Penny waited several minutes and then came out of her hiding place. She flung open the closet door to admit more light.
“Just as I thought!” she muttered.
The closet, a long narrow room, was hung solidly with fur coats!
“So Maxine Miller was working for the hotel interests after all,” Penny told herself. “I’ve stumbled into something big!”
Groping along the wall of the storage room, she found a switch and pressed it. Again the partition revolved, revealing a flight of stairs leading downward. She slipped through and the wall slid into place behind her.
The stairway was lighted with only one weak electric bulb. Penny’s body cast a grotesque shadow as she cautiously descended. There were so many steps that she decided they must lead to a basement in the hotel.
She reached the bottom at last and followed a narrow sloping tunnel, past a large refrigerated vault which she reasoned must contain a vast supply of additional furs, and kept on until a blast of cool air struck her face. Penny drew up sharply.
Directly ahead, at a bend in the tunnel, sat an armed guard. He was reading a newspaper in the dim light, holding it very close to the glaring bulb above his chair.
Penny dared go no farther. Quietly retreating the way she had come, she stole back up the long stairway. At the top landing she found herself confronted with a blank wall. After groping about for several minutes, her hand encountered a tiny switch similar to the one on the opposite side of the partition. She pressed it, and the wall section revolved.
Letting herself out of the storage closet, Penny started toward the door, only to pause as she heard one of the teletypes thumping out a message. She crossed over to the machine and stood waiting until the line had been finished and a bell jingled. The words were unintelligible in jumbled typewriting, and Penny had no time to work out the code.
Tearing the copy paper neatly across, she thrust it in the pocket of her jacket.
Fearing that at any moment the printer attendant might return, Penny dared linger no longer. She went to the door but to her surprise it would not open.
“Probably a special trick catch which automatically locks whenever closed,” she thought. “The only way to get in or out is with a key, and I haven’t one. That means I’ll have to risk my neck again.”
Going to the window she raised it and looked down. All was clear below. Two courses lay open to her. She could return the way she had come through the hotel, or she might edge along the shelf past two other windows to the fire escape, and thence to the ground. Either way was fraught with danger.
“If I should happen to meet Ralph Fergus or Harvey Maxwell, I might not get away with my information,”Penny decided. “I’ll try the fire-escape.”
Closing the window behind her, she flattened herself along the building wall, and moved cautiously along the ledge. She passed the first room in safety. Then, as she was about to crawl past the second, the square of window suddenly flared with light.
For a dreadful moment Penny thought that she had been seen. She huddled against the wall and waited. Nothing happened.
At last, regaining her courage, she dared to peep into the lighted room. Two men stood with their backs to the window, but she recognized them as Harvey Maxwell and Ralph Fergus.
Penny received a distinct shock as her gaze wandered to the third individual who sat in a chair by the bed. The man was old Peter Jasko.
A low rumble of voices reached the girl’s ears. Harvey Maxwell was speaking:
“Well, Jasko, have you thought it over? Are you ready to sign the lease?”
“I’ll have the law on you, if I ever get out of here!” the old man said spiritedly. “You’re keepin’ me against my will.”
“You’ll stay here, Jasko, until you come to your senses. We need that land, and we mean to have it. Understand?”
“You won’t get me to sign, not if you keep me here all night,” Mr. Jasko muttered. “Not if you keep me a year!”
“You may change your mind after you learn what we can do,” said Harvey Maxwell suavely.
“You aim to starve me, I reckon.”
“Oh, no, nothing so crude as that, my dear fellow. In fact, we shall treat you most kindly. Doctor Corbin will be here presently to examine you.”
“Doctor Corbin! That old quack from Morgantown! What are you bringing him here for?”
Harvey Maxwell smiled and tapped his head significantly.
“To give you a mental examination. You are known to the good people of Pine Top as a very peculiar fellow, so I doubt if anyone will question Doctor Corbin’s verdict.”
“You mean, you’re aimin’ to have me adjudged insane?”Peter Jasko asked incredulously.
“Exactly. How else can one explain your fanatical hatred of skiing, your blind rages, your antagonism to the more progressive interests? While it will be a pity to bring disgrace upon your charming granddaughter, there is no other way.”
“Not unless you decide to sign,” added Ralph Fergus. “We’re more than reasonable. We’re willing to pay you a fair price for the lease, more than the land is worth. But we want it, see? And what we want we take.”
“You’re a couple of thievin’, stealin’ crooks!” Peter Jasko shouted.
“Not so loud, and be careful of your words,”Harvey Maxwell warned. “Or the gag goes on again.”
“Which do you prefer,” Fergus went on. “A tidy little sum of money, or the asylum?”
Peter Jasko maintained a sullen silence, glaring at the two hotel men.
“The doctor will be here at ten-thirty,” said Harvey Maxwell, looking at his watch. “You will have less than a half hour to decide.”
“My mind’s made up now! You won’t get anyone to believe your cock and bull story. I’ll tell ’em you brought me here and held me prisoner—”
“And no one will believe you,” smiled Maxwell. “We’ll give out that you came to the hotel and started running amuck. Dozens of employes will confirm the story.”
“For that matter, I’m not sure you don’t belong in an asylum,” muttered Fergus. “Only a man who isn’t in his right mind would turn down the liberal proposition we’ve made you.”
“I deal with no scoundrels!” the old man defied them.
Harvey Maxwell looked at his watch again. “You have exactly twenty-five minutes in which to make up your mind, Jasko. We’ll leave you alone to think it over.”
Fergus trussed up the old man’s hands and placed a gag in his mouth. Then the two hotel men left the room, turning out the light and locking the door behind them.
CHAPTER 23
RESCUE
After the door had closed there was no further sound for a moment. Then in the darkness Penny heard a choked sob.
Moving closer to the window she tried to raise it. Failing, she tapped lightly on the pane. Pressing her lips close to the glass she called softly:
“Don’t be afraid, Mr. Jasko! Keep up your courage! I’ll find a way to get you out!”
The old man could not answer so she had no way of knowing whether or not he heard her words. Moving back along the ledge she reached another window, and upon testing it was elated to find that it could be raised up.
She climbed through, lowered it behind her and hastened to the door. Quietly letting herself out, she went down the deserted hall to the next door. Without a key she could not hope to get inside. For a fleeting instant she wondered if she were not making a mistake by delaying in starting after the authorities.
“I never could get back here in time,” she told herself. “Maxwell will return in twenty-five minutes with the doctor, possibly earlier. Jasko may sign the paper before help could reach him.”
Penny was at a loss to know how to aid the old man. As she stood debating, the cleaning woman whom she had seen upon another occasion, came down the hall. The girl determined upon a bold move.
“I wonder if you could help me?” she said, going to meet the woman. “I’ve locked myself out of my room. Do you h
ave a master key?”
“Yes, it will unlock most of the bedrooms.”
“The doors on this floor?”
“All except number 27.”
Penny took a two dollar bill from her jacket pocket and thrust it into the woman’s hand.
“Here, take this, and let me have the key.”
“I can’t give it to you,” the woman protested. “Show me your room and I’ll unlock it for you.”
“We’re standing in front of it now. Number 29.”
The woman stared. “But these rooms aren’t usually given out, Miss.”
“I assure you number 29 is very much occupied,” replied Penny. “Unlock it, please.”
The woman hesitated, and finally inserted the key in the lock.
“Thank you,” said Penny as she heard the latch click. “No, keep the two dollars. You are welcome to it.”
She waited until the maid had gone on down the hall before letting herself into the dark room. Groping for the electric switch, she turned it on.
“Mr. Jasko, you know me,” she whispered as the old man blinked and stared at her almost stupidly. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
She jerked the gag from his mouth, and unfastened the cords which bound his wrists.
“We don’t dare go through the hotel lest we be seen,” she told him. “I think we may be able to get out by means of the fire escape. If luck is only with us—”
Making certain that the coast was clear, Penny led the old man down the hall to a room which she knew would be opposite the fire escape. She was afraid it would be locked, but to her intense relief it had not been secured.
Only a minute was required to cross the room, raise the window and help Peter Jasko through it.
“I can’t come with you,” she said. “I have something else to do. Now listen closely. I want you to go to Pine Top as fast as you can and bring the sheriff or the police or whoever it is that would have authority to arrest Fergus and Maxwell.”
“I aim to do that on my own account,” the old man muttered. “I’ve got a debt to square with them.”
“We both have,” said Penny. “Now this is what I want you to do. If I’m not in evidence when you get back, bring the police to the Green Room.”
“Where’s that?”
“It’s on this same floor. You go down the hall to the left, enter an unmarked door into another corridor, and finally through a green door which may be guarded. If necessary, force an entrance.”
“I don’t know what it’s all about,” the old man muttered. “But I’ll do as you say.”
“And hurry!” Penny urged.
She watched anxiously from the window until Peter Jasko had reached the bottom of the fire escape in safety. He ran across the yard, gaining the roadway without having been observed.
Returning once more to the main corridor, Penny glanced anxiously up and down. Hearing someone moving about at the far end of the hall, she went to investigate, certain that it was the cleaning woman putting away her mops and broom.
“You ain’t locked out again?” the maid asked as she saw Penny standing beside her.
“No, but I have another request. How would you like to earn some more money?”
“How?” inquired the woman with quick interest.
“Do you have an extra costume?”
“Costume?”
“Dress, I mean. Like one you’re wearing.”
“Not here.” As the maid spoke she divested herself of an old pair of shoes, and setting them back against the closet wall, slipped on a pair of much better looking ones. “I’m changing my clothes now to go home.”
“I’ll give you another two dollars if you’ll lend me the outfit for the evening.”
“Is it for a party?” the maid asked.
“A masquerade,” said Penny. “I want to play a little joke on some acquaintances of mine.”
She waved another bill before the woman’s eyes, and the temptation of making easy money was too great to resist.
“All right, I’ll do it,” the maid agreed. “Just wait outside until I get my clothes changed.”
Penny waited, watching the halls anxiously lest she be observed by someone who would recognize her. Soon the maid stepped from the closet, and handed over a bundle of clothing.
“And here is your money,” said Penny. “Don’t mention to anyone what we’ve done—at least not until tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry, Miss, I won’t,” replied the woman grimly. “I might lose my job if they caught me.”
After the maid had gone away, Penny slipped into the closet and quickly changed into the costume. Pulling off her cap, she rumpled her hair and rubbed a streak of dirt across her face. The shoes were a trifle too large for her, and their size, together with the painful ankle, made her walk in a dragging fashion.
Snatching up a feather duster, she went hurriedly down the hall toward the corridor which led to the Green Room. As always, the guard sat in his chair by the door. But this time Penny had high hopes of gaining entrance.
Boldly, she walked over to him and said: “Good evening. I was sent to tell you you’re wanted in the office by Mr. Maxwell.”
“Now?” he inquired in surprise.
“Yes, right away.”
“Someone ought to stay here.”
“I’ll wait until you get back.”
“Don’t let anyone inside unless they have passes,” the guard instructed.
Penny barely could hide her excitement. It had been almost too easy! At last she was to penetrate beyond the Green Door! And if she found what she expected, the entire mystery would be cleared up. She would gain evidence against Ralph Fergus and Harvey Maxwell which would make her case iron-clad.
From within the room, Penny could hear the low murmur of voices. She waited until the guard had disappeared, and then, summoning her courage, opened the green door and stepped inside.
Penny found herself in an elegantly furnished salon, its chairs, davenports, carpet and draperies decorated in soft shades of green and ivory. A little dark-haired man she had never seen before, who spoke with an artificial French accent, stood talking with three women who were trying on fur coats. A fourth woman, Maxine Miller, sat in a chair, her back turned to Penny.
“Now Henri, I want you to give my friends a good price on their coats,” she was saying in a chirpy voice.
“Oui” he agreed, bobbing his head up and down. “We say one hundred and ninety-two dollars for zis beautiful sealskin coat. I make you a special price only because you are friends of Mademoiselle Miller.”
The opening of the outside door had drawn Henri’s attention briefly to Penny. As she busied herself dusting, he paid her no heed, and Maxine Miller did not give the girl a second glance.
Penny wandered slowly about the room, noting the long mirrors and the tall cases crowded with racks of sealskin coats.
“These are smuggled furs,” she thought. “This Green Room is the sales salon, and Henri must be an employee of Ralph Fergus and Harvey Maxwell. I believe I know how they get the furs over the Canadian border, too, without paying duty!”
Satisfied that she could learn no more by lingering, Penny turned down the long corridor leading to the door which opened on the main hallway. She knew that the guard would soon discover he had been tricked and expose her. And while she had been inside the salon less than five minutes, already she had waited a moment too long.
As she opened the door she saw Harvey Maxwell and the guard coming down the corridor toward her. Retreat was out of the question.
“There she is now!” said the guard, accusingly. “She told me you wanted me in the office.”
Harvey Maxwell walked angrily toward Penny.
“What was the big idea?” he began, only to stop short. “Oh, so it’s you? My dear little girl, I am very much afraid, you have over-played your hand this time!”
CHAPTER 24
HENRI’S SALON
Penny sought to push past the two men, but Harvey
Maxwell caught her roughly by the arm.
“Unfortunately, my dear Miss Parker, you have observed certain things which you may not understand,” he said. “Lest you misinterpret them, and are inclined to run to your father with fantastic tales, you must be detained here. Now I have a great distaste for violence. I trust it will not be necessary to use force now.”
“Let me go,” Penny cried, trying to jerk away.
“Take her, Frank,” instructed the hotel man. “For the time being put her in the tunnel room. I’ll be down as soon as I talk with Ralph.”
Before Penny could scream, a hand was clapped over her mouth. The guard, Frank, held her in a firm grip from which she could not free herself.
“Get going!” he commanded.
But Penny braced her feet and stood perfectly still. From the outside corridor she had heard a low rumble of voices. Then Ralph Fergus spoke above the others, in an exasperated, harassed tone:
“This old man is crazy, I tell you! We never kept him a prisoner in our hotel. We have a Green Room, to be sure, but it is rented out to a man named Henri Croix who is in the fur business.”
Penny’s pulse quickened. Peter Jasko had carried out her order and had brought the police!
Harvey Maxwell and the guard well comprehended their danger. With a quick jerk of his head the hotel man indicated a closet where Penny could be secreted. As the two men tried to pull her to it, she sunk her teeth into Frank’s hand. His hold over her mouth relaxed for an instant, but that instant was enough. She screamed at the top of her lungs.
The outside door swung open. Led by Peter Jasko, the sheriff and several deputies filed into the corridor. Ralph Fergus did not follow, and Penny saw him trying to slip away.
“Don’t let that man escape!” she cried. “Arrest him!”
Peter Jasko himself overtook Fergus and brought him back.
“I’ve got a score to settle with you,” he muttered. “You ain’t a good enough talker to get out of this.”
“Gentlemen—” It was Harvey Maxwell who spoke, and his tone was irritated. “What is the meaning of this intrusion?”
“We’ve had a complaint,” said the sheriff. “Jasko here says you kept him a prisoner in the hotel, trying to make him sign a paper.”
The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels Page 27