The secretary shook his head.
“That is the only one we’ve seen,” he said. “You’ll find lots of names of local people—there isn’t a tradesman in the place who hasn’t written a scenario or submitted an idea since we’ve been operating.”
Slowly Michael’s finger went up the column of names. Page after page was turned back. And then his finger stopped at an entry.
“The Power of Fear: Sir Gregory Penne,” he read, and looked round at Dicker.
“Did Sir Gregory submit scenarios, Mr. Dicker?”
Dicker nodded.
“Yes, he sent in one or two,” he said. “You’ll find his name farther back in the book. He used to write scenarios which he thought were suitable for Miss Mendoza. He’s not the man you’re looking for?”
“No,” said Michael quickly. “Have you any of his manuscript?”
“They were all sent back,” said Dicker regretfully. “He wrote awful mush! I read one of them. I remember Foss trying to persuade old Jack to produce it. Foss made quite a lot of money on the side, we’ve discovered. He used to take fees from authors, and Mr. Knebworth discovered this morning that he once took two hundred pounds from a lady on the promise that he’d get her into the pictures. He wrote Foss a stinging letter this morning about it.”
Presently Michael found Sir Gregory’s name again. It was not remarkable that the owner of Griff Towers should have submitted a manuscript. There was hardly a thinking man or woman in the world who did not believe he or she was capable of writing for the films.