I shook my head.

She regarded me bitterly for a moment, and said, “You certainly play a funny game, all take and no give.”

I said, “I’m sorry, Marian. You wanted to play partners and pool information. I couldn’t do it that way. You’re working for the newspaper and want a story. I want something else. Publicity wouldn’t help my game any.”

She drew little aimless diagrams with her pencil on the pad of paper in front of her. After a minute, she said, “Well, we understand each other.”

“Your uncle in?” I asked.

“No. He’s gone fishing.”

“When did he go?”

“Early yesterday morning.”

“Then he doesn’t know about the big news.”

“What?”