"satandanced" - читать интересную книгу автора (Barton Gary)

"Then what's the lead for?"

"I think June Eiden blasted Nevins. Don't you thing she did, Jerry?"

I didn't speak for a minute and fumbled for a cigarette. Then I said: "Yeah. I
think she did."

I went out.

June Eiden wasn't on the floor. I couldn't see her any place. One of the waiters
told me that I'd probably find her in her dressing room. I went there.

I did find her in her dressing room. I wished I hadn't. But June wasn't going to
answer any questions, and I was certain that she hadn't killed Grog Nevins. I
don't know why, but I was thinking about that lead to Penny's story. Penny would
have to change it.

June Eiden was dead!

She lay down on the floor, and her slim, young body was twisted crazily so that
you could tell she was dead even if it hadn't been for the knife. The short, thin
blade was buried deep in her back, over the heart. The blood pooled around its hilt,
spreading over her silk housecoat to the rug, I followed the ribbon of blood across
the room to the dressing table.

A bottle of deep-red nail polish had spilled across the vanity bench and another
bottle lay on the floor near a welter of blood, now sticky and crusting. The room
was heavy with the sickening smell of nailpolish remover. June Eiden had evidently
been retouching her nails when she was murdered.

But why had she dragged herself across the room?

I went back to the body and found why. A picture lay beyond her outstretched hand
--she had apparently knocked it from the table above--and her index finger seemed
to be pointing at the photograph, which lay face down.

I picked it up. It was that of a dark, Latin-looking fellow with a thin, black
mustache and long sideburns. It was June Eiden's adagio partner!

I'd forgotten about him. It was another piece to my puzzle. I fitted it. Larry Liegh
and June, a duo. June and her partner, a duo. Partner, June and Larry make three, and
three make a poor combination in a love affair.

It might even add up to murder.

It just might--and it looked as if it had.

I quit June Eiden's dressing room and headed for the ballroom. Lieutenant Haley and
Ryan had just come in and were talking to Jaegar, over near the orchestra platform.