Penny Nichols and the Mystery of the Lost Key

by Joan Clark

  CHAPTER XII A Suspicious Act

  Penny caught herself shivering. She decided that she had seen quiteenough for one night.

  She turned toward the door, but with her hand on the brass knob, stoodtensely listening. Someone was tiptoeing along the hall. It occurred toher that the mysterious organist might have escaped from the music roomby means of a secret panel which opened directly into the adjoiningcorridor. Even now he could be effecting his escape to the lower floor.

  Crouching against the wall, Penny waited. She was startled to hear thefootsteps coming closer. Then the door opened a tiny crack and the beamof a flashlight slowly circled the room.

  "Penny!" an anxious voice whispered. "Where are you?"

  Penny laughed in relief as she reached out to grip Rosanna's hand.

  "Oh! How you startled me!" the girl gasped. "I'm so glad you're safe,Penny. You stayed up here so long that I was frightened."

  "I had to wait for the ghost."

  "I heard the music," Rosanna said in awe. "It broke off so suddenly."

  "That was because I frightened the ghost away. At first I thought perhapsI had dreamed it all, but if you heard the music too then it must havebeen real."

  "It was real enough. But it lasted only a minute or two."

  "When the organist saw me I suspect he slipped out of the room by meansof a secret panel," Penny reported. "But where he went is a mystery. Youdidn't see anyone as you came up the stairs to find me?"

  "No, I'm sure no one was in the hall, Penny."

  "I'm as certain as anything that this room has a secret entrance. Give meyour flashlight and we'll see what we can discover."

  "Not tonight," Rosanna shivered, pulling her friend toward the door. "Wecan come back in the morning."

  "The room may be locked again then."

  "That's so."

  "Let's take advantage of the opportunity while we have it."

  Rosanna handed over the flashlight and together they crossed the room tothe big organ. They inspected it with interest and Penny ran her fingerslightly over the keys. However, no sound came forth.

  "That's queer," Rosanna whispered.

  "I think someone has to pump air," Penny said. "It's probably shut off."

  She next turned her attention to the walls in the immediate vicinity ofthe organ. She could locate no hidden panel although in one place itseemed to her that when she rapped on a certain sector it emitted ahollow sound.

  "It's too dark to see anything tonight," Rosanna protested nervously.

  "I guess we may as well give it up until morning," Penny agreed.

  The girls stole quietly down the stairs to the lower floor. However, anunpleasant surprise awaited them. As they opened the door into the mainpassageway they found themselves face to face with Mrs. Leeds and Alicia.

  "So I find you here again!" the woman exclaimed. "I suspected before thatyou girls were at the bottom of these nightly disturbances. Now I havethe proof."

  Penny was too annoyed to even try to explain why she had visited thethird floor. She would have ignored the woman and passed on to her ownroom had not Rosanna been so distressed by the ridiculous accusation.

  "We've had absolutely nothing to do with the queer things which have beengoing on in this house," the orphan maintained indignantly.

  "Then why were you upstairs at this time of night? Only a minute or twoago Alicia and I heard music."

  "We were trying to learn what caused it, Mrs. Leeds."

  "A likely story!" Alicia said with a toss of her head.

  "You may believe it or not, just as you wish," Penny returned coldly.

  "It seems to me, Miss Nichols, that you are taking it upon yourself to doentirely too much investigating," Mrs. Leeds said cuttingly. "This isn'tyour home and you're not a relative of Jacob Winters."

  "And unless I'm sadly mistaken there are others here who are similarlysituated!" Penny retorted.

  "Do you mean to suggest that Alicia and I are not related to JacobWinters?"

  "I'm not suggesting anything," Penny replied evenly. "However, since youbrought up the matter of an investigation, I might ask you about thatpaper which I saw you burn in the living room fireplace."

  Mrs. Leeds' face changed color and she grew confused.

  "Why, I don't know what you're talking about."

  "You know well enough, but we'll let it pass for the time being. Come on,Rosanna."

  The two girls walked down the hall and entered their own room, closingthe door firmly behind them.

  "You held your own with her that time," Rosanna chuckled. "My, I wish Icould talk up to people the way you can."

  "I talk entirely too much. But she made me provoked when she accused usof causing all the disturbance in this house."

  "What did you mean by asking about a paper she had burned?" Rosanna askedcuriously.

  "Oh, I just wanted to throw a scare into her," Penny responded evasivelyas she snapped out the light and crept into bed. "I really have no proofof anything."

  Long after Rosanna had fallen asleep she lay awake thinking. Proof! Theword seared itself into her brain. If only she could secure some evidencewhich would aid Rosanna!

  "The entire affair seems unreal," she mused. "Almost like a movie. It'sobvious that someone is playing at being a ghost, trying to frighten theoccupants of this house. But what can be the purpose behind it all?"

  Although Penny had been careful to make no such admission to Rosanna, shewas becoming increasingly troubled. Nor were her worries confined solelyto the hide-and-seek organist. She feared that the time was fastapproaching when Mrs. Leeds or Max Laponi would make a legal claim to theWinters' property.

  "The chances are that Mrs. Leeds destroyed the will," she reasoned. "Inthat event, Rosanna may lose everything."

  Penny felt baffled, yet she was unwilling to admit defeat. Certainly notuntil Mrs. Leeds had thrown all her cards on the table. Events were fastapproaching a crisis. Penny sensed that from the woman's attitude ofincreasing hostility and assurance.

  "I'm not defeated yet," she thought grimly as she closed her eyes andtried to sleep. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve!"

  When Rosanna and Penny descended the stairs the next morning they heard amurmur of voices in the library. The door was closed.

  "I imagine Laponi and Mrs. Leeds are having another one of their secretconferences," Penny commented. "They're up to some mischief."

  "Why not leave this place today?" Rosanna demanded, "I don't care aboutthe fortune any more. I'm so tired of all this plotting and scheming. I'drather just go away and let them have it."

  "Now don't look so distressed," Penny smiled. "The battle of wits hasonly begun."

  "But I don't like to battle. It isn't my nature."

  "I'm your appointed gladiator, Rosanna. You have no idea how muchpleasure it would give me to see these grasping imposters exposed."

  "We haven't any proof they're imposters," Rosanna said soberly. "Afterall, they had letters and keys to the house. I haven't even that much."

  "It's too bad they were lost, but you mustn't let it worry you," Pennychided. "Right now I'm more concerned over another matter."

  "The mysterious ghost?"

  "Yes, although I wasn't thinking of that at the moment. It's Mr. Winters'photograph. Who tore it out of the album?"

  "For all we know it may have been removed years ago."

  "Yes, that's so, but somehow I have a hunch it disappeared at a far morerecent date. If I don't find a picture of Jacob Winters, I'm afraid mylittle plan will fall through."

  "You haven't told me much about this secret plan of yours, Penny."

  "That's because I haven't worked it out clearly in my own mind yet. Butunless I find the photograph there simply won't be any."

  "We might search the house again."

  "I intend to do that if we can ever find a time when Mrs. Leeds and MaxLaponi are both gone. Just now I'm eager to make another inspection ofthe organ room u
pstairs. This is our chance while those two are closetedin the library."

  Rosanna was not especially anxious to visit the third floor again, butshe offered no objection to the suggestion. Penny led the way up thecreaking stairs.

  The door of the music room was unlocked as they had left it the previousevening. However, the window shades were all drawn and the room was dark.Penny raised the blinds to admit light.

  Curiously, the girls gazed about them. Everything was covered with athick coating of dust and cobwebs hung in misty veils from the corners ofthe room. Penny crossed over to the organ. She indicated the bench infront of it.

  "I guess that proves whether or not our ghost was real."

  "You mean the imprint on the dusty surface of the organ bench?" Rosannaasked doubtfully.

  "Yes, you can see where the organist sat."

  "Perhaps one of us brushed off the dust without realizing it. You triedto play a few notes on the organ, you know."

  "Yes, but I didn't sit down on the bench, Rosanna."

  Losing interest in the organ, Penny began to search for the secret panelthrough which she was firmly convinced that the "ghost" had disappeared.As her eyes moved swiftly over the smooth wall, she suddenly uttered alow exclamation.

  "See, Rosanna! The imprint of a man's hand!"

  The marking upon the wall was so faint that at first the other girl didnot see it. But she too became excited as Penny pointed it out.

  "How do you suppose it came to be there?" she asked in awe.

  "I suspect our friend the organist was groping about in the darksearching for the secret panel. No doubt his hand was dusty and when hepressed it against the wall it left a faint imprint."

  "If you're right, we have a valuable clue as to the location of thepanel!"

  Penny nodded eagerly. Already she was exploring the wall with her hand.

  "It's funny," she murmured impatiently. "I'm as sure as anything that thepanel is here----"

  She broke off suddenly as her fingers touched a tiny round object whichwas hidden under the wall paper.

  "I believe I've found it!" she exclaimed gleefully pressing the button.

  The girls heard a faint click. But the panel did not open.

  "The stubborn thing!" Penny cried impatiently. "Why doesn't it open?"

  She pushed with both hands against the section of wall where she feltconvinced the panel was located. To her own surprise and the horror ofher companion, it suddenly gave way.

  Penny plunged headlong through the opening. And before Rosanna couldrecover from the shock of seeing her friend disappear, the panel fellback into place.

  "Penny, Penny," she cried anxiously, pounding upon the wall. "Are youhurt?"

  For several minutes there was no answer. Then Rosanna heard a smotheredlittle giggle.

  "All my bones are still together I guess. But I seem to have tumbled downa flight of stairs. Come on in."

  "I don't know how to get in. The panel slammed shut when you fellthrough."

  "It's hinged at the top I think. Find the little button and press on it.Then when you hear a click push on the panel. Only push easy or you'lltake a tumble the way I did."

  In a minute Rosanna had located the button. She pressed upon it as shehad seen Penny do. Then as the lock clicked, she cautiously pushedagainst the panel. Light as was her touch the sector of wall swunginstantly back and she stepped through the opening. So concerned was sheover Penny that she failed to hear the panel close behind her.

  At first Rosanna could see nothing. Then as her eyes became accustomed tothe gloomy interior she made out a long flight of stone steps leadingdownward into inky blackness.

  She felt reassured when Penny grasped her hand.

  "Come on, Rosanna! Isn't it exciting? Let's explore!"

  "Oh, it's too dark!" Rosanna whispered nervously. "What if we should runinto that dreadful man--the organist?"

  "Well, perhaps it would be wiser to go back for a flashlight," Pennyconceded. "Only we mustn't let Mrs. Leeds or Max Laponi suspect whatwe're up to. We must keep this discovery strictly to ourselves."

  She returned to the head of the stairs but although she groped her handcarefully along the wall she could find no hidden button or spring whichcontrolled the panel. By this time Rosanna had grown frightened.

  "Don't tell me we're locked in!"

  Penny forced herself to speak calmly. She knew that it would never do tolet Rosanna realize that she too was alarmed.

  "For the moment I'm afraid we are," she admitted quietly. "But don't giveup hope. We'll get out of here somehow."