A Hitch at the Fairmont by Nick Bertozzi

Author:Nick Bertozzi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

THE GLOOM IN JACK’S HEART remained for the rest of that evening as they returned to Hitchcock’s suite and spoke long into the night about what to do next.

“I’m sure he didn’t go in the restroom,” Jack said. “I didn’t see everyone’s face, but the kidnapper is too short to miss.”

“Perhaps he had another accomplice,” Hitchcock said.

“And we’re no closer to finding Aunt Edith,” Jack said. He thought of the social worker’s ominous “I’ll be back” and wondered how long he had to find his aunt.

“One can’t help noticing that things do not add up here,” Hitchcock said. “Were I writing the events of the past few days as a screenplay, Alma— Mrs. Hitchcock— would have my head. ‘Too many inconsistencies,’ she’d say.”

“It’s more than ‘how did we miss The Suave Man at the camera obscura?’ ” said Jack. “It’s questions we’ve asked but didn’t answer. Like why was my rich aunt wearing fake jewels? Why did she have ten thousand in cash? And why did the kidnapper overlook the cash when he left the first ransom note?”

“And the hidden location of the first note we found in your aunt’s purse,” Hitchcock added. “In the cinema, clarity is of paramount importance. It is indispensible that one’s audience be perfectly aware of the facts. Without clarity the audience cannot be frightened, or anxious, or anything but confused.”

“But what about the characters?” Jack asked. “They don’t always know what’s happening.”

“Not at first. But eventually they must. Some final clue lets them know they’re facing a murderer, or a foreign spy, and that they are in very real danger.”

“So how do you get them there?”

The director waved his hand in the air. “With a revelatory scene. Something to move them from suspicion to certainty. A whispered conversation overheard. An overlooked clue discovered,” Hitchcock said. “Flowers that grow down. A monogrammed hat that is too large. Bottles of uranium stocked in the wine cellar.”

“Well, there aren’t any whispered conversations to overhear right now. So how do we find an overlooked clue?” Jack asked. This was the director’s area of expertise. Jack knew he’d have an answer.

Hitchcock made a little steeple of his fingers and pulled nervously at his bulbous lower lip. “Perhaps by reviewing what we already have, we’ll see something in a new light,” he said.

“Like we saw the ocean in a new way at the Giant Camera?” Jack asked.

“Precisely,” Hitchcock said. “Though I think we should wait until tomorrow to take a fresh look. We are both tired now, and we would likely miss something important if we tried to give things a second look at this hour.”

Jack reluctantly agreed. It was decided that he should again sleep on the sofa in the director’s room. He went to his aunt’s to grab his pajamas and toothbrush. He fed Muffin. Back in the director’s suite he brushed his teeth. He stared into the mirror, making different faces to look like a brave man. But it was useless. He was an eleven-year-old boy in cowboy pajamas.

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