“Judy, you’re shivering! There’s no need for you to be afraid now. Go back to the house,” advised Peter. “I’ll join you there in a few minutes.”
“She’s shivering! What about me?” Lawson snarled from between chattering teeth.
“You’re lucky we didn’t drown you,” one of the police officers told him.
As he was led toward the barn where a police car was concealed, little pools of water dripped from his clothing and left a trail behind him in the melting snow. It had turned warm for January. Judy had not shivered because of the cold. It was something else that sent chills through her. Things were too quiet. Usually, when a man was arrested, there were wailing sirens and a whole flock of police cars roaring in from all directions. Here there was nothing but an ominous silence.
The lights from the house looked friendly, but there wasn’t a sound to prove that anyone was inside. Only Blackberry, on the porch now, yowled plaintively, asking to be let in.
Suddenly the door opened. Dr. Bolton was on his way out. He did have office hours and had waited only long enough to greet Judy. Her mother and Horace were just behind him. She heard Honey, somewhere in the background, saying in a loud stage whisper, “She’s here, girls! All together!”
“Surprise!” came the chorus of voices as her friends rushed forward. Clarissa was with them. She hugged Judy fiercely. “It’s good to see you,” she said in a strange voice. “I told Mother and Father how I met you. Mother’s here—” She indicated Blackberry’s favorite chair where a motherly, gray-haired woman sat quietly rocking and smiling at the assembled guests.
“You haven’t met Mrs. Valentine. Let me introduce you,” Judy’s mother began.
Horace gave her a secret sign that meant he knew and had come, not only as her brother but also as a reporter for the Farringdon Daily Herald. But, obviously, Mrs. Bolton had been kept in the dark.
Judy heard herself saying something polite instead of the questions that were tumbling over themselves in her mind wanting to be asked and answered.