There were many things that Adèle Gertstein had feared, but this was not one of them. Her jaw dropped. She tried to say something but words would not come. She slumped back into her chair trying vainly to recall what was in the letter beyond the appeal for money. She heard his voice as from far away.

“I want to know who is blackmailing you.”

“I am not being blackmailed.”

She regained some command of herself and sat up so that she could see his face. But Labar was too experienced to allow anything to show there that he did not wish to be seen.

“Then I will tell you,” he said picking his words with some deliberation. “It is the man to whom you appealed for aid. It is Larry Hughes himself who has been bleeding you. I want to know who he has been using as a go between?”

She stared at him with white face. “Larry? How do you know that? I don’t believe you.”