and the favor of Miss Faye than
the fate of the woman whose divorce from him was not yet
complete. A writer is the other extreme from the business man.
The creator of stories is essentially inefficient because he
tries to feel rather than reason. When an author commits murder
he sets a stage for his own benefit. He is careful to avoid
witnesses because they are inconvenient to dispose of. At the
same time he wants the victim to understand thoroughly what is
going to happen and so he is apt to accompany his crime with a
speech worded very carefully indeed.
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