Ghost Beyond the Gate Part 10

Mrs. Weems started to protest, then changed her mind. She merely said: "Telephone me the moment you have any news."

A brisk walk to the _Star_ office did much to restore Penny's sagging courage. As she entered the newsroom, brus.h.i.+ng snow from her coat, she saw a group of reporters gathered about Mr. DeWitt's desk.

"News of Dad!" she thought, her pulse pounding.

Glimpsing Penny, the men at the desk began to scatter. They gazed at her in such a kind, sympathetic manner that she became frightened again.

"What is it, Mr. DeWitt?" she asked the editor. "Has Dad been found?"

He shook his head.

"But you must have had some news," she insisted, her gaze on a folded paper which he held. "Please don't hide anything from me."

"Very well," DeWitt responded quietly. "We found this letter in your father's waste-basket."

Penny took the paper. Silently she read the message which had been typed in capital letters.

"MR. PARKER," it warned, "THIS IS TO ADVISE YOU TO LAY OFF ON TIRE THEFT STORIES IN YOUR PAPER. UNLESS YOU CHANGE YOUR POLICY YOU MAY WAKE UP IN A DITCH."

CHAPTER 7 _QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS_

"I'd rather not have shown that note to you," Mr. DeWitt said quietly.

"We found it only a moment ago."

"How did it get in Dad's waste-basket?" Penny asked. "Do you suppose he threw it there himself?"

"That's my guess. Your father never paid any attention to unsigned letters."

Penny reread the threatening note, trying not to show how much it disturbed her. "I wonder if this came by mail?" she remarked.

"We don't know," DeWitt replied. "There was no envelope in the basket."

"Dad never mentioned such a note to me," Penny resumed, frowning.

"Probably thought I'd worry about it. This makes the situation look bad, doesn't it, Mr. DeWitt?"

The editor weighed his words carefully before he spoke. "It doesn't prove that your father was waylaid by enemies, Penny. Not at all. According to reports, Mr. Parker was involved in an ordinary automobile accident, and left the scene of his own free will."

"With a woman who drove a black car."

"Yes, according to eye-witnesses she offered to take him to a hospital for treatment."

"What became of that woman?" demanded Penny. "Can't the police find her?"

"Not so far."

Before Penny could say more, Harley Schirr came to the desk, spreading a dummy sheet for the editor to inspect.

"Here's the front-page layout," he explained. "For the banner we'll give 'em, 'Anthony Parker Mysteriously Disappears,' and beneath it, a double column story. I dug a good picture out of the morgue--the one with Parker dedicating the Riverview Orphans' Home."

DeWitt frowned as he studied the layout. "Parker wouldn't like this, Schirr. It's too sensational. Bust that banner and cut the story down to the bare facts."

"But this is a big story--"

"I'm expecting Mr. Parker to walk in here any minute," retorted DeWitt.

"A 'disappearance' spread would make the _Star_ look silly."

"Mr. Parker's not going to show up!" Schirr refuted, his eyes blazing. "I say we should play the story for all it's worth."

"I'm sure Dad would hate sensationalism," Penny said, siding with Mr.

DeWitt.

The a.s.sistant editor turned to glare at her. Although he made no reply, she read anger and dislike in his flas.h.i.+ng eyes.

"Cut the story down," DeWitt ordered curtly. "And try to find a more suitable picture of Mr. Parker."

Schirr swept the dummy sheet from the desk, crumpling it in his hand. As he started for the morgue where pictures were filed, he muttered to himself.

"Don't know what's got into that fellow lately," DeWitt sighed.

The editor sat down rather heavily and Penny noticed that he looked tired and pale. For fifteen years he had been closely a.s.sociated with Mr.

Parker, regarding his chief with deep affection.

"Do you feel well, Mr. DeWitt?" she inquired.

"Not so hot," he admitted, reaching for a pencil. "Lately I've been having a little pain in my side--it's nothing though. Just getting old, that's all."

"Why not take the day off, Mr. DeWitt? You've been working too hard."

"Now wouldn't this be a fine time to go home?" the editor barked. "Hard work agrees with me."

Reminded that she was keeping Mr. DeWitt from his duties, Penny soon left the _Star_ office. Debating a moment, she walked to the nearby police station. There she was courteously received by Chief Jalman, a personal friend of her father's.

"We'll find Mr. Parker," he a.s.sured her confidently. "His description has been broadcast over the radio. We've instructed all our men to be on the watch for him."

Penny broached the possibility that her father had been waylaid by enemies.

"Facts fail to support such a theory," replied Chief Jalman. "It's my opinion your father will show up any hour, wondering what the fuss is all about."

Penny left the police station rather cheered. Almost without thinking, she chose a route which led toward the scene of the accident. Reaching the familiar street, she noted that her father's battered car had been towed away. All broken gla.s.s had been swept from the pavement.

"When I was here before I should have questioned more people," she thought. "It never occurred to me then that Dad would fail to show up."

Noticing a candy store which fronted the street close to the bent lamp post, Penny went inside. A friendly looking woman with gray hair came to serve her.