“Say, where are you taking me anyway?” Louise demanded suspiciously. “I’ve never been on this road before.”
“Only out to the Davis farm,” Penny responded with a grin. “We have a little detective work to do.”
During the bumpy ride, she gave her chum a vivid account of the adventure she had shared with her father the previous night.
“And just what do you expect to learn?” Louise inquired at the conclusion of the tale. “Are we expected to capture Clem Davis with our bare hands and turn him over to the authorities?”
“Nothing quite so startling. I thought possibly Mrs. Davis might talk with us. She seemed to know a lot more about the fire than she would tell.”
“I don’t mind tagging along,” Louise consented reluctantly. “It doesn’t seem likely, though, that the woman will break down and implicate her husband just because you want a story for the Riverview Star.”
Undisturbed by her chum’s teasing, Penny parked Leaping Lena at the entrance to the lane, and the girls walked to the cabin.
“It doesn’t look as if anyone is here,” Louise remarked, rapping for the second time on the oaken door.
“I’m sure there is,” Penny replied in a whisper. “As we came up the lane, I saw the curtains move.”
Louise knocked a third time, so hard that the door rattled.