Read Online Where Is Bianca? by Ellery Queen - Free Book Online

said.
    â€œMay I ask how you happened to meet her?”
    â€œI first saw her in one of Frances Weatherly’s plays. Have you ever seen a Weatherly play?”
    â€œI’m afraid not,” Corrigan said.
    â€œThey’re out of this world.” Which is why, of course, Corrigan said silently, you’re attracted to them. “They cut right to the depraved core of what human beings really are. You come out afterward and the sunlight isn’t quite real after what you’ve seen on the stage.”
    â€œWere you in that play, Miss Simpson?”
    She stared at him as if questioning his sanity. “ I? Of course not. I’m not ready for a Weatherly play—I’m years away, years of study and soul-searching.”
    â€œSoul-searching,” Corrigan said gravely. “I don’t think I get that, Miss Simpson.”
    â€œOh, I’m so inarticulate! You see, Frances Weatherly gets so close to the real reality that she seems unreal to those who don’t understand her. And that extends to the actors, too—those who aren’t ready, I mean.” She went on and on. Behind her, Baer shifted his bulk restlessly.
    â€œI take it that Noreen Gardner was one of the actors who was ready for a Weatherly play?”
    â€œIt was made for her, Captain Corrigan. She was herself . Such a wonderfully free spirit.”
    â€œHold it,” Chuck Baer said. “What is a wonderfully free spirit?”
    Peggy Simpson turned all the way around to look at the private detective. “A free spirit, Mr. Baer, is a person who kicks over the silly rules that ruin the lives of ordinary people.” She was about to go on when Corrigan stopped her.
    â€œIf you weren’t in the play, how did you meet Miss Gardner and become well enough acquainted to share an apartment?”
    â€œTravers Proehl, the producer, was a mutual acquaintance. I come from a little factory town in the Midwest My father didn’t understand or appreciate the things I wanted to do. We had terrible scenes. I finally took off for New York, met Travers Proehl, and paid him for dramatic coaching whenever he could spare the time. Through him I met Frances Weatherly and Noreen Gardner. I was so lucky. Noreen and I hit it off right away. It was she who suggested we share an apartment.”
    â€œWho footed the bills?” Corrigan asked wearily.
    The Simpson girl’s brows drew together. “I did, of course. It was a privilege just to be near such a talent.” Incredibly, the girl began to cry. “If she’s gone … her voice stilled forever.…” Corrigan could hardly believe his ears. As for Chuck Baer, he took out a cigar and began to chomp on it with disgust.
    â€œWhen did you see Noreen last?” Corrigan said.
    â€œFive nights ago.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you report her absence sooner?”
    â€œI didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t alarmed at first. Sometimes she spent a night or two with a man.”
    â€œAny man in particular?”
    â€œTravers Proehl, at least for a while.”
    â€œNot recently?”
    â€œShe’d met some other man,” Peggy Simpson said. “I don’t know who. She was kind of secretive and pleased about it. She said this new man was going to do big things for her in the theater. She’d developed a hostile attitude toward Travers and Frances. Travers didn’t like it.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œHe’s very jealous. Noreen deliberately provoked him sometimes, just to get slapped around. When he … she.…”
    â€œYes, Miss Simpson?”
    â€œWhen he slapped her around, she seemed to want to take her clothes off for him.” She flushed.
    â€œDid he use a whip?” Chuck Baer growled.
    The girl said stiffly, “I’m sure I don’t know.”
    â€œDid Noreen leave your place with Travers Proehl five nights ago?” Corrigan asked.
    â€œNo, she left alone. I think she was