“There wasn’t anything personal about it,” Belder said. “That is, in a way.”
Bertha said angrily, “Quit beating around the bush. Why did you fire her?”
“Well, for one reason, she was too good-looking. She carried herself in a provocative manner. It’s hard to explain. She was not only good-looking, but conscious of her good looks.”
“What’s that got to do with it?”
“Well, when you have a sister-in-law who is as observing as Carlotta Goldring, and a mother-in-law as suspicious as Theresa Goldring, it has a lot to do with it.”
“Did they tell you to fire her?”
“No, no. Now don’t misunderstand me, Mrs. Cool. They didn’t make any definite suggestions. Imogene was a very nice secretary. A very competent young woman, but she had certain habits, certain—”
Bertha leaned forward in her chair, her eyes boring into those of the sales engineer. “Of all the damned wishy-washy excuses,” she said. “Now, come on. Out with it. You’d been having an argument with her before Sergeant Sellers and I got here yesterday morning. She’d been crying. That’s when you told her she was fired, wasn’t it?”
“Well, no. Not exactly.”
Bertha said, “Now listen, I know you’d been having an argument. If you told her she was fired, or that you weren’t going to keep her, before I arrived on the scene, it would help a lot in showing that this suit is just a trumped-up piece of blackmail. Can’t you see? I’ve got to show that she didn’t get fired because of what I said.”