CHAPTER
20
A CROOK EXPOSED
Eager to carry out Salt Sommers’ bidding, Penny ran up the hill in search of a telephone. She considered using the one at the house where Professor and Mrs. Bettenridge roomed, but decided against it, fearing that the conversation might be overheard or reported to them by the farm woman.
Hastening on, she saw a light farther down the road, and recalled having noticed a house there. Five minutes later, completely winded, she pounded on the door. A man in shirtsleeves, the evening newspaper in his hand, answered her knock.
“Please, may I use your telephone?” Penny gasped.
“Why, sure,” he agreed, stepping aside for her to enter. “Anything wrong?”
Penny knew better than to mention what was happening at the lake. “I want to telephone my father in Riverview,” she explained.
“The phone is in the other room,” the man said, switching on a light.
Placing the call, Penny waited impatiently for it to be put through. She was uncertain whether her father would be at home. If she failed to reach him, then the only other thing was to notify the sheriff.
“Here is your party. Go ahead, please,” came the long distance operator’s voice. The next moment Penny heard her father’s clear tones at the other end of the line.
“Dad, I’m at Blue Hole Lake with Salt,” she explained hurriedly. “Can you drive here right away?”