The Mystery of the Millionaire

not as tranquil as I’ve made it sound.
    “My father has a partner. His name is Frank Riebe. My father and Frank each owned a small grocery store twenty years ago, and they formed their partnership so that they could buy in larger quantities from the wholesalers. The larger the quantity, the better the price,” she explained to Trixie and Honey.
    “Only reasonable,” Mr. Lytell said curtly.
    Laura smiled at the storekeeper appreciatively. “The chain started with those two stores, and it started to build. Somewhere along the way, Frank got greedy. He began pushing to expand faster. My father resisted, because he puts family life ahead of business.
    “More recently, Frank has been suggesting that they change their whole way of doing things. He wants central control of the stores. He wants all the buildings to look the same and have exactly the same inventory. My father hates that idea. He thinks that leaving the control with the managers is the basis of the chain’s success, because only the individual store manager can really know his customers’ needs.”
    “Smart man,” Mr. Lytell commented.
    “But how does any of this affect your telling people about your father’s disappearance?” Trixie asked impatiently.
    “If anything... happens to my father, Frank can take over the chain,” Laura told her.
    “Then you don’t want to tell Frank, but everyone else—” Trixie began.
    Laura shook her head. “Frank and my father have been partners for twenty years, remember? There’s no one I can tell who doesn’t know Frank. And Frank has been using that fact to his advantage. He’s convinced many of our old friends that my father is foolish to resist change. It’s gotten to the point that we don’t know who our real friends are anymore.”
    “You mean you think your friends would go to Frank and tell him your father had disappeared?” Trixie asked.
    “I’m sure that many of them would,” Laura said. “I think Frank has bribed some of them— offered them high positions in the company if they can persuade my father to go along with his plans. Others might be motivated by friendship—that is, they really believe that my father is being unfair to me, because he won’t keep building his fortune. They don’t understand that my father’s companionship means more to me than an extra few million dollars.”
    “I understand that,” Honey said soberly.
    “But why not go to the police?” Trixie asked. Laura shrugged. “Where else would they start, if not with Frank? Two partners haggle over how the company is to be run, and then one of the partners disappears. They’d laugh in my face if I asked them to investigate my father’s disappearance without talking to Frank.”
    “Do you think Frank was responsible for your father’s disappearance?” Trixie asked, suddenly realizing that the possible reasons had not been discussed.
    “Oh, I’d hate to think so,” Laura said. “They’ve been partners for a long time, and for most of that time, they really were good friends. I’m not willing to suspect Frank—not yet.”
    “What other explanations are there?” Trixie persisted.
    Laura gave a soft, helpless moan. “There aren’t any others that I like better, I suppose. Kidnapping occurred to me, but there’s been no ransom demand.
    “The only other explanation—which, once again, is very difficult for me to accept—is that the strain of the quarrel with Frank got to be too much for my father, and he simply had to get away for a while.”
    “Would he go without telling you?” Trixie asked. “Not if he were... well, himself,” Laura said. “You see, that’s what I’m most worried about. He’s been so troubled, so distracted for the past few weeks. He’s a man who cares deeply about people. The quarrel with Frank distressed him from the beginning, and lately there’s been the added burden of friends choosing sides. I’m just afraid he might have—” Laura shrugged. “He might have had a nervous breakdown, snapped... maybe even taken his own life.”
    Honey scrambled to her feet and rushed to Laura’s side. “Don’t even think about that. Not yet. I’m sure your father is alive, and we’ll think of some way of finding him.”
    Trixie thought of another question she wanted to ask, but she didn’t want to intrude on the young woman’s grief.
    A few moments later, Honey asked the question that had been in Trixie’s mind. “How have you explained your father’s absence?