The Four of Hearts by Ellery Queen Page B

‘but when I told her Jack didn’t want her but was holding out for Cornell, she got tongue tied trying to say yes.’
    â€˜How about Jaunty Jack?’
    â€˜A pushover.’ Lew frowned. ‘It was hooey about Cornell, of course. Looked to me almost as if he wanted to play opposite Blythe.’
    â€˜He has looked peaked this week,’ said Ellery thoughtfully.
    â€˜Hell, he ain’t had a drink in five days. That would poop up any guy. I tell you something’s happened to Jack!’
    â€˜Let’s not pry too deeply into the ways of Providence,’ said the Boy Wonder piously. ‘The point is – they’re in.’
    â€˜I shouldn’t imagine, Butch, you had quite so smooth a time winning the youngsters over.’
    The producer shuddered. ‘Please … Ty finally gave in because I convinced him his public was demanding a real-life role from him – biography’s the vogue, following the Muni hits – and what could Ty Royle’s public like better than Ty Royle’s own life on the screen? Know what he said? “I’ll show ‘em real life,” he said, “when I get my hands around your fiancée’s lily-white throat.”’
    â€˜Sounds bad,’ said Ellery.
    â€˜Doesn’t sound good,’ chortled Lew.
    â€˜Bonnie,’ said the Boy Wonder sadly, ‘Bonnie was even worse. The only condition on which she’d give in was that the script must include at least one scene in which she had to slap, scratch, and punch Ty into insensibility.’
    â€˜Who’s directing?’ asked Lew.
    â€˜Probably Corsi. Swell Broadway background. And you know what he did last year with the human-interest situations in Glory Road. Why?’
    â€˜I was thinking,’ said Lew dreamily; ‘it’s going to be a lot of fun. Corsi’s the most finicky retake artist in pictures. After two-three days of slapping Ty around to Corsi’s satisfaction for that one scene Bonnie’ll have had Ty’s pound of flesh – under her fingernails.’
    The historic ceremony of the Great Signing took place on the 11th, which was the following Monday. From the preparations he heard and witnessed in the office adjoining his, Ellery thought whimsically of a landing-field, with a crippled plane circling above, and fire apparatus and ambulances scurrying about below in readiness for the inevitable crack-up.
    But, all things considered, the contracts were signed without the blazing wreckage the Boy Wonder apparently anticipated. Peace was achieved by a simple expedient: the signatories did not open their mouths. Jack Royle, dressed even more carefully than usual, stared out of Butcher’s windows until his turn came to sign; then he signed, smiled for the photographers, and quietly walked out. Blythe, eye-filling in a silver fox-trimmed suit, preserved a queenly silence. Bonnie, it was true, stared steadily at Ty’s throat throughout the ceremony, as if contemplating assault. But Ty, to whose better nature Butch had appealed beforehand, ignored the challenge in her eyes.
    The trade-paper reporters and photographers were plainly disappointed.
    â€˜For gossakes,’ said Lew disgustedly, when they had all left, ‘that’s a hell of a way to build up the conflict angle. Look at the chance we muffed, Butch!’
    â€˜Until they signed,’ said the producer calmly, ‘I couldn’t risk one of them blowing up the whole business by backing out. You don’t fumble when you’re playing catch with dynamite, Lew.’
    â€˜Then it’s okay to shoot the works now, Butch?’ asked Sam Vix.
    â€˜We’re rolling, Sam.’
    Vix proceeded to roll. Exactly how it occurred Ellery did not discover – he suspected a conspiracy between the publicity man and Lew Bascom – but on Monday night Bonnie and Ty collided at the bar of the Clover Club. Lew, conveniently present, tried with