... Just a friendly
warning--" Sprague drew a deep breath. "And that's all the note
meant--absolutely!"
"I see," Dundee said quietly, then quoted: _"'Be good, Baby, and you
won't be sorry!'"_
"That meant, of course," Sprague took him up eagerly, "that I'd see she
got a real part in a regular movie, after I'd made my hit with the
Hamilton picture."
Very plausible, very plausible indeed, Dundee reflected. And yet--
Finally he lifted his head and let his eyes dart from face to face.
"All of you have stated, separately and collectively, that you heard no
shot fired in Nita Selim's bedroom this afternoon," he said sharply. "Is
that true?"
He was answered by weary nods or sullen affirmations.
"Then," he continued, "I must conclude that you are all lying or that
Nita Selim was killed with a gun equipped with a Maxim silencer."
Never was a detective more unprepared for the effect of his words upon a
group of possible suspects than was Special Investigator Dundee....
CHAPTER TEN
As Dexter Sprague had glibly and plausibly explained away every sinister
aspect of the note he had written to Nita Selim that day, Special
Investigator Dundee was recalling with verbatim vividness his argument
with Captain Strawn of the Homicide Squad immediately after his arrival
into the house of violent death.
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