“I’ve done a lot of speculating on it,” the old man admitted. “This is just my own idea, but I figure Judson may have been blackmailed.”
“Blackmailed! By whom?”
“I can’t tell you—it’s only my guess.”
“You have no evidence to support such a theory, Horney?”
“Nothing you could call that. But the day before Judson quit he was in the pressroom. He was sort of thinking out loud, I guess. Anyhow he said to me, ‘Horney, the dirty blackmailer couldn’t do this to me if it weren’t for my daughter. If it didn’t mean smearing her name, I’d fight!’”
“Did you ask him what he meant?”
“I made some reply, and then he closed up like a clam. I figure he hadn’t realized what he was saying.”
“You haven’t any idea as to whom he meant?”
“I couldn’t make a guess.”
“No matter what the reason, it was a pity the Press had to close,” declared Penny. “I feel very sorry for Mr. Judson.”