“I hope he’s back,” declared Horace. “That lady who was minding the children said he’d been missing since early morning. She seemed quite worried.”
“We can watch for him on the way home, can’t we? Come on, Judy,” urged Holly. “You can come back here tomorrow and find your lady or whatever that was in the pond.”
Honey shivered. “I agree with Holly. Let’s go, Horace. It’s too dark to look for anything tonight.”
“Right,” he agreed, “but I’ll be back here first thing in the morning. What about you, Sis?”
“I’ll be with you. I wish Peter could come, too. Did you hear from him at all?” Judy asked.
Horace said he hadn’t heard but he felt sure Peter had received Judy’s message. “He’s probably out tailing suspects,” he added. “He is assigned to help round up the Joe Mott gang, isn’t he?”
“He doesn’t discuss his assignments,” Judy answered. Her brother was altogether too curious. He knew Peter’s work was confidential. She could understand Horace’s interest, though. His face was no longer swollen from the beating he had received from the Joe Mott gang, but there was still a small scar over his eyebrow. He had interrupted a robbery and probably was lucky that Joe Mott’s boys had given him no more than a beating. Joe was in prison, but some unknown gang leader apparently was taking his place. Peter had promised Horace the story as soon as it broke, but the investigation had to be conducted in secret.
“Are you coming, Judy?” Holly asked when Judy still stood there beside the stump where she had placed her camera.
“I thought we might wait just a little longer for Peter,” she protested. “He won’t know about the woods road. He’ll be walking over from the Jewell place and he’ll have his searchlight with him—”
“I get it,” Horace interrupted. “You intend to ask Peter to help you investigate this impossible discovery of yours. If the beavers have stolen furniture and transported it across state lines he might make a federal case out of it.”