The Mother Hunt (Rex Stout Library)

I want to be fair, but it's fair to say that she had probably had very few invitations to lunch, if any. Her nose was flat and she had twice as much chin as she needed. Her age was somewhere between thirty and fifty. We can talk here, she said.

At least we can start here, I conceded. What do you know about white horsehair buttons?

I know I've seen some. But before I tell you how do I know you'll pay me?

You don't. I touched her elbow and we moved aside, away from the traffic. But I do. I got a card from my case and handed it to her. Naturally I'll have to check what you tell me, and it will have to be practical. You could tell me you knew a man in Singapore who made white horsehair buttons but he's dead.

I've never been in Singapore. It's nothing like that.

Good. What is it like?

I saw them right here. In this building.

When?

Last summer. She hesitated and then went on. There was a girl in the office for a month, vacation time, filling in, and one day I noticed the buttons on her blouse. I said I had never seen any buttons like them, and she said very few people had. I asked her where I could get some, and she said nowhere. She said her aunt made them out of horsehair, and it took her a day to make one button, so she didn't make them to sell, just as a hobby.

Were the buttons white?

Yes.

How many were on her blouse?

I don't remember. I think five.

At the Hirsh Laboratories, deciding it would be better not to display the overalls, I had cut off one of the buttons, one of the three still intact. I took it from a pocket and offered it. Anything like that?

She gave it a good look. Exactly like that, as I remember, but of course it was nearly a year ago. That size too.

I retrieved the button. This sounds as if it may help, Miss Epps. What's the girl's name?

She hesitated. I suppose I have to tell you.

You certainly do.

I don't want to get her into any trouble. Nero Wolfe is a detective and so are you.

I don't want to get anybody into trouble unless they have asked for it. Anyway, from what you've already told me it would be a cinch to find her. What's her name?

Tenzer. Anne Tenzer.

What's her aunt's name?

I don't know. She didn't tell me and I didn't ask.

Have you seen her since last summer?

No.

Do you know if Quinn and Collins got her through an agency?

Yes, they did. The Stopgap Employment Service.

How old is she?

Oh she's under thirty.

Is she married?

No. As far as I know.

What does she look like?