The elderly man who timidly entered the offices of Bartley Longe was clearly not a potential customer. His thinning white hair was straggly on his skull, his worn Dallas Cowboys jacket in need of replacing, his jeans hanging loose on his body, his feet clad in old sneakers. He made his way slowly to the reception desk. At the first sight of him, Phyllis, the receptionist, took him to be a messenger. Then she dismissed that possibility. The frailness of the man’s body and the sallow complexion of his wrinkled face suggested that he was, or had been, seriously ill.
She was glad that the boss was huddled in a meeting with Elaine, his secretary, and two fabric designers, and that his door was closed. Bartley Longe would have thought that whatever this man wanted, he didn’t belong in the rarefied atmosphere of these surroundings. Even after six years, kindhearted Phyllis cringed at the way Bartley treated any person with a shabby appearance. Like her pal Elaine, Phyllis stayed at the job for the pretty decent salary, and the fact that Bartley was out of the office often enough to give them all a break.
She smiled at the obviously nervous visitor. “How can I help you?”
“My name is Toby Grissom. I’m sorry to bother you. It’s just that I haven’t heard from my daughter in six months and I can’t sleep at night because I’m so worried that maybe she’s in some kind of trouble. She used to work here about two years ago. I thought someone in your office, maybe, might have heard from her.”
“She worked here?” Phyllis asked, as she mentally reviewed the list of employees who might have quit or been fired around two years ago. “What is her name?”
“Brittany La Monte. At least that’s her stage name. She came to New York twelve years ago. Like all kids she wanted to be an actress, and she did get a little part off-Broadway now and then.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Grissom, but I’ve been here six years, and I can absolutely tell you that no one named Brittany La Monte was working in this office two years ago.”
As though afraid of being dismissed out of hand, Grissom explained, “Well, not exactly worked for you here. What I mean is that she made her living as a makeup artist. Sometimes when there were cocktail parties to show off those model apartments Mr. Longe decorated, he asked Brittany to do the makeup for the models. Then he invited her to be one of the models. She’s a real pretty girl.”
“Oh, that could be why I never met her,” Phyllis said. “What I can do is ask Mr. Longe’s secretary about her. She’s at all those model-apartment parties, and she has a phenomenal memory. But she’s tied up in a meeting now and I know she won’t be free for a couple of hours. Can you come back later?”
Make it after three, Phyllis reminded herself. King Tut said he was going to his place in Litchfield tonight, and he’s leaving after lunch. “Mr. Grissom, anytime after three would work,” she said sweetly.
“Thank you, ma’am. You’re very kind. You see, my daughter always wrote to me regularly. She did say she was going on a trip two years ago, and sent me twenty-five thousand dollars to make sure I had something in the bank. Her mother passed away a long time ago and my little girl and I have been real pals. She said she wouldn’t be in touch too often. Every once in a while I would get a letter from her. The postmark would be New York, so I know she’s been back here. But like I say, it’s been six months and no letter, and I’ve just got to see her. The last time she was in Dallas was almost four years ago now.”
“Mr. Grissom, if we have an address for her, I promise we’ll have it for you this afternoon,” Phyllis said. Even as she spoke she knew that there probably wasn’t any financial record of payment to Brittany La Monte. Bartley always paid people like her off the books so that he could get away cheaper than paying union wages.
“You see, I just got a pretty bad report from my doctor,” Grissom explained, as he turned to go. “That’s why I’m here. I don’t have long and I don’t want to die before I see Glory again and be sure she’s okay.”
“Glory? I thought you said her name was Brittany.”
Toby Grissom smiled reminiscently. “Her real name is Margaret Grissom, after her mother. Like I said, her stage name is Brittany La Monte. But when she was born, I took one look at her and said, ‘Little girl, you’re so gorgeous your mama may call you Margaret, but my name for you is Glory.’”