Annihilation by Isabel Ostrander

"Glad you could come at once, McCarty. " Eustace Goddard's ruddy face was pale, and the humorous quirk beneath the ends of the small, sandy mustache had given place to a tremulous droop. "Your inspector thought I had some information for you about that valet's death when I telephoned headquarters to ask for your address and I didn't undeceive him. Don't want any notoriety about this while a shadow of doubt remains-but God! I-I'm worried!"

"You'll recall Special Deputy Riordan from that first talk we had at Orbit's? " McCarty indicated his colleague who stood in the doorway. "You told me over the 'phone that your boy had been kidnapped; he's pretty big for that, ain't he, and in broad day?"