'Was it mentioned when you first came to work here? I mean, was it kinda, you know, in the works?' Irving asked.
'It was mentioned that if I lived up to my resume, I could move up rapidly.'
'Specifically to be Delaney's exec?'
'That was mentioned. He didn't dwell on it.'
'So it was kinda like a carrot on a string for you, right? You do good, you could nail the top job? That's what it is, ain't it, the top woman's job here?'
'There are some women in sales, but you know how it is, working that closely to the boss and all, it's a very personal thing. A very good job. For a person with my qualifications, it was one of the best jobs in town.'
'So then, two months ago, Delaney offered you the position, that it?' said Irving.
'Yes.'
'Let me ask you something, Ms Stewart,' said Johnson. 'Are you under the impression that Mrs Stoddard was upset by all this?'
'I never talked to her about it. I worked on the first floor, she's up here on six.'
'But you said earlier, when you were talking about Mrs Stoddard leaving… uh, you implied it was 'an either-or kind of thing' ' Johnson said, checking his notes.
'That was what Mr Delaney said,' she said.
'Well, lemme put it this way,' Irving said. 'Did you ever see anything in Mrs Stoddard's attitude towards you that would indicate she was upset with
'I told you, I was at pains to keep out of her way,' she said. Annoyance was creeping into her tone.
'Whose idea was that?'
'What?'
'Whose idea to keep outta her way, yours or Delaney's?'
'His. Joh - Mr Delaney's.'
'Call him by his first name, didja?' Irving said.
'So does… did… Edith. That was his idea, to call him John.' She sighed. 'Look… can I smoke? Thanks. When this first came up, about Edith retiring? He took me to lunch because he didn't want people around the office to know what he had in mind. So I never really saw much of him around the office. Sometimes just walking through the first floor, that was about it.'
'So he picks you. I mean, there was obviously a lot of other women who'd been working here longer…' Irving let the sentence die before it became a question.
'Am I under suspicion or something?' she asked, her forehead wrinkling with apprehension.
'Not at all, Ms Stewart,' Johnson interjected. 'There's been a homicide and we're just trying to get a fix on this man, you know, the people who work around him.'
'I'm a computer expert, among other things, Captain,' she said. 'I took courses two years ago. I knew sooner or later I'd have to be an electronics whiz to get along in the world. That's one of the things that attracted him to me. On the resume, I mean. Also that I was familiar with advertising. That appealed to him, too.'
'Okay, just to catch up,' Irving said. 'You was workin' as a VP's secretary at Trumbell and Sloan and you took courses to become computer… computerized…'
'Computer literate,' Johnson suggested.
'Computer literate, yeah. And Delaney saw that and offered you a job and mentioned the top slot might come open. Then you and Delaney slipped out to lunch and he offered you the job and implied that Edith Stoddard was given an 'either-or' option, which I assume means either retire or get canned. Is that generally the way things went?'
'Yes.'
'How did he get your resume?' Johnson asked.
'What is this?' she snapped suddenly. Blood rose to her face and her cheeks reddened. 'Why are you asking me all these personal questions? I didn't have anything to do with this. I lost a damn good job when… oh, when Mr Delaney was, uh, was…'
'Nobody's accusing you of anything,' Johnson said reassuringly. 'We're just trying to get a feel for office politics and how Delaney operated. For instance, have you ever been to Delaney's penthouse apartment over on the Gold Coast?'
'Not really…'
