“What did you mean by asking about a paper she had burned?” Rosanna asked curiously.
“Oh, I just wanted to throw a scare into her,” Penny responded evasively as she snapped out the light and crept into bed. “I really have no proof of anything.”
Long after Rosanna had fallen asleep she lay awake thinking. Proof! The word seared itself into her brain. If only she could secure some evidence which would aid Rosanna!
“The entire affair seems unreal,” she mused. “Almost like a movie. It’s obvious that someone is playing at being a ghost, trying to frighten the occupants of this house. But what can be the purpose behind it all?”
Although Penny had been careful to make no such admission to Rosanna, she was becoming increasingly troubled. Nor were her worries confined solely to the hide-and-seek organist. She feared that the time was fast approaching when Mrs. Leeds or Max Laponi would make a legal claim to the Winters’ property.
“The chances are that Mrs. Leeds destroyed the will,” she reasoned. “In that event, Rosanna may lose everything.”
Penny felt baffled, yet she was unwilling to admit defeat. Certainly not until Mrs. Leeds had thrown all her cards on the table. Events were fast approaching a crisis. Penny sensed that from the woman’s attitude of increasing hostility and assurance.
“I’m not defeated yet,” she thought grimly as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve!”
When Rosanna and Penny descended the stairs the next morning they heard a murmur of voices in the library. The door was closed.
“I imagine Laponi and Mrs. Leeds are having another one of their secret conferences,” Penny commented. “They’re up to some mischief.”