“I’ve had to do reporting up there in Oakview, and even if it is a little paper in a one-horse country town, you have to have a nose for news to get by. I’m ambitious and — well, they can’t rule you off the track for trying.”
I said, “Forget it. Go back to Oakview and marry Charlie. By the way, how is Charlie?”
“All right,” she said, avoiding my eyes.
“What did he think of you leaving Oakview and coming to the city to get a job being a detective?”
“He didn’t know anything about it.”
I kept watching her, and she, feeling my eyes on hers, kept looking at the tablecloth. I said, “I hope you’re telling me the truth.”
She raised her eyes then in a quick flash, and said, “Oh, but I am.” Then she lowered her eyes again.
A waiter took our orders, and brought food. Marian didn’t say anything until after she’d finished her soup, then she pushed the plate away, and said, “Donald, do you suppose she’d give me a job?”
“Who?”
“Why, Mrs. Cool, of course.”