“There she goes!” thought Penny, disappointed. “I’m afraid my interview will have to wait.”
Getting out, she sauntered into the garage office. Mattie’s partner, Sam, was nowhere to be seen. Nor did he appear to be working in the main part of the building.
Penny waited a few minutes, then wandered about the floor where a number of cars had been stored. No workmen were in evidence.
“This might be a good time to do a bit of looking around!” she thought suddenly. “I’ll never have a better chance.”
Penny opened the doors into the room where she had observed Sam Burkholder mount a new tire on the car of a customer. One wall was stacked high with large wooden boxes, not unlike those she and Louise had seen delivered by the truck driver, Hank Biglow, on the night of the blizzard.
She thumped one of the boxes with her knuckles. It gave off a hollow, empty sound. She tried another box with no better luck. Some of the big crates had been opened. They contained nothing except a little brown wrapping paper.
Disappointed, Penny turned away. But as she moved toward the exit, her eyes flashed upon one of the boxes which had escaped her attention. Boards were loose at one end, and could be hinged back on their nails like a door.
Intrigued, Penny crossed to the crate. As she pulled on one of the boards, all swung back as a unit.
“Why, it’s like a door!” she thought. “A door in a box!”
Penny gazed into the box and was further amazed. It had no back wall. Instead, she saw a long, empty tunnel formed by several crates piled one in front of the other. And at the very end stood a real door!