The Case of the Blonde Bonanza by Erle Stanley Gardner Page B

for the location of lost heirs. Boring was working for you. All of a sudden he resigned his position and started quietly investigating something on his own.
    "You felt certain that this was some information he had uncovered in the course of his employment and something on which he was going to capitalize to his own advantage. You have been making every effort to find out what the estate is, and who the missing heir is, and hope you can get the information before Boring signs anyone up on a contract."
    Montrose Foster seemed to grow smaller by the second as Mason was talking.
    "Well," he said at length, "I guess you've either found out all there is to know or else you got Boring in such a position you were able to turn him inside out."
    "What was the matter on which Boring was working when he quit you?" Mason said. "Perhaps that would be a clue."
    "That's a clue and a very nice one," Foster said, "and it's a very nice question, Mr. Mason, but I'm afraid we've reached a point where we're going to have to trade. You give me the name of the client and I'll give you the name of the estate on which Boring was working.
    Mason thought things over for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
    "It might save you a lot of time," Foster said pleadingly.
    "That's all right," Mason told him. "I'll spend the time."
    "It will cost a lot of money."
    "I have the money."
    "You give me the name of your client," Foster said, "and if that client hasn't already signed up with Boring, I'll run down the matter for twenty-five per cent. Surely, Mr. Mason, you can't expect anything better than that. Our usual fee is fifty per cent and that's in cases which don't involve a great deal of work."
    "Well," Mason said, "I'll take your offer under advisement."
    "There isn't time, Mr. Mason. This is a matter of considerable urgency."
    Mason said, "I don't do any horse-trading until I've seen the horse I'm trading for."
    "I've put my cards on the table."
    "No, you haven't. You haven't told me anything about yourself except to confess that the information you've been able to uncover has not been anything on which you could capitalize."
    "All right, all right," Foster said. "You're too smart for me, Mr. Mason. You keep reading my mind, so to speak. I will put the cards on the table. If I could find the name of the heir, I'd start running it down from the other end and then I'd find it. As it is, you're quite correct in assuming that I haven't been able to get any satisfaction from checking over the estates which Boring was investigating."
    "And you've talked with Boring?" Mason asked. "Offered to pool your information? Offered him a larger commission than you customarily granted?"
    "Yes. He laughed at me."
    "And then what happened?"
    "Then I'm afraid I lost my temper. I told him what I thought of him in no uncertain terms."
    "And what were the no uncertain terms?"
    "The man is a liar, a cheat, a sneak, a double-crosser, a back-stabber and entirely unscrupulous. He puts up a good front but he's nothing more than a con man. He worked for me, let me carry him during all the lean times, then just as soon as he stumbled onto something juicy he manipulated things so he could put the whole deal in his pocket and walk off with it."
    Mason flashed Della Street a quick glance. "I take it you didn't have him tied up under contract. Therefore, there wasn't any reason why he couldn't quit his employment and go to work on his own, so I can't see why you're so bitter."
    "This wasn't something he did on his own, Mason. Don't you understand? This was something he uncovered while he was working for me. I was paying him a salary and a commission and he stumbled onto this thing and then, instead of being loyal to his employer and his employment, he sent me a letter of resignation and started developing it himself."
    "If you don't know what it was," Mason asked, "how do you know it was something he uncovered as a part of his employment?"
    "Now look," Foster said, "you're pumping me for a