“Then she knows who Hale is?”
“No. Hale knows who she is. She thinks Hale is Archibald C. Smith of Chicago.”
Bertha sighed. “This is too damn much for me. It s one of those Chinese puzzles that you like. I don’t like them.”
“I’m not crazy about this one myself. This isn’t a question of whether we like it or not. It’s something we’re in — right up to our necks.”
Bertha said, “Well, I’m going to get in touch with Hale and call for a showdown. I’m—”
“You’re going to do nothing of the sort,” I interrupted. “You’ll remember that Hale told us he didn’t want us making any investigation as to why we were hired, or who had hired us. We were hired only to do one thing, to find Roberta Fenn.”
I could see that Bertha was thinking things over all the way to the hotel. Just before we entered the lobby, she said, “Well, I’ve made up my mind to one thing.”
“What?”
“We’ve found Roberta Fenn. That’s what we were hired to do. And we collect that bonus. Now I’ve got to get back to Los Angeles. That construction-company business is important.”
I said, “It’s okay by me.”