was weak the next day but insisted on dressing and going downstairs to wait for Fitz to fulfill his promise. I sat in the study mulling over the problem. Surely Alden would be released now. No matter how angry he was with me, Whitbread must see that someone else had locked me in with the leopards and that must be the person who’d done it to Leeder. That the tragedy could have been repeated, if Kathlyn Williams had not been there, was something that would give me nightmares for months, I was sure. But we were disappointed when we sent Jack to Clara’s for news, only to learn that Alden had not been released and there was no change in his status.
I began to pace then, trying to understand what had happened. Was the man behind the curtain manipulating it all again? Stephen watched me gravely from behind his desk. He was also at a loss, and he knew the frustration would drive me to distraction. My only hope was that Fitz would be true to his word. If I could talk to Mrs. Busse at least I could feel I was doing something.
I went over the circumstances again and again in my mind, coming to the hazy conclusion that Col. Selig was somehow responsible for the whole mess, perhaps manipulating others from behind the scenes. Had he committed the murders himself or convinced others—perhaps Olga and Big Otto—to do his dirty work? I was still unclear about what motive could have driven him to kill both the censor and his own producer. But I must have been coming too close to the truth about what was behind it all, so he tried to get rid of me as well. I wracked my brain but couldn’t remember what I’d said or done that might have alarmed him. I had a feeling that if I could only discover more about the dead censor, then I would see it all clearly.
Finally, we heard Delia open the door for Fitz. I stopped pacing and went to greet him. “Fitz, you’ve come. Have you arranged for us to see Mrs. Busse?”
He stood holding his hat in his hands. “Yes, she’ll see us, but there’s been a development. Col. Selig’s returned and he’s holding a meeting for the press in his Randolph Street offices this morning.”
I tried to understand this. What could he be up to?
“Fitzgibbons, why haven’t they released Alden?” Stephen asked. “Surely they can’t think he had anything to do with the attack on Emily?”
Fitz’s face whitened. “I’m afraid there have been some impediments.”
“Impediments?” I said. “What do you mean? Someone tried to kill me in the same way Leeder was killed and it couldn’t have been Alden. He was in jail. What does Whitbread mean by this?”
Fitz heaved a sigh and came into the room, taking a seat in the leather chair where Stephen sat when he wasn’t at his desk.
“Sit down, Emily,” Stephen told me. He took his seat at the desk while I lowered myself reluctantly to the sofa. “What is it?” he asked Fitz.
The big Irishman wiped his brow with a white handkerchief. “Apparently, some of the film people have been talking. It’s that kind of a society, always talking behind each other’s backs, I’m afraid. It got back to Whitbread that some of them were suggesting…” He looked at me warily, then at Stephen as if for protection. “Well, someone suggested that Emily and Kathlyn Williams might have acted out the scene with the leopards in order to try to prove her brother innocent. I know,” he put up a hand as if to ward off my outburst, as I took a deep breath and shook with indignation. “I know, it’s awful. In fact, Babe Greer went to Detective Whitbread and told him about the rumors in order to refute them. She absolutely denied them and suggested Olga Celeste and Otto Breitkreutz might be responsible. Whitbread can’t believe such nonsense, but you can see, in the circumstances, he can’t release Alden until he has the real culprit in custody.”
He and Stephen looked at me, expecting an outburst. My blood was pounding at the spurious accusations, but I felt on the verge of tears. That Whitbread could entertain even the suspicion that I would plot with Kathlyn Williams to act out the leopard attack just proved how low his opinion of me had fallen. After all the years we’d worked together, that it would come to this…
My silence worried the men more than my expected outburst. I gathered my gloves and hat and wordlessly prepared to leave. Stephen and Fitz stood when I did.
“Fitzgibbons, you must promise me you won’t take her back to that film studio. There have been too many incidents there. It’s not safe,” Stephen said, and Fitz nodded. “Emily, I wish you wouldn’t pursue this. If Whitbread can be this unsympathetic, you can’t rely on him.”
I planted my straw hat on my head and stuck a pin in to keep it in place. “I won’t sit around and do nothing. Whitbread thinks he can’t rely on me. I’ll admit, I’ve given him reason but, if we don’t act, Alden will hang for something he didn’t do. Fitz, please. We must go.”
With a doubtful look at Stephen, Fitz stepped into the hallway. When I followed, Stephen grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. Embracing me, he whispered in my ear, “The only reason I’m letting you do this is because it’s Fitzgibbons.” He held me away from him and looked into my eyes. “I know he’d sacrifice himself before he’d allow any harm to come to you. Remember that, and don’t push him.” He turned me around and ushered me to the door.
“I won’t,” I said, before hurrying down the steps and into the waiting motorcar.
We agreed to attend Col. Selig’s meeting before the interview with Mrs. Busse. The Randolph Street offices were filled with newspapermen. If Alden were still at his job with the Tribune he would have been among them. It was hard for me to believe he would never again be one of that disheveled crowd that appeared like birds of prey at every new event in the city.
We were herded into a large office where Col. Selig was smiling behind a huge desk. Detective Whitbread stood woodenly behind him and I was surprised to see Broncho Billy Anderson nearby, grinning.
“Gentlemen of the press,” Col. Selig said loudly, in an attempt to quiet the raucous group. “Welcome to the offices of the Selig Polyscope Company. I’m delighted to be joined by Mr. Anderson of the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company.” He nodded to Anderson who stepped forward. “We’re happy to announce the establishment of the Motion Picture Patents Company with an historic agreement signed yesterday in New York. The motion picture industry enters a new and exciting phase with this accord. The agreement joins the nine major film companies including Selig, Essanay, Edison, and others, with the leading distributor and the biggest supplier of film stock to standardize the manner in which films are distributed and exhibited in America.”
There was a ripple of excitement through the room and murmurs of Edison’s name. Everyone knew Edison had been exhausting the other companies with lawsuits. The agreement would bring those actions to an end. As Selig continued, it became clear that he and the others had given in to many of Edison’s demands in order to protect those businesses that were already established and to discourage more competitors from entering the field.
As Selig described the “Trust,” as it was called, and excited reporters asked questions, I realized this was an extremely important agreement for the filmmakers and that the negotiations had been carried on in the strictest secrecy. It explained both why Selig had disappeared and why Anderson had been in his office, the day of Babe and Alonzo’s engagement, as well as his desperate attempts to contact the colonel afterwards. If Essanay missed being a part of the Trust, they would be ruined.
I wondered how important that secrecy had been. Was there something about the agreement that led to Selig or Anderson being blackmailed? Was the trust worth murdering a blackmailer to protect it? Had Hyde or Leeder found out something that would have prevented the agreement? Was that why they were murdered?
I saw Detective Whitbread across the room and wished I could tell him my suspicions. But he stood with a face of stone and I knew it would be useless.
I pulled on Fitz’s sleeve to urge him to leave. Somehow, I knew Mrs. Busse would be able to tell us something about how her cousin could have been blackmailed, if we just pushed her a little more. And I hoped whatever it was could be traced back to one of these film people, so Alden could finally be cleared.