“Ed McClusky who works for the Salvage Company, told me that dynamite had been stolen from his firm,” Penny declared. “And here it is in Mr. Cordell’s automobile! Apparently, he wasn’t just driving by the plant at the time of the explosion! This picture proves why he was there!”
“Right you are, young lady,” chuckled Captain Bricker. “You’ve pinned the goods on him for fair.” Prodding the Mirror editor with his stick, he ordered curtly: “Get along, you! This puts a different face on it. You’ll be spending the rest of the night in the Safety building.”
After Mr. Cordell, still protesting his innocence, had been taken away, Penny, her father, and Salt returned to the deserted newspaper building.
“Will Cordell manage to get free?” she asked anxiously.
“Not a chance of it,” Mr. Parker answered. “That picture tags him right. With Ed McClusky and Ben to testify against him, he’s the same as convicted now.”
“Speaking of Ben, what’s to be done about him, Dad?”
“We’ll give him a job here. He’s had unfair treatment, but we’ll make it up to him. However, we’ll have to let one employee go.”
“Not me?” Penny asked anxiously.
“No,” her father laughed. “It’s your friend, Elda Hunt. Her attitude isn’t right. We’ve tried to give her a chance, but over and over she has demonstrated that she isn’t cut out to be a newspaper woman.”
“She’ll probably blame me for her discharge,” Penny sighed. “Not that it matters. I ceased worrying about Elda a long while ago.”