At headquarters fifteen minutes later, the young people found Mr. Gandiss, Penny’s father, and Heiney Growski already there. Questioned by police, the young people revealed everything they knew about the case.
“We can hold these men for a while,” Chief Bailey promised Mr. Gandiss, “but to make charges stick, we’ll have to have more evidence.”
Penny had told of the cache of brass in the Harper basement, and also of seeing Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton dump much of the loot in the river. She was assured that the ruins of the house would be searched in the morning and that a dredge would be assigned to try to locate the brass which had been thrown overboard into the deepest part of the channel.
Heiney Growski produced records he had kept, showing a list of Gandiss factory employes known to be implicated in the plot.
“Most of the persons involved are new employes who smuggled small pieces of brass out of the factory and turned them over to Sweeper Joe for pin money,” he revealed. “The leaders are Joe, Clayton, and Glowershick. With them behind bars, the ring will dissolve.”
“There’s one thing I want to know,” Penny declared feelingly. “Who planted the brass in Sally’s locker while she was working at the factory?”
No one could answer the question at the moment, but the following day, after police had repeatedly questioned the prisoners, the entire story became known. Sweeper Joe, the real instigator of the plot, had slipped into the locker room himself, and had placed the incriminating piece of evidence in Sally’s locker, using a master key. He had disliked her because several times she had resented his attempts to become friendly.
Although police had obtained signed confessions, tangible evidence also was needed, for as Chief Bailey pointed out to Mr. Gandiss, the men might repudiate their statements when they appeared in court. Accordingly, police squads were sent to the Harpers’ to search the ashes for evidence, and also to the river to supervise dredging operations.
Throughout the day, between trips to the hospital to see Sally, Jack and Penny watched the dredge boat make its trips back and forth over the area where the loot had been dropped.
“I hope I wasn’t mistaken in the location,” Penny remarked anxiously as the vessel made repeated excursions without success. “After all, the night was dark, and I had no way of taking accurate bearings.”