Chapter Twenty
THE MYSTERY DEEPENS
The girls stared helplessly at each other and Helen was finally thefirst to speak.
"But Janet, that can't be possible. It must be here somewhere."
Janet shook her head firmly. "It isn't here and we both know it. Mypremonition when we entered the room was right. Something is decidedlywrong."
"But what can we do about it?" asked Helen.
"I'm going to call the clerk," said Janet, picking up the telephone. Sheexplained briefly what had happened. "The assistant manager is here.He's coming up in five minutes," she said when she replaced theinstrument on the stand.
Helen rushed back to her own room to finish dressing and was fullyclothed when the assistant manager arrived. He made a carefulexamination of the door and the lock and then went all over the roomswith the girls, but as Janet had felt convinced, there was no furthertrace of the missing papers.
"I regret this deeply," said the hotel official, "and can only promisethat every effort will be made to see that the papers are returned ifthey are still in the building." He excused himself to question thehousekeeper about any maid who might have been working in the room whilethe girls were away.
In less than five minutes he returned, a maid following close behindhim.
"I think the mystery is solved," he explained. "The maid says she camein to put fresh towels in the bathroom and someone knocked at the door.She answered and a man from the World Broadcasting Company said he hadcome to get your manuscript. He came right on in and picked up thepapers beside the typewriter. Of course she should not have admittedhim, but he appeared to know just what he wanted."
"What did he look like?" Janet asked the maid.
"Well, I didn't pay particular attention, but he was small and I guessyou would call him dark. He had on a hat and it was pulled down over hisforehead. He took the papers and went on out. Said they'd be waiting foryou at the broadcasting office tomorrow."
"I believe this solves the mystery," said the assistant manager.
"I hope so," agreed Janet. "We're sorry to have caused you so muchtrouble."
When the hotel official and the maid had taken their departure, Helenturned to her companion.
"I didn't know the radio people were in such a hurry for the materialyou were working on," she said.
"Neither did I," replied Janet, "but I guess it is all right. Let's havedinner now and then perhaps a show. I feel tremendously relieved aboutthe manuscript."
They added a dab of powder and a touch of rouge to their faces and wentdownstairs. Further down the block they had noticed an attractive OldEnglish Inn and they walked there where they enjoyed a leisurely dinner.
"What shall we do now?" asked Helen as she finished the dish of icecream which was their dessert.
"Shall we go back to Radio City and see the Music Hall?" asked Janet.
"I'd like nothing better. We're on our way."
They strolled along at a leisurely pace, turned into Sixth Avenue andheaded north toward the great mass of gray limestone which was RadioCity. Overhead the trains rumbled along the elevated, but Janet andHelen had eyes only for Radio City.
Ahead of them opened the doors of the world's largest theater and withtheir hearts beating faster than usual they purchased their tickets andwalked into the grand foyer, the most majestic, breath-taking enclosureeither of them had ever been in. Their feet sank into the heavy pile ofthe great carpet and their eyes feasted on the beauty of the toweringbronze doors which led into the theater itself.
Then they went on into the Music Hall, which with its sixty-two hundredseats, was the largest of the world's modern theaters. A great expanseof space greeted their eyes, the theater sloping gently forward to thehuge stage. An orchestra, in full dress, was rising from the depths ofits pit as though lifted by the hand of some unseen giant. The orchestrabroke into a full swell of music and Janet and Helen, sinking into deep,comfortable seats, were enraptured. Above them hidden lights changed thecolor effect of the ceiling continuously. Then the overture was over andthe curtains of the stage parted and for half an hour they enjoyed amusical entertainment based on Coney Island, the famed fun center of thecity. After that came the feature picture, and they enjoyed every momentof the nearly three hours of entertainment.
When it was over they walked out slowly, for the Music Hall was onegreat part of Radio City. Tomorrow, across the street and up on thetwenty-seventh floor, they would be in another but very vital part ofRadio City, in the broadcasting studios of the World BroadcastingCompany. As they walked down Sixth Avenue they glanced aloft and far upin the building a blaze of light shone from windows. Some company wasbusy up there tonight, providing thousands of radio fans with drama ormusic for their entertainment and they thrilled at the thought thatwithin a very short time, they, too, would be a part of the radio world.
Back in their rooms that night Janet glanced at the place beside thetypewriter where the manuscript had disappeared. She would have liked tohave telephoned Curt Newsom and told the lanky cowboy about the incidentbut he had not mentioned where he was staying. She thought oftelephoning Mr. Adolphi, their radio director, but dismissed that forshe felt that he might think her foolish. Undoubtedly he had sent forthe manuscript.
They were up early the next morning, refreshed after a night of soundsleep. A quick shower was followed by a rapid but thorough toilet andthey were ready for what they might have in store for them. They hadbreakfast in the grill room which opened off the main lobby of theirhotel and then started for Radio City.
There was a touch of fall in the air and they walked briskly, pushingthrough other hurrying throngs of men and women who were on their way towork.
The elevator shot them up to the twenty-seventh floor in a dizzy,breathless rush and they stepped out into the reception room. A pagetook them to studio K and there were only two others there when theyentered--Ben Adolphi, their director, and Curt Newsom. The cowboy starlooked a little pale.
"Sick?" asked Janet.
Curt shook his head. "Not exactly, but I didn't sleep very well lastnight. Too much noise here in the city. I'm going to move. My hotel'sright on Times Square."
"Why, we're staying there too," said Helen. "Our hotel is theDorchester. We slept fine."
"I'm staying there," replied Curt, "but I don't see how you slept. Iheard fire engines and police patrols and street cars and newsboys allnight. I might as well have been down in the subway trying to sleep onan express train."
The radio director looked at Janet.
"Manuscript ready?" he asked.
Janet stared at him and he repeated the question.
"Haven't you got it?" she asked.
"Certainly not," he snapped, evidently a little provoked at what heconsidered dull wits.
"But the maid at the hotel said someone from the studio called yesterdayafternoon for it. It's gone!"
"Certainly I didn't send for it," he retorted. "Evidently it was someone's idea of a practical joke."
"I don't think it was much of a joke," said Curt quietly. "If themanuscript Janet was working on has disappeared, it vanished becausesomeone was afraid of what she might write."
Janet Hardy in Radio City Page 20
