"Of course they are. Oh, Dad, can't I warn Amy?"
"It's probably too late now."
"Perhaps not. Let me try at least."
Mr. Nichols had anticipated such a request. He did not believe in assisting a fugitive from justice, yet unknown to Penny he had investigated Amy Coulter, and was inclined to feel that she was innocent of the charge against her.
"All right, if you like," he assented. "But if you see that the house is watched, have the good sense not to go in."
"I'll be careful," Penny promised. "Tell Mrs. Gallup not to wait dinner for me."
Mr. Nichols opened the garage doors for her and closed them again after she had backed the car to the street.
Penny parked a half block from Amy Coulter's rooming house. She walked slowly past the place, carefully glancing about. No one was in sight and she doubted that the building was being watched.
Entering, she ran up the stairway to her friend's room, rapping sharply on the door.
"Who is there?" Amy asked.