Mr. Gay laughed. “But what finally led you to suspect her?”
Mary Louise went on to tell her father in detail about her false suspicions concerning first Miss Stoddard and then Miss Weinberger, and described her visit to the Bellevue and the catching of Pauline Brooks and Mary Green in the very act of stealing.
“But that wasn’t evidence enough to prove them guilty of the robberies at Stoddard House,” objected her father.
“I know,” admitted Mary Louise. “But I figured out that there is a whole band of these secret hotel thieves, for I’m pretty sure two other members stole some silverware and a vase from Stoddard House a while ago. I believe, too, that a woman whom Pauline called her aunt is the leader.... And that’s what I want you to do, Dad. Go after her!”
“But where is she?” he demanded.
“I think she’s in Baltimore now, at the Hotel Phillips, because that’s where the girls got their money for bail. Five hundred dollars. She’s planning to go to Florida, so you have to hurry.”
“What could I do with her if I did find her?” inquired Mr. Gay.
“Couldn’t you arrest her?”
“Not unless I had some evidence against her.”
Mary Louise sighed: it was dreadful, she thought, to know that somebody was guilty and not be able to prove it. But she could see that her father was right.