She paused, and Peter said one word:
“Clarissa!”
“You’re right, Peter!”
This was the clap of thunder Judy had been expecting. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had known it all along. Clarissa, in the golden wig and the princess costume, had shown her real beauty for everyone to see. There could have been no doubt, even in her own mind, that she was a vision of loveliness on TV.
“She said she’d do anything to get on television,” Judy remembered. “Could she have planned all this?”
“I don’t see how she could,” Irene replied. “Nobody possibly could have known Francine Dow would have an accident. The whole show could have been spoiled!”
“But it wasn’t. Clarissa played the part so well that everybody thought she was Francine Dow. But what happened afterwards?” asked Judy. “Francine’s aunt must have known she wasn’t the real Francine—”
“If that woman was her aunt,” Peter put in, and suddenly, just as the realization had come that Clarissa had played the part of Sleeping Beauty, a new and more terrifying fact became apparent.
“Peter!” cried Judy. “Those plans to hold an actress until her husband gave a ‘donation’ were meant for Francine Dow. But if they’re holding Clarissa—”
She stopped, aghast at the thought of what terror the girl, so easily frightened, must be feeling in the hands of Clarence Lawson and his ring of criminals. They had been desperate enough to use bullets to keep their plans from being discovered. Peter was aware of the danger.