Masked · Book 4 · Stuart Corlett
The Distance Between Being Seen and Being Known
Being seen is different from being known.
Adrian Cole knows how to be looked at. As an actor and public figure, he understands the face a moment calls for—and how convincingly a photograph can suggest that everything is in place.
The people closest to him need something a camera cannot confirm. With his daughter Sophie and the others who share his private life, attention means more than appearing attentive. Familiar charm can ease a moment without answering the question beneath it.
The Face in the Window brings the Masked series to its fourth book with a story about image, family and the work of being present. Stuart Corlett turns from the face a stranger recognizes to the person those at home are still trying to reach, asking what remains when being seen is no longer enough.
Read before you choose
Chapter 1 — A good face
Focal character: Adrian.
Switch: Public Figure
Adrian Cole had three seconds to decide whether to laugh.
The interviewer had made a joke about his appearance in a film he would have preferred to forget. It was a harmless joke, rehearsed badly. Adrian supplied the laugh that made it look spontaneous.
The interviewer relaxed.
That was one of his skills. People left conversations with him believing they had been unusually interesting.
She glanced at the next question. The room had lights arranged to look like no one had arranged them. A member of the crew adjusted something near the window while trying to remain outside everyone's attention.
Adrian knew that feeling. He had once done it more often than he had occupied the chair he was sitting in now.
He moved his elbow so the adjustment could be made without asking him. The crew member mouthed thanks.
“So what keeps you grounded?” the interviewer asked.
He thought of Sophie declining his call the previous evening.
“Family.”
“Lovely.”
He waited for the next question, but the interviewer wanted a little more. He offered something about ordinary life, careful enough to reveal very little and familiar enough to sound intimate.
She nodded. It was a good answer for the exchange they were having.
He wondered whether Sophie would recognize herself anywhere in it.
The photographer asked him to turn slightly toward the window. He did. Light found the side of his face that had sold more tickets.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He kept his face turned toward the window until the photographer lowered the camera.
They photographed him looking thoughtful, approachable, amused. The three expressions took less than a minute.
“Can we get one a little more serious?”
He let the smile leave slowly. Sudden seriousness could look like bad temper. He knew precisely how far to lower his chin.
“That's good.”
He held it.
He was not thinking about anything suitable for the image. He was calculating when he needed to leave.
The photographer wanted one more. Adrian agreed. Saying yes was easier than disturbing the cheerful cooperation he had helped create.
The interview was ending, then not quite ending. Someone wanted a short extra answer. Someone else wanted to check that a photograph had worked. Each request was small enough that refusing it would make the refusal appear larger than the request.
End of sample · © Stuart Corlett
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