1958 - Not Safe to be Free Read Online Free Page B

Joe snapped out of a doze and peered down the corridor. He saw Jay Delaney come down the corridor and pause outside the door to suite 27.
    Without thinking much about what he was doing, Joe lifted the Rolliflex, glanced quickly into the viewfinder, adjusted the focus and then gently pressed the shutter release. He had already set the aperture and he was satisfied that he had taken a printable picture should Manley want to print a picture of Floyd Delaney’s son which, Joe knew, was extremely unlikely.
    He shifted on the window seat as he watched Jay unlock the door and disappear into the suite. Joe shrugged and groped for the half-pint bottle of whisky he always carried around with him in his hip pocket. He took a long pull, sighed and put the bottle away. He was just beginning to wonder if he should waste any more time outside this door when he saw a girl coming down the corridor.
    He recognized her immediately. She was the up-and-coming French starlette, Lucille Balu, in a blue and white off-the-shoulder dress and a string of fat blue beads around her lovely brown throat.
    Automatically, Joe wound on a new strip of film, wondering what she was doing on this floor reserved for film executives only. He felt a tiny prickle of excitement as she paused outside the door of suite 27.
    He lifted his camera as she raised her hand to knock on the door and the shutter clicked as she rapped. As he lowered the camera, he thought the right caption to that picture should be: Opportunity Knocks. Lucille Balu, the French starlette, knocks on the door of Floyd Delaney’s luxury suite at the Plaza hotel. Is this the beginning of a Hollywood career for this talented young beginner? Not the kind of material Manley was looking for, of course, but there was a chance he might sell the picture to some other rag.
    He watched the door open and Jay appear in the doorway.
    He heard Jay say, “How wonderfully punctual! Come on in. My father’s waiting to meet you.”
    He watched the girl enter and the door close.
    It took several seconds for Jay’s words to sink into Joe’s fuddled mind.
    My father’s waiting to meet you.
    That couldn’t be right. Floyd Delaney was at the cinema. Joe had seen him with his wife walking up the steps leading to the cinema and he knew they wouldn’t be back until at least six o’clock.
    Joe ran his fingers through his thinning hair.
    What did this mean?
    He remembered Jay Delaney had asked him who the girl was and he suddenly stiffened to attention. Was there more to this good-looking, pleasantly mannered youngster than he had imagined?
    Joe had already noticed that Jay seemed to live a pretty solitary life. He had noticed, too, that he spent his days alone sitting on the beach, reading and kept away from the fun and games that made the drudgery of the Festival worthwhile.
    Had this boy tricked the girl into coming to the suite on the pretext that his father wanted to see her? Any ambitious starlette would jump at the chance of meeting Floyd Delaney.
    Was the boy going to attempt to seduce her?
    Joe broke out in a hot sweat of excitement. Suppose he did and she screamed for help: that would give him the right to burst in there with his camera. He might even catch them struggling together: the girl with her clothes up around her neck! How Manley would eat a picture like that! It would wipe out all Joe’s past mistakes! He would be in solid with Manley for life!
    He leaned forward and listened, but he couldn’t hear anything.
    Then just as he was about to leave his hiding place and go and listen at the door, he saw Sophia Delaney coming briskly down the corridor.
    For a moment he couldn’t believe his eyes. His run of bad luck had been so consistent that he couldn’t believe he was getting a break and what a break!
    Stepson lures starlette up to Papa’s luxury suite, then, at the psychological moment, stepmother arrives! It was the kind of stuff Peep lived on!
    Joe lifted his camera as Sophia knocked on the