CHAPTER
25
EXTRA!
Penny stood at the window of her father’s office, listening to the newsboys crying their wares on the street.
“Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Police Capture Three in Raid on Celestial Temple! Extra! Extra!”
Mr. Parker rocked back in his swivel chair, smiling at his daughter.
“Your story was first-class, Penny,” he said. “Thanks to you we scooped the Record. Tired?”
“I do feel rather washed out,” Penny admitted. “Writing at high speed with a deadline jabbing you in the back is worse than facing a gang of crooks. But it was exciting.”
“You turned in a good story,” her father praised again. “In fact, you may as well take credit for breaking up that outfit of fake spiritualists.”
“So far the police have only captured Al Gepper, Slippery and Pete. There’s not much evidence against the others.”
“True, but rest assured those who aren’t rounded up will leave Riverview. The backbone of the organization has been smashed.”
Penny sank wearily into a chair, picking up a copy of the Star which lay on her father’s desk. Two-inch, black headlines proclaimed the capture, and opening from the banner was her own story tagged with a credit line: by Penelope Parker. Salt Sommer’s photographs had made the front page, too, and there was a brief contribution by Jerry telling of Al Gepper’s attempted flight in Leaping Lena.