“We shall not lose time through it, I assure you. Other members of my staff are working on other clues. Precious few there are, though.”
“If that is all I will say ‘good afternoon,’ then.” Miss Frazier settled back in her seat. “You will call me up, of course, the minute there is anything definite.”
“Of course. But does Miss Elsie often answer the telephone?”
“Sometimes. Very seldom. I tell you, Mr. O’Brien, there is no rhyme or reason to your suspicions in that direction.”
“Even so, Miss Frazier, I beg you to adjure Miss Kate here to secrecy. She should, on no condition, tell Miss Elsie one word she has heard.”
Miss Frazier nodded, glancing at Kate. Kate’s return look carried her promise. “I shall hope for something more definite when next I hear from you, Mr. O’Brien. Good afternoon. Home, Timothy.”
Mr. O’Brien stood on the curb while the big car pulled out. There was a troubled, displeased expression on his face, Kate thought. She knew that he resented very much the interview not having been more private.
“Is he a detective?” she asked her aunt curiously.
“Yes, a private detective, and a very good one. But perhaps he is right, Kate, and you had better forget all about him. If he is doing the job I suppose he has a right to do it in his own way.”
A private detective! And what had a detective to suspect of Elsie! But Kate took her aunt’s hint and asked no more questions.