Thanks again, Dan."
Abruptly Pierce sat down. He was smiling.
Jennie felt them all watching her.
She raised her head and looked around the table.
It was as if she knew what they were thinking.
Of the twelve other couples seated around the large table, she had known five of the men before she'd made the test.
Irving Schwartz, Bonner, three others, who were top-ranking executives with other companies.
The other seven men all knew. Some of their wives, too.
She could see it in their eyes.
In only two of the men could she see any sympathy. David and Nevada Smith.
David she could understand. But she did not understand why Nevada should feel sorry for her. He scarcely knew her.
He had always seemed so quiet, even shy, when they met at the studio.
But now there was a wild sort of anger deep in his black Indian eyes as he looked from her to Dan Pierce.
Thirteen men, she thought and all but one of them knew her for what she'd been.
And the thirteenth was the unlucky one. He was going to marry her.
She felt a light touch on her arm.
Rosa's voice broke the silence that threatened to engulf her.
"I think it's about time we went to the little girl's room."
Jennie nodded dumbly and followed her from the table silently. She could feel the eyes of other diners following her. Without even returning their glances, she recognized several other men she had known and saw their wise, knowing smiles.
She began to feel sick.
Rosa drew the curtain in front of the small alcove in the corner as Jennie sank silently onto the couch.
Rosa lit a cigarette and handed it to her.
Jennie looked up at her, the cigarette in her fingers already forgotten. The tears started to come into her eyes.
"Why?" she asked in a hurt, bewildered voice. "I don't understand.
What did I ever do to him?"
She began to cry silently as Rosa sat down beside her and drew her head down to her shoulder.
Dan Pierce chuckled to himself as he threaded his way to his car through the dark and deserted parking lot.
Wait until he told the story in the locker room at Hillcrest tomorrow morning. The men would laugh their heads off.
None of them really liked Jonas, anyway.
True, they tolerated him. But they didn't accept him.
There was a difference.
They all respected Jonas' success but they wouldn't lift a finger to help him.
Not like they would for Dan Pierce if he needed their help, which he didn't. He was one of them, he'd grown up in the business with them.
They had their rules. They stuck together.
Wait until he told them how the broad looked. Like she was ready to sink through the floor, while all the time, Jonas stood there like a shmuck, smiling and thinking how nice everybody was. It would break them up.
A dark figure suddenly appeared out of the shadows in front of him.
He peered anxiously through the darkness as it silently came closer.
"Oh, it's you, Nevada. I didn' know who it was."
Nevada stood there silently.
Dan laughed aloud as he remembered.
"Wasn' that a bitch, though?" He chortled, reaching out a hand toward Nevada to steady himself. "I thought she'd bust when she opened the case and saw the razors.
An' Jonas, the jerk, he don' even know what he's gettin' into- "
Dan's voice suddenly choked off in a grunt of pain as Nevada sank his fist into his belly.
He fell back against a car, clutching at it to hold himself up.
He stared at Nevada. "Wha' you go an' do that for?" he asked in a hurt voice. "We're ol' buddies."
He saw Nevada's hand coming toward his face and tried to duck. He wasn't quick enough and felt the pain explode in his eyes.
Again the hammer tore into his belly: He bent over, retching, and another blow on the side of his face sent him sprawling into his own vomit.
He looked up at Nevada with frightened eyes.
It was not until then that Nevada spoke, and an icy fear came up and clutched at Dan's heart.
"I should've done this a long time ago," Nevada said, looking down at him.