CHAPTER XIII
WAITING
Eight o’clock came and still no Irene. By nine o’clock Judy was intears. She felt that something dreadful must have happened andsuggested calling up hospitals to see if there had been any accidents.After the calls were completed Dale returned to the kitchen and stoodlooking at the dinner.
“You might as well eat some of the chicken,” Mary suggested. She placedit on a platter and carried it up to the roof garden, but they ate onlya little, cut from underneath where it wouldn’t show. Then they leftthe table as it was, waiting for Irene.
The yellow candles burned lower and lower. Finally they flickered andwent out. Pauline gave a little start, but Judy sank back in her chairshaking with sobs.
“I—I’m not superstitious,” she blurted out. “I’m trying to be sensibleabout it, but do you think it’s sensible just to wait?”
“There isn’t anything else to do unless we notify the police, and then,if she had just been to a movie, wouldn’t she have the laugh on us?”
“But, Pauline, she isn’t thoughtless.”
“I could tell that,” Dale put in seriously. “She’s a mighty fine littlegirl. I know how you feel, Judy. I’ll stand by. Didn’t Irene and I waitup that night for you—and nothing had happened except that you took awalk?”
Dale was comforting. It was nice to have him there, especially whenJudy knew that he was as interested as she in Irene’s safe return. ButJudy could not help thinking of Farringdon and the enthusiasm withwhich the boys there would help her if they only knew.
Pauline thought of Farringdon too.
“Maybe Irene didn’t like it here in New York and went home,” shesuggested.
“But the house is empty,” Judy objected. “There really isn’t any homein Farringdon for her to go back to. She doesn’t even know where theyare going to live when her father is well again. He’s in a sanitariumnow, and I hate to notify him if there’s any other way. It really wouldbe better to notify the police.”
“I guess you’re right,” Dale agreed. “If she isn’t home by midnight wemight try it. Things do happen—and especially to pretty girls,” headded gravely.
It was five minutes to twelve when footsteps were finally heard outsidethe door. Dale started to his feet, and Judy rushed toward the door,then halted with a cry of disappointment as she recognized the nowfamiliar, “Hit’s Oliver, Miss.”
Pauline opened the door and urged him to come in.
“Irene isn’t home yet, and Mr. Meredith was waiting,” she explained.“Did you happen to see her?”
“Well, let me think a minute.” The English servant passed his fingersthrough his thinning hair. “Indeed, yes, Miss Pauline, I did see herwhen the post came this morning. She stood hin the vestibule reading aletter.”
“Did she seem worried, as if it were bad news?”
The man shook his head. “Indeed, she seemed quite ’appy over hit. Shewent out a bit later ’umming a tune, ‘De de-de da de. Da de da. Da dedum’—like that.”
He had given a crude imitation of the first notes of _Golden Girl_.
“She was very fond of that song,” Dale remarked after Oliver had left.He was helping the girls with their wraps preparatory to calling at thepolice station.
Again Judy thought about the papers. Could their disappearance andIrene’s, in some way, be connected? She mentioned the possibility toDale but he thought it unlikely.
“At any rate we know Irene didn’t take them, and when we make ourreport to the police we had better leave the papers entirely out of it.”
“And the name ‘Joy Holiday’?” Pauline questioned.
“Yes, for the present. We want to do all we can to save her fromembarrassment until we have an explanation. I feel sure that, whateverit is, it will be—like Irene—satisfactory.”
“I’m glad you believe in her, Dale,” Judy said. She hoped, with all herheart, that Irene would prove herself worthy of his loyalty.
At the police station the sergeant on night duty at the desk did nottake their story very seriously. He had a great many such cases, heexplained, most of which solved themselves. His questions, however,suggested terrifying possibilities. Did she have any enemies, anyrejected suitors, any hostile relatives? Was she wearing any valuablejewels? How much money did she have in her purse?
Judy thought it was about ten dollars.
“Ten dollars could take that girl a long way,” the officer saidsignificantly. “What about publicity on the case? We broadcast ageneral alarm for missing persons every evening over the radio.”
Undecided, the girls appealed to Dale. “What do you think?”
“That’s another day. If she’s not home by then, by all means, yes.Anything to find her.”
“We’ll do our best for you. I’ll assign the case to the DetectiveBureau right away, but be sure and telephone at once when she comeshome. And take my word for it, she’ll show up before morning,” thesergeant prophesied as they turned to go.
“He probably thinks she’s only out on a party,” Pauline said later.
“But he doesn’t know Irene,” Judy reminded her. “She’s not the kind ofgirl police officers are used to dealing with.”
“You bet she isn’t,” Dale agreed fervently. He promised to be back assoon as it was daylight and urged the girls to try and get a littlerest in the meantime. Judy surprised him a few hours later byannouncing that she intended to spend the day at the office.
“Emily Grimshaw may know something about this,” she explained. “Atleast I intend to find out all there is to know about this Joy Holidayperson. If there really is someone who looks exactly like Irene itmight get her into a good deal of trouble.”
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The Yellow Phantom Page 14
