Part 10 (2/2)
Another type of girl in those same circ.u.mstances, quite aware of her figure and of the boss's interest in it, might have done a certain amount of flaunting and posturing.
Not Toni. She couldn't very well wear a Mother Hubbard, but she dressed and carried herself so as to minimize office tension.
”Good morning,” she said, putting her purse in her desk drawer.
”Morning. I'm reading about Mary.”
”You were one of the friends she had dinner with, weren't you? I heard you talking to Mr. Raymond about it Friday.”
”I was one of the ones, yes.”
”Funny thing,” she said, frowning thoughtfully. She leaned back in her little secretarial chair. Her desk is catty corner near the outside windows, facing mine. She laced her fingers across the nape of her neck, elbows out, frowning as she thought about Mary's disappearance. I must have stared at the front of the jumper with horrid intensity. She straightened up, lowering her arms hastily, bringing her typing machine up out of the bowels of the desk with one practiced muscular wrench.
I could sense the plant filling up. I could hear the faraway ding-ding-ding of the IBM. time clock as they filed in. A few pieces of equipment started and then, on the stroke of nine the place came to full life for the long Monday. Hangover day. Absentee day. Gus Kruslov was my first customer. He waddled in and said, ”I ain't got me a single d.a.m.n man to put on that number three mill.”
”You'll have to take King off setup then.”
”He'll raise h.e.l.l.”
”Put him on. Lean on him. I'll stop by later and sweet talk him.”
As soon as he was gone, Ratcher came in with one of his kid engineers who had dreamed up a cutie over the weekend. We spread the drawing out on the table and went over it, and it looked fine. The kid was beaming.
Toni had gotten the summary report from the records clerk and she was making a stencil, so I went down on the floor with the engineers.
It was that kind of a day. A jumping bean day. Dodd Raymond came up to my office at about eleven. Toni had spotted him down on the floor and tipped me. He came in and shut the noise out, and glanced at Toni. I told her to go get me that tool list. That was code to go powder her nose.
Dodd placed a haunch on my desk corner, clicked my lamp on and off.
”They still don't know a d.a.m.n thing,” he said.
”I just talked to Sutton.”
”Who would Sutton be?”
”Chief of Police. There isn't enough yet to warrant bringing in the F.B.I, but they're standing by.”
He glanced at me.
”Clint, do you think she could be doing all this for a gag? For excitement. For some kind of a laugh.”
”It doesn't seem reasonable to me.”
”The police are going to keep digging. Clint, I know it's none of my d.a.m.n business but were you... intimate with her?”
I looked him in the eye. I'd never noticed before how pale his eyes were. I smiled and said, ”I guess that's right.”
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