Free A Clue for the Puzzle Lady by Parnell Hall

can’t hurt.”
    “And if the killer comes looking for her?”
    “Give me a break. You must know that’s not even a remote possibility. Not that I wouldn’t love to play that angle up, but it’s really a stretch.”
    “You’d love to play that up?”
    “Yes, of course. What, you want me to lie and tell you what you want to hear? I would love a sensational angle like that. Not that I want to put her in any danger. But if she
were
in any danger, you think I wouldn’t want to report it?”
    “Am I supposed to find your candor refreshing?”
    “Are you a writer too?”
    “Why?”
    “The number of people who use the word
candor
is somewhat limited.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “What?”
    “I don’t think a number can be limited. I think a group can be limited. I think a number of people can be few. I think a group of people could be limited, or simply small. But then, I’m not a reporter.”
    Aaron Grant found himself looking at her with interest. “What are you?”
    “I’m a schoolteacher.”
    “Oh? Why aren’t you in school?”
    “I’m a substitute, actually. I only teach when they call me.”
    “I see,” Aaron said. He cocked his head. “That’s interesting. A teacher. You must be good with words.”
    Sherry frowned. “What’s your point?”
    “You must know a lot of them. Your vocabulary must be infinite.”
    “What is that, sarcasm? Irony?”
    “No, just a simple statement of fact. Isn’t your vocabulary infinite?”
    “I’m sure
yours
is.”
    “No. I know only a limited number of words.”
    Sherry found herself blushing. “Oh, yes. A limited number. I should have known. You’re very competitive, aren’t you?”
    “I’m a reporter. Getting the story first is my job.”
    “That’s not what I mean, and you know it. You scored with
limited number
. You’re right and I’m wrong. You also get credit for making your point subtly, instead of hitting me over the head with it. Now, you wanna take your aloof, arrogant, highly competitive—You got any other good adjectives for me?”
    “How about handsome and charming?”
    “That gives me conceited and smug.”
    “Not to mention supercilious.”
    “Supercilious?”
    “I thought I told you not to mention that.”
    Sherry smiled in spite of herself. “All right, look. I know you have a job. But I don’t think dragging us into the murder is a particularly good idea.”
    “Us?”
    “Yes.”
    “I wasn’t aware that I was dragging you into the murder. I thought we just met.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    “No, I don’t. In what way am I dragging you into this?”
    “I’m not going to tell you, because you’d write it.”
    “You mean there’s something to write?”
    “Absolutely not.”
    He grinned. “Then what is it that you won’t tell me because I might write it, although it is nothing to write?”
    “Off the record?”
    He winced. “Oh, I hate that expression. It’s like saying, here, let me show you something you want that you can’t have.”
    “Then forget it.”
    “No, no, no. I didn’t say that. It’s just
off the record
is such a dangerous phrase if someone wants to abuse the privilege. They say, Off the record, and then tell you everything they don’t want you to print. A lot of which you would have found out anyway. Are you then obligated not to print it? Even though you could have found it out from another source?”
    “Boy, are you paranoid.” Sherry shook her head. “What’s the matter, are you afraid I’m going to say, Off the record, I’m the killer? And then you find yourself in an ethical quandary, like the hero in some godawful TV Movie of the Week.”
    “Quandary?”
    “Don’t start with me. You want something off the record or not?”
    “Oh, absolutely.”
    “Okay, off the record: Cora Felton happens to be my aunt. Now, that is not particularly newsworthy, and has no bearing on this murder. And I would not like to read about it in tomorrow’s paper.”
    “You’re her niece? How