ON THE TWO P.M. RUN back to New York, next day, Dean came back into the passenger cabin and sat down for a few minutes beside Vicki.
“Missed you last evening. Captain Jordan said you phoned him you were staying overnight at the Purnells’. What’s happening with your friends?” Dean inquired.
Vicki, with one eye on her passengers, rapidly told him what she had learned.
“That business is ruining Mr. Purnell! And he can’t figure out why!”
Dean gave a low whistle. “You know, that reminds me of a case Pete Carmody investigated for his newspaper. May not be a bit like your Purnells’, but—”
Dean described a partnership in which one partner had forced the other out of the business. The dishonest one deliberately tried to ruin the business—incurred losses, piled up unnecessary expense, antagoniz
