“I’m afraid so,” Penny admitted, looking about for Susan. “The last I saw of him he was running toward the kitchenware department with the store detective after him.”
Sighting Susan near the outside door, Penny steered her new friend in that direction. Quickly she introduced the girls, mentioning Rosanna’s unfortunate accident.
“I saw it all,” Susan declared. “Penny, you certainly did stir up things when you set the store detective on that thief.”
“And the worst of it was that he escaped,” Penny acknowledged. “Of course, he may be caught here in the building but I doubt it.”
In the excitement, she had completely forgotten her package at the jewelry counter. The girls would have left the store without it had not the clerk come running after them with the purchase.
“Thank you so much for calling out the alarm,” she told Penny gratefully. “If the thief isn’t caught I may lose my job.”
“Oh, I hope not.”
“So do I, but I shouldn’t have broken a store rule. I was completely taken in by the man’s appearance.”
“I don’t wonder at that,” Penny said. “He certainly looked anything but a crook. Was the ring a valuable one?”
“It was priced to sell at eight hundred dollars. I don’t see how I could have been so stupid.”