CHAPTER XIV Serious Trouble
Judy wanted to tell the nurse that this was an extreme emergency. Butwas it? A girl had vanished. Still the fact remained that she might haveslipped out of the theater on purpose.
“Peter will help us figure out what really happened,” declared Judy.“Oh, I hope he’s well enough to be—interested. Right now I’m moreconcerned with what happened to him.”
“Will he be allowed to tell you?” Irene asked.
“I don’t know. So much of his work is secret. That’s the hardest part,”Judy continued, a little break in her voice. “I never know what dangershe’s facing. Usually he tries to make a joke of it when I ask him. Butthis time I can’t help thinking—”
Irene’s hand closed gently over Judy’s. “Don’t think of what might havebeen. Just be glad he’s here with good nurses to take care of him.”
“I am glad. I’m glad Clarissa’s here, too—if that patient is Clarissa.I’d like to think she didn’t trick us, but how could the accident havehappened?” Judy wondered. “And where was she going in a cab?”
“It almost makes a person believe in phantoms, doesn’t it?” Irene asked.“Clarissa was so—naïve is the word. And now if she’s hurt—Oh, Judy! Whyare we always getting mixed up in other people’s troubles? We haveenough of our own.”
“The way I look at it, other people’s troubles are our troubles. Peterfeels that way, too,” Judy continued thoughtfully. “He says what hurtsone of us hurts all the rest. We can’t isolate ourselves and pretendtrouble doesn’t exist. We have to fight the good fight with fidelity,bravery, and integrity. That’s the motto of the FBI, and if anybody hasthose three qualities, it’s Peter. He’s faithful, brave, and I neverknew anybody as honest and sincere and—and—”
Judy was in tears, suddenly. The strain of waiting had been too much. Anurse, hurrying in, reassured her that Peter’s condition was notserious.
“He is asking for you,” she added in the usual composed manner ofhospital nurses. “Will you come?”
Would she come? Judy wondered how she kept her feet from flying down thecorridor. At the door of Peter’s room she paused, a nameless fear comingover her.
“You go in first,” she begged of the nurse, who had preceded her. “I’mnot sure I look all right.”
“You look fine,” the nurse interrupted with a smile. “He’s seen enoughof me. It’s you he wants. Go in to him just as you are, Mrs. Dobbs. Ithink it would be better if you went in alone.”
Irene was quick to understand. “I’ll go out and tell Dale—”
“Tell him not to wait,” Judy said. “I’ll be here all day. I’ll come outto Long Island this evening—by train.”
The slight hesitation in Judy’s voice did not betray her. She dreadedthat train ride. But she felt she had to take herself in hand. Peter wasdepending on her.
A hospital attendant spoke to Judy as she entered the large, cheerfulroom where Peter was lying flat in bed with a bottle of transparentliquid suspended above his bed. “Watch the intravenous. He mustn’t movehis arm.”
“I understand,” Judy replied. “My father is a doctor. I’ll see thatnothing goes wrong.”
Her voice was determinedly cheerful. The young attendant left, closingthe door softly. Judy was alone with Peter. For a moment she was allchoked up with emotion and didn’t know what to say. He smiled a little,wryly, and glanced toward the bottle that was feeding liquid nourishmentinto his veins.
“Careful there,” he warned as she bent over to kiss him. “That’s mybreakfast there in the bottle. A funny way to eat!”
“I’ll be careful,” she promised. “I’ll sit on the other side of the bed.Which shoulder was it?”
“The left.”
“Then I’ll sit on the right. You want me to stay here, don’t you?”
“Yes, I want you.” Peter’s strong fingers closed over her outstretchedhand. “Judy, it was my big chance, and I muffed it. I let him get away.”
“Don’t try to talk about it—unless you want to,” Judy told him gently.“You’re still very weak. You must save your strength.”
“You’re right.” He was quiet for a moment just looking at Judy as if hecould never see enough of her.
“You’re always—so brave,” he said at last.
Judy didn’t feel very brave. She felt like bursting into tears again.Little by little she heard how Peter had been brought to the hospitalunconscious from loss of blood. They had given him a transfusion beforethe operation. That was why it had taken so long. Removing the bullet,he said, was a simple matter. It had been imbedded in the flesh close tohis shoulder blade.
“I’ll be as good as new in a day or so,” he assured Judy, who sat besidehis bed, ready to listen whenever he felt like talking. “My partnercornered most of the gang. They were better organized than we thought.We trailed this man—”
“What man?” Judy asked when Peter paused.
“His name’s Clarence Lawson. I can tell you about it now. It’s publicknowledge. The public has to be warned against such characters,” hecontinued. “It all started when a woman came into our New York officeand said her church had never received a donation she had given a manwho claimed to be on the Ways and Means Committee. He’d enlisted hersympathy and talked her into donating quite a substantial sum to whatshe thought was the building fund. Lawson had joined the church andgained the confidence of a number of influential people.”
“That’s what you call the confidence game, isn’t it?” asked Judy. “Didyou catch up with this—this Lawson?”
“Well, almost. We trailed him and overheard some of his plans. Then wemade some quick plans of our own. Did you ever hear the story of thethree little pigs?”
“Of course,” Judy replied, puzzled. “Are you joking? What do the threelittle pigs have to do with it?”
“The third pig, if you will remember, got to the orchard ahead of thewolf. Well,” Peter continued, “that was what we planned to do. We werethere, but the wolf was early, too. So he huffed and he puffed and heblew the house in, and he shot up the poor little pigs.”
“Where was this house?” asked Judy. “Or aren’t you allowed to tell?”
“I can tell you where it wasn’t—” Peter sighed tiredly.
“No need,” Judy told him gently. “Stay quiet for a while, and I’ll tellyou a story. We met a girl, and Pauline thinks she was playing theconfidence game, too. Anyway, she made us sorry for her, and we eachgave her five dollars so she could take the train home to WestVirginia.”
“Did she take it?”
“The train? I don’t know. She took the money, if that’s what you mean.She also accepted our invitation to Irene’s show. I wish you could haveseen it, Peter. Irene was marvelous as the good fairy, and her gueststar, Francine Dow, made a beautiful Sleeping Beauty. The witch was alittle frightening, though. She swooped in and seemed to cast an evilspell over the audience. Then Clarissa—”
“Clarissa?”
“She’s the girl I was telling you about,” Judy said. “She’s here in thehospital, I think. Peter, would you like to rest while I find out if thepatient they brought here really is Clarissa? If I speak to the nursewho recognized Irene, I’m sure they’ll let me see her.”
“Is Irene here?” Peter questioned, pain as well as puzzlement in hisblue eyes as they searched Judy’s face.
“She was. Oh, Peter! I hope I’m not tiring you, talking so much!” Judyexclaimed. “One of the nurses stopped Irene on the way in and said apatient had been asking for her. We thought of Clarissa right away. Yousee, if she met with an accident, it would explain her disappearance. Idid tell you she vanished, didn’t I? We never saw her leave the theater,but I suppose she could have slipped out during the show and afterwardschanged her mind and tried to come back.”
“She could have slipped out with no intention of coming back. I doubt ifyou’ll find her here in the hospital,” Peter said, “but it will do noharm to try. I
can see you’re deep in another mystery. I wish I couldhelp you solve it.”
“You can, Peter. You’ll be well soon,” Judy told him hopefully. “Then wecan help each other.”
“I wish you wouldn’t try to help me this time, Angel.” Peter’s voice wasgrave. “I’m in trouble—serious trouble, and I’d rather you kept out ofit.”