I wasn’t surprised. I knew her qualify now. “You mean it was him that hit you with the bottle?”
“I can’t say it was him that hit me. I think people should be careful what they accuse other people of. I only know it was him I saw standing behind me with his arm raised, and then something hit me. From that anyone can only draw conclusions, but there are other reasons too. He was rude to me this morning, asking me questions, and all day he has been looking at me in a rude way, not the way a girl is willing for a man to look at her because she has to expect that. And then you can just be logical. Would Ed want to kill me, or Philip or Jimmie or Tom or Mr. Fickler? Why would they? So it must have been him even if I hadn’t seen him.”
“It does sound logical,” I conceded. “But I’ve known Stebbins for years and have never known him to strike a woman without cause. What did he have against you?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned a little. “When they ask me that I’ll just have to say I don’t know. That’s one of the first things you must tell me, how to answer things to the reporters. I shouldn’t think I can keep on saying I don’t know, or why would they print it? What hit you I don’t know, who hit you I don’t know, why did he hit you I don’t know, my Lord, who would want to read that? What shall I say when they ask why he hit me?”
“We’ll come back to that. First we—”
“We ought to settle it now.” She was pouting fit for a Life cover, but determined. “That’s how you’ll earn your ten per cent.”
“My ten per cent of what?”
“Of everything I get. As my manager.” She extended a hand, her eyes straight at mine. “Shake on it.”
To avoid a contractual shake without offending, I grasped the back of her hand with my left, turning her palm up, and ran the fingers of my right from her wrist to her fingertips. “It’s a darned good idea,” I said appreciatively, “but we’ll have to postpone it. I’m going through bankruptcy just now, and it would be illegal for me to make a contract. About—”
“I can tell the reporters to ask you about things I don’t know. It’s called referring them to my manager.”