The deskman shook his head. “Plenty of mail for you though.”
“Anything important?”
“Mostly replies to that reward offer you made. A lot of ’em are screwball letters. Your father’s been seen in every section of the city from the river to the Heights.”
“Where is the mail?”
“I dumped it on your father’s desk.”
“I’ll take it home to read,” Penny said. “By going through every letter carefully I may stumble upon a clue.”
She crossed the newsroom and opened the door of her father’s office.
The light was not on. Groping for the wall switch, her keen ears detected stealthy steps moving away from her. Sensing the presence of someone in the room she called sharply: “Who’s here?”
There was no reply. Across the room, a door softly opened and clicked shut. Penny was startled. Although the private office had two entrances, one leading directly into the hall, the latter had not been used in years. Usually the door was locked and a clothes tree stood in front of it.
Her groping fingers found the switch and she flooded the room with light. A glance revealed that mail lying on the desk had been disturbed. One of the top drawers remained open. The clothes tree had been moved from in front of the hall door. Plainly, someone had just fled from the room!