a boxer. He had a broken nose and bright, inquisitive eyes. He looked from Tyler to 167 Marc and Woody, questioningly. ' Stanford?' Tyler nodded. ''m Judge Stanford." Timmons,' he said. ' have a seat, Mr. Timmons."
"Thank you.' He sat down. ''re the one who telephoned, right?"."
"To be honest, I don't know what I can do for you. I don't have any official connections here." is purely unofficial,' Tyler assured him. ' merely want to trace the background of a young woman." told me on the phone she claims to be your half sister, and there's no way of running a DNA test."'s right,' Woody said. He looked at the group. ' you don't believe she's your half sistert There was a moment's hesitation. ' don't,' Tyler told him. ' the other hand, it's just possible that she is telling the truth. What we want to hire you to do is provide irrefutable evidence that she is either genuine or a fraud." enough. It will cost you a thousand dollars a day and -expenses.' Tyler said, ' thousand ... T ''ll pay it.' Woody cut in.
"I'll need all the information you have on this woman.' Kendall said, "There doesn't seem to be very much.' 168 IQ `@Tyler spoke up. ' has no proof of any kind. She cam in with a lot of stories that she saysber mother told her about our childhood, and He held up a band. ' it.
Who was her mothert ' purported mother was a governess we had as children named Rosemary Nelson." happened to her?' They looked at one another uncomfortably. Woody spoke up. ' had an air with our father and got pregnant. She ran away and had a baby girl.' He shrugged.
"She disappeared." see. And this woman claims to be her child?"
"That's right."'s not a lot to go on.' He sat there, thinking.
Finally he looked up. ' right. I'll see what I can do."'s all we ask,' Tyler said. The first move he made was to go to the Boston Public Library and read all the microfiche about the twenty-six-year-old scandal involving Harry Stanford, the governess, and Mrs. Stanford's suicide. There was enough material for a novel. His next step was to visit Simon Fitzgerald. ' name is Frank Timmons. I'm ' know who you are,. Mr. Timmons. Judge Stanford asked me to cooperate with you. What can I do for yout ' want to trace Harry Stanford's illegitimate daughter. She'd be about twenty-eight, right?' 169 '. She was born August ninth, 1969, at St. Joseph's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her mother named-her Julia.' He shrugged. ' disappeared. I'm afraid that's all the information we have."'s a beginning,' he said. ''s a beginning.' Mrs. Dougherty, the superintendent at St. Joseph's Hospital in Milwaukee, was a gray-haired woman in her sixties. ', of course, I remember,' she said. ' could I ever forget it? There was a terrible scandal. There were stories in all the newspapers. The reporters here found out who she was, and they wouldn't leave the poor girl alone."
"Where did she go when she and the baby left heret ' don't know. She left no forwarding address." she pay her bill in full before she left, Mrs. Dougherty?" a matter of fact ... she didn't." do you happen to remember thatt .'Because it was so sad. I remember she sat in that very chair you're sitting in, and she told me that she could pay only part of her bill, but she promised to send me the money for the r9st of it. Well, that was against hospital rules, of course, but I felt so sorry for her, she was so ill when -she left here, and I said yes."
"And did she send you the rest of the moneyt ' certainly did. About two months later. Now 170 I recall she had gotten a job at some secretarial service." wouldn't happen to remember where that was, would yout '. Goodness, that was about twenty-five years ago, Mr. Timmons.". Dougherty, do you keep all your patients' records on filet ' course.' She looked up at him. ' you want me to go through the recordst He smiled pleasantly. ' you wouldn't mind." it help Rosemaryt ' could mean a great deal to her." you'll excuse me." Mrs. Dougherty left the office. She returned fifteen minutes later, holding a paper in her hand. ' it is. Rosemary Nelson. The return address is, The Elite Typing Service. Omaha, Nebraska.' The Elite Typing Service was