Penny stared, scarcely believing her eyes. The bed was empty.
CHAPTER
3
A JADE GREEN CHARM
Sitting up in bed, Penny gazed about the room. Mrs. Deline was not there and her clothes were gone from the chair where they had been placed earlier that night.
“Queer,” mused the girl.
Jumping out of bed, she darted to the door. Though it had been carefully locked a few hours before, the latch now was off.
Thoroughly puzzled, Penny switched on a light and glanced carefully about. Mrs. Deline’s suitcase remained in the closet, but coat and hat were missing. And then Penny made an even more disturbing discovery. The car keys were gone from the dresser!
“Why, I know I put those keys on the bureau just before I went to bed!” she told herself in dismay. “Now I wonder if that woman—” Ashamed of her thoughts, she muttered: “Guess I am a suspicious brat!”
Deeply mystified, she moved quickly to the window overlooking the parking lot and filling station. It was reassuring to see the Parker automobile standing where her father had left it earlier that night. But as she stood staring down into the dark, deserted yard, she was startled to observe a shadowy figure rounding a corner of the hotel.
“Mrs. Deline!” she recognized the woman.
Penny waited only long enough to see that the widow was walking straight toward the Parker sedan.