Before leaving the table, Penny scribbled a hasty note which she left for Jerry on his plate. It merely said that the girls would wait for him in the foyer. Choosing a moment when their own waiter was occupied at another table, they sauntered across the room and out into the hall.
“That wasn’t half as hard as I thought it would be,” chuckled Penny. “But where’s Jerry?”
The foyer was deserted. Noticing a stairway which led to a lower level, the girls decided that the telephones must be located below. They started down, but soon realized their mistake for no light was burning in the lower hall.
“We’re not supposed to be down here,” Louise murmured, holding back.
“Wait!” whispered Penny.
At the far end of the dingy hall she had glimpsed a moving figure. For just a second she thought that the young man might be Jerry. Then she saw that it was Burt Ottman.
“What do you suppose he’s doing down here?” she speculated. “He seems to be familiar with all the nooks and crannies of this place.”
Burt Ottman had not seen or heard the girls. They saw him pause at the end of the hall and knock four times on a closed door. A circular peep-hole shot open and a voice muttered: “Who is it?”
The girls heard no more. Someone touched Penny on the shoulder from behind. With a startled exclamation, she whirled around to face the head waiter.
“So sorry, Mademoiselle, to have frightened you,” he said blandly. “You have taken the wrong stairway.”