"You shut up!" he said so sharply that Johnny did not dare to say another word.
"There's a policeman!" Granny told them in a hoarse whisper, and her gnarled finger pointed tremblingly to the officer. "I suppose you'll let him go with you," she added with much scorn. She was shivering with excitement and fear.
Accompanied by the officer, Joe and Mr. Bill went up the steps. Mr. Bill rang the bell, and when no one answered it, Joe tried to open the door. Mr. Bill kept his finger on the bell. Granny shivered at its shrill peal. But there was no response to it. Joe and Mr. Bill and the officer tried to break in the door, but its fibers and hinges were stronger than their muscles. Mr. Bill tried a window, and when he could not open it he shattered the glass with one blow of his hand. Granny and Norah and Johnny heard the clatter. They caught each other's hands. And still there was not a sound in the house.
"She can't be here!" Joe said hopelessly. "There isn't any one here!"
"We must make sure!" exclaimed Mr. Bill between his teeth, and he climbed through the window.
In a moment he had the door open, and Joe and the officer were clattering in. It was not worth while now to be quiet. The officer's flashlight showed them only empty rooms. Joe lighted matches and threw them aside as they flared out. He led the way through the lower floor.
"Some one has been here!" He pointed to a heap of cigar ashes beside a big chair.
"And here for some time if he smoked cigars enough to make that much ash," added the officer wisely.
"Come upstairs," begged Mr. Bill. "Never mind the ashes now!"
At last they reached the room in which Tessie had been locked. They were able to break in the door and the flashlight, the flaring matches showed them the bed, the old wardrobe and the bureau, which had been pulled from the wall. Mr. Bill ran to look behind it.