“Jack is a problem,” Mr. Gandiss resumed, “but I have even more serious ones. How are you two at solving a mystery?”
Mr. Parker winked at his daughter and paid her tribute. “Penny has built up quite a reputation for herself as an amateur Sherlock Holmes. Running down gangsters is her specialty.”
“Dad, you egg!” Penny said indignantly.
Both men laughed. But Mr. Gandiss immediately became serious again.
“My problem is difficult,” he declared, “and I believe you may be able to help me, because I’ve heard a great deal about the manner in which you have solved other mysteries.”
“Only in the interests of gaining good stories for our newspaper, The Star,” Mr. Parker supplied.
“This probably would not net a story for your paper,” the island owner said. “In fact, we are particularly anxious to keep the facts from getting into print. The truth is, strange things have occurred at my airplane factory in Osage—”
Mr. Gandiss did not finish, for at that moment someone rapped loudly on an outside screen door.
CHAPTER
4
THROUGH THE WINDOW
“Now who can that be?” Mr. Gandiss remarked, startled by the knock on the door. “I heard no motorboat approach the island.”