At the corner she almost ran into Mack, who was coming out of a restaurant door. “Where’s the fire?” he asked, seeing her hurry. In her enthusiasm, she could not resist saying, “I’m covering a story for the paper, Mack.”
He stared at her. He was an odd creature, she reflected. Any one else would have been decent about it. But, of course, he disliked her because she was the sister of his rival.
“Did you notice who was with me, just now?” he asked.
Joan shook her head. She had vaguely seen a big sort of man strolling off, but had been too occupied with her own thoughts really to notice.
Mack continued to stare at her. “I believe I’ll tell you, kid. You see, I found out that you and that office boy think Dummy’s a crook. Well, so do I. So I thought I’d do some investigating on my own hook. I was just trying to pump Tebbets about him. Keep quiet about all this.”
“All right.” Joan was too engrossed in being sent on her first real assignment to bother much about anything, even about the office mystery. At least, Mack wasn’t laughing at them for thinking Dummy a spy—the way Tim probably would have. Rather the sport editor now seemed very much in earnest. Of course, he wanted to be the one to solve the problem in order to shine in Miss Betty’s eyes.
A few blocks more and she was at Davis’ Department Store. She got panicky. Maybe she shouldn’t have come. After all, she wasn’t a real reporter. Oh, what an adorable window! Chubby, lifelike baby figures, clad in abbreviated sun suits, playing in real sand. This must be the window. Joan pressed her face against the glass and took in details. Writing this up would be fun! Wouldn’t Tommy look cunning in one of those suits?
That reminded her that Tommy’s mother was in Davis’, just inside the door at the handkerchief counter. She would ask her about the window.
“Mr. Dugan, the floorwalker, will be glad to tell you about the window, Joan,” Tommy’s mother said. “He adores kids, and that window is a pet of his.”
Mr. Dugan was lovely (Joan’s word), a tall man in striped trousers and a cutaway coat, who looked more like an usher at a stylish wedding than a floorwalker. He took her to the window and explained about the suits, saying that Davis’ was the first store in Plainfield to show them. Joan made a note of that on her pad and underscored it.