“We probably wouldn’t have waited if you hadn’t locked the door!” Louise said sharply.
The keeper’s eyebrows lifted and he looked slightly amused. “Locked in?” he echoed.
“Yes, we couldn’t get the door open.”
“Oh, it sticks sometimes. Been intending to fix it for several days. If you had pushed hard it would have opened.”
“We certainly pushed hard enough,” Penny said dryly. She was more than ever certain that the lighthouse keeper had unlocked the door only a moment before entering. Clearly, he had meant to prevent Louise and her from seeing and hearing what went on in the room above.
“Come along,” the keeper invited. “I’ll show you the tower.”
“No thank you,” Penny replied coldly. “We’ve spent so much time here that we’ll have to be getting back to the hotel.”
“As you like.” The keeper shrugged, and looked relieved by the decision.
Jim McCoy stepped away from the door, and the girls hastened down the iron stairway. No one was in sight on the beach. Whoever had visited the lighthouse during the time they were imprisoned, had disappeared.
When they were well down the beach, Louise and Penny slackened their pace. Glancing back they saw that the keeper of the light still stood on the tiny iron balcony watching them.