Read Online Queens Full by Ellery Queen - Free Book Online

certain point.”
    â€œWhat point’s that?”
    Ellery tucked his lens away. “I know now who did the job on Benedict and why, if that’s any help.”
    â€œThanks, buddy.”
    â€œNo, I mean it.”
    â€œI wish I could appreciate the rib,” Newby sighed, “but somehow I’m not in the mood.”
    â€œBut it’s not a rib, Chief. The only thing is, I haven’t a particle of proof.” Ellery rubbed his nose as Newby gaped. “Though there is a notion stirring … and if it should work …”

ACT III. Scene 3.
    The following morning’s Record shouted:
    LOCAL GIRL CLEARED IN KILLING!
    The lead story was earmarked “Exclusive” and began:
    Joan Truslow of the Wrightsville Playhouse company was proved innocent yesterday of the Foster Benedict murder by Ellery Queen, the Record learned last night from an unusually reliable source.
    Miss Truslow, allegedly Chief Anselm Newby’s main suspect in the Broadway star’s sensational killing, was cleared by the New York detective in a dramatic session at police headquarters. A secret demonstration took place in the presence of Chief Newby and Prosecutor Loren Odham of Wright County. The exact nature of the test was not disclosed, but it is said to have involved the knife that slew Benedict.
    Chief Newby would neither affirm nor deny the Record ’s information.
    â€œI will say that Miss Truslow is not a suspect,” Newby told the Record . “However, we are not satisfied with some of her testimony. She will be questioned further soon.”
    Asked whether he was referring to strong rumors around headquarters last night, Chief Newby admitted that Miss Truslow is believed to be withholding testimony vital to the solution of the murder.
    By press time last night Miss Truslow had not been located by newsmen. She is said to be hiding out somewhere in town.
    Prosecutor Odham could not be reached, etc .
    The Record story’s “Exclusive” tag was an understandable brag. Wire service and metropolitan newspaper reporters had invaded Wrightsville at the first flash of Foster Benedict’s slaying, and the war for news raged through the town. The Record disclosure almost wrecked Scutney Bluefield’s plans to take up his personal war with Wrightsville’s Philistines where mere murder had broken it off.
    Scutney had sent out a call for his entire company. They converged on the Playhouse the morning the Record story broke to find the forces of the press drawn up in battle array. In a moment the surrounded locals were under full-scale attack; and Scutney, purple from shouting, sent to police headquarters for reinforcements.
    A wild fifteen minutes later Chief Newby laid down the terms of a truce.
    â€œYou people have one hour out here for interviews with Mr. Bluefield’s company,” the chief snapped. “Nobody gets into the theater after that without a signed pass from me.”
    As it turned out, the newsmen retired from the field in less than half their allotted time. One of their two chief objectives was not present: Ellery had slipped out of the Hollis early in the morning and disappeared. Their other target, Joan, who showed up at the Playhouse with Roger, had refused to parley. To every question fired at her about “the testimony vital to the solution” she was reported to be withholding, Joan looked more frightened and shook her head violently. “I have nothing to say, nothing,” she kept repeating. Nor would she reveal where she was staying. On being attacked in his turn, Roger became totally deaf. In the end, he had charged into the theater with her, and the press beat a disgusted retreat shortly after, to bivouac at various High Village bars.
    Chief Newby stationed police at the stage entrance, fire exits, and in the lobby, and left for an undisclosed destination.
    So it was with slightly hysterical laughter that the company greeted Scutney