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“It is.”
All the way home, I wished there was someone I could talk to about Victor’s strange and sudden change of heart. Mama would be so angry to know that I’d been chasing a man who didn’t want me for the past year that asking her advice was absolutely unthinkable.
Paul was out of the question. Victor was the one sore subject between us. He was also spending less time at my house since he started seeing Rosa with the crooked nose. On the one hand, I felt sorry for her because Paul was only using her to make me jealous, and on the other, knowing that with one crook of my little finger she would be manless gave me an odd feeling of power.
Pam Silberstein stopped by my office the next day at noon. “Wow! Are we eating at The Four Seasons today?”
I was wearing a black, knee-length dress with suede curlicues around the heart-shaped neckline, a diamond teardrop pendant with matching earrings, and my long braids were curled and pinned into a stylish French roll.
I pulled my purse out of a desk drawer and grinned. “This isn’t about you. I have a date tonight.”
“You look marvelous. He won’t be able to take his eyes off of you.”
As I put my coat on and followed Pam toward the elevators, I hoped that she was right.
Pam waited until we were seated at Café Un Deux Trois on 44th Street and had ordered our food—salmon with béarnaise sauce for me, French onion soup and a Caesar salad for her—before she hit me with the news.
“I’m leaving Welburn, Jackie. I gave Leigh my resignation this morning.”
“Do you have another job?”
She smiled triumphantly. “You’re looking at the new head of trade paperbacks for Hamilton Welsh & Hamilton.”
I was sad for me and happy for her. “Oh, Pam. It won’t be the same without you.”
“I’m going to miss you, too, kid. There is another opening at Hamilton for a senior editor and I wish you would consider taking it.”
Oh, what a tempting offer! To get away from Craig’s offensive book, Annabelle’s dark, empty office, the atmosphere of grim uncertainty. It would be so easy to pack up and walk away from it all but then I would look as though I had something to hide.
I shook my head. “The media is still harping on the morning I was rushing to meet with Jamal. As soon as Annabelle’s killer is behind bars, I’ll be glad to leave Welburn Books. If I make a move before that, it will look very bad for me.”
She toyed with her silverware. “Have you heard anything more about the investigation?”
“Only what I read in the papers.”
; And then I remembered Alyssa. “Pam, I know an extremely talented editor who is looking for a new senior editor spot. Would you take a look at her resumé?”
“Absolutely. Did she get laid off or something?”
I started telling her Alyssa’s story and her face got redder and redder as I went on.
“That’s horrible,” Pam said when I finished. “You tell Alyssa that I’d like to see her right away. I’m going to make sure she gets a job and if Marlene Rashker doesn’t like it, I don’t give a damn.”
“Thanks, Pam.” I felt pleased.
Our food arrived and we dug in with gusto.
“Tell me something, Jackie. Is Craig Murray’s book any good?”
“Just between you and me?”
“I swear.” She crossed her heart.
“It’s pure crap.”
She burst out laughing and coughing into her napkin. “I knew it. You poor dear. Can it be fixed?”
