“Wonder if the Riverview Star carried any mention of a police investigation at the river?” she mused.
Dressing rapidly, she ran downstairs to bring the morning paper in from the porch. Eagerly she scanned the pages.
“Not a single word here!” she exclaimed in disappointment. “Maybe the police didn’t even bother to search the dock area.”
To make certain, she telephoned Captain Brownell, a personal friend at Central Station. The officer explained that a police car had been dispatched to the river shortly after one o’clock. Footprints noted earlier by the two girls, had been blotted out by falling snow. No one had been found loitering in the area.
“Well, that’s that,” sighed Penny, turning away from the telephone. “I wish now, Lou and I had taken a chance and prowled under the dock.”
From the breakfast alcove, Anthony Parker, a tall, lean man with iron gray hair and intelligent eyes, regarded his daughter in amusement.
“Talking to yourself again, Penny?” he teased.
“I am!” Penny slid into a chair beside her father and reached for a tall glass of orange juice. “The things I’m thinking about the police department aren’t complimentary either! What this town needs is a larger force and at least a dozen extra patrol cars!”
“You could find plenty of work for them, I judge.”
“Couldn’t I? A nice situation when police are too busy to investigate an important call promptly!”