Judy found she couldn’t dismiss it that lightly. Too many experiences had crowded in to make her vacation in New York not at all what she had anticipated. First there had been her discovery that Tower House was no longer standing. It appeared to have vanished but, in reality, it had only been torn down to make room for a new apartment building. Irene and Dale were now living in a more modern house farther out on Long Island.
Weird things had happened in Tower House as they had in Judy’s own home both before and after her marriage to Peter Dobbs. She would never forget the time she saw the transparent figure floating about in her garden. Blackberry, her cat, had provided the clue to that mystery as well as to the latest one she and Peter had solved. Always there had been a solution. The only real ghosts, Judy had discovered, were such things as suspicion and fear. Some fear could be haunting Clarissa.
“She must be somewhere,” Judy said as they left the theater. They took a taxi, not without misgivings.
“Don’t ask the driver to hurry,” Flo warned them. “The streets are still slippery. Remember what happened to the woman with the red hair.”
“Like mine,” Judy recalled thoughtfully, “only not as natural looking. We don’t know what happened to her. I’d like to meet her and ask her a few questions. I wonder if she has regained consciousness.”
“I’ll call the hospital tomorrow and find out,” Pauline promised. “Drop me off first, please,” she told the driver. “Then the others want to drive on to Penn Station.”
“That’s where we take the Long Island Railroad,” Irene explained. “Flo goes home by train, too, but on a different line.”
Judy found the railroad station confusing. People were hurrying this way and that. There was an upper level and a lower level and ever so many turns before they reached a crowded section of the station where Flo bade them good-by and left them to join another line of people. It seemed to Judy that half the city must be commuting to Long Island by train.
“I like to watch all the different faces, don’t you?” she whispered to Irene. “Clarissa could be in this crowd—”
Presently a man in uniform opened a gate, and the crowd surged through. Judy and Irene found seats on the train, but not together. A man, concealed by his open newspaper, occupied the place next to the window. All the seats were soon filled, and the train started on its way. Irene, who was sitting just behind Judy, tapped her shoulder.