“You haven’t known Bertha very long, have you?”

“You mean Mrs. Cool?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

I said, “She’s rather hard-boiled in a business deal.”

“That’s all right. I’m rather hard-boiled myself.”

I said, “You employed the agency to find Roberta Fenn. You offered a bonus in the event she was found within a certain period of time.”

“Well,” he said impatiently, “what’s wrong with that?”

I said, “We found her.”

“But you didn’t keep her found.”