They can't even discover in what direction she was taken, or how.
The brown limousine seems to be no due at all." "Of course not.

There are a thousand brown limousines in New York." "Do you imagine she's still somewhere in the city, sir ?" enquired Arthur.
"That's my theory," replied Uncle John.

"She must be somewhere in the city.

You see it would be almost impossible to get her out of town without discovery.

But I'll admit this detective force is the finest aggregation of incompetents I've ever known--and I don't believe your precious Fogerty is any better, either." Of course Beth and Patsy had to be told of their cousin's disappearance as soon as the first endeavor to trace her proved a failure.