“Mrs. Hawthorne is very gullible and easily influenced. Since her husband died, she has been prey for one sharper after another. I judge a third of her fortune already has been squandered.”
After a thoughtful pause, Penny hesitantly asked Mr. Ayling if he thought it possible Mrs. Hawthorne could have come to Riverview to join a cult.
“That’s what I’m here to find out. Mrs. Hawthorne and her granddaughter have not registered at any of the leading hotels. Yet I know they came to the city.”
“Have you tried the monastery at Knob Hill?” Penny suggested. “A new society has been established there in the last few days. I don’t know much about the order yet, but its members are supposed to dedicate themselves to a life of charity and poverty.”
“Why, that’s exactly the sort of thing to attract Mrs. Hawthorne—for a few weeks,” the investigator replied. “Then after the novelty wore off, she would flit on to something else. Where is this place?”
“I plan to drive out there in a few minutes,” Penny told him eagerly. “Why not come with me, Mr. Ayling?”
The investigator glanced inquiringly at Mr. Parker.
“Go ahead if you think it’s worth while,” urged the publisher.
“I suppose the chance of finding Mrs. Hawthorne there is very remote,” Mr. Ayling said, thinking aloud. “But I can’t afford to overlook any possibility. Thanks, Miss Parker, I’ll gladly accept your invitation.”
“Want to come along, Dad?” Penny asked.