Jill felt more intimidated crouched down on the ground before her two unexpected guests, so she got quickly to her feet. Reagan continued looking at her for another moment then wet his lips to speak.
"We, uh, saw you workin' out here and thought we'd come over and visit a little."
"We?" Jill asked.
"Sure, me and Hector. He's been wanting to get to know you for a long time."
The young blonde's hand automatically dropped to the head of the beautiful animal before her. Strange how Mr. Reagan said "we" when he talked about the dog, almost as if he thought of him as human too. She absent-mindedly caressed Hector's ears while she thought and then flinched backwards as Hector stretched his head forward and rammed his nose up between her legs, sniffing.
"Haw, haw, told ya he wanted to get to know ya better," Reagan guffawed. Jill flushed crimson and decided that she definitely disliked Mr. Bill Reagan.
Hector walked behind the angry young woman and repeated his performance from behind. Then, satisfied, he came back around in front of Jill and sat down, looking up at her, his mouth open a little to give his tongue air.
"Well I'll be damned, I think he likes you," Reagan said in honest surprise. "It isn't often he takes to someone so fast."
And it was true. There was something about this beautiful young human female that pleased the big dog. She smelled of kindness and patience and… she smelled a little like Mae to Hector, and he was happy his master had brought him over here.
Her personal victory with the dog had made Jill feel a little more tolerant of Bill Reagan.
"It was nice of you to come over, Mr. Reagan," she said. "I'm afraid my husband and I don't get around the neighborhood much. I guess we aren't very good neighbors."
"Never too late to start," Reagan said. "But I do hear a lot of good things about your husband from Mae."
"Mae?" said Jill.
"Yeh, my niece. You musta seen her over at my place."
Jill had seen a woman over at Reagan's place. A lovely dark-haired woman about twenty-seven or eight years old.
"I didn't know my husband knew your niece," said the surprised young housewife.
"Sure, they're thicker than fleas. Thought you knew. That's why Hector and I came over. We can see you when you're workin' out here in the garden and thought it just might be a good idea to get to know you a little better, seeing as how my niece and your husband are such good friends."
Jill flushed a little. It was embarrassing being told by a near stranger that your own husband was "thicker than fleas" with his niece, but more than that, she didn't like the idea of this coarse man watching her from across the street. And what was he getting at? Was he trying to intimate that there was something between Bob and, what was her name? Mae? But that was too ridiculous! The old guy was probably just not very sophisticated in his conversation. He had probably seen Bob say hello to his niece one day and built it up in his mind. But still, maybe she had better just check.
"Well, it looks like my husband is a better neighbor than I am, Mr. Reagan," she said affably. "How long have they known each other?"
"Oh, just a couple 'a days, I guess, but that husband of yours sure seems to have made a powerful impression on Mae. She was talkin' about him all morning."
"All morning?"
"Sure, about how nice he was to her last night."
"Last night!" Jill said, unable to keep the shock out of her voice. So that's where Bob had been last night, and that was why he had seemed so guilty! The confused young woman felt sick and dizzy for a moment and thought she might fall, but she used all her will power to pull herself together. Even so it was a moment longer before she could speak.
An evil pleasure was seething through Bill Reagan. It amused him to play the simpleton like this and seem to innocently betray to this woman her husband's indiscretions. But this proud little bitch was going to find out before very long that he was a lot smarter than he looked. Smart enough to have her laid out naked in front of him before very much longer if he played his cards right.
"Well, Mr. Reagan," Jill managed bravely, "I hope I'll have a chance to meet your niece too, she really sounds like a lovely person."
"Oh, she is, she is. As I said, that's kind o' why Hector and I came on over. We figured since Mae and your husband are such good friends, we should get to know you too. What do you think about that, Mrs. Andersen, or should I call you Jill?"
The shocks were coming too thick and fast for the bewildered young bride. Was this coarse man actually getting fresh with her? No, it must be her imagination, he was simple and harmless enough. It was just that the shock of hearing about Bob and this… Mae…
But wait a minute! She was being a little ridiculous to go jumping to conclusions this way. Why listen to a near stranger, and one who seemed so odd? There probably was some rational explanation for all this, and she didn't want to act like some brainless ninny out of a soap opera. But she did know one thing. She was going to have this whole thing out with Bob as soon as he came home tonight!
"Well, Mr. Reagan," Jill said firmly, "it's been nice talking to you but I do have a lot of things to do inside the house now, so I'll have to say goodbye. Maybe we'll have a chance to talk again some day," she added a little coldly.
A spasm of frustration shot through Reagan. Maybe he had overplayed his hand a little. Well he wasn't finished yet. The most important thing was to keep her talking.
"You know, you're a pretty lucky young couple. Mae was tellin' me all about that big investment outfit downtown that your husband works for and how he has a chance to become a vice-president." Reagan had beaten and coerced Mae this morning to get all of the information he could about anything Bob had told her last night.
That was a telling blow to Jill. Bob wanted to keep confidential his hopes for the vice-presidency and she thought she, his wife, was the only one who knew. But now it looked like he was passing the information out freely to the girls he met on the street.
"Well thank you very much, Mr. Reagan," the unhappy young woman said, "but I really must go now." She started to turn toward the house but the neighbor's gruff voice stopped her in her tracks.
"It's really too bad though that your husband is going to lose his job."
"Wh-What did you say?" Jill managed.
"You mean you didn't know?" Reagan asked in mock surprise. "Sure, he's gonna get fired this afternoon, sure as shootin'."
"H-How do you know that?" Jill asked in confusion.
"Why, because o' these pictures I got here." Reagan dipped his hand in his coat pocket and brought out a small flat packet. "As soon as I take these down to his boss, you're husband is gonna be lookin' for another job."
"Why, I don't know what you're talking about. Let me see that," and Jill made a grab for the packet, but Reagan pulled it back just out of reach.
"Oh, I couldn't do that, Mrs. Andersen," Reagan said. "I'm not supposed to show these to anyone but Mr. Aubrey."
Jill's mind was spinning. It would kill Bob if anything happened to his job. It wouldn't make her any to happy either; she had been looking forward to the new dimensions of comfort and luxury that would come their way if Bob got the promotion. It might just be possible that this old simpleton had something damaging to Bob in that packet. She had to find out, so she made her voice softer and asked sweetly: "After all, Mr. Reagan, I'm his wife. Don't you think I have the right to see something that could affect my husband so much?"
Reagan pretended to be thinking. "Well, I don't know. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't want to open this up right out here in the open. Maybe in there…" he waved vaguely towards the front door of Jill's house. The young blonde hesitated a second. Under normal conditions she wouldn't let a man like this in the house with her, but this was an emergency. And there was the dog. His presence somehow reassured the desperate young wife.