In a Deadly Vein Read Online Free PDF Page A

her opportunity into a personal triumph, and when the final curtain came down, he again strode out while the ancient playhouse echoed with applause.
    Phyllis clung to his arm and was silent until they were on the sidewalk. Then she spoke sharply:
    “I can’t see that Nora Carson was particularly missed tonight. The other girl was marvelous.”
    Shayne grunted. “Yeh. That’s one of the things that tastes bad to me. The Forbes girl is so damned good that I’m willing to bet Nora Carson has lost her part altogether. First, her father whom she has just found after ten years, then an important role that she’s rehearsed for weeks—all in the space of three hours.”
    “But you can’t blame yourself, Michael,” Phyllis wailed.
    He looked down at her and some of the grimness went out of his face. “You’re not a cop, angel. You don’t know the feeling of being just too late to prevent murder.”
    The vanguard of first-nighters was filing from the opera house. Shayne turned toward the side of the building again. He said, “I’m going to see her if I have to break that damned gate down.”
    As they crossed over the flume he noticed that the tremendous rushing sound of water had receded. The wooden gate leading backstage was standing open.
    They found a door leading into the shadowy region of props and sliding scenery behind the lowered curtain. The stage was a riot of confusion, with members of the cast receiving congratulations from those of the audience who were fortunate enough to find standing room.
    Shayne and Phyllis wormed their way through to find Frank Carson in the midst of a bevy of bare backs and flowing skirts. The young actor saw the detective and signaled to him urgently, thrusting aside feminine admirers to make his way to Shayne.
    When they met, Shayne said, “I was worried about your wife. How is she holding up?”
    Carson’s face darkened under his heavy make-up. “Isn’t Nora with you? You promised to look after things.”
    Shayne’s gray eyes narrowed. “Why should your wife be with me?”
    “I thought she’d gone back—up there.”
    “Do you mean she isn’t in the theater?”
    “Hell, no, she isn’t here. Why would I be asking you? She must have gone out right after the play started. I left her in her dressing-room when I went on. She swore she’d be all right. Then she slipped out without telling anyone.”
    “No one?”
    “No one knew she was gone until just in time for Christine to get in costume. I thought she’d gone back to find you.” Frank Carson took a backward step. Horror and fear were accentuated by heavy mascara and greasepaint, and his fine features were distorted. He said in a low, furious voice, “You didn’t stay? You don’t know what has become of Nora? You let her go out alone—with a mad killer roaming this damned town? What sort of a detective are you?”
    “Sometimes I ask myself that same question,” Shayne said grimly, “and don’t receive a very satisfactory reply.”

 
CHAPTER FIVE
     
    PHYLLIS SHAYNE was not one to stand idly by and hear her husband aspersed. She stepped between Shayne and Frank with dark eyes blazing. “You’re a fine one to accuse Michael of letting your wife wander off. Why didn’t you stop her?”
    “I didn’t know she was going.” He arched his perfect brows in surprise and modulated his voice. “I had to rush like the devil to get ready for my cue.”
    “Well, neither did Michael know she was going,” Phyllis countered angrily.
    Shayne chuckled and put Phyllis gently aside. “This little hell-cat is my wife,” he explained. “She only gets belligerent when I’m attacked. If your wife went back up the hill, she’s all right. There were officers up there to take care of her. But if she went wandering off on some tangent of her own, we’d better try to find her. Are you sure she didn’t tell anybody where she was going?”
    “I don’t think so,” Carson told him, “else they would have had Christine ready