Okay. Sorry I got touchy.
Now, you seem to think that she showed him the manuscript and bounced ideas off of him and got help. Well, okay then.
From the little I read...I just don't. I don't think he wanted to help her.
I'm not talking about some kind of formal partnership or writers' colloquy -- just two old friends having lunch. Chatting about their lives, which would include their current projects. Truman might offer up a snippet of memory, because storytellers love to tell stories. She might ask him to look at a chapter, to see if his memory of that place and time jibes with hers, since they were both there together. That kind of thing.
Was Truman jealous when Harper shot to fame so fast? I'm sure. I'll admit, I would be. But In Cold Blood was published five years after To Kill a Mockingbird, and it's dedicated to her "with my love and gratitude," so I don't think there was any real animosity.
I agree that it's not worth belaboring.
You weren’t touchy. It’s just hard to tell when you are reading words.