The Girl Detective Megapack: 25 Classic Mystery Novels for Girls

by Mildred A. Wirt

  Noticing a nearby path which led to a spring house, the girls followed it, drinking of the cool mountain water. They sat down on a bench which afforded a view of the tall chalk-like cliffs. After a time they felt soothed and tranquil again. They presently walked back to the house.

  Max Laponi was nowhere to be seen although Alicia told them that he was busy moving his things into one of the upstairs bedrooms.

  “Mother’s worried since he came,” the girl confided, growing more friendly. “They had a dreadful quarrel. Now she’s hunting for the will.”

  “But Caleb Eckert warned her not to do that,” Penny protested.

  “That old meddler has nothing to do with this place,” Alicia declared with a toss of her head. “I hope he minds his own business and stays away.”

  The girls found Mrs. Leeds in the library. She was going through the drawers of the desk in systematic fashion, tossing papers carelessly on the floor. One drawer was locked. She shook it viciously.

  “Like as not Jacob Winters’ will is locked up in there,” she said irritably. “I’m half a notion to break into it.”

  “Oh, you mustn’t do that,” Rosanna cried indignantly, before she could check herself.

  “And why shouldn’t I?” Mrs. Leeds demanded tartly. “Jacob Winters is dead isn’t he? And his will must be found. I suppose you’re afraid to have the document come to light for fear you’ll be cut off completely.”

  Rosanna’s cheeks flushed.

  “I never thought of such a thing, Mrs. Leeds. I think it’s disgraceful the way everyone is acting about the property!”

  Before Mrs. Leeds could reply, she ran from the room. Penny loyally followed, joining Rosanna in the bedroom which they shared. She found the orphan in tears.

  “Forget it,” Penny advised kindly. “Mrs. Leeds is so intent on getting the money that she doesn’t realize what she says.”

  “I’m sorry I ever came here. I want no part in this disgraceful grab for Uncle Jacob’s money.”

  “I know how you feel,” Penny agreed, “but let’s stay a day or two. I’m curious to learn just what is going on here.”

  In truth, she was completely baffled. It was difficult for her to make up her mind whether or not the entire arrangement was a hoax. Somehow she had distrusted Laponi’s credentials. She distrusted him too.

  “I don’t believe he could be a nephew of Jacob Winters,” she thought. “I wish there was some way to trace down his past.”

  It was clear to Penny that Rosanna would never defend her claim to the inheritance. Unless she personally took a hand in the affair, Mrs. Leeds and Max Laponi would ignore the orphan completely.

  “I’ll let them make the first move,” she decided shrewdly. “For the time being I’ll play a waiting game.”

  For the greater part of the afternoon, Penny and Rosanna remained in their own room. Toward nightfall they walked about the grounds and later motored to a nearby inn for dinner. At nine o’clock when they returned to the big empty house, the downstairs was dark. They judged that Mrs. Leeds and Max Laponi had already gone to their rooms.

  “We may as well turn in too,” Penny suggested. “The mountain air makes one drowsy.”

  Both girls were soon sound asleep. However, sometime later Penny was awakened by the sound of footsteps in the hall. She thought little of it, and rolling over, tried to go to sleep again. Suddenly she heard soft music from above.

  She sat up in bed, listening. A strain of a famous opera resounded through the room, rising in volume, then falling away. Penny knew that she was not imagining it. She nudged her companion who quickly awakened.

  “Do you hear the same thing I do?”

  Rosanna clutched the sheets more tightly about her.

  “Ghost music,” she whispered in awe.

  “It sounds like pipe organ music coming from a long distance away,” Penny whispered. “I’m going to find out!”

  Before Rosanna could prevent it, she stole from bed and swiftly tiptoed to the door.

  CHAPTER VIII

  The Ivory Collection

  Penny quietly opened the bedroom door, peering out into the long dark hall. She could hear the music distinctly. It seemed to be coming from almost directly overhead.

  By this time, Rosanna, overcoming her fear, crept beside her friend. They huddled together, listening.

  “It’s an organ. I’m sure of it,” Penny whispered. “But where can it be hidden?”

  “I’m afraid of this place,” Rosanna chattered. “Let’s lock the bedroom door and leave in the morning.”

  Penny made no response. For that matter she did not even hear for she was intent upon trying to localize the sound of the music. Never inclined to be superstitious, she had no thought that the old house was haunted. She felt certain that the ghost-like music was man made.

  “This house must have a third floor or an attic,” she declared softly. “Let’s see if we can find our way up.”

  “Never!”

  “Then I’m going alone.”

  Penny started off down the hall. Rosanna hesitated, and then, unable to watch her friend walk into danger alone, hurriedly followed. Halfway down the hall she reached for the electric switch but Penny caught her hand before she could turn on the light.

  “Don’t! It would give warning that we’re coming.”

  Groping about in the dark the girls went past Mrs. Leeds’ bedroom and the one occupied by the stranger. Penny noted that the doors of both were tightly closed. At the end of the hall she found still another door. Gently she turned the handle and opened it. A steep flight of stairs led upward.

  “Oh, please, let’s not go up,” Rosanna pleaded, trembling.

  “You stay here,” Penny said in a whisper. “If anything goes wrong, let out a cry for help.”

  The mysterious music had ceased for the moment. Penny waited until it began again, and then, following the sound, crept noiselessly up the stairs leaving Rosanna on guard below.

  At the top of the last step Penny paused to listen again. Actually, she was not as courageous as she had pretended. She could hear her own heart pounding.

  It was so dark on the third floor that at first she could distinguish nothing. The music had increased in volume and Penny was more sure than ever that it came from a hidden pipe organ.

  As her eyes focused better she found herself standing upon a small landing from which branched two closed doors. After a slight hesitation she tiptoed to the nearest one and opened it a tiny crack.

  Although no sound had betrayed her, the music from within ended with a discordant crash. Startled, Penny allowed the door to swing wide. She started forward, and suddenly tripped. Until that moment her nerve had held steady. But as she stumbled and fell she uttered a shrill cry of terror.

  Rosanna, fearing the worst, came running up the stairs.

  “Penny! Penny! Are you hurt?”

  Reassured by her friend’s voice, Penny scrambled to her feet and met Rosanna at the door.

  “I’m all right,” she said shakily. “But I’ve done enough investigating for one night!”

  “What frightened you so?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  They lost no time in returning to the lower floor. Down the hall, Mrs. Leeds’ door had opened. A light flashed on.

  “What is going on here?” Mrs. Leeds demanded, emerging into the hallway. “Such a house I never saw! First it’s music—then a scream! It’s enough to send one into hysterics.”

  Penny and Rosanna could not refrain from smiling, for Mrs. Leeds looked ridiculous in her curlers which were sticking out from her head at all angles. Before they could answer, Alicia joined her mother.

  “I should think you could go to your room and let folks sleep!” she said irritably. “You’ve been running up and down the hall all night.”

  “You’re wrong there,” Penny returned. “This is the first time Rosanna or I have stirred from our room. We got up to investigate the mysterious music.”

  “Then
you heard it too?” Mrs. Leeds breathed in awe. “I thought perhaps I had imagined that part of it.”

  “No, you heard music all right,” Penny told her grimly.

  “It isn’t—you don’t think the house is haunted?” Alicia stammered nervously. “That old man—what’s his name—was trying to tell us about someone having died in a room on the upper floor!”

  “Well, the music seemed to come from the third floor,” Penny informed, relishing the effect which her words produced. “As for the scream, I can account for that. I tripped and fell. Now I think we may as well all go back to bed. There’s been so much commotion that I rather judge our ‘ghost’ has been frightened away for the time being.”

  “I can’t sleep a wink after all this has happened,” Mrs. Leeds declared. “I shall sit up until morning.”

  “As you wish,” Penny said indifferently. “I’m going to bed.”

  As she walked down the hall to her own room she glanced rather sharply at the door of Max Laponi’s room. It was still tightly closed.

  “Our friend appears to be a sound sleeper,” she remarked to Rosanna.

  In the privacy of their bedroom, Rosanna demanded to know exactly what had happened.

  “Well, I didn’t see much,” Penny admitted. “But I did learn one interesting thing. There’s a pipe organ installed in this house. I might have discovered who was playing it too only I tripped over a rope which had been strung up in front of the door.”

  “Placed there deliberately, you think?”

  “Of course. It startled me so that I let out that wild yell. I don’t care to do any more investigating tonight, but in the morning I mean to have a good look at that room upstairs.”

  “You have more nerve than I,” Rosanna declared admiringly.

  Penny carefully locked the outside door before turning out the light. It was twenty minutes after twelve by her wrist watch.

  “I shouldn’t call it nerve exactly,” she replied thoughtfully, climbing into bed. “The truth is, I’m a little afraid, Rosanna.”

  “Then why do you go up there again?”

  “Oh, I don’t mean that. It isn’t the music that has me frightened.”

  “But what else is there to be afraid of?” Rosanna persisted.

  “It’s just a feeling, I guess,” Penny admitted. “I can’t explain—only it seems to me that some sinister plot is brewing in this old house.”

  “I have the same sensation,” Rosanna confessed. “Let’s leave in the morning.”

  Penny laughed softly and settled herself more comfortably in the pillows.

  “Never!” she retorted. “I’m the daughter of a detective you know! This is our own special mystery case, and unless that ghost gets me first, I intend to get him!”

  With that threat, Penny rolled over and lost herself in sleep.

  The warm sun was streaming in at the windows when the girls aroused themselves. They dressed and went downstairs, finding the house quite deserted. Apparently Mrs. Leeds, her daughter and Max Laponi had gone to the village for breakfast.

  “I wish they had vanished for good but there’s no use hoping that,” Penny commented. “I doubt if even a ghost could keep Mrs. Leeds from remaining until the estate is settled.”

  The girls cooked their own breakfast, utilizing supplies which they had purchased at the nearby town. As they washed the dishes and stacked them away, Rosanna mentioned again that she did not feel comfortable about making such free use of her unknown uncle’s property.

  “Perhaps it isn’t just the thing to do,” Penny acknowledged, “but the situation isn’t a normal one either. If Mr. Eckert says it is all right for us to stay on, I don’t think we should worry.”

  “Will it do us any good to remain?” Rosanna pondered in a troubled tone. “If Mr. Eckert can’t tell us what became of my uncle, who could?”

  “That’s just the point, Rosanna. I believe he knows more than he lets on.”

  Penny’s gaze wandered to the tiny log cabin set back in the pine woods. Wisps of thin smoke curled from the chimney. That meant that Caleb must be at home.

  “Let’s walk down there and talk with him,” she proposed impulsively. “It’s time he answers a few of our questions.”

  Caleb did not come to the door to answer their timid knock. Instead he called out a hearty, “Come in,” which they instantly obeyed.

  Caleb was the picture of comfort, sitting propped back in his chair by the window, puffing at an old pipe. He arose reluctantly and dusted off two camp stools for the visitors.

  “We thought perhaps you might furnish us with a little information,” Penny began pleasantly.

  Her eyes roved swiftly about the room. She noticed the open bookcase with four rows of well-thumbed volumes. The titles were impressive. Caleb Eckert, despite his rough appearance, seemingly had a liking for intellectual books.

  “Well, what is it you want to know?” Caleb demanded, not unkindly. “I’ve told you before that I’ll have nothing to do with this muddle over Mr. Winters’ property.”

  “I’ve given up all hope of inheriting any of the estate,” Rosanna said. “But I should like to hear about my uncle. What was he like?”

  “Some folks said he was the queerest man on Snow Mountain. I liked him because he attended to his own business. He was considered a remarkable sportsman by some.”

  Penny’s eyes traveled to a huge bear skin which hung on the cabin wall. Caleb followed her gaze.

  “Mr. Winters gave me that skin last year when he came back from his trip north. A mighty nice specimen.”

  “Do you have a picture of Mr. Winters?” Penny asked, abruptly changing the subject.

  Caleb shook his head. He began to talk about the bear skin again. Rosanna listened eagerly, but Penny sensed that the old man was trying to monopolize the conversation and thus keep her from asking questions which he did not care to answer.

  When she succeeded in breaking in it was to bring up the subject of Mr. Winters’ ivory collection. Caleb seemed reluctant to offer definite information.

  “All I know is that Mr. Winters was supposed to have one,” he answered. “Folks said it was worth a fortune and that he had spent years gathering it.”

  “What became of the collection?” Penny inquired curiously.

  “How should I know?” Caleb retorted crossly. “Seems to me you girls ask a lot of silly questions.”

  “We didn’t mean to be inquisitive,” Penny apologized. “Only it struck me that Max Laponi has an unusual interest in that collection of ivory.”

  Caleb eyed her strangely. “So you noticed it too?” he asked.

  Penny nodded. “Perhaps I shouldn’t say it, but I don’t trust that man, Mr. Eckert. If Mr. Winters’ collection of ivory is still in the house, don’t you think it should be removed to a safer place?”

  “That’s what I’d like to do,” Caleb muttered, looking out the window.

  “Then you do know where the ivory collection is,” Penny tripped him.

  Caleb glared at her. “I didn’t say so, did I? Why should Mr. Winters tell me where he kept his valuables? Bosh! I tell you I won’t be mixed up in the muddle. Now go away and let me sleep!”

  Caleb stretched himself out on the couch and closed his eyes. Thus dismissed, the girls hastily departed.

  “Such a cross old man!” Rosanna exclaimed when they were out of earshot. “But even though he is irritable, I rather like him.”

  “So do I,” Penny admitted with a laugh. “You know, I think our questions about the ivory collection disturbed him more than he cared to show.”

  “He did seem reluctant to tell us anything about it.”

  “We’ll nail him down yet,” Penny declared grimly as they walked slowly toward the house on the cliff. “Unless I’m sadly mistaken, that ivory collection is hidden somewhere on the premises and he’s scared silly for fear someone will find it!”

  CHAPTER IX

  A Scrap of Paper

  Penny and Rosanna entered the house by the
side door. Hearing a murmur of voices from the direction of the library, they involuntarily paused to listen.

  “If we go into this thing as partners we’re both bound to profit,” they heard a man say in an insistent tone. “Think it over and I know you’ll see how easily it can be accomplished. Those two girls are nit-wits. They’ll make no trouble.”

  Penny and Rosanna exchanged a startled glance. They recognized Max Laponi’s voice. So he was plotting against them! Undoubtedly, planning to secure complete control of the Winters’ estate.

  “I’m going to find out with whom he is talking,” Penny whispered.

  Before Rosanna could protest, she walked to the library door and opened it. Mrs. Leeds and Max Laponi were sitting at the desk, examining some document which was spread out before them. As Penny came in, Laponi whisked it into his pocket.

  “Oh, I beg your pardon,” Penny said casually. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  “You aren’t at all, my dear,” Mrs. Leeds said more graciously than was her custom. “Mr. Laponi was just showing me a letter from his sister.”

  “Yes, from my sister,” Laponi echoed with a slight smirk. “She lives in Naples and writes such interesting letters.”

  Penny found it difficult to refrain from smiling. She pretended to search in the bookcase for a volume.

  “I thought possibly you had discovered the will,” she remarked mischievously.

  “The will! Oh, no!” Mrs. Leeds assured her.

  “That is a good joke,” Laponi echoed. “Ha! Ha! Even a ferret couldn’t find old Jacob Winters’ will in this house!”

  Penny was aware that both Mrs. Leeds and Max Laponi were watching her shrewdly, trying to make up their minds if she had overheard anything. She dared say no more lest she betray herself. Picking up a book she quietly withdrew.

  “It’s just as I thought,” she told Rosanna when they were together in their bedroom. “Laponi is trying to get Mrs. Leeds involved in some scheme to steal the property. Unless we watch out, Rosanna, they’ll get everything away from you.”

  “I don’t much care,” Rosanna returned in disgust. “I never saw such disgraceful actions in all my life. As far as I’m concerned, I’d rather leave this place tomorrow and let the lawyers settle everything.”