"Why do you keep your studio door locked from the inside?" she demanded, turning the key to open it.
"Because I don't care to be interrupted while I am working," Cron retorted significantly. "As a rule, visitors don't have the effrontery to come in the windows!"
Penny did not reply to the gibe. She opened the door just as Amy came running up the corridor, holding something in her hand. She stopped short when she saw Hanley Cron.
"Amy Coulter, I believe," he said sharply. "Wanted by the police."
"I've done nothing wrong," the girl retorted.
"You are under suspicion for the theft of a valuable painting from the Gage Galleries."
"I don't know anything about the picture."
"The charge is silly," Penny added.
"You seem to have an unlucky faculty of being present whenever valuables are stolen," Cron commented coldly. "Isn't that Mrs. Dillon's bag you have in your hand?"
"Yes, it is. I picked it up by the elevator. It was lying on the floor."