“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Penny asked me to help her find a green doll she said her mother had in the pocketbook that was stolen from her. But Helen Riker won’t tell me. She said there was nothing of any consequence in her pocketbook, but there was certainly something worth stealing. Those men must have been looking for her when they stopped here. I took the license number of their car.”
“Good girl,” approved Peter. “I knew you would. Now, if you can describe them—”
Judy described them in detail, answering a few more questions Peter asked her about them.
“They stopped short in front of Helen Riker and crowded her car into the ditch. Then the men jumped out and questioned her about her uncle’s jade collection at the point of a gun. She told me that much. But she won’t admit she had anything of value in the pocketbook they drove off with. What do you think was in it, Peter? Why do I get mixed up in such fantastic adventures?”
“Perhaps,” he replied mysteriously, “it’s because you’re married to me. I’m on the trail of a green doll myself. In fact, quite a number of them. These clues you speak of may be just the ones I need.”
“Peter! Really? Then maybe I can help you. Take a look at Exhibit C!” And Judy drew the tiny green jade figure from her pocket and laid it down before him.
CHAPTER XIV
The Missing Jade
Peter gave a long, low whistle of surprise. Then he asked Judy exactly where she had found the little idol.
She told him and added, “It isn’t quite the way Penny described it. This looks more like a hunter than a doll.”