telegram arrived as she and Stavansson were talking, signed by Hermione and addressed from Maldon, saying she was going to Monte Carlo. Stavansson travelled to Maldon but is unable to find her, prompting his visit to Blunt's International Detective Agency. Taking up the case, Tommy and Tuppence travel to Maldon themselves and draw a similar blank on the whereabouts of the missing woman. It is then that Tuppence realises that there are two Maldons – where they are in Surrey, and another place of the same name in Sussex. They travel there and find an isolated private nursing home near the village. Investigating this lead, Tuppence inquires at the nursing home and is told they do not have a patient named Mrs Leigh Gordon. Next, Tommy poses as a journalist seeking an interview with Dr Horriston, but he too is turned away. Next, the sleuths overhear a conversation which sends each in a different direction. Tommy leaves Tuppence to keep watch while he goes to make some phone calls in the village. Upon his return he shares the news that Dr Horriston has a reputation as "a most unscrupulous quack..." After dark, the two return to the house. Tuppence ascends a ladder to a second floor window, where she sees a woman strapped to the bed and writhing in pain. She recognises the woman as Mrs Leigh Gordon. While Tuppence is watching, a nurse enters the room and injects the woman with an unknown substance. Tuppence informs Tommy of what she has seen and then ascends the ladder again, leaving him to keep a look out while she tries to free the woman. A few moments pass and Tommy is startled by a hand upon his shoulder, but it is Tuppence, having left by the front door of the house. She informs Tommy that the case is solved. Hermione Leigh Gordan is at the nursing home by choice for a quick weight loss program. The only problem is that Stavansson has returned early, just at the time she had started the treatments. Feeling foolish, the young detectives leave quickly, with Tommy commenting that there is no need to place the case in their records, in the fashion of Sherlock Holmes, as "It has absolutely no distinctive features." Blindman's Buff Tommy receives a phone call from Mr Carter warning him and Tuppence that the people connected with the Russian letters on