“Obviously some child she cared about had stolen something. I doubt if it was Penny herself.”
“Was it Paul?”
“Not if I’m any judge of character,” Peter said. “What else can you remember?”
“A lot of things. I’ll write them down. There were still more clues in the paper if we only had it. I think Helen must have taken it upstairs with her.”
“We don’t need it,” Peter told her. “I’m familiar with every word in it. You see, our office released the news. Horace didn’t tell you, but he got it from me.”
“He did? Then you know more about it than he does! Can you tell me who the thieves were?” Judy asked. “Was it the caretaker?”
“Possibly, although it was he who reported the robbery.”
“And what about the jade collection? If this green doll was part of it—Peter! It must have been. But why was Helen taking it there unless—” Judy kept interrupting herself as more ideas flashed through her brain. Then, suddenly, she knew.
“It was!” she exclaimed. “I remember it now! It said in the paper that a priceless Oriental jade collection had been stolen—”
“Was believed to have been stolen,” Peter corrected her. “It makes quite a difference.”