Penny Nichols Finds a Clue Part 23

"What did you find?"

"Everything was exactly as Miss Nichols said. The place has been used by the Molberg outfit, that's clear. But there wasn't a sign of anyone, and the desk which Miss Nichols mentioned as being in the little office, was gone."

"Looks like they got wind of what was up, doesn't it?"

"That's the way I figure it," the officer returned. "Not much we can do except wreck the place so it can't be used again."

Mr. Nichols talked with several other policemen, and then, satisfied that he had learned all the details of the unsuccessful raid, took Penny home.

"I suppose this means we'll not be taking that vacation into the mountains very soon," she commented when they were alone in the living room.

"I'm afraid of it, Penny. Would you care to go by yourself?"

"No, I'd prefer to wait until you can go too. Besides, I've become deeply absorbed in this Molberg case."

"I've noticed that," her father smiled. "I never suspected that my own daughter had such hidden talents for sleuthing."

"Now you're teasing!" Penny accused.

"No, your discoveries have astonished me, Penny. Perhaps you were favored a little by luck, but you've unearthed information which even my most skilled investigators were unable to turn up."

"My clues didn't prove of much value after all."

"It wasn't your fault that they didn't. A detective must learn to expect disappointments."

"So it seems," Penny sighed. "Now that Rap Molberg escaped the police net, what will be your next move?"

"I don't know yet, Penny."

"Perhaps Rap Molberg will leave the city."

"I don't think there's much chance of that. He'll remain in hiding for a few days or weeks, then strike again. You must have a constant bodyguard, Penny."

"Oh, Dad! If you knew how I hated it! I couldn't feel that even my thoughts were my own!"

"Sorry, Penny, but it's for your own safety."

"Oh, all right, I submit," Penny grumbled good-naturedly. "Only if I must have someone tagging at my heels all the time, please make him tall and handsome!"

"I don't usually select my men for their beauty," Mr. Nichols smiled.

"But I'll do the best I can for you."

Although Penny disliked the idea of being closely watched, actually a bodyguard was not as annoying as she had imagined it might be. Joe Franey, the detective a.s.signed by Mr. Nichols to the service, was young and, while not handsome, distinguished in appearance. His bearing gave no hint of his professional calling. Penny found Joe very likeable.

He never irritated her by making her aware of his presence--in fact, for hours at a time she never saw him at all--yet when she was on the street she was seldom out of his sight.

For the next few days, following Joe's a.s.signment to his new duties, Penny and Susan slyly amused themselves by trying to see if they could outwit him. They led the detective a gay chase from one end of the city to another. They dropped into department stores, dodging in one door and out another, but when they were confident they had baffled Joe, they were very apt to see him watching them from a doorway across the street.

Or if they entered a theatre apparently un.o.bserved by the faithful sleuth they were almost certain to see him only a few seats behind.

But soon Joe became such a fixture in Penny's life that she accepted him without much thought.

True to Mr. Nichols' prediction, all remained quiet on the Rap Molberg front save that the unsuccessful raid had stirred up an aftermath of bitter criticism. The local newspapers provided considerable unfavorable publicity; editors ran scorching editorials blaming Mr.

Nichols and the police for the failure to break up the Molberg gang.

Infuriated by the comments of the press, the police commissioner called both the detective and Jerome Davis to his office. Neither could explain the failure of the raid. It was obvious that someone had allowed information to leak and since only Mr. Nichols and a few policemen had known the details of the raid, suspicion tended to center upon Jerome Davis.

"It's only a matter of days until he'll be discharged from the force,"

Mr. Nichols told his daughter.

"Surely you don't think he'd be guilty of helping Rap Molberg?" Penny questioned.

"I don't know what to believe. Davis was called on the carpet yesterday and given an opportunity to explain a number of things. He wouldn't talk."

"But that doesn't prove necessarily that he's guilty, does it?"

"No, but he's acted strangely of late. The fact remains that someone let information leak either by accident or deliberately. Davis was in a bad spot before this. Now I'm afraid nothing can save his job."

"I feel so sorry for Betty," Penny murmured. "She'll take it hard if her father is discharged."

"You mustn't worry about it," Mr. Nichols advised kindly. "Davis had his chance to make good and seemingly failed. Now matters must take their own course."

"Couldn't you do anything to save his position, Dad?"

"I doubt it, Penny. At any rate, I shouldn't care to interfere ... for I'm not convinced that the commissioner isn't right. Davis is a queer type."

"Just the same I can't help feeling he's honest," Penny maintained firmly. "Couldn't there have been another reason for the failure of the raid?"

"Yes, but Davis was under suspicion before this. And since the raid he's been anything but cooperative."

"Then I suppose nothing can be done, but it seems a pity."

Penny did not speak of the matter again to her father but in secret she continued to mull over the unfortunate situation. She had developed a deep liking for Betty Davis, yet she readily acknowledged that in many ways the girl acted queerly.

"It's too much for me to figure out," Penny confessed to Susan one afternoon. "Everything seems to be such a hopeless contradiction.

Betty lets on that she is desperately afraid her father will be harmed by Rap Molberg and yet the police claim that Mr. Davis is really abetting the criminals."

"Have you ever met her brother?"

"Jimmie?" Penny asked. "No, but from what she told me I suspect he's something of a problem."

"I haven't seen Betty in days," Susan remarked. "Why not call on her this afternoon?"

Penny hesitated an instant, then agreed. Considering her father's a.s.sociation with Mr. Davis she was not certain that the visit would be very tactful.

"We must be careful and not say anything that could offend her," she warned.

"Of course," Susan agreed. "Shall we drive over in my car?"

At the Davis cottage a few minutes later, they caught a glimpse of someone moving about on the upper floor. But when they rapped upon the door there was no response.