Why was Lucy lying? A lie about the ring—an evasion about having been on Vicki’s plane—what else would she lie about? Vicki was puzzled and troubled. She managed to conceal it, for if something was amiss here, she must not arouse the girl’s suspicions. She needed to gain more information.
“I think it’s wonderful that Mr. Dorn found your granddaughter so soon,” Vicki said to Mrs. Bryant, hoping she would talk.
“Yes, Mr. Dorn found her on his second trip to San Francisco,” Mrs. Bryant said, looking warmly at Lucy. “He flew out there just last week on Friday, and by the following Sunday—exactly a week ago today, I remember it was Washington’s Birthday, February twenty-second—he wired us that he had found our young lady.”
“Last Sunday,” Vicki thought. “And I saw the girl I took to be Lucy at Pine Top last Saturday.”
Lucy said, with a little laugh, “I was the most surprised girl in the world when Mr. Dorn appeared and told me that my grandparents wanted me. And the happiest girl.”
Marshall Bryant lighted a fresh cigar and gave a grunt of approval. “Dorn is a good man.”
Vicki thought, “Have I made a mistake and traced the wrong Lucy? I don’t see how. Yet surely Mr. Dorn, who’s a lawyer, and who has time and money to work with, didn’t make any mistake?”
“Of course we wanted to meet our granddaughter instantly, the very next day after Mr. Dorn’s telegram,” Mrs. Bryant said with a smile. “He flew back to New York and came to tell us—Lucy, darling, you can’t imagine how absurdly disappointed your grandfather and I were when Mr. Dorn told us that you needed a little time to settle your affairs in San Francisco, and would fly east by yourself.”
“I could hardly wait, too,” Lucy said. “I practically ran, in San Francisco, doing all my good-bys and chores. Even so, the fastest I could get here to you was Thursday.”
“Thursday!” Vicki nearly exclaimed aloud. “Why, this Miss L. Rowe was on my plane on Tuesday. She left La Guardia Airport, alone, at three o’clock Tuesday afternoon—I saw her—but she didn’t meet her grandparents until Thursday! Where was she during that interval?”