"Twenty-six days more," it read. "When you appear in your new picture at the Grand to-night, it will be your last. I shall be there." The grinning death's head seal was appended in lieu of a signature, as before.
A feeling of resentment swept over the detective. It seemed that these people acted as they saw fit, with supreme indifference to the fact that he was on their trail. Never before had he felt his skill so flouted, his ability made so light of. And yet, as usual, the message had apparently been delivered in such a way as to make tracing it impossible.
"Still at it, it seems," Mr. Baker remarked. "This thing has got to stop, and at once. I don't propose to let anybody make a monkey of me."
Duvall turned to the director, Mr. Edwards.
"Who prepared the original telegram?" he asked quickly.
Mr. Edwards looked at the detective in surprise, evidently wondering what this stranger had to do with the matter.
"Answer, Edwards. It's all right," snapped Mr. Baker.
"I prepared the property telegram," the director answered.
"Last night. I knew it would be needed to-day."
"I left it on my desk. This morning I took it into the studio, and when the moment arrived, I gave it to the actor who took it to Miss Morton."
"Was he out of your sight, after you gave him the telegram?"
"No. He took it and walked right on the scene."
"Then he couldn't have substituted another for it?"
"No. It would have been impossible, unless he used sleight of hand."
"Before you gave the man the telegram where was it?"
"No chance, I suppose, of anyone having taken it out and substituting another."
"Then it is clear that the substitution must have been effected between the time you left your office last night, and your arrival here this morning."
"Undoubtedly. I left my office last night about six. It is never locked. The caretakers, the women who clean the offices, were in there later, and from seven to nine this morning it would also have been a simple matter for anyone to enter and make the change."
"It's the same story," he said. "Someone who works in the building is responsible for this thing, or else is able to bribe one or more of your employees to act for them. But we won't get very far looking for the guilty person, with several hundred people to watch and no clues whatever to go on. Suppose we go back to your office, and I will tell you what I had in mind about this evening."