"You have not found him?" Monica's heart sank. Then she went on in an aggrieved tone. "Then—then why have you sent for me? You said it was urgent."
The man looked up. It was a keen face he turned toward his client. He was a clever detective, but he was also a shrewd business man.
"Just so, madam," he said. "It is urgent. I have brought you here to tell you that my people have decided to abandon the case."
Monica stared.
"But—but I don't understand."
"Precisely, madam, and I am here to explain."
"Please explain—and quickly. I have no time to waste."
Monica was angry. She was grievously disappointed, too. All the way down Main Street she had buoyed herself with the belief that her boy had at last been found.
"I'm sorry, mam," Mr. Verdant went on, "but we're business men as well as inquiry agents. Maybe we're business men first. You'll naturally understand that our inquiries frequently lead us into strange places, also they frequently land us up against people whom, as business men, we cannot afford to—vulgarly speaking—run up against. This is our position now with regard to your—er—inquiries."
"You mean—you are afraid to go on with my case?" Monica made no attempt to conceal her annoyance, even contempt.