Now"--suddenly grim--"if everyone will go down
to the projection room, the larger one, we will bring matters to
their proper conclusion."
I imagined that Kennedy's speech was calculated to spread a
little wholesome fear among the people we had considered
suspects. In any case that was the result, for an outsider, from
the expressions upon the various faces, might have concluded that
several of them were guilty. Each seemed to start off across the
studio floor reluctantly, as though afraid to obey Kennedy, yet
unable to resist the fascination of witnessing the identification
of the criminal, as though feeling that he or she individually
might be accused, and yet unwilling to seek safety at the expense
of missing Kennedy's revelation of his methods and explanation of
their result.
I drew him aside as quickly as I could.
"Craig," I started, eagerly, "isn't this all unnecessary? Can't
you see that Shirley is the guilty man? If you will hurry into
his room with paper and pencil and get his confession before he
recovers from his fright and regains his assurance--"
"What on earth, Walter!" Kennedy interrupted me with a look of
surprise which I did not miss even in my excitement. "What are
you driving at, anyway?"
"Why, Shirley is the criminal. He--"
"Nonsense! Wasn't an attempt made to kill him just now? Wasn't it
evident that he was considered as dangerous to the unknown as
Werner, the director? Hasn't he been eliminated from our
calculations as surely as the man slain yesterday?" "No!" I
flushed.
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