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Bertha waved her hand vaguely toward the private office. “Any mail in there?”

“Half a dozen letters.”

“Important?”

“Nothing urgent.”

“All right, I’m going to duck out.”

“What’ll I tell Mr. Nunnely if he comes back?”

“Tell him I’ve been called out of town on business. Tell everyone just that — Belder, Sergeant Sellers and the whole outfit. I’m going to stay away until this thing settles down; then there may be a chance to pick up a little money. In the meantime I’d be sticking my neck out if I tried to do anything... Once you get really involved in a case, you can’t quit. Then you’ve got to ride it through to the finish. To hell with that stuff. I’m taking life easy. No more getting mixed up in a lot of trouble.”

“Where can I reach you in case anything important turns up?”

“At Balboa.”

“Suppose Sergeant Sellers wants you as a witness?”

Bertha’s face hardened into an expression of distaste. “Tell Sergeant Sellers to go— Well, tell him I’m out of town.”

“He may think you’re meeting Mrs. Belder somewhere.”

Bertha grinned. “Let him think so. I hope he does. I hope he tries to follow me. Damn him, I hope he chokes.”

Bertha gave a quick look around the office, started for the door.

The phone began to ring as Bertha had her hand on the knob.

Elsie Brand reached for the telephone, then held her hand over the receiver, lifting her eyebrows questioningly at Bertha Cool.

Bertha said, “If it’s going to bother your conscience to tell them I’m not here, this will fix it so you won’t have to lie about it.”

She jerked the door open and stepped out into the corridor.

10

The Twirp Turns

Bertha Cool came marching triumphantly into the office, a folded newspaper under her arm.

She grinned at Elsie Brand. “Seen the paper, Elsie?”

“Yes. Isn’t it wonderful? I was trying to reach you to tell you about it, but I couldn’t locate you. You’d left the hotel.”

“Got up at daylight to catch the tide,” Bertha explained.

“Any luck?”

“They weren’t biting.”

“A man has been in twice,” Elsie Brand said, looking at her day-book. “He wouldn’t leave his name. He said it was particularly important.”

“Look as though he had money?” Bertha asked.

“Some. Seems to be an ordinary, salaried man.”

“Humph,” Bertha said.

“He’ll be back. He seems very anxious to see you. Says he must see you personally.”

I’ll see him,” Bertha said. “I’ve got to see everyone, now. What the hell? If Donald is out there fighting the Japs, I’m going to carry on here and make him a sockful of dough. I thought for a while I’d settle back and take only the easy cases. That stuff’s the bunk. I’m going to do my share—”

The door opened.

Elsie Brand, looking up quickly, said in a low voice, “Here’s the man now.”

Bertha put on her best receiving-a-client manner. She walked across the office, radiating calm competency.

“Good morning! Something I can do for you?”

“You’re Mrs. Cool?”

“That’s right.”

“Bertha Cool, one of the partners of the firm of Cool & Lam?”

“That right,” Bertha said, smiling. “Just tell me what I can do for you. Lots of agencies only handle certain types of cases. We take anything — that there’s money in.” She smiled reassuringly.

The man’s hand went to his inside pocket. “Very well, Mrs. Cool,” he said, “you can take these.”

He shoved some papers into Bertha’s hand. She reached for them, looked at the typewriting on the folded backs and said, “What’s this?”

The answer came with machine-gun rapidity. “Action filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Imogene Dearborne, plaintiff, versus Bertha Cool, defendant. You have there copies of summons and complaint as Bertha Cool an individual, and Bertha Cool a co-partner. Here’s your original summons calling your attention to the seal of court and—”

Bertha drew back the hand that held the papers, started to throw them at him.

“Don’t do it,” the man warned, rattling off the words in rapid-fire tempo without even a pause as he switched in his talk from a description of the papers to the recitation of a formula. “It won’t get you anywhere. If you’re sore, go tell your lawyer about it, don’t blame it on me. That’s all. Thank you. Good morning.”

He whirled around and darted out the door before Bertha could get her vocabulary into action.

Elsie was the first to recover. “What in the world,” she asked, “is all that about?”

Bertha Cool snapped an elastic off the bundle of papers, unfolding a crisp-looking legal document, started reading aloud:

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES

Plaintiff complains of defendants, and for cause of action alleges:

I

That the defendants are now, and at all of the times hereinafter mentioned were, co-partners transacting business under the firm name and style of Cool and Lam, and having their offices in the City of Los Angeles aforesaid.

II

That on or about the 8th day of April, 1943, 19— within the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, State of California, the defendants wilfully and maliciously uttered false and defamatory statements concerning the said plaintiff and reflecting upon her character, honesty, integrity, and which said statements were then and there well calculated to, and did, damage the reputation of the plaintiff.

III

That at said time and place, the defendants aforesaid stated to one Everett G. Belder, who was then and there the employer of the plaintiff, that said plaintiff was a twerp, that the plaintiff was in love with her employer, that in order to induce her said employer to become more susceptible to her affections and advances, the said plaintiff had previously written anonymous letters to the wife of said employer, accusing said employer of being unfaithful and untrue to his said wife, hoping thereby to bring about a severance of the said marital relationship so that said employer would be free to marry plaintiff; that as a result of said letters, one Sally Brentner, employed as a maid in the Belder household, had met her death, either by accident or suicide, all of which was intended and planned by the said plaintiff to be a result of writing said letters, and all of which was a natural and logical result therefrom, and reasonably, logically and naturally to be anticipated by a reasonable person.

IV

That said statements, and each of them, were false and untrue, and were then and there uttered by the defendants with knowledge of their falsity, and/or with a recklessness which constituted a complete disregard of the truth.

V

That said statements, and each of them, were made in the presence of the plaintiff, her employer, and other witnesses, and that as a result thereof, the plaintiff sustained great nervous shock and suffered embarrassment, annoyance, and humiliation; that as a further result of said statements, and each of them, jointly and severally, and solely because of same, on or about the eighth day of April, 1943, plaintiff’s said employer discharged the said plaintiff from his employ.

VI

That all of said statements were not only false, and were then and there known to be false to the said defendants at the time they were made, but each of said statements was then and there uttered with malice toward the plaintiff, and with a reckless disregard of the truth, and with the deliberate intent of defaming the character of the plaintiff.