CHAPTER 19 _A BAFFLING SEARCH_
In systematic, unhurried fashion, Detective Fuller went through everyroom in the Deming house. The bed chambers, nine in number, were inperfect order. Only Mrs. Botts' suite over the kitchen appeared to havebeen used recently.
As the search progressed, Penny's bewilderment increased. She knew thatLester Jones had been in the house an hour earlier, yet there was no signof him. Personally she inspected clothes closets and bureau drawers. Notan article could she find that ever had belonged to her father. She didcome upon a white woolen bathrobe. Believing it to be the garment worn bythe "ghost" she called it to Detective Fuller's attention.
"Oh, that robe belongs to my employer, Mr. Deming," explained Mrs. Botts.
Penny indicated water stains along the hem which suggested that thegarment had been allowed to trail in the snow.
"Sometimes I wear the robe when I go outside to bring in the washing,"replied Mrs. Botts. "It is warmer than my coat."
Try as she would, Penny could not trip the woman into making any damagingadmissions. Mrs. Botts had changed her original story and would notacknowledge that she had fled from the cemetery. Stubbornly, shemaintained that she had told everything she knew about Mr. Parker'sdisappearance.
"I took him to Mercy Hospital in my employer's car," she repeated toDetective Fuller. "That's the last I saw of him."
"In what condition was Mr. Parker when you left him?" questioned thedetective.
"He seemed all right. Perhaps he was a bit dazed."
"Why didn't you report to the police?"
"Because I didn't see the newspapers for a day," Mrs. Botts repliedsullenly. "Later I read Miss Parker's offer of a reward."
"Then you did write, requesting me to run the ad in the _Star_!" Pennycried triumphantly.
"No, of course not," Mrs. Botts retorted, "I merely read the item."
Penny knew Mrs. Botts was not telling the entire truth, but to prove itseemed an impossible matter. Neither could she establish that a man whoclaimed to be Lester Jones had been living in the house. True, Louise andthe taxi driver would support her story, but it would only be their wordagainst Mrs. Botts'. The situation had become hopelessly confusing.
Detective Fuller was not entirely satisfied with the housekeeper's story."Guess we'll have to take you along to the station for questioning," heconcluded.
Only then did Mrs. Botts lose her composure.
"No, don't take me away!" she pleaded anxiously. "My employer is cominghome tonight. I just received the telegram. If I'm not here when hearrives, I may lose my job!"
Actually Detective Fuller had little evidence against Mrs. Botts anddoubted that he could hold her many hours in jail. Far more might begained by allowing the woman her freedom and keeping watch of the house.
"We'll let you stay here," he decided after a moment's thought. "However,you'll be wanted for questioning a little later. Make no attempt to leavethe premises."
"I won't try to go away," Mrs. Botts promised. "I want to cooperate withthe police. All I ask is that my employer, Mr. Deming, doesn't hear ofthis. I'm innocent and it's not right for me to lose a good job."
Very shortly the party bade the woman goodbye and left the estate.Detective Fuller assigned a policeman to keep watch of the property andthen returned to Riverview. Louise and Penny, completely bewildered, leftwith their driver, Joe, debated their next action.
"Where to?" the cabman inquired. "Home?"
"I suppose so," sighed Penny. "I never was in such a muddle in all mylife. What became of that man I thought was Dad?"
"He must have left the house while we were at the police station," Louisedeclared. "It was a surprise finding Mrs. Botts there too! She must havereturned in a hurry after we went away."
"Mrs. Botts got rid of Lester Jones somehow," Penny said with conviction."Oh, she's a slick one!"
As Joe shifted gears, the girls observed a dark figure approaching theestate from down the road.
"Wait!" Penny instructed the cabman. "Let's see who it is."
A moment later the figure emerged from the shadow cast by a giant tree.Penny was surprised to recognize Mose Johnson. The old colored mancarried a basket on his arm and evidently had been doing a little latemarketing at the crossroads store.
"Good evening, Mose," Penny greeted him as he approached the cab.
"Evenin', Miss Penny," he beamed, pausing. "I'se suah astonished to seeyo' all out dis way. Has yo' been lookin' for dat ghost?"
"I'm afraid I have," Penny admitted ruefully. "I've certainly had noluck."
Mose shifted the market basket to his other hand. "Dat ole ghost ain'tbeen around so much lately," he explained. "I comes by dis spot half anhour ago on my way to de sto' to get some victuals. Dere wasn't no ghostaround den either. If dere had a been I'd have seen him, you kin be suaho' dat. I was mighty skittish and ready to make mahself absent in abouttwo shakes."
"And you didn't see a thing?" inquired Penny.
"Well now, I can't rightly say dat," Old Mose corrected. "I didn't see noghost but I did see a taxicab."
"Ours, I suppose."
"Not dis one, Miss. De cab I see was a yelleh one."
The information interested Penny. "Which way was it going, Mose?" sheasked quickly.
"It wasn't goin', Miss Penny. It was standin' right at de gate. Den Isees two dark lookin' white men git out and go into de big house."
"You did?" Penny demanded eagerly. "Then what happened? Did the cab driveaway?"
"It waited 'till de two men came back, 'cept when dey comes back dere isthree of 'em!"
"Three men?" Penny cried, her excitement mounting. "What did the thirdman look like, Mose? Think hard! It's very important."
"Well," said Mose, "he was tall and he had something in his hand. A funnylookin' little satchel. I guess you calls it a quick-case."
"You don't mean a brief case?"
"Yes, dat's it," Mose grinned. "Anyways, dey all gits in de taxicab andoff dey snorts. And dat's all I sees. Dere wasn't no ghost."
The colored man's rambling information served to confirm Penny's ownsuspicions. Mrs. Botts had lied. A roomer known as Lester Jones had beenheld at the house and later hustled away. Perhaps the man _was_ herfather!
"Mose," she cried, "the person you saw may have been Dad! Did it looklike him?"
"Why, now yo' speaks of it, dere was somethin' about dat man dat looklike Mr. Parker," the colored man agreed. "Kinda de way he walked. Icouldn't see his face cause he kept it sort o' tucked down in hiscollar."
"All the same, it must have been Dad!" Penny exclaimed. "The brief casepractically proves it! Tell me, which way did the cab go?"
"Straight down de road," said Mose, pointing. "But de car's been gone along time now. If you figures on catchin' dose men, you all bettah betravelin'."