Penny was sorely tempted. She studied the long, high dock only to shake her head.
“If once we get down there, we couldn’t climb up again without walking a long distance, Lou.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Let’s call the police station,” Penny urged. Scrambling to her feet, she brushed snow from her ski suit. “This is a case for them to investigate.”
“That’s what I think,” agreed Louise, greatly relieved. “I know my parents wouldn’t want me prowling under the docks at night.”
Pelted by fast falling snow, the two friends returned to the parked car and then drove to a drugstore several blocks away. Penny telephoned Central Police Station, only to be informed a car could not be sent to the river for a few minutes. Heavy snow had snarled traffic, causing many accidents and tying up police personnel.
For twenty minutes the girls waited patiently in their car, but no one came to investigate. At last, giving up in disgust, they drove to their homes.
Try as she would, Penny could not forget the strange girl with the suitcase who had been so unwilling to answer questions. Who was she? And why had she taken refuge beneath the river docks?
She longed to talk the matter over with her father, but Mr. Parker had gone to bed early.
Penny kept thinking about the matter until she fell asleep and it was foremost in her thoughts when she awoke in the morning.