Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

62 A Girl Comes to Hollywood Circumstantial evidence continues to pile up against Malcolm, but he remains cheerful even though in jail, while Madeleine Standish, the erstwhile "Miss Smith," takes an important and daring step in this most gripping installment of our great mystery serial. B)> Alice M. Williamson ILLUSTRATED BY MODEST STEIN CHAPTER XXI. THE TIGHTENING NET. WHEN Oscar Sonnenberg heard that Malcolm Allen had been arrested for the murder of Lady Gates, his first thought was, "Well, what's this going to do to my picture? One good thing, anyhow," the producer reminded himself, "is that the guy's not in the film. That would bust up the show. After all, he only wrote the scenario. If I find the name of Allen is going to hurt the picture, why, I'll take it off. I guess contracts with murderers don't hold." Sonnenberg wondered how it was that one of the Los Angeles newspapers had virtually got a scoop in the case, while its big rival had in its first edition little more than a huge headline, with a few paragraphs underneath. The luckier of the two big Los Angeles newspapers had much to tell. After summarizing the case, which had reached its climax in the arrest of the dead woman's nephew, the scene in the restaurant between Lady Gates and Malcolm Allen was reconstructed in minute detail, with disclosures which amazed those who had watched the actual meeting and had heard only snatches of the conversation between the two. No sooner had Malcolm Allen sat down at his aunt's table, than a quarrel began over the same letter shown by Lady Gates to Mary Smith, the story recounted. Presently, however, Allen said something which subdued his aunt suddenly and surprisingly. What it was had been overheard by Henri Gault, a waiter accustomed to attend Lady Gates at her table. According to him, Allen had told his aunt that if she went through a form of marriage with "that damned swine Lopez," her dead husband would haunt her. This, and other things not overheard, had upset Lady Gates so much that she became hysterical. Allen produced a flask, afterward found to have his monogram on it. His story later was that he had presented the flask to his aunt by her request some time before, and had on several occasions bought brandy from a bootlegger whose name he refused to give, to refill the flask for Lady Gates. He stated that she had * Copyright. 1928, by Alice M. Williamson. had this flask in her possession at dinner and had drawn it cautiously from a pocket in the lining of her ermine cloak. So far as any one had seen, however, Allen had himself produced the flask and poured brandy from it into a tumbler partly full of water, which stood near Lady Gates' plate. He had then dropped a small tablet into the glass. The waiter had noticed this, but had not seen Allen take the vial containing it and one other tablet from Lady Gates' gold bag, as Allen insisted that he had done. When Lady Gates had drunk the contents of the tumbler, her nephew got up, went away, and had returned again when Marco Lopez, the dancer, arrived. It was Lopez who discovered the serious condition into which Lady Gates had fallen after swallowing the liquid which absorbed the tablet. Despite protestations from Lopez, Lady Gates, apparently fainting, was carried out of the restaurant by Allen and the waiter, followed by Mary Smith. Her ladyship was driven by her nephew in his car, accompanied by Mary, to a private hospital. Doctor George Nelson arrived and pronounced the Englishwoman dead. Her appearance was peculiar, and after Lopez had accused* Allen of murdering his aunt by poison to prevent her marriage with him, Lopez, the coroner was sent for and an autopsy performed. The presence of poison was discovered — a poison lately introduced from Mexico, known to the medical profession as granil. In very small doses it was occasionally prescribed as a stimulant for weak heart action ; but almost enough was found in the stomach of the dead woman to kill two persons. Instead of stimulating the heart, so powerful a dose would stop it almost instantly, or, in the case of a strong person, such as Lady Gates apparently was, it would take effect in from three to five minutes. Malcolm Allen, questioned by the police after the autopsy, volunteered the information that his aunt had had a small vial containing a couple of tablets, in her mesh bag. She had asked him to open the bag and give her a handkerchief. In doing so the vial had fallen out and rolled across the table to his place. Lady Gates, seeing it, had then taken the silver flask from her cloak Synopsis of Previous Chaptersl Malcolm Allen, young British novelist in Hollywood, goes to the rescue of a beautiful girl who attempts to leave the fashionable Restaurant Montparnasse without paying for the dinner she has eaten. He is impressed, and later, dazzled by her beauty, offers her a chance in the movies. He is dumfounded when she tells him she prefers to be a cigarette girl at Montparnasse. Lady Gates, Malcolm's aunt, is struck with the possibility of entering the gay life of the movie capital. Soon after her arrival she falls under the influence of Marco Lopez, a professional dancer, who is attracted by the wealth of the new arrival. He causes her to visit a certain seeress, his confederate, who tells Lady Gates she can have youth and beauty again. At the insistence of Malcolm, she employs "Miss Smith," the cigarette girl, as a companion. Oscar Sonnenberg, movie producer, attempts to get Miss Smith in his pictures. The girl induces Sonnenberg to produce Malcolm's scenario. Upon leaving the hospital, Lady Gates sends for her nephew, who disapproves of her actions. Angered, she severs relations with him, and becomes more devoted to Lopez. Miss Smith admits that she came to Hollywood because of the dancer, for whom she procures a place in the picture "Red Velvet." Lopez, with the seeress, plans greater inroads, and even marriage to Lady Gates, in order to have her will changed. At dinner, Lady Gates receives a note warning her against the dancer. She insults Miss Smith publicly, and is quieted by her nephew, who prepares a drink for hen A few minutes later she is carried out of the 'restaurant, dead. Lopez accuses Malcolm of having murdered his aunt.