“You mean for services rendered?”
“Call it anything you want,” he said irritably. “Let me know how much it is. I should have known better. I’d heard all private detective agencies resorted to blackmail when the opportunity resented.”
“Well, you heard wrong,” I said. “We try to give a loyal service to our clients — when our clients will let us.”
“Nonsense. I know better. You had no business trying to get in touch with me. I told you specifically that I wanted you to find Mrs. Lintig, to make no effort to locate Dr. Lintig.”
“You didn’t put it exactly that way, Doctor.”
“That was the effect of it. All right, you’ve found me. Let’s quit beating about the bush. How much do you want?”
He crossed over to the other side of the desk and sat down. His eyes bored steadily into mine.
“You should have been frank with us.”
“Bosh! I might have known you’d try something like this.”
I said, “Now listen to what I have to say. You wanted us to find Mrs. Lintig. We found her. We found her very unexpectedly. We wanted to get in touch with you. You wrote in terminating our employment. You have the right to do that if you want to, but there are some things I thought you should know. As a client, you’re entitled to a report.”