“That’s what I’d like to know. Caleb is a queer one to say the least.”
“Do you think he’ll ever produce the photo?”
Penny laughed shortly.
“It would be a great surprise to me if he did. And yet from the way he acted, I’m convinced he could get me one if he chose. Like as not he has one in his cabin now.”
Penny lapsed into a moody silence. From the day of her arrival at Raven Ridge she had sensed old Caleb’s reluctance to help her. While she could not say that he was exactly unfriendly he had made no positive move of assistance. She had believed for a long time that he knew a great deal more than he would tell regarding Jacob Winters’ absence.
The girls entered the house by a side door. They noticed that Mrs. Leeds’ car no longer stood on the driveway and took it for granted that she and her daughter had driven to Andover as was their daily custom.
They glanced casually into the library and noticed that it was empty. However, Penny’s keen eyes traveled to the desk. She observed that the ink bottle had been left uncorked and that a pen had been removed from its holder.
“I wonder what Mrs. Leeds and Laponi were up to?” she speculated. “Oh, well, I’ll probably find out soon enough.”
“I believe I’ll go upstairs for a few minutes,” Rosanna excused herself. “I haven’t straightened my things yet this morning.”
Left alone, Penny crossed over to the desk and examined the paper in the wastebasket. She looked closely at the blotter, even holding it to the mirror, but it had been used so many times that the words which appeared upon it could not be read. There was not a scrap of evidence to show what Mrs. Leeds and Max Laponi had been writing.