“Yes, it’s far-fetched, but we don’t know. It might be something else. She might have run away from home or she may have a husband who’s looking for her. What I’m getting at is this: if she does give evidence against Maurer her photograph and her name are going to be splashed on the front pages of every newspaper in the country. It may be she wants to avoid this publicity for a personal reason, and that’s why she’s keeping quiet. I think we should dig around and see if we can turn up this personal reason, always supposing it exists.”
“Yes, I think we should do that,” Conrad said in a flat voice.
Forest was now almost sure the girl had made a big impression on Conrad, and the discovery startled him. Could Conrad have fallen in love with her, he asked himself.
“All right, then let’s dig a little,” he said. “Would you like to handle it? Do you want to remain at the lodge out of circulation or would you rather come back here and are what you can find out about the girl’s background?”
Conrad didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll stay on at the lodge. The important thing is to keep her safe. I’ve accepted the responsibility and I want to see it through. I’ll send Van back. He can do the digging.”
It was then that Forest became sure Conrad had fallen in love with Frances Coleman.
He spread his hands on the blotter and his hard eyes searched Conrad’s face.
“What do you think of this girl, Paul? I mean how does she strike you as a man regarding a woman?”
Conrad looked at Forest.