The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels (72 page)

Her reverie was broken by Jerry’s voice. His hand tightened on her own.

“Penny!” he exclaimed. “Look over there!”

Farther down the river in an open space, the forms of two struggling men were silhouetted in the moonlight.

“Oh, Jerry,” Penny cried, “they’re fighting!”

“And to the death,” added Jerry grimly. “Come on, before it’s too late!”

CHAPTER 21

ELLIS SAAL’S CUSTOMER

Penny followed the reporter, quickly overtaking him. Their pounding footsteps were heard by the two men who abruptly ceased their desperate struggles. Observing the pair, they turned and fled, one toward the river, the other toward the road.

“Well, we broke that up in a hurry!” exclaimed Jerry. “Wonder what made them run?”

“They must have been afraid we would recognize them,” answered Penny. “Didn’t you think that one man looked like Peter Fenestra?”

“I never have seen him to my knowledge. He was the fellow who ran along the river?”

“No, the other. Fenestra’s farmhouse is across the fields.” Penny pointed toward a light shining dimly from a window.

“They’ve both disappeared now,” Jerry commented, moving to the river bank. “Wonder how the row started anyway?”

“Fenestra has been threatened,” revealed Penny. “Yesterday Anchor Joe left a drawing of an octopus on his doorstep.”

“What was the idea?”

“It must have been intended as a warning of some sort. Anchor Joe, and other men, too, keep watch of the house.”

“How did you learn that, Penny?”

“I’ve made observations. Besides, Tillie Fellows, who worked there, told me what she had seen. Fenestra is afraid for his life.”

“Maybe it was Anchor Joe who attacked him tonight.”

“It may have been. I wish we could have seen those men at close range.”

Penny walked on to the clearing where the pair had fought. Grass had been beaten down over a large area, indicating that the struggle had not been a brief one. A shiny object gleamed in the moonlight. Penny picked it up, then called softly to Jerry who had remained by the river bank.

“What is it?” he asked, coming quickly to her side.

“I’ve found a key, Jerry! It was lying here on the ground.”

“One of the men must have lost it from his pocket.”

“This may have been what they were fighting over, Jerry!”

“What makes you think that?”

“Doesn’t the key look as if it belonged to a padlock?”

“Yes, it does, Penny.”

“Then I am convinced this key will fit the lock on Peter Fenestra’s storm cellar! His attacker was trying to get it away from him!”

“Just a minute,” remonstrated Jerry. “You’re traveling too fast for me. Explain the storm cellar part.”

“You’ll promise not to use anything I tell you for the
Star
?”

“That’s fair enough.”

Satisfied that Jerry would keep his promise, Penny told him everything she had learned at the Fenestra farm. The reporter asked many questions about the storm cave.

“So you believe this key may unlock the door?” he mused.

“I’d like to try it, at least.”

“Now?”

“There never will be a better time. Mrs. Weems thinks that Fenestra is getting ready to leave Riverview.”

Jerry hesitated only briefly. “All right, I’m with you,” he said. “Lead the way.”

They were leaving the river when both were startled to hear the suspension bridge creak beneath human weight. As they paused, listening, a familiar voice called:

“Jerry! Hey, Jerry!”

“Here!” responded the reporter.

A figure emerged from the trees, and they recognized Salt Sommers, the
Star
photographer.

“Say, I’ve been lookin’ everywhere for you,” he complained. “You’re wanted back in Riverview.”

“What is this, a gag?” Jerry asked suspiciously.

“It’s no gag. The Fulton Powder Company just blew up. Joe, and Gus, and Philips are already on their way. DeWitt sent me to get you.”

“The Fulton Powder Plant!” Jerry exclaimed, falling into step with Salt. “That’s a big story!”

“It sure is, and we’re late! Get a move on, brother.”

Jerry glanced toward Penny, remembering that she too had a “story” to be covered.

“We’ll go to Fenestra’s place tomorrow,” he promised hurriedly.

Knowing that Penny might try to investigate the cave alone, he hooked his arm through hers, pulling her along.

“Back you go to camp,” he said. “This is no place for a little girl at night.”

Penny’s protests went unheeded. Jerry and Salt marched her between them to the cottage. Unceremoniously turning her over to her father, they leaped into a press car, and were gone.

Hours later the picnic came to an end. Riding home with her father after taking Horney to the
Times
building, Penny was startled to observe a light in an upstairs window of the Parker house.

“Why, that’s in Mrs. Weems’ room!” she exclaimed. “She can’t be home!”

Penny was mistaken. Upon hastening upstairs to investigate, she was met at the bedroom door by the housekeeper.

“Why, Mrs. Weems! I thought you intended to stay on the farm until tomorrow!”

“I decided a few hours would make no difference. Penny, the place was unbearable.”

“How did you get home?”

“By taxicab.”

“Oh, I wish you had stayed one day longer,” sighed Penny. “Did you learn anything since I saw you last?”

“Nothing of value. Fenestra came home a short time before I left. He was in a dreadful temper.”

“Had he been in a fight?” Penny asked quickly.

“There was a black and blue mark across his cheek.”

“Then I was right!” exclaimed Penny triumphantly. “I wish I knew for certain who attacked him.”

Questioned by Mrs. Weems, she described the scene witnessed at the river, and proudly displayed the key.

“Why, it does resemble one I’ve seen Fenestra use,” declared the housekeeper.

“Then it must unlock the cave! Tomorrow I’ll go there and find out!”

“You’ll do no such thing,” replied Mrs. Weems firmly. “That is, not without your father’s permission.”

“But you know Dad won’t be in favor of it,” groaned Penny. “I simply must go there and get a scoop for the
Weekly
.”

“No, Penny, you need to be protected from your own recklessness. Your father must be consulted before you visit the farm again.”

“Either he’ll say I can’t go, or if he thinks there’s anything to the story, he’ll turn it over to a
Star
reporter. Whichever he does, I lose.”

“Penny, I am in no mood to listen to your pleadings,”Mrs. Weems said wearily. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go to bed.”

Grumbling at the decision, Penny went to her own room. She did not feel equal to a spirited discussion with her father that night.

“Here, I’m on the verge of solving a great mystery,” she grieved. “Perhaps the most stupendous of my life! And now I’m told I must stay away from Fenestra’s farm. It’s enough to turn my hair gray.”

Penny overslept the next morning, barely awakening in time to reach school by nine o’clock. A surprise oral history quiz caught her completely unprepared. She missed three questions in succession, and was told that she must remain after school for a special study session.

Released at four-thirty, Penny hastened to the
Star
office. Neither her father nor Jerry were there, nor could anyone tell her when they would return. Discouraged, she sought Louise who as usual was working at the
Times
plant.

“Such luck as I am having,” Penny complained. “Mrs. Weems says I can’t go to Fenestra’s farm without Dad’s permission, and he’s hiding from me.”

“I wish you would forget that storm cave and the octopus tattoo,” said Louise unsympathetically. “Maybe then we could get out another issue of this old paper.”

Penny gazed at her rather queerly. “You’re sick of it, aren’t you?” she asked.

“No,” Louise denied, “it’s been fun, and we’ve learned a lot. But there’s so much work. It never ends.”

“It will soon,” replied Penny quietly. “Our advertisers are dropping off one by one. Sales are falling, too.”

“We always can quit,” said Louise cheerfully.

“No, we can’t,” Penny’s mouth drew into a tight line. “Fred Clousky would taunt me to my dying day. I’ll never close the plant except in a blaze of journalistic glory!”

“But you just said we’re failing—”

“What the
Weekly
needs and must have is a tremendous story! Somehow I’m going to get it!”

“You’re nothing if not persistent,” said Louise admiringly. “Oh, before I forget it, Old Horney has been up here several times inquiring for you.”

“More bad news I suppose.”

“He didn’t say why he wished to talk with you. I thought he seemed rather disturbed, though.”

“I’ll see what he wants.”

Penny sought Horney in the composing department and pressroom, and even ventured into the basement. The old man was not to be found. Concluding that he had left the building, she gave up the search.

She helped Louise read proof until six o’clock, and then telephoned home to inquire if her father were there. Learning from Mrs. Weems that he did not expect to come until later, she decided to remain downtown for her own dinner.

“Why don’t you stay with me, Lou?” she invited. “Afterwards, I’ll take you on a little adventure.”

“Not to Fenestra’s?” her chum demanded suspiciously.

“Unfortunately, no. I shall do a bit of spade work by watching Ellis Saal’s shop. This is Thursday, you know.”

“It will be a long, tedious wait.”

“I’ll consider it well worth the time if I learn the identity of Saal’s customer. You don’t care to come?”

“On the contrary, I do. I’ll telephone Mother.”

The girls dined at a café not far from the
Weekly Times
and soon thereafter stationed themselves a half block from Ellis Saal’s shop. An hour elapsed. Several times they became hopeful as persons paused to gaze at the exhibits in the show window, but no one entered. A cold wind made their vigil increasingly uncomfortable.

“If we don’t get action in another fifteen minutes I am going home,” chattered Louise.

A clock struck eight-thirty. Five minutes later Penny observed a familiar figure coming briskly down the street. She touched her chum’s arm.

“It’s Peter Fenestra,” Louise murmured. “You don’t think he’s the one?”

“We’ll soon see.”

Fenestra was too far away to notice the girls. As they watched, he walked to the doorway of Ellis Saal’s shop. Quickly he glanced about as if to ascertain that the street was deserted. Then he slipped into the shop, closing the door behind him.

CHAPTER 22

GHOSTS OF THE PAST

“Peter Fenestra,” murmured Louise. “Can there be any doubt that he is the customer Ellis Saal meant?”

“Not in my opinion,” rejoined Penny.

“Isn’t it possible that he went into the shop to have a photograph taken, or for some other reason?”

“Possible but not probable. No, Lou, we should have guessed long ago that Fenestra is an ex-sailor. It’s all becoming clear now.”

“Then I wish you would explain to me.”

“Don’t you see? Anchor Joe, John Munn, Fenestra, and perhaps a fourth man must have been good friends at one time. They had their tattoos with that phrase,
All for one, one for all
, pricked on their backs. Then Fenestra must have done something which made the others angry. They followed him here to get even with him.”

“What makes you think that?” Louise asked dubiously.

“Anchor Joe gave us a good broad hint. Then we know that he and at least one other man have kept watch of the Fenestra farm.”

“What can the man have done to offend them?”

“I can’t guess that part,” admitted Penny. “Another thing, why should Fenestra decide to have his octopus tattoo removed?”

“And who pushed John Munn off the bridge?”Louise added. “We’re as much in the dark as ever.”

“Not quite,” amended Penny. “I feel that if only we could get into that storm cave, we might learn the answer to some of our questions.”

“You’re not thinking of investigating it tonight?”

Penny shook her head. “I can’t without Dad’s permission. It’s a pity, too, because I know a big story is awaiting me, if only I could go out there and get it.”

“I’m sure of one thing. We’ll never dare print a word against Fenestra without absolute proof.”