“Mr. Dorn, I’ve found out how your mother, Mrs. Heath, lured Lucy out of San Francisco—”
“Your mother?” said Mr. Bryant in surprise.
“—and kept Lucy virtually a prisoner in—”
“Stop lying!” Dorn ordered. “You’re a ridiculous little amateur detective who’s been meddling—”
“—prisoner in a lonely house near the Sierra Nevadas, until I got her out of there yesterday! And that’s where you were yesterday, Mr. Dorn—in Pine Top!”
Dorn’s eyes narrowed. The false Lucy kept perfectly still. The lawyer retorted:
“Miss Barr, you evidently are stupid and irresponsible. Perhaps this girl with you is, too. Dreaming up some fantastic tale! Prisoner!” He turned to Mr. Bryant. “What has she told you?”
Mrs. Bryant answered. “They showed us another silver ring, and these photographs and letters.”
Dorn smiled dryly. “Documents can be forged, or stolen. A silver ring can be copied, too, by a clever jeweler.” He turned to the true Lucy and thundered at her, “How did you manage to steal and forge these things?”
As Lucy drew back in fright, Vicki said: