Not hearing her, he walked hurriedly on, and was lost in the crowd of the street.
“Wonder what he was doing here?” she thought as she slowly climbed the stairs. “Perhaps he came to see me. But in that case, he probably would have come up the front way.”
Dismissing the matter from her mind, she sought Salt in the photography room. The outside gallery was empty, though the photographer’s hat and coat hung on a hook by the window.
“Salt!” she called, thinking he must be in the darkroom.
No one answered. Nevertheless, a strange feeling Penny could not have explained, took possession of her. She sensed a presence somewhere near as if she were being watched.
Nervously Penny stepped to the door of the darkroom. She tapped lightly on it, but there was no answer.
Suddenly fearful, she jerked open the door and groped for a light. As the tiny room blazed with illumination, she uttered a startled gasp.
Almost at her feet, cheek against the floor, lay Salt Sommers.
CHAPTER
18
A SECOND TEST
As Penny knelt beside Salt, he stirred slightly and raised a hand to his head. She saw then that there was a tiny break in the skin which also was slightly discolored. Either the photographer had fallen or he had been slugged.