tonight.”
She began to laugh. “That’s what you
He shut the door and left me there,
thought, brother. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
staring after him.
How long I stood there, I’m not
certain. I had a kind of eerie feeling. The
CHAPTER II
guy’s crazy, I thought. He’s lived in this hotel DEATH IN THE GARAGE
a long time by himself. He probably resents
our coming.
The sound of running water in the bath
THE room was large, well furnished and had
recalled me. Evidently Albright had come
two windows. I unpacked, straightened up my
upstairs, although I had not heard him pass.
The Second Act Is Murder
7
I walked over and knocked on the panes of the double windows in gusts which bathroom door. A voice inside told me to
almost seemed to bend the glass.
come in.
“To the devil with it,” I thought, and
I opened the door. Albright had his
went to bed.
shirt off and was at the basin, shaving. His
I didn’t know how long I’d been
shoulders were heavier than they had looked
asleep. I had the impression that I’d barely
under his coat and were heavily tanned. He
closed my eyes. But when I glanced at my
did not turn, merely glancing up and nodding
traveling clock, I saw that it was after one.
into the mirror.
“How do you like the Inn theater?”
I KNEW that it was a scream which had
“I don’t know yet,” I said honestly.
brought me out of my slumber, but I didn’t
“Some things strike me as a little strange. I
know whose it was or where it had come
just had a call from the watchman.”
from. The window was partly open and damp
Albright grunted. “That bird’s racked.
air blew across the room directly into my face He hates actors.”
as I sat up.
Looking at his broad back, I wondered
Then the scream rose again. A
if the watchman was as cracked as he seemed.
woman’s voice, high and hysterical with
There were certain mannerisms about this terror.
good, looking actor that I found myself
It seemed to come from outside, in
disliking. Nothing I could put into words, just through the open window. Feet pounded in the
a feeling, an instinct almost.
hall and there were excited voices outside my
“Funny time of day to shave.” I said it,
door.
not because I was particularly interested when I thrust my feet into slippers, grabbed a
he chose to scrape his beard. He could shave
robe and crossed the room in a couple of
on the hour, every hour for all I cared.
jumps. The corridor outside seemed filled with
“Got a date.” He was rinsing his face
people, all talking in excited voices. I saw the as he spoke and the water muffled his words.
two old character actresses, huddled together
“A date?” I was unpleasantly against the far wall, saw the blond Mary surprised. Automatically I assumed that his
Jones, trying to comfort them. The old
date was with Susan Foster and I found that I
character actor, Mr. Anthony, was standing
did not like the idea.
uncertainly by the stairs, his thin shanks
“I shouldn’t think there’d be any place
protected by a long striped nightshirt, his gray to go, in this country or in this weather.”
hair covered by his broad-brimmed black hat.
He turned and gave me a nasty smile
Bertrand Howe, Susan Foster and a
above the towel.
couple of men I hadn’t met were at the other
“It’s all in the way you look at it, De
end of the hall and I started toward them.
“What’s up?” I shouted. “What’s
I found that I liked, him less at the
happened?”
moment than before.
Howe had taken charge. “It’s probably
“Good night,” I said. “Have a good
nothing, but we’d better find out. Get
time.”
Albright, will you, De Cloudt, and come on
I shut the door and went over to the
downstairs. Where’s that watchman? He’s
typewriter, intending to write some letters, but always around, except when you want him.”
I couldn’t think of anything to say. It was still I didn’t know where the watchman
raining heavily, pouring down against the was and I didn’t care. Both Howe and Susan
Thrilling Detective
8
were fully dressed. So were the men with
Mary Jones’ sister, the one who had been
them. I knocked on Albright’s door, calling
playing bridge when I first reached the hotel.
out as I did so, wondering why the racket had
Her face was white and wet. Her eyes looked
failed to wake the actor. There was no enormous and she was staring as if suffering response.
from shock.
I knocked again, then tried the knob.
I shook her without meaning to.
The door was not locked and I thrust it open.
“What is it? What’s happened? Did
The room was in darkness but enough
you scream?”
light leaked around my shoulders from the hall For a full instant it was as if my words
to show me the bed. It was empty and had not
had no effect on her paralyzed brain. Then her been slept in.
arms tightened behind me as if she feared that I turned back to the hall just as a third
I would somehow escape and leave her by
scream cut the night.
herself.
This takes a long time to tell, but
“He’s dead,” she said. “He’s dead.
actually the time between the second and third There’s blood!” Her voice rose.
screams was not over a couple of minutes,
I shook her again. She was close to
perhaps not that long.
hysteria. I had seen people with hysteria
I raced along the hall and down the
before. I almost slapped her. A shock helps
stairs. Howe, Susan, and their two companions
sometimes, but she was so small, so helpless,
had just reached the bottom. Howe started to
so white-faced.
run across the lobby just as I started down the
“Who is it?” said Howe. He was at my
stairs. I moved faster than he did and caught
side, playing the light directly into my face.
him just as he reached the french doors at the
“Who’s dead?”
rear which led out to a kind of terrace.
“Gerry,” she gulped. “Gerry Albright.
“Albright’s not in his room,” I yelled
He and I were out at the garage, talking. I got as we went out into the rain.
cold and came in after a warmer coat. When I
I’m not certain if he heard me. got back he was there, in Annabelle’s front Certainly he didn’t slacken his pace. I didn’t seat, dead.”
know where we were headed and the night
“I’ll take her,” said a matter-of-fact
was inky save for the lobby lights which voice at my elbow.
filtered out through the glass doors.
I felt gravel under my feet as I jumped
TURNING, I discovered Mary Jones and
down from the terrace and plunged forward
Susan Foster had followed us.
through the darkness, following the sound that The younger girl shrank away from her
Howe’s feet made. And then a young woman
sister, clinging to me desperately.
ran into my arms.
“Don’t let her touch me. She killed
I didn’t even see her before we him. She killed him. She said she would if I bumped together. My arms, closed about her
didn’t stop seeing him.”
small shoulders instinctively. It’s lucky they Susan Foster stepped forward and took
did so, for she swayed and would have fallen.
the sobbing girl into her arms.
“Who’s this?” I asked. The words
“Take it easy, honey. You’re all right.”
burst from my lips. They stopped Howe and, a
“Gerry’s dead!” It was a wail. “Mary
moment later, I was bathed in the beam of a
killed him. I know it, know it, know it!”
flashlight that I hadn’t known he carried.
“Come on,” said Howe. He seemed
The light showed me that the girl was
unmoved by the scene. “Take her into the
The Second Act Is Murder
9
lobby, Sue. We’ll be with you in a jiffy.”
I hadn’t thought of the police until that
He moved away and I followed the
moment. I hadn’t been thinking of much of
beam of his flash across the wide circle of wet anything, but I got down on hands and knees
gravel and into the big garage.
and peered under the car. There was no gun.
It looked tremendous and I realized
We searched thoroughly before going back to
that it had been built to house the cars of the the lobby.
Inn’s guests. Now it held only Annabelle and
Susan Foster was standing beside the
an ancient delivery truck which, judging by
big fire-place when we came in. She and the
the sign on the side, had once belonged to a
two character actresses were trying to quiet
butcher.
Ellen Jones and not having too much success.
Howe turned to the Ford, flashing his
The older sister sat across the room, her dark light inside the car. And there was Albright
blue eyes never leaving her sister’s face. She slumped over the wheel, his elbows resting on
looked tired, almost haggard without makeup,
it, his head against the top rim, with blood
and I had a passing thought that life had used matting the small hole in his temple.
this girl hard in its uneven course.
“He’s dead, all right.”
“Larry called the sheriff,” Susan told
I guess I sounded surprised. In a way, I
us as we reached her. “He’ll be over soon.”
was surprised. Only a few short hours before
“She killed him. She said she would.”
he’d stood with his back toward me, shaving,
It was Ellen Jones. Her eyes were
his bare shoulders looking alive and powerful.
closed. Her face, despite the fact that it was At that time I’d have bet almost any sum that
puffy from crying, looked strained and drawn.
the man would live for at least twenty years.
“Ellen should have a doctor,” Susan
And now, he was dead. Howe turned
said in a low voice. “We can’t get her quiet.”
away from the car, and his voice had a funny
I jerked my head toward the silent
sound.
sister.
“That’s
that.”
“Anything in what the kid says?” I
I stared at him. “What do you mean?”
asked in a whisper.
He shrugged and passed a small hand
“I don’t know.” She was whispering
across his eyes in a gesture of weariness.
also. “I do know that Mary objected to the
“My leading man,” his voice had a
attentions that Gerry was paying her sister.
bitter note. “Months of work. Shot. And we
She’d known him in Hollywood, and what
were going to open next Saturday.”
she’d known was not good.”
I did not mind his callousness. I knew
I looked at Susan, wondering how
how he must feel.
Albright’s death was affecting her. I saw
“What about the understudy, Larry nothing on her face save a tired strain that I Swift.”
knew was mirrored in my own.
“He’s just that,” Howe said, an edge of
Anthony chose this moment to seize
contempt in his voice. “An understudy. Gerry
the center of the stage. The old ham must have Albright, for all his faults and weaknesses,
found someone with a bottle, for he fairly
was an actor. Swift is only a youngster. reeked of whisky although its effect was not Maybe five years from now he’ll be ready.”
noticeable in either his walk or his voice.
Howe gave a sigh of exasperation and began
“It is the judgment of the gods. Pride
to flash the light around the floor. “Don’t see goeth before a fall.”
anything of a gun, do you? The cops will
probably ask.”
SUSAN FOSTER was frowning. Bertrand
Thrilling Detective
10
Howe glanced at the old actor irritably.
be shot.”
“Shut up, Anthony.”
He descended the rest of the steps and
“You cannot hush the truth. By his
went along the hall ahead of me with never a
sins, ye shall know him, and by his sins, he
backward glance.
died.”
Ellen Jones began to sob. I caught
Susan’s eye and she spoke to me with a little
CHAPTER III
desperate note in her voice.
KILLER AT BAY
“Get him out of here. Hit him on the
head or something.”
I obeyed. I took Anthony by the arm
LATER I wasn’t impressed by the sheriff nor
and half forced him up the stairs and along the his deputy. Both were probably competent
corridor to his room.
peace officers for the average run of local
“Will you stay here,” I demanded. By
crime. But certainly nothing in their thinking, this time I was out of patience, for he had
experience or training fitted them to handle
argued with me the whole way. “Or must I
this situation.
lock you in?”
Both were inclined to agree that the
It was easy to see that he was deeply
elder Jones girl was guilty, that she had
hurt. He made me a curt little bow, standing
resented Albright’s attentions to her sister and across his threshold.
taken a quick, final way of ending them. The
“I had expected better things of you,
only obstacle to her immediate arrest was the
boy, nobler things.” Then he went in and
fact that one of the old character actresses
slammed the door.
swore that she’d heard Mary Jo
nes moving
I started back along the hall but paused
about her room at the time the shooting had
when I heard a noise from the stairs which led taken place.
to the third floor. Susan had told me that the It seemed that no one had heard the
third and fourth, floors were closed off and
shot. This was none too surprising when you
were not being used. For an instant I own that consider the noise the wind and rain were
my hair prickled, for someone was coming
making and that the garage had probably
down those stairs.
muffled the explosion of the gun. I tried to tell I tried to recall who had been missing
the law officers about the old watchman, but
from the lobby, but could not. An instant later got nowhere. Both had known him for years
I heaved a sigh of relief for it was the old
and insisted on laughing him off as slightly
watchman.
cracked but really harmless.
He paused at sight of me, standing
The coroner was a doctor who lived
three or four steps above hall level. Then he
not far away. First he questioned Ellen Jones
placed one finger beside his nose and and then gave her a sedative. Soon afterward chuckled as he rubbed it.
he and the sheriff went back to town, taking