Kat's Journal of Case 03 The Stolen Kiss
Film premiere
Ernest won tickets and has invited Sherl and I to the premiere of the latest Maverick D.
Rector film, 'A Naval Advance: No Sub For Love'.
Personally, I'm more interested in the new durian-flavoured popcorn that's on sale at the venue.
Meetings at the Saveloy
It's my first time at the Saveloy.
We bumped into Scotland Yard super-profiler, Emiliana Perfetti again.
Also present are the seven so-called 'Dragons of London' - the capital's famous multi-millionaires.
This has all the hallmarks of an exciting show!
Popcorn disaster
Tragedy strikes!
While introducing ourselves to the Dragons at the Saveloy, I missed my chance to sample the durian popcorn I've been looking forward to.
We've had to go into the auditorium as the film is about to start.
But I haven't given up hope!
Stolen kiss scene
Who could have predicted this?
In an unprecedented turn of events, it transpires that the final, climactic kiss scene has been stolen!
Who could possibly have done such a thing?
And why?
It's a good job there's a detective in the house!
Projectionist and myna bird
We're investigating at the behest of Phineas T. Barnone, owner of the Saveloy.
We've interviewed projectionist Seymore Fraymes, who's crazy about his equipment, and keeps a myna bird called The Major.
But I've just remembered my popcorn quest.
Popcorn sold out
Sadly, the popcorn I've been hankering after is all sold out.
According to the employee at the kiosk, even the myna bird managed to get some!
So it's all over.
Now we're heading out of the cinema to find and interview Eddie Torre, the film editor.
The chief editor, Mr Torre
It seems Mr Torre is Rector's right-hand man.
Together they inspected the film just prior to the screening and found no issues.
However at that time, Torre did express his dissatisfaction with the final kiss scene.
We need to speak to the director again.
Maverick's own work?
Emiliana believes the incident to be the director's own doing.
She's speculated that Rector, being a perfectionist, cut the final scene himself as he was unhappy with it.
Torre has gone into the auditorium to confront him.
We're hot on his heels.
Torre and Rector fall out
Rector and Torre got into a blazing row in the now-empty auditorium.
Rector accused Torre of cutting the final scene, after the editor expressed his contempt for it, but Torre has a strong alibi.
Someone else must have stolen it instead.
The ultimate truth
It turns out that The Major, projectionist Fraymes's pet myna bird, was flying free and did a poo on the final reel of the film.
Fraymes couldn't bear to pass the contaminated film through his precious machines, so he cut the scene instead.