“She may know where to start to look for this Parloti,” reasoned Larry. “I want to see him first. He is the leader in this business, I’m sure.”
“Did you get your turnip?” asked the singer of the young reporter, when she received him again, a few hours later.
Larry looked puzzled, until the maid, who had now assumed her real character, said something in a low voice in Italian to her mistress.
“Oh, I mean your ‘beat’!” exclaimed Madame Androletti. “I never can seem to think of the right name of the vegetable. But did you get it?”
“Yes, thank you,” replied Larry. Then she told him how she had detained Peter until it was too late for him to get in his story.
“And now about Parloti,” suggested the young reporter, after he had been given several more minor facts about the missing boy. He was also provided with a photograph, to use when he made inquiries about him as he worked on the case.
Madame Androletti was not sure of the address of the man she feared, but she told Larry of several hotels where Italians of note were in the habit of stopping.
“I’ll trace him!” exclaimed our hero, as he started out.
It was not as easy as he had hoped, but late that afternoon he did find the place where the suspected man was registered.
“Is he in?” Larry asked the clerk at the desk.