Chapter 38 Blank

When Gene approached the bar of the Actors Club that afternoon, there were not many members in it.His entry attracted a small audience, although there were not many audiences, but his entry was quite dramatic.He stepped into the room and walked over to the bar without looking at anyone, just asking Eddie for a drink.But those who were still playing backgammon stopped fighting for about half a minute. In the actors' club, backgammon rarely stopped, even for a short time.When a person playing billiards looked up at him and lowered his head to hit the ball again, he missed the ball that should be hit. His opponent also missed the ball because of that distraction. It was strange that both of them There was no curse, which was unprecedented.

Eddie pours Gene a drink, and the bar returns to normal. I can't say what other people think of him, but I personally appreciate what he's done, and the courage it took to do it well, no one can understand, except Gene and I - if I can if. I put down the paper I was reading, walked over to the bar, and folded the paper, which seemed comical because the headline on the front page of the paper was the one everyone knew: The night before, Gene had killed killed a famous woman, or was involved in the death of a famous woman. Her name was Betty, and she was the wife of a producer of a popular Broadway play. Gene played the leading role in "Next to Good." A great actor, in other words, is at the pinnacle of his career.Some say Gene got the part because Mrs. Bay liked him.I don't know that, I just know that Gene is ideal for the role because, as it happens, I made up the play.I also know that he has a family and a family, and I know that he always had a lovely female companion by his side during the years when he was not famous, looking for work and the theater, and now he has two children and lives in the suburbs.I also know that for the past six months, Gene and Mrs. Bay have been hanging out in public places together.That's all I know because every columnist in town has covered this stuff twice.

I walked up to the bar where Gene was standing alone, and when Eddie the bartender looked up, I pointed to Gene's glass and said, "Have the same." Eddie took one look at me, "Double whiskey?" He knew I was a light drinker. " Gene didn't even look at me. "Have a double, you Irish fool, stop talking!" Eddie grinned.He joked a lot with the members, and he would be so lonely if we didn't joke with him now and then. Anyway, while Gene and Betty were drinking and chatting in the Dining Room yesterday, Bell walked in. Betty had been a very beautiful woman in her youth, and at forty-eight she was still charming and charming.

Today's newspapers reported in detail what happened yesterday, because the restaurant was full of people from Broadway, and they all knew the three of them, and it was not difficult for the police to find witnesses. Gene and Betty were having coffee when Bell walked over to the table where they were sitting.Bell leaned down and said something to his wife in a low voice, which could not be heard by anyone at the other table.Then Gene stood up and said something in the same low voice, and then Bell took a piece of paper out of his pocket and threw it on the table, and Gene said something, and Bell answered, obviously very angry, and then , he rushed towards Gene.At this moment, Gene took a pistol from his pocket.

What happened after that was as curious as when things started to happen suddenly.The piece of paper that Bell threw on the table looked like a note from his wife.The note said: After the last scene of the day, immediately go to the "Man Hall" Come on, come on, Titi. Accompanied by this note was a letter, typed, "From Belle." After finishing the performance, Gene thanked twice in a hurry, returned to the dressing room in a hurry, and wiped off the makeup on his face with a towel.Then, without even having time to change into costumes, she rushed to the corner restaurant, where they usually met, in a plaid jacket and flannel trousers.

Because of this, he has the pistol with blanks in his coat pocket, which is used in the final scene of "Next to Good", firing a shot through an open window to scare away a potential thief. can remember. "When Bell came to the table and started cursing at me," Gene was quoted in the Daily News afterwards, "my only thought was to shut him up, her wife and I were just good friends, but someone sent A nasty and vile letter to him, accusing me of having an affair with Betty, with a note stating when and where we were going to meet today. He was hysterical - almost insane. "

Regardless, there were heated, unforgivable words spoken between them.Bell was obviously mad, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, he rushed towards Gene, who thought of the pistol in his pocket.Of course, it's practically useless because it's loaded with blanks.He pulled it out. Witnesses unanimously said that for a moment, Gene held Bell with a pistol and put him in a dilemma, at which point the restaurant waiter started walking towards them and tried to talk them away.Then, the two men each said something, so Bell jumped over to grab the gun. The two of them struggled, both clutching guns.The coffee splashed on Mrs. Bay, and she started screaming and jumping up, frantically grabbing the two men, when the gun went off—two shots, and the waiters closed in.

Mrs. Bay fell forward on the table, then slid to the floor, and for a moment the dining room was unbelievably quiet, no one accepting what had just been seen. Mrs. Bay was dying. Because the pistol was not loaded with empty ammunition, but live ammunition, one hit the corner of her mouth and into the brain, and the other hit the left breast, not far from the heart.She died of exhaustion before nearby paramedics rushed to the scene. Gene drank his drink and said to the bartender, "One more glass." The bartender hurriedly poured the wine for him.That's when he saw me for the first time.

I said, "Hi!" He just raised his glass and made a friendly gesture as an answer to me.His eyes were dark and tired. I drank it down, finished the glass, and pushed the glass towards Eddie, beckoning him for another drink.I told Gene, "No one is blaming you, everyone knows how you feel, and no one can be blamed for this accident." No one blames him, that's the truth.The police took him and Bell to the police station and questioned him all night, but the Morning Post reported that after the autopsy, the Sixteenth Precinct and the Homicide Squad investigated. They all believed that it was not an intentional homicide, but an "accidental death", which was an absurd coincidence.therefore.

Both were released. In fact, the results of the investigation revealed a startling irony.The gun that Gene used for the show was always loaded by the man who piped the equipment.The man who piped tools recently brought in a new batch of blank ammunition, 50 pieces in six packs, which were secretly replaced with a box of real bullets. The police found those real bullets in the props room.So when Gene fires a bullet in the final scene that afternoon, he fires a real bullet.This is evidenced by inspection of the theater's rear brick wall. No one noticed the small hole in the backdrop, and the man who piped the equipment said afterwards that he hadn't noticed that it was real bullets when he was loading the blanks.Therefore, Mrs. Bei really died unjustly, and her death was all accidental.

Eddie walked away and I moved closer to Gene and said quietly, "Gene, what made you feel you had to kill her?" The fact that he didn't speak, just wrinkled his perfect nose, told me I was right.That's not unusual, I'm deducing the truth, and I'm sure you can too. Gene said, "You drink too much, or you're a fool." "Neither of the two, you'll be fine. Shall I tell you why you're safe." He stared blankly behind the bar. "There is a weakness in your story, but the police have never noticed it, because they don't know Betty as well as you do. The problem lies in the note she wrote. Bell received the letter from the postman yesterday, the day of the murder. Happened the same day, so obviously the letter was posted the day before. But the letter was about meeting you 'today', which was the day Bell got the letter, I bet, in that nasty letter that came with the note , emphasizing that you met at the restaurant at that time." "The note that said that Betty's own handwriting must have been written some time ago, and was left behind, ready to be dispatched in due course, by whom? It could only be her sympathy and interest." There is only one person, and you have come to live recently, so there is only one person, and that is you." "You are crazy!" "No, just cautious reasoning. On the face of the matter, my opinion is utterly unreasonable. Why would people send her husband a note like that, plus an obscene letter that would only cause open conflict?" "Why are you the one who could have done that? It's absurd to even imagine, but look at the result, what is the result, Betty was killed." "It's impossible for you to be suspected? Of course not. You're attractive to her, and you're often seen with her, and that's your real cover. That's why, you dare to act in a restaurant, in plain sight, You murdered her." He stopped protesting and just listened. "It seems crazy to make that assumption," I said, "but it's all in line with the facts. Who's got a chance to go to the props room backstage and change a pack of real rounds so they can be discovered afterward? You have. Who's got a chance to unload blanks, Replace with real bullets? There is nothing wrong with the plumbing equipment, it is loaded with blank bullets, although everyone thinks he loaded real bullets, but only you have the opportunity to remove the blank bullets and replace them with real bullets. Who can be sure When you shoot on stage, you don't hurt anyone but the person who shoots." "How do you—why do you think you know so much, so clearly?" "Because I know who had a motive to kill her. I know it, and you know it, but the police will never know. She is an insatiable woman who uses men like she smokes cigarettes, and her needs are prodigious. It makes I thought of the original question, what does she need from you and you don't want to? Marriage?" He nodded slightly imperceptibly. "I think so too. You love your career, and you follow the wishes of the boss's wife in order to achieve your goals, but you also love your wife and family, and you don't want her to take away the most meaningful things in your life. So, You figured out a way to kill her. Use a public place as a stage to induce her husband to quarrel—first with a letter, then with insults in person, and then take out the gun that you pretended not to know was real bullets, and let him strike first Come and grab it, because you are young and strong, and when the gun is pointed in the right direction, you will buckle twice. Besides thinking it was an accident, who can think it?" "What hinted to you?" "I've told you that I've known her before. Twenty years ago, when I was young, promising, good-looking, and happily married, in a situation similar to yours now, I knew she might What were you thinking. You know, my marriage ended up falling apart. It's her luck that she's alive, she's a good flamboyant man. Don't worry, Gene, no one's telling on you. How about another drink?" ?