CHAPTER 17 _ADVENTURE BY MOONLIGHT_
A moment Penny stood gazing at the estate house. She considered climbingthe iron fence and trying to gain entrance to the dwelling. Then,deciding that nothing would be achieved by again accosting the strangewoman, she returned to the waiting taxi.
"Where to?" asked the cabman.
"It's still the police station," directed Penny, repeating an earlierorder. "I have twice as much to report now."
As the cab pulled away, she noticed a movement of curtains at the frontof the estate house. Evidently the woman who had fled, was watching.
Joe made a quick trip to Riverview, depositing Penny at the doorstep ofCentral Station.
"Will you need me any more?" he asked hopefully.
"I may."
"Okay," said Joe, slamming the cab door. "I'll stick around. You know, Ikinda like this job."
Once inside the police station, Penny inquired for Chief Jalman. Unableto see him, she asked to speak to the two detectives who had beenassigned to her father's case. Both men were away from the building.
"Why not talk to Carl Burns?" suggested the desk sergeant. "He's familiarwith the case."
Penny was sent to see a heavy-set man who warmed himself by a steamingradiator. Evidently he had spent several hours in an unheated police carfor he stamped his feet to restore circulation.
"Mr. Burns?" inquired Penny.
The man turned, staring at her. Penny returned the stare. She had seenthe officer before and the recollection was not entirely pleasant. He wasthe same officer she had met near Mattie's garage on the night of theblizzard.
"What may I do for you?" he asked.
Uncomfortably aware of the officer's scrutiny, Penny began to tell of hervisit to the Williams' garage. She stammered a bit and lost confidence.
"You say you saw some big boxes at the garage," he demanded. "What's sosuspicious about that?"
Penny tried to explain about the tunnel of boxes which led to a hiddenstorage room. Even to her own ears the story had a fantastic sound.
"What you _think_ or _surmise_ doesn't go in this business!" the officersaid rather rudely. "Did you actually see any stolen tires?"
"Well, no, I didn't," Penny admitted. "The door was locked."
"Are you willing to swear out a warrant charging Mattie and her partnerwith dealing in stolen merchandise?"
"I don't suppose I'd dare do that. I thought if police wouldinvestigate--"
"We can't go on suspicions, Miss Parker. We act only on sound evidence."
"Well, it doesn't matter so much about the stolen tires," Penny saiddesperately. "I have another clue--a really important one. I've found thewoman who eluded Detectives Brandon and Fuller at the cemetery!"
"Now we may get somewhere," replied the officer. "Who is the woman? Wheredid you see her?"
Penny told everything she knew about the woman who had taken her fatherto Mercy Hospital. Word for word she repeated their recent conversationtogether.
"I'll turn this evidence over to Detective Fuller," the policemanpromised. "He'll probably want to question the woman himself."
"I hope he does it right away," replied Penny. "She may take it into herhead to skip out of town."
Officer Burns smiled wearily. "Just trust us to handle the case," hesaid. "We know our business."
Penny left the station feeling none too satisfied. Although she hadnothing against Mr. Burns, she sensed that he did not like her. Shewondered if she could depend on him to repeat her story as she had toldit.
"If that estate house isn't investigated immediately, I'll do somethingmyself!" she thought.
Joe, the cabman, still waited. Signaling him, Penny regretfully explainedthat she would have no further use for his services.
"Well, if you change your mind and want to do some more ghost huntin'tonight, just give me a ring," Joe grinned. "My number's 20476."
Penny carefully wrote it down. She then walked to the nearby _Star_building where many matters awaited her attention. There she workedwithout interruption until late afternoon, taking only enough time tocall the police station. Detective Fuller was not available. So far asshe could learn, no investigation had been made of the Harrison estate.
Thoroughly annoyed, Penny tramped home to dinner. Only a cold mealawaited her. Mrs. Weems, ill with a headache, had set out a few dishes onthe kitchen table, and gone to bed.
"It's nothing," the housekeeper insisted as Penny questioned heranxiously. "I've just worried too much the past few days."
"Let me call Doctor Barnell."
"Indeed not," Mrs. Weems remonstrated. "I'll be all right tomorrow."
Penny brewed a cup of tea and made the housekeeper as comfortable as shecould. By the time she had eaten a snack and washed the dishes it waseight o'clock. Debating a long while, she went to the telephone andsummoned a cab.
"Number 20476," she requested.
Penny was zipping on her galoshes when the doorbell rang. Without givingher time to answer it, Louise Sidell marched into the kitchen bearing afreshly baked lemon pie.
"Mother sent this over," she explained. "I slipped on the ice coming overand nearly had a catastrophe!"
Carefully Louise deposited the pie on the kitchen table. Cutting shortPenny's praise of it, she inquired alertly: "Going somewhere?"
Penny explained that she intended to motor to the Harrison estate.
"Not alone?" Louise demanded.
"I'll have to, I guess. Mrs. Weems is sick, so I can't take her along."
"You could invite me," Louise said eagerly. "I'll telephone mother tocome over and stay with Mrs. Weems while we're gone!"
The arrangement proved satisfactory to everyone. Mrs. Sidell cameimmediately to the house, and very shortly thereafter the girls sped awayin Joe's taxicab.
The night was a pleasant one, mildly cold, but with a bright moon.
"Park before you get to the estate," Penny directed the driver. "We don'twant to be seen. It might defeat our purpose."
Joe drew up in a clump of trees some distance from the Harrison grounds.He then walked with the girls to the spiked fence. There was no sign ofactivity.
Two hours elapsed. During that time nothing unusual occurred. No lightswere visible inside the house. Even Penny began to lose heart.
"This is getting pretty boring," she sighed. "I don't believe the ghostis going to show up tonight."
"We may have been observed," suggested Louise. "One can see very plainlytonight."
After another half hour had elapsed Penny was willing to return to thecab. The three started away from the fence. Just then they heard a doorslam inside the house. Instantly they froze against the screen of bushes,waiting.
"There's the ghost!" whispered Louise.
A figure had appeared in the garden beyond the gate. But the one whowalked alone was not a ghost. Plainly he was garbed in street clothesrather than white. Over his suit he wore a heavy overcoat. A snap-brimmedhat was pulled low on his forehead.
Penny could not see the man's face, but the silhouette seemed strangelyfamiliar.
"That looks like Dad!" she whispered, clutching Louise's hand. "It is he!I'm sure!"
"Oh, it can't be--"
Penny paid no heed to her chum's protest. Breaking away, she ran towardthe gate.
The man in the garden became suddenly alert. As he heard the approachingfootsteps he gazed toward the road. Upon seeing Penny he started toretreat.
"Wait!" she called frantically. "Don't you know me, Dad? It's Penny!"
The words seemed to convey nothing to the man. He shook his head in abaffled sort of way, and walked swiftly toward the house.
Penny ran on to the gate. It was locked, but she vaulted over, landing ina heap on the other side. By the time she had picked herself up, the manhad vanished into the house.
"Are you hurt?" Louise cried, hurrying to the gate.
Penny brushed snow from her coat and did no
t answer.
"That man couldn't have been your father," Louise said kindly. "Do comeback, Penny."
"But it was Dad! I'm sure of it!"
"You called to him," Louise argued. "If it had been Mr. Parker hecouldn't have failed to recognize your voice."
"It was Dad," Penny insisted stubbornly. "He's being held a prisonerhere!"
"But that's ridiculous! Whoever that man is, he could escape from thegrounds just as easily as you climbed the gate."
Penny did not wish to believe, yet she knew her chum was right.
"Anyway, I'm going to talk to him," she declared. "Now that I am insidethe grounds, I'll ring the doorbell."
Leaving Louise and Joe on the other side of the fence, Penny went boldlyto the front door. She knocked several times and rang the bell. There wasno response.
"Why doesn't someone answer?" she thought impatiently.
At the rear of the house a door slammed. Suddenly Louise called from thegate: "Penny! A woman is leaving the estate by the back way!"
Penny darted to the corner of the house. The same woman she had metearlier that day had let herself out the rear gate. Holding the skirts ofher long black coat, she fairly ran across the snowy fields.
"Shall I nab her?" called Joe, eager for action.
Penny's reply was surprisingly calm.
"No, let her go," she decided. "While that woman is away, I'll get intothe house. I think Dad is in there alone, and I'm going to find him!"