The Silver Blonde by Elizabeth Ross

Author:Elizabeth Ross [Ross, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2021-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

Mr. Pearce was sitting behind a vast white desk, with the phone receiver (also white) clamped to his ear. He gestured for Clara to come in and pointed to the guest chairs.

The office was huge. Besides the desk there were couches, a bookcase, and a bar. Every surface in the office was white or chrome and reflected the light. Immaculate. It was the opposite of the utilitarian cutting rooms or film archive; it was more like a hotel suite or a Park Avenue apartment. Clara had the impression that she had stepped onto a film set, one of those fast-talking romantic comedies from the thirties with witty banter, no stopping for breath. She half expected Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant to be lounging on one of the white couches. Martini or gimlet?

Clara sat down and surveyed his desk. Two telephones, a neat stack of screenplays, and framed photos of girls on ponies and young men on boats.

“Forgive me.” Pearce hung up the phone. “One of those days.” He leaned back in his chair and contemplated her from across the vast white ocean of desk. Conrad Pearce was as immaculate and cold as his office. “This murder business…” He frowned. “Damn awful thing. How are you coping?” Gil had called it as if he’d written the script himself.

Clara fought a smile, imagining relating the anecdote to Gil after work. “I’m doing okay, thanks.”

“It’s a terrible business. A nice girl like you.” He gave a grave shake of his head. Clara felt she should point out that nothing awful had happened to her. She had merely seen something horrible. He leaned toward her. “I don’t mind saying it, but I’d rather it had been one of the vault boys who had come across it.” “It” being Connie’s body. “Even Miss Simkin—she’s as tough as old boots, am I right?” He gave her a well-practiced smile void of any feeling. “But a nice girl like you.” Again that rueful shake of the head.

Clara squirmed in her seat at the patronizing tone. Across the courtyard the sun reflected off an open window and dazzled into the office, blinding her like a follow spot, forcing her to lean to the side at an awkward angle.

“Well, Miss Berg, we got you out of the vaults. You happy working with Sam?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Daft that we ever hired a girl in the first place to be a vault boy. What did they have you do, lug cans of film all day?”

Clara nodded. “That’s the job. I did it as well as the boys.”

“I’m sure,” he said insincerely. “Now, I wanted to run something by you. Our publicity fellow came up with the idea of doing a piece for the studio paper, the spotlight column—‘Women Behind the Scenes.’ We’re keen to shift the recent bad press and show that Silver Pacific is a wonderful place for a young woman to work—a morale booster, so to speak. It’s going to be a series, and we’d like to start with you.

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