Following Amy's Trail
The detectives glanced curiously at Penny as they came up the steps to the rooming house but failed to notice that she lingered by the street curbing to learn what had brought them to the scene. They rang the bell and the door was opened almost instantly by the landlady.
"You may as well go away," she began irately, then paused in confusion. "Oh, I beg your pardon. I thought it was someone else."
The plain clothes men flashed their badges and then inquired if Amy Coulter resided at the house.
"You're not the first that's asked for her," the woman informed. "Someone from the Gage Galleries has been telephoning all morning until it's enough to drive a body wild. And just a minute ago a girl came to bother me."
"I take it then that Amy Coulter is not here?" one of the detectives interrupted.
"No, she packed up her luggage and cleared out last night without leaving an address. What has she done now?"
"We're not certain that she has done anything, but we wish to question her."
"I thought something was wrong when she cleared out so fast," the landlady declared. "She paid her rent all right, but she was a queer one. I was suspicious of her from the first."
The detectives talked with the landlady a few minutes longer before returning to their car.