Judy thought of it. It seemed irrelevant, almost disloyal to Irene to think of fiction and Dale’s future just then. But if they found Irene, Dale’s future might be hers. How wonderful! And after those high-hat girls in Farringdon had snubbed her so! It would be almost a triumph for Judy, too—that is, if they could only find Irene and give this Cinderella story a chance to come true.
The printed form Judy had previously filled in was still on file in the police records. This was checked up and once more turned over to the Detective Bureau. The description, Lieutenant Collins promised, would be telephoned to the Bureau of Missing Persons and broadcast over the radio at seven-thirty.
Dale looked at his watch. Only an hour and the whole country would be hearing about Irene’s disappearance. Surely someone had seen her, and whoever it was couldn’t forget the golden dress and slippers.
“Girls don’t vanish,” Judy declared as they turned to leave.
“Oh, but they do,” Pauline cried. “Joy Holiday vanished right out of a locked room. And when they found her she was dead.”
None of them spoke after that. Automatically they went back to the house and climbed up the three long flights of stairs. Blackberry greeted them as they opened the door, but Judy had no heart for romping with him.
“Go away!” she said, pushing him gently out of the way. “Cats can’t understand human troubles.”
But instead of minding her, he rubbed his silky head against her ankles. His soft, crackly purr seemed to say: “Cats do understand human troubles. What you need is someone who loves you to sympathize.”
Tears came to Judy’s eyes. She thought of her father and mother struggling with an epidemic of influenza when they had wanted a vacation. She thought of her brother, Horace. She thought of Peter and Honey and their two dear grandparents, of Arthur who had once helped hunt for Lorraine Lee in his airplane. How she missed them all! How she needed them! Oh, why had she and Irene ever left Farringdon at all? To find adventure, she supposed. Now she felt sick to death of adventure and only wanted all her friends together the way they used to be. Irene, even the pale overworked Irene, would be better than this awful uncertainty.
Walking over to the radio, Judy stood watching Dale as he fumbled with the dials. In ten more minutes the police alarms would be on the air.