The Mystery of the Magic Circle - M. V. Carey [35]
Jupiter told her then, with Bob and Pete chiming in from time to time to add details. The boys told of Gray’s delivery of the memoirs to Amigos Press. They told about the fire at the publishing house, and about the theft of the manuscript from the Tremayne apartment.
“Your signature is on the contract for the publication of your memoirs,” said Jupiter. “A forgery, I presume.”
“Certainly,” said Madeline Bainbridge. “I never signed a contract. And my memoirs are still here in this house. I worked on them only last night. Look in that big chest at the foot of the bed.”
Pete opened the chest and the boys looked. There was a thick heap of papers, all handwritten.
“Marvin Gray must have copied them by hand,” said Bob. “Then he delivered the copy to Beefy Tremayne. And then what? Did he arrange to have it stolen, perhaps by Charles Goodfellow?”
“Goodfellow?” said Madeline Bainbridge. “Don’t tell me that little thief is still in town!”
“So you know Goodfellow is a thief,” said Jupe.
“I know he was one. I caught him trying to take a diamond necklace out of my dressing-room on the set of Catherine the Great. I was going to call the police, but he persuaded me he’d never do anything like that again. Then later I found out he’d been going through the women’s purses while we were filming The Salem Story.”
“A real sneak thief,” said Bob. “Did you put anything about that in your memoirs?”
“I may have. I think I did mention it.”
“That would have given him a motive. Even though he wasn’t using the same name, he might be afraid he’d be found out. And with the theft of the films from the laboratory —”
“What films?” said Madeline Bainbridge.
“Your pictures that were sold to Video Enterprises,” said Jupe. “Did you know that the negatives of all your films had been sold to television, or is that something that Marvin Gray engineered while you were asleep, too?”
“Oh, no! I knew all about the sale of the films. Marvin handled the negotiations, and I signed a contract. But you say the films were stolen?”
“They were, from a laboratory next door to Amigos Press, just before the fire started. They’re being held for ransom. No doubt they’re safe enough, and no doubt the ransom will be paid. Did you know that Jefferson Long came out here the night of the theft to interview you? He does a TV series on law and order.”
“No!” exclaimed Madeline Bainbridge. “Is that who was here? Marvin just told me that he had some business clients coming by. I stayed out of the way, as usual. I pay Marvin to deal with the outside world.”
“You were keeping out of sight the next afternoon, too, when Beefy and I came here,” said Jupe. He shook his head. “Miss Bainbridge, you’ve put yourself into a dangerous position, having no contact at all with anyone outside this house.”
The actress sighed. “I let Marvin handle everything for me. It begins to look as if he handled it too well, doesn’t it?”
“He must intend to swindle you out of the advance from Amigos Press for your manuscript,” said Jupiter.
“That scoundrel?” said the actress. “I can’t believe it!” Then she stopped and thought for a moment. “Yes,” she said, “I can believe it. He was always greedy. But to think he’s been deliberately withholding information and using drugs on me! Ugh! It’s horrible!”
“Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how much he’s swindled you, and what he plans for the future?” asked Jupe. “Why not play along with him? Pretend to be asleep when he comes home today, then watch him. I’ll give you a telephone number where we can be reached — a couple of numbers, in fact.”
“Oh, Madeline, let’s do it!” said Clara Adams. “I’ve always wanted to play a joke on Marvin. He’s so grumpy and serious all the time.”
“It will be a marvellous joke,” said Madeline Bainbridge. “I can’t think of a single reason why I should trust you boys, and yet I do. I have to see exactly what Marvin is up to.”
“It could be almost anything,” said Bob. He held