Part 7

"Doesn't it all simmer down to one thing? You're jealous as a green-eyed cat!"

"Maybe I do dislike her," Penny grinned. "On second thought, I'm sure of it! But facts are facts and have nothing to do with my personal feelings. In the first place, didn't she get Dad to bring her with us to Sunset Beach?"

"But what does that prove? She has no car of her own and the trains are so crowded."

"I think she knew that Dad was coming here to try to dig up a story about the outlaw radio station," Penny went on, unruffled. "She's probably pumped him of information."

"Your father knows how to look after himself."

"That's what _he_ thinks!" Penny muttered. "I wouldn't place any wagers on it myself. Why, he's been as blind as a bat."

"I'm afraid you see enough for two or three people," Louise chuckled.

"I told you, didn't I, how that vampire tried to steal our car while we were on our way here?"

"Two or three times, darling."

"Well, it would bear repeating. I think she intended to meet someone that night--perhaps the same person who was hiding in the woods!"

Louise, methodically eating chocolates, mulled over the possibility.

"Jerry told us that an escaped flier from a Canadian prison camp may be hiding somewhere near here," Penny resumed, wandering to the window. "Perhaps Mrs. Deline is trying to help him!"

"You have a new theory every minute," Louise yawned. "Why not think up one and stick to it?"

Penny did not answer for at that moment she observed Jerry Livingston leaving the veranda of the hotel.

"Come on, Lou!" she cried, jerking her chum off the bed. "I want to see Jerry before he escapes!"

"Talk about Mrs. Deline pursuing your defenseless father!" Louise protested as she was pulled down the hall to the elevator. "Her tactics at least are more subtle than yours!"

"This is different," Penny retorted shamelessly. "Jerry and I are old friends."

Swinging through the revolving doors of the hotel, the girls raced after Jerry. Breathless from running, they finally overtook him far down the boardwalk.

"Why, hello," he greeted them with a broad smile. "I hear you've moved into the hotel."

"Lock, stock and barrel," Penny laughed. "We want to be in the thick of things. Any news about the radio station?"

"Nothing I can report, I'm on my way now to Intercept Headquarters."

"Did you see Dad this morning?"

"Only for a few minutes. He's doing a little special work for me."

"At least I'm glad it's for you and not Mrs. Deline," Penny said stiffly. "Jerry, there are some things you should know about that woman."

"Suppose you unburden your heart," Jerry invited, seating himself on a sand dune. "I have about ten minutes to listen."

"Don't encourage her," sighed Louise. "She's slightly cracked on the subject, you know."

"Nevertheless, Penny has ideas at times," Jerry paid her tribute. "Shoot!"

Talking like a whirlwind, Penny delved deeply into the subject of Mrs. Deline. She repeated how the widow had buried a package in the sand, but it was not until the episode of the cabin was described that Jerry really seemed interested.

"Penny, at first I didn't take your Mrs. Deline talk very seriously," he admitted. "Perhaps you have something after all!"

"I'm sure of it, Jerry!"

"Have you reported to the park rangers?"

"Dad may have seen them, I'm not sure. We left camp in a big rush."

"Then I'll take care of that, Penny. We'll have the park searched again and try to find that fellow!"

"Then you do believe he's the escaped flier!" Penny exclaimed.

"Probably not," was Jerry's discouraging reply. "Nevertheless, we can't afford to overlook any possibility."

"What about the package in the sand?"

"You remember where it was buried?"

"Approximately."

"I'll not have time to go with you now," Jerry said, looking at his wrist watch.

"Louise and I haven't much to do this morning. We'll be glad to search."

"Go ahead," Jerry urged. "If you fail then I can take over. The important thing is not to tip off your hand. Don't let anyone suspect what you're about."

Penny and Louise nodded soberly. They felt rather important to have been assigned a definite task.

"Report to me as soon as you find that package," Jerry urged as he started on. "It may contain something of vital importance. It may not. We'll withhold judgment until we have the facts."

Left to themselves, the girls lost not a moment in hastening to the section of beach where Mrs. Deline had been seen to bury the package.

"Now just where was it?" Penny asked, gazing about the deserted dunes. "What became of our marker?"

"We left a stick to show the exact spot."

"Not a sign of it now. What wretched luck!"

Though the girls knew the general locality where the package had been buried, all of the dunes looked discouragingly alike. Not a footprint remained to guide them.

"I'll bet a cent Mrs. Deline came back here and removed that stick!" Penny declared. "Maybe she dug up the package too!"

"Anyone could have taken the stick. Why do you think she did it?"

"Because she watched us digging for the package. Well, let's look for it anyhow."

With none too much enthusiasm, the girls set to work. The tide was much lower than upon their last visit and the shoreline did not look the same. Nor could they agree within forty feet of the right place to dig.

"You try one dune, and I'll work on another," Penny offered as a compromise.

An hour of unavailing work found the pair too discouraged to keep on digging.

"If this is the right place, Mrs. Deline or someone has removed the package," Penny declared, sinking back on her heels.

"We may as well give up," Louise added wearily.

Penny slid down the dune and emptied sand from her shoes.

"There should be an easy way to beat Mrs. Deline at her own little game," she remarked thoughtfully. "For instance, why does she always wear that jade green charm?"

"Because she likes it I'd imagine."

"But wouldn't you think she'd take it off at night?"

"Perhaps she does, Penny."

"Not the night I was with her. I distinctly gained the impression that there was something about it she was afraid I'd see."

"A message contained inside?"

"That's been my theory from the first, Lou. Now if only we could lay our hands on the charm--"

"Finding the package would be a lot easier. We can't waylay the woman and take the jade elephant by force. Or can we?"

"No," Penny agreed reluctantly, "I don't think Dad would like that. And there's always the possibility I might be wrong."

"The probability, you mean," corrected Louise.

Penny retied her shoes and glanced toward the hotel. Far up the beach she saw Mrs. Deline, and the widow was walking slowly toward the sand dunes.

"Duck!" Penny ordered, rolling over one of the high ridges. "We don't want her to see us here. She'll suspect what we've been up to."

Louise crouched behind the dune with her chum, though she complained that she felt silly doing it. Apparently, Mrs. Deline had not seen the girls. She came steadily on.

Drawing close, she peered directly at the dune where the girls had taken refuge. For a second they feared that she had seen them. But she passed on without another glance.

"It looks to me as though she's on her way to the lighthouse again," Penny remarked after Mrs. Deline was far down the beach. "Wonder why she goes there so often?"

"I thought visitors weren't allowed."

"According to the rules they're not."

From behind the dune, the girls kept watch of the widow. Presently they saw her climb the steps of the lighthouse and disappear into the interior.

"Well, that settles it!" Penny exclaimed indignantly.

"Settles what?" Louise straightened up, brushing sand from her skirt.

"If Mrs. Deline can get into that lighthouse, so can I. We'll make an issue of it!"

"Not today," said Louise dubiously.

"Right now!" Penny corrected, starting down the beach. "That lighthouse is government property, and as citizens we have certain rights. Let's assert them and see what happens!"

CHAPTER 18 _INSIDE THE LIGHTHOUSE_

Unchallenged, Penny and Louise reached the base of the lighthouse. But as they slowly climbed the iron stairs, their courage fast slipped away.

"What will we say to the keeper?" Louise faltered. "I've even forgotten his name."

"I haven't," said Penny. "It's Jim McCoy. If Mrs. Deline is allowed inside the tower, shouldn't we have the same privileges?"

"She's a personal friend."

"That should make no difference," Penny argued. "This is government property."

"Let's not do it," Louise pleaded, holding back.

Having proceeded so far. Penny was in no mood to retreat. Quickly, lest she too lose her courage, she rapped hard on the tower door.

Minutes elapsed. Then the heavy oak door swung back and Jim McCoy, the burly keeper, peered out at the girls. His bushy brows drew together in an angry scowl.

"You here again!" he exclaimed.

"Yes," said Penny, making the word crisp and firm.

"I'll have to report you if you keep pestering me," the keeper scolded. "How many times have I told you no visitors are allowed?"

"But you don't treat everyone the same!" Penny remonstrated. "Mrs. Deline just came here."

"Mrs. Deline? Who's she?"

"Why, a woman who stays at the hotel. She came through this door not five minutes ago!"

"You must have imagined it. I've had no visitors."

Penny's silence said more plainly than words that she did not believe the keeper.

"So you think I'm lying, eh?" he demanded unpleasantly. "Okay, come in and see for yourselves. I'm breaking a rule to invite you into the tower, but maybe then you'll be satisfied and quite bothering me. We have work to do here, you know."

The keeper stepped aside so that the girls might enter.

"My living quarters," he said curtly. "You see, I have no visitors."

Decidedly ill at ease, the girls gazed about the little circular room. The walls were lined with built-in cupboards. Nearly all of the furniture had been made with a view to conserving space. As Mr. McCoy had said, there were no visitors--no evidence that Mrs. Deline ever had been there.

"Are you satisfied?" the keeper demanded unpleasantly.

"But we were sure Mrs. Deline came here," Penny stammered.

"There's been no one today except early this morning when a government inspector paid me a visit."

Penny did not believe the man but she deemed it wise to appear to do so.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I guess we have made nuisances of ourselves."

"That's all right," the keeper said in a less unfriendly tone. "Kids are kids. Now that you're here, look around a bit."

"Oh, thank you," Louise replied gratefully. "I've always wanted to see the inside of a lighthouse."

"I have some work to do," Mr. McCoy announced. "The light's not been operating right and I'm trying to get the mechanism adjusted. I'll be back."

He went out, allowing the door to slam hard.

The girls surveyed their surroundings with keen interest. On a table near the window there was a shortwave radio. A circular couch occupied another curving corner of the room.

"What became of Mrs. Deline?" Penny whispered. "She certainly came here."

"Of course she did! We saw her plain as day!"

"She must be somewhere in the tower. Probably there's a room above this one."

Penny tiptoed to the door and tried to open it. To her surprise and chagrin, it would not budge.

"My Great Aunt!" she whispered. "We're locked in!"

"Maybe the door's just stuck." Louise strode across the room to help Penny. Both of them tried without success to open it.

"Let's shout and pound!" Louise suggested.

"No, wait! I think we've been locked in here on purpose."

"Oh, Penny!"

"Now don't get nervous. The keeper's no fool. He'll have to let us out."

"But why would he lock us in?"

"Because he's provoked at us for one reason, Lou. Another, something's going on here that he doesn't want us to know about. He and Mrs. Deline may be having a tete-a-tete in the room above."

"Then let's listen. Maybe we can overhear their conversation."

Penny nodded and fell silent. Though the girls listened for a long while, no sound reached their ears.

"This is a nice situation!" Louise fumed. "I think the door locked itself. We ought to shout for help."

"Goose, a door doesn't lock itself."

"This one might have a trick catch."

"It was Mr. Jim McCoy who accomplished the trick," Penny said. "Listen! Someone's coming now."

Plainly the girls could hear footsteps on the iron balcony outside the door. A moment later they were able to distinguish a murmur of men's voices. The footsteps moved on and a moment later they heard a door close overhead.

"Another visitor!" Penny announced. "Did you hear what was said, Lou?"

"Couldn't make out a word."

"Nor could I. But that voice sounded familiar. I'm sure I've heard it somewhere."

"I had the same feeling, Penny."

The girls listened intently, hoping to overhear conversation on the floor above. However, the walls of the lighthouse were so thick that not a word reached them. Now and then they thought they heard Mrs. Deline's high pitched voice.

"Louise, it's just come to me!" Penny whispered a moment later. "I believe Mr. McCoy's visitor may be George Emory!"

"The voice did sound a little like his. But why would he come here?"

"Maybe we've under-rated George Emory. Why, all this time he may have been trying to get information from us."

"He did ask us quite a few questions, particularly about your father."

"And he seemed to know a lot about that outlaw radio station, Lou. Maybe he tried to throw us off the track by suggesting that we watch old Jake Skagway."

"We certainly fell for it, Penny."

"We did, if you assume that George Emory is upstairs having a conference with Mrs. Deline and the lighthouse keeper. But we're not sure."

"No, we're not, Penny. One easily can be mistaken in voices."

Determined to hear more, Penny cautiously climbed up on the radio table, so that her head and ear were close to the ceiling.

"Can you make out anything?" Louise whispered.

Penny shook her head in disgust. After a few minutes she dropped lightly down from the table.

"Walls are too thick," she announced. "I could hear three voices though. Two were men and the other, a woman."

"Then Mrs. Deline must be here. The keeper lied about that part."

Presently the girls heard footsteps again on the iron stairway. They moved to the window, hoping to see whomever was descending from the room above. However, the little round aperture was so situated that it gave a view of only one side of the Point. They could not see the stairway nor the stretch of beach leading to the hotel.

"We're certainly learning a lot!" Louise said crossly. "I've had enough of this. Let's shout for help."

"All right," Penny agreed. "We may as well find out whether or not we're prisoners."

Crossing to the heavy oak door, she pounded hard on the panels. Almost at once the girls heard someone coming.

"Don't let on what we suspect," Penny warned her companion.

The next moment the door swung open to admit the keeper of the light.

CHAPTER 19 _A LOCKED DOOR_

"I was gone a little longer than I meant to be," Jim McCoy apologized as he came into the room. "Did I keep you waiting?"

"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.

"That man gives me the creeps," Louise remarked. "Did you believe what he said about the door sticking?"

"I did not," Penny returned with emphasis. "I think he locked us in on purpose, probably because he was expecting visitors and didn't want us to see too much."

"As it turned out we didn't learn a thing."

"We have no proof of anything," Penny admitted slowly. "Nevertheless, we're pretty sure Mrs. Deline visited the tower."

"George Emory too."

"That part is pure guess," Penny said, "so we don't dare consider it too seriously. Did you ever see Mrs. Deline with George Emory?"

"Why, no. But then, we've not been at the hotel long."

"Let's find Jerry or Dad," Penny said abruptly. "We ought to report to them."

Returning to the hotel, the girls looked in vain for Mr. Parker. The publisher was not in his room nor anywhere in the lobby. Jerry apparently had not returned from Intercept Headquarters.

"There's Mrs. Deline," Louise whispered, jerking her head toward a high-backed chair not far from the elevator.

The widow was reading a newspaper. If she saw the girls she paid no attention to them.

"Let's talk to her and see what we can learn," Louise suggested.

Penny had another thought. "No," she vetoed the suggestion. "Mrs. Deline would be more likely to learn things from us. That woman is clever."

Just then Mrs. Deline arose, picked up her purse, and went out the front door of the hotel. On their way to the elevator. Penny and Louise noticed that the woman carelessly had left a handkerchief and her room key lying on the chair.

"I'll turn them in at the desk," Louise said, picking up the articles.

"Wait, Lou!"

Louise glanced at her chum in surprise.

"I have an idea!" Penny revealed, lowering her voice. "Are you game to try something risky?"

"Well, I don't know."

"This chance is tailor-made for us!" Penny went on. "Mrs. Deline simply handed her room key over to us. Let's use our opportunity."

"Enter her room?" Louise asked, shocked.

"Why not? FBI agents think nothing of examining the belongings of a suspected person."

"But we're not FBI agents, Penny. I don't want to do it without asking Jerry."

"By that time it will be too late. It's now or never."

"Mrs. Deline might catch us in the act."

"That's a chance we'll have to take." Penny, in possession of the room key, walked to the front door of the hotel. She was reassured to see that Mrs. Deline had seated herself on a bench some distance from the veranda.

"The coast's clear," Penny reported, coming back to Louise. "What do you say?"

"Well, I suppose so," Louise consented nervously.

An elevator shot the girls up to the fourth floor. To locate Mrs. Deline's room required but a moment, and the halls fortunately were deserted. Penny fitted the key into the lock and pushed open the door.

"We'll have to work fast," she said, closing it behind them again.

The room was in perfect order. Only a few toilet articles had been set out on the dresser. Mrs. Deline's suitcase was only half unpacked.

"It looks to me as if the widow is holding herself ready to fly at a moment's notice," Penny commented. "Otherwise, why didn't she unpack everything?"

"What do you expect to find here?" Louise asked nervously. "Let's get it over with fast, Penny."

"Start with the bureau drawers," Penny instructed. "Search for any papers, letters or the sort. I'll go through the suitcase."

Carefully the girls began examining Mrs. Deline's personal belongings. Almost at once Louise reported that the bureau contained nothing of interest. Penny, however, had more luck. She came upon a pearl-handled revolver buried beneath a pile of silk underclothing.

"Jeepers!" she whispered, touching the weapon gingerly. "Now will you believe me when I say that the widow isn't the sweet little girl she'd have us believe!"

Louise's eyes had opened wide at sight of the revolver.

"And here's that white suit she wore!" Penny cried, lifting out a folded garment from the suitcase. "Look, Lou!"

From the skirt of the suit had been cut a neat, square hole.

"Well, of all things!" Louise exclaimed. "What's the meaning of that?"

"Mrs. Deline wrote something on the skirt--don't you remember? Probably she used a pen with invisible ink."

"But why on her skirt, Penny?"

"She'd just been to the lighthouse. Perhaps she learned something there and she wanted to write it down before she forgot. Possibly she didn't have any paper. Then when she got back here, she either destroyed the message, or sent it to someone."

"Well, I don't know," Louise said doubtfully. "It's all so fantastic. I wouldn't believe a bit of it except for this revolver. Having it doesn't look so good."

"And don't forget the green elephant charm," Penny reminded her. "I wish we could find it here."

"Not a chance. Mrs. Deline always wears it around her neck. She had it on today. I noticed."

Time fast was elapsing and the girls were worried lest someone discover them in the room. Hastily they replaced everything as they had found it, and relocking the door, stepped out into the hall.

"What's our next move?" Louise asked as they buzzed for a down-going elevator.

"To tell Jerry and Dad, of course. But before that, there's one thing I wish we could do, Lou. It would give everything we have to report a more substantial basis."

"What's that, Penny?"

"Why don't we get our hands on the jade green elephant? I've a hunch that it contains something important--perhaps evidence that would crack the case wide open."

"And just how do you propose that we acquire the charm?" Louise asked sarcastically. "Are we to waylay Mrs. Deline and take it by force?"

"Afraid that wouldn't do."

"There's no other way to get it. Mrs. Deline wears that charm as if it were her skin. I've never seen her without it."

The elevator was coming down so Penny spoke hurriedly.

"There is a way," she said softly, "if only it will work. Think we could get Mrs. Deline to go bathing in the surf with us?"

"And ruin that lovely hair-do? Don't be silly."

"All the same, it's worth trying," Penny urged. "Let's go to our room now and get our bathing suits."

"I don't see any point in it."

"You will," Penny laughed, entering the elevator. "If my little plan works we'll have keen sport and maybe do our country a good turn!"

CHAPTER 20 _NYMPHS OF THE SEA_

"How you expect to get Mrs. Deline to go swimming with us is beyond me!" Louise opined as she and Penny left the hotel, their bathing suits swinging over their arms. "It's none too warm today. She dislikes us both intensely. Furthermore, she never swims."

"Any other reasons?" Penny asked cheerfully.

"That should be enough."

"Just wait and watch," Penny chuckled. "I just hope she doesn't suspect we've been prowling in her room. If she got wise to that she'd report us to the hotel management."

Before leaving the hotel the girls had taken care to drop the room key in the chair where Mrs. Deline had left it. They were confident that no one had seen them take the key or enter the room.

The widow remained as the girls last had seen her. She was sitting on a bench facing the sea, her gaze fixed on the deep blue line of the horizon. As the girls passed beside her, she looked up, frowning slightly.

"We're on our way to the bath house," said Penny, her tone implying that the matter was one of great importance.

"Really?" Mrs. Deline's voice barely was polite.

"Wouldn't you like to come with us?" Louise invited cordially.