“We’ve a message from ‘The Link.’”
It acted like magic, and the woman’s face changed to an expression of welcome and serious anxiety, as we all went in.
It was rather a pretentious apartment, with fine furnishings in ornate taste. We saw no one save the woman who admitted us, and heard no sound from other rooms.
“You expected it?” and Zizi’s air of secret understanding was perfect.
“Expected what?” said Mrs. Kent, sharply, for she was apparently on her guard.
“Sadie’s arrest,” and Zizi’s black eyes narrowed as she looked keenly at the other.
But the woman was not to be trapped. She glanced at us each in turn, and seemed to conclude we were not friendly visitors for all Zizi’s pretense.
“I know nothing of any arrest,” she said, evenly; “I think you have mistaken the house.”
“I think not,” and Penny Wise looked at her sternly. “Your bluff won’t go, madam,—Sadie, ‘The Link,’ is arrested, and the game is up. Will you answer questions or will you wait until you, too, are arrested?”
“I have nothing to say,” she mumbled, but her voice trembled, and her nerve was deserting her. Inadvertently she glanced toward the closed door of the next room, and Zizi’s quick eyes followed the glance.