“I wish I knew! Lou, I’m not imagining any of this! Surely you must have heard the shot?”
“Well, I did hear something that sounded like one.”
“Also, the lunch is gone. All that remains of it, is the paper lying over there by the tree.”
“I do see a newspaper,” Louise conceded.
“And that broken tree branch lying on the ground? I was up the tree and threw it at the boar. That’s how I lost my balance and fell.”
Louise now was convinced the story had solid foundation. “Start from the beginning,” she urged.
Penny related what had occurred, rather building up the scene in which she had been delivered from death by the bullet shot from behind a bush.
“Whoever the man is, he must be somewhere close by,” Louise said when she had finished. “Perhaps we can find him.”
“Not a chance! He’s deliberately hiding. Besides, I know better than to leave the walk again. It’s dangerous!”
“In that case we may as well go back and wait for Joe,” Louise said.