The Camera Always Lies by Hugh Hood

Author:Hugh Hood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Biblioasis
Published: 2016-03-04T18:49:22+00:00

10

Back from London, Lambert Vogelsang came into the Lyricart offices on a Thursday. The switchboard girl smiled at him apologetically, which alarmed him. He walked far back into the ranks of smaller offices, along a dark, windowless corridor to his own room at the end of the floor, where he sat down suddenly and passed a palm over his forehead. He was very tired from the flight. When Miss Mcintyre bustled in, he flinched.

“Miss Leclair has been trying to get you all morning.”

“Does she say what for?” They both laughed sadly.

“I suppose we can guess, the poor thing.” Miss Mcintyre had felt much sympathy for Rose during this mess; they were about the same age and had always gotten along together better than most chance acquaintances. Rose had been coming into the Lyricart offices ever since her first trip East, oh, years and years ago, to help promote one of her earliest pictures. At that time Miss Mcintyre had been just a girl in the pool, who now and then took dictation from Mr. Vogelsang among others. Rose had spoken to her with cheerful politeness one afternoon when she had come into the room to transcribe the details of a contract. Miss Mcintyre had been glad to be treated like a person instead of an appliance, and now she was sorry to see her friend all upset and deserted, and she wanted Lambert to do something.

“There isn’t much I can do for her, Jan,” he said. “I spoke to Horler yesterday and he says there’s absolutely no question of preparing alternate prints of Goody and I must admit it would cost him a flock of dough to do it.”

The phone rang insistently. “You better take it,” he said. “Say I haven’t come in yet.” It was Rose all right. He watched with anxiety as Miss Mcintyre picked up the receiver.

“Hello again, Miss Leclair. I’m sorry, no, he hasn’t appeared. What?” She covered the mouthpiece and whispered to Vogelsang, “She says the operator told her she saw you.” He nodded, cornered at last, and she spoke into the phone. “I’ll just look along the hall, if you’ll hold on a minute. Perhaps he stopped to speak to somebody.” She put the phone down again and said quietly, “I don’t like the way she sounds, Lambert. I think you’d better talk to her.”

“How?”

“She sounds pretty disturbed. She says she’s been alone for days.”

“She can’t have been drinking, or anything like that.”

“Well, she never has, that I know of.”

He sighed. “I’ll talk to her.”

Miss Mcintyre said, “Miss Leclair, he’s just coming along the hall, if you’ll hold on. I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting.” She handed him the receiver and he held it for two counts and spoke, hoping that what he heard as a ghastly false heartiness would come across warm and kind.

“Rose dear, how are you? I just came in this minute. We had a bumpy flight and I didn’t sleep much.” He had always forestalled the complaints of

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