“No, sir,” put in the detective. “Your son just now is not in; but I could enlighten you as to his whereabouts.”
“You’ve been playing spy, have you?”
“I’ve been following the trail of one who has been your brother’s friend, miss.”
Opal Lamont colored and for half a second remained silent.
“It is blackmail all the same,” she resumed at last. “In the first place, whatever that old woman was to us we don’t intend to be bled.”
“I believe you once offered me ten thousand dollars not to pursue this trail, miss.”
“I did it for his sake,” and she nodded toward her father. “I don’t want his nerves shattered.”
The detective glanced at Perry Lamont and pitied the abject old figure in the chair.
“They looked alike,” was all he said, with a glance at Miss Opal.
The daughter curled her lip and looked away.