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it was up to me. She hadn’t spoken more than twenty words since we arrived.
    â€œIf I could point her out,” I said, “I wouldn’t be bothering the rest of you. Neither would the cops if
they
could point her out. Sooner or later, of course, they will, but it begins to look as if they’ll have to get at it from the other end. Motive. They’ll have to find out which one of you had a motive, and they will—sooner or later—and on that maybe I can help. I don’t meanhelp them, I mean help you—not the one who killed him, the rest of you. That thought occurred to me after I learned that Helen Iacono had admitted that she had gone out with Pyle a few times last winter. What if she had said she hadn’t? When the police found out she had lied, and they would have, she would have been in for it. It wouldn’t have proved she had killed him, but the going would have been mighty rough. I understand that the rest of you have all denied that you ever had anything to do with Pyle. Is that right? Miss Annis?”
    â€œCertainly.” Her chin was up. “Of course I had met him. Everybody in show business has. Once when he came backstage at the Coronet, and once at a party somewhere, and one other time but I don’t remember where.”
    â€œMiss Morgan?”
    She was smiling at me, a crooked smile. “Do you call this helping us?” she demanded.
    â€œIt might lead to that after I know how you stand. After all, the cops have your statement.”
    She shrugged. “I’ve been around longer than Carol, so I had seen him to speak to more than she had. Once I danced with him at the Flamingo, two years ago. That was the closest I had ever been to him.”
    â€œMiss Choate?”
    â€œI never had the honor. I only came to New York last fall. From Montana. He had been pointed out to me from a distance, but he never chased me.”
    â€œMiss Jaret?”
    â€œHe was Broadway,” she said. “I’m TV.”
    â€œDon’t the twain ever meet?”
    â€œOh, sure. All the time at Sardi’s. That’s the only place I ever saw the great Pyle, and I wasn’t with him.”
    I started to cross my legs, but the wobbly chair leg reacted, and I thought better of it. “So there you are,” Isaid, “you’re all committed. If one of you poisoned him, and though I hate to say it I don’t see any way out of that, that one is lying. But if any of the others are lying, if you saw more of him than you admit, you had better get from under quick. If you don’t want to tell the cops tell me, tell me now, and I’ll pass it on and say I wormed it out of you. Believe me, you’ll regret it if you don’t.”
    â€œArchie Goodwin, a girl’s best friend,” Lucy said. “My bosom pal.”
    No one else said anything.
    â€œActually,” I asserted, “I
am
your friend, all of you but one. I have a friendly feeling for all pretty girls, especially those who work, and I admire and respect you for being willing to make an honest fifty bucks by coming there yesterday to carry plates of grub to a bunch of fmickers. I
am
your friend, Lucy, if you’re not the murderer, and if you are no one is.”
    I leaned forward, forgetting the wobbly chair leg, but it didn’t object. It was about time to put a crimp in Helen’s personal project. “Another thing. It’s quite possible that one of you
did
see her returning to the kitchen for another plate, and you haven’t said so because you don’t want to squeal on her. If so, spill it now. The longer this hangs on, the hotter it will get. When it gets so the pressure is too much for you and you decide you have got to tell it, it will be too late. Tomorrow may be too late. If you go to the cops with it tomorrow they probably won’t believe you; they’ll figure that you did it yourself and you’re trying to squirm out. If you don’t