The Girl Detective Megapack: 25 Classic Mystery Novels for Girls

by Mildred A. Wirt

“He must have,” cut in a sneering voice from directly behind.

  Everyone turned to see Max Laponi standing in the doorway. His sharp little eyes moved swiftly about the room taking in everything. They came to rest upon the wall safe.

  Caleb spun the dials. He hastily pressed a concealed button and the picture swung back into place, hiding the safe.

  “Neat little device,” Laponi commented dryly. His eyes narrowed. “Trying to steal the Winters’ booty, were you?”

  “Certainly not,” Caleb retorted angrily.

  Laponi caught him roughly by the shoulder, forcing him back against the wall.

  “You know a lot more than you let on,” he accused. “Tell me, is that where old Winters hid his ivory collection?”

  “I’ll tell you nothing,” Caleb snapped.

  “You’ll tell or I’ll—”

  “Mr. Laponi, you’re hurting him!” Rosanna cried.

  “Perhaps we should call the police if there’s to be trouble,” Penny added cunningly.

  At the mention of police, Laponi instantly released his grip on Caleb. He laughed harshly.

  “We’ll let it go this time,” he said, “but I’m warning you, Eckert, stay away from this house and this safe if you know what’s good for you.”

  “You might take that advice to yourself, too,” the old man retorted, edging toward the door.

  From the window the girls watched him hurry down the path to his own cabin. His departure was almost flight. Obviously, Caleb was afraid.

  Penny did not know what to believe. An hour before she would have taken oath that he was strictly honest, devoted to the interests of Jacob Winters. Now she could not be sure.

  Max Laponi lingered in the living room. Suspecting that he intended to investigate the wall safe the instant he was alone, Penny and Rosanna settled themselves for a long stay. They pretended to read.

  After an hour, Laponi grew tired of the game, and went off, grumbling to himself.

  “We outlasted him that time,” Penny chuckled. “However, we’ll have to be on the lookout or he’ll sneak back sometime when we’re gone. I wonder if Mr. Winters did leave his ivory collection in the safe?”

  “Laponi seems to think so,” Rosanna commented. “I’m glad he doesn’t know the combination. I distrust him even more than I do Caleb.”

  “So do I, but I intend to watch them both,” Penny responded thoughtfully. “I’m convinced there’s a deep plot brewing—something far more sinister than we’ve suspected.”

  CHAPTER XI

  A Night Adventure

  Since taking leave of Mr. Nichols at Mt. Ashland, Penny had received no word from her father. She did not worry actively, yet it was a great relief when later in the afternoon a uniformed messenger boy delivered a telegram into her hand.

  “Remain as long as you wish,” her father wired. “Am enjoying good rest here.”

  From an upstairs window Mrs. Leeds had noted the arrival of the messenger boy. She came hurrying down to see if the message was for her. While Penny read the communication, the woman eyed her suspiciously.

  At last her curiosity could no longer be restrained. She asked carelessly: “I don’t suppose your wire has anything to do with Jacob Winters or the estate?”

  “Only indirectly,” Penny responded mischievously.

  To avoid further questioning, the girls went outdoors.

  “Let’s see if Caleb is at home,” Penny proposed.

  They rapped several times upon the door of the cabin and were about to turn away, when the old man opened it.

  “Sorry to bother you,” Penny apologized. “I wanted to ask a few more questions about Mr. Winters.”

  Caleb looked ill at ease. “Questions!” he fumed. “Well, what is it you want to know this time?”

  “Tell me, isn’t there a pipe organ on the third floor of Mr. Winters’ house?”

  “Certainly. Jacob was a talented musician. He installed the organ nearly fifteen years ago. But what of it may I ask?”

  “We’d like very much to see the organ.”

  “Well, why don’t you look at it then?”

  “We can’t because the door is locked.”

  “Locked?” Caleb seemed surprised. “That’s funny. I didn’t know Mr. Winters ever locked up his conservatory.”

  “Then you haven’t a key?” Penny asked.

  “Why should I have a key?” Caleb snorted. “You act as if I’m the caretaker of that house. It’s nothing to me what goes on there, except that I don’t like to see folks overrun the place and steal Mr. Winters’ fine things.”

  “You needn’t look at us so accusingly,” Rosanna said with surprising spirit. “We wouldn’t take or damage one single thing in that house.”

  Caleb’s face softened.

  “I didn’t mean to suggest that you would. I believe you two girls aren’t like those others. But you were speaking of the organ. Why are you so interested in it?”

  “Because we’ve been hearing music at night,” Penny informed. “It seems to come from that room on the third floor.”

  Caleb regarded her in awe. “Then it’s true, the things they say.”

  “What things?” Rosanna asked impatiently.

  “That the house is haunted. If Mr. Winters really is dead it may be—”

  “Nonsense!” Penny cut in. “Rosanna and I don’t believe in ghosts. And what’s more, I doubt if you do, Caleb Eckert! That so-called ghost is a very live one. If you won’t help me, I’ll solve the mystery alone!”

  And with this declaration, Penny stalked from the cabin, followed by the faithful Rosanna.

  “Perhaps you’ve antagonized him now,” the latter said as they went back to the house on the cliff.

  “I don’t care if I have! Caleb knows a great deal more than he pretends. He could help us if he wanted to!”

  No one was stirring on the lower floor of the Winters’ house when the girls entered. To Penny it seemed an admirable time to institute a search of the premises.

  “We’ll let Mrs. Leeds hunt for the will,” Penny declared, “but we’ll look for something which may prove equally valuable.”

  “What?” Rosanna asked curiously.

  “A picture of Jacob Winters.”

  “I can’t see what good it will do to find one except that I’d like to have a photo of my uncle as a keepsake.”

  “If my plans work out I’ll have a more important use for it,” Penny smiled mysteriously.

  “I should think we could find one somewhere in the house,” Rosanna declared. “Most people have old photographs stuck around in odd places.”

  For nearly an hour the girls poked about in drawers and clothes closets until Rosanna protested that she felt as prying and sneaking as Mrs. Leeds.

  “This is in a better cause,” Penny laughed.

  “It looks that way to us because it’s my cause,” Rosanna smiled. “Still, I’d never examine private papers or locked drawers.”

  Penny made no response for in a lower table drawer she had come upon an old album. She displayed her discovery and page by page the girls went through it, laughing a little at the strange old-fashioned costumes and the stiff poses of the subjects. Names were written under a few of the photographs but Rosanna recognized only one or two as relatives.

  “I never knew many of my relation,” she admitted. “If Mrs. Leeds and her daughter are samples, perhaps it’s just as well.”

  “The people in this album look nice, Rosanna. I suppose most of them are dead by this time.”

  Penny turned a page and stared blankly down at an empty folder.

  “Why, here is your uncle’s name,” she cried, indicating a signature at the bottom of the page. “But the photo is gone!”

  “Oh, how disappointing.”

  “Someone removed the photo, Rosanna. Perhaps deliberately too.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “I only said it. I have no evidence of course. Oh, all my plans will be upset if I don’t find the photograph!
”

  The arrival of Mrs. Leeds cut short the conversation. The girls hastily returned the album to the table drawer but not quickly enough to avoid being detected. Mrs. Leeds triumphantly pounced on the leather bound book.

  “Only an old-fashioned album,” she said in disappointment, tossing it aside.

  “Did you think it was the will?” Penny chuckled as she and Rosanna departed.

  The girls impatiently awaited the coming of night. Penny had determined to make a supreme effort to discover the cause of the mysterious organ music. At first Rosanna had been enthusiastic over the plan but as nightfall approached she tried to dissuade her friend.

  “It’s too dangerous,” she insisted. “Please give up the scheme.”

  Penny shook her head. She had made up her mind to spend the night on the third floor. Soon after the household retired she intended to steal upstairs and establish herself by the door of the conservatory.

  Evening came. At nine Mrs. Leeds and her daughter shut themselves into the bedroom which they had selected since their upsetting experience with bats. At eleven Penny heard Max Laponi’s door close.

  She looked out into the hall. It was dark and deserted.

  “Please don’t attempt it,” Rosanna shivered. “What if something should happen?”

  “I hope it does,” Penny said grimly. “It won’t be any fun to sit up half the night without any purpose. I’ll be disappointed if our ghost fails to provide his usual midnight concert.”

  “If anything goes wrong scream for help,” Rosanna urged. “I’ll run for assistance.”

  Penny promised. While Rosanna stood at the bedroom door watching, she tiptoed down the hall, past Mrs. Leeds’ room, past Laponi’s chamber to the third floor stairs.

  There she hesitated. Without a light the region above looked even more dark and awe-inspiring than she had remembered it.

  “Coward!” she accused herself, and quietly went up, leaving the door unlocked behind her.

  All was quiet on the third floor. Penny tried the door to the conservatory expecting to find it locked. To her astonishment it opened. The discovery disconcerted her for an instant. A minute later she mustered her courage and stepped inside the room.

  In the darkness she could make out objects only vaguely. The organ with its huge pipes occupied one end of the room. Sheet-draped chairs gave everything a ghostly atmosphere not at all conducive to a peaceful state of mind.

  After making a brief inspection of her quarters Penny sat down on the floor with her back against the outside door. She riveted her eyes upon the organ.

  Time dragged slowly. When it seemed to Penny that several hours must have passed, she heard a clock downstairs striking eleven-thirty.

  “At least another half hour to wait,” Penny thought, shifting into a more comfortable position.

  She grew drowsy. Several times she caught herself on the verge of napping. She aroused herself only to find her eyes growing heavy again. It became increasingly difficult to watch the organ.

  “I wish that ghost would hurry up and come,” she mused impatiently. “Perhaps after all my trouble this won’t be one of his working nights!”

  That was the last thought of which she was aware. Suddenly she heard soft organ music rolling and swelling about her. With a start she aroused herself. She had been sleeping.

  It took an instant for Penny to gather her wits. She was still sitting with her back to the conservatory door. Yet at the far end of the great room, she distinctly could see a shadowy figure seated at the organ.

  Penny scrambled to her feet, starting forward. The floor creaked alarmingly.

  Penny halted, but too late. She had given warning of her presence.

  The shadowy figure at the organ jerked into alert attention. There was a discordant crash of chords, then silence.

  Penny blinked. She thought she had heard a sharp click as if a secret panel had opened and closed. That was all.

  And the organist had disappeared.

  CHAPTER XII

  A Suspicious Act

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

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

  Crouching against the wall, Penny waited. She was startled to hear the footsteps coming closer. Then the door opened a tiny crack and the beam of 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 perhaps I had dreamed it all, but if you heard the music too then it must have been 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 means of a secret panel,” Penny reported. “But where he went is a mystery. You didn’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 me your flashlight and we’ll see what we can discover.”

  “Not tonight,” Rosanna shivered, pulling her friend toward the door. “We can 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 to the big organ. They inspected it with interest and Penny ran her fingers lightly 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 of the organ. She could locate no hidden panel although in one place it seemed to her that when she rapped on a certain sector it emitted a hollow 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, an unpleasant surprise awaited them. As they opened the door into the main passageway they found themselves face to face with Mrs. Leeds and Alicia.

  “So I find you here again!” the woman exclaimed. “I suspected before that you girls were at the bottom of these nightly disturbances. Now I have the proof.”

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

  “We’ve had absolutely nothing to do with the queer things which have been going on in this house,” the orphan maintained indignantly.

  “Then why were you upstairs at this time of night? Only a minute or two ago 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 do entirely too much investigating,” Mrs. Leeds said cuttingly. “This isn’t your home and you’re not a relative of Jacob Winters.”

  “And unless I’
m sadly mistaken there are others here who are similarly situated!” Penny retorted.

  “Do you mean to suggest that Alicia and I are not related to Jacob Winters?”

  “I’m not suggesting anything,” Penny replied evenly. “However, since you brought up the matter of an investigation, I might ask you about that paper 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, closing the door firmly behind them.

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

  “I talk entirely too much. But she made me provoked when she accused us of causing all the disturbance in this house.”

  “What did you mean by asking about a paper she had burned?” Rosanna asked curiously.

  “Oh, I just wanted to throw a scare into her,” Penny responded evasively as she snapped out the light and crept into bed. “I really have no proof of anything.”

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

  “The entire affair seems unreal,” she mused. “Almost like a movie. It’s obvious that someone is playing at being a ghost, trying to frighten the occupants of this house. But what can be the purpose behind it all?”

  Although Penny had been careful to make no such admission to Rosanna, she was becoming increasingly troubled. Nor were her worries confined solely to the hide-and-seek organist. She feared that the time was fast approaching when Mrs. Leeds or Max Laponi would make a legal claim to the Winters’ property.

  “The chances are that Mrs. Leeds destroyed the will,” she reasoned. “In that event, Rosanna may lose everything.”

  Penny felt baffled, yet she was unwilling to admit defeat. Certainly not until Mrs. Leeds had thrown all her cards on the table. Events were fast approaching a crisis. Penny sensed that from the woman’s attitude of increasing hostility and assurance.