“Yes, we would,” said Detective Fuller.
Mrs. Botts remained undisturbed. Bestowing upon Penny a look of deep contempt, she motioned toward the stairway.
“Very well, search the house,” she invited with cool assurance. “I’ve told you the truth. You’ll find no one here but myself.”
CHAPTER
19
A BAFFLING SEARCH
In systematic, unhurried fashion, Detective Fuller went through every room in the Deming house. The bed chambers, nine in number, were in perfect order. Only Mrs. Botts’ suite over the kitchen appeared to have been used recently.
As the search progressed, Penny’s bewilderment increased. She knew that Lester Jones had been in the house an hour earlier, yet there was no sign of him. Personally she inspected clothes closets and bureau drawers. Not an article could she find that ever had belonged to her father. She did come upon a white woolen bathrobe. Believing it to be the garment worn by the “ghost” she called it to Detective Fuller’s attention.
“Oh, that robe belongs to my employer, Mr. Deming,” explained Mrs. Botts.
Penny indicated water stains along the hem which suggested that the garment had been allowed to trail in the snow.
“Sometimes I wear the robe when I go outside to bring in the washing,” replied Mrs. Botts. “It is warmer than my coat.”
Try as she would, Penny could not trip the woman into making any damaging admissions. Mrs. Botts had changed her original story and would not acknowledge that she had fled from the cemetery. Stubbornly, she maintained that she had told everything she knew about Mr. Parker’s disappearance.