“Has anything happened since I left?” asked the girl eagerly.
“No,” replied the manager. “Except that another guest has departed. Your friend Pauline Brooks came back, packed her bag, paid her bill, and left. Of course, she was only a transient anyway, but the hotel is so empty that I was hoping she would stay a while.”
“I met her on the street with her aunt,” Mary Louise said. “But she didn’t have time to talk to me. Did you question her about Ida’s story?”
“Yes, and she said it was true that Ida did come into her room to make the bed at that time, because she, Miss Brooks, had slept late. But she didn’t know how long the maid had stayed because she left the hotel before Mrs. Macgregor discovered her loss and screamed. So it is possible that Ida went back into Mrs. Macgregor’s room.”
“Personally I believe the girl is innocent,” stated Mary Louise.
“So do I. As I said, she has been with me two years, and I have always found her absolutely trustworthy. It probably was a sneak thief. The police are on the lookout for somebody like that.”
“Did you talk to Miss Stoddard?”
“No, I didn’t. She went out this afternoon.”
“She’ll bear watching,” remarked Mary Louise.
“I think so too,” agreed the other.... “Now, tell me what you did with yourself this afternoon.”