The woman came closer. While still some distance from the cemetery entrance, she suddenly paused. Her head jerked sideways. Then to Penny’s dismay, she turned and fled toward the woods.
“Wait!” Penny shouted. “Don’t be afraid! Wait!”
The woman paid no heed. Lifting her coat the better to run, she disappeared among the trees.
CHAPTER
12
FLIGHT
As Penny wondered what to do, Detectives Brandon and Fuller leaped from their hiding place behind the cemetery wall. Their car had been secreted in a clump of bushes farther down the road. By pure mischance, the woman in the black veil had seen it as she approached, and fearing treachery, had fled.
“Quick, Dick, or she’ll get away!” Fuller shouted.
Penny did not join in the pursuit. Reentering her car, she waited anxiously. From the crashing of underbrush, she knew the detectives were having difficulty in following the woman. In the dark forest it would be very easy for her to elude the officers.
Three quarters of an hour elapsed before the men returned.
“We lost her,” Detective Brandon reported. “No use searching any longer.”
Sick at heart, Penny drove slowly toward home. Her hopes had been completely dashed. Not only had she failed to contact the mysterious woman, but there now seemed little likelihood of doing so.