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diff --git a/old/53448-0.txt b/old/53448-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3e99d96..0000000 --- a/old/53448-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5574 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Silver Ring Mystery, by Helen Wells - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Silver Ring Mystery - The Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess Series #13 - -Author: Helen Wells - -Release Date: November 4, 2016 [EBook #53448] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SILVER RING MYSTERY *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, MFR and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - -_The_ CHERRY AMES _Stories_ - - Cherry Ames, Student Nurse - Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse - Cherry Ames, Army Nurse - Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse - Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse - Cherry Ames, Veterans’ Nurse - Cherry Ames, Private Duty Nurse - Cherry Ames, Visiting Nurse - Cherry Ames, Cruise Nurse - Cherry Ames at Spencer - Cherry Ames, Night Supervisor - Cherry Ames, Mountaineer Nurse - Cherry Ames, Clinic Nurse - Cherry Ames, Dude Ranch Nurse - Cherry Ames, Rest Home Nurse - Cherry Ames, Country Doctor’s Nurse - Cherry Ames, Boarding School Nurse - Cherry Ames, Department Store Nurse - Cherry Ames, Camp Nurse - Cherry Ames at Hilton Hospital - - -_The_ VICKI BARR _Flight Stewardess Series_ - - Silver Wings for Vicki - Vicki Finds the Answer - The Hidden Valley Mystery - The Secret of Magnolia Manor - The Clue of the Broken Blossom - Behind the White Veil - The Mystery at Hartwood House - Peril Over the Airport - The Mystery of the Vanishing Lady - The Search for the Missing Twin - The Ghost at the Waterfall - The Clue of the Gold Coin - The Silver Ring Mystery - - - - -[Illustration: _“And of course I kept the ring,” Lucy said softly_] - - - - - THE VICKI BARR FLIGHT STEWARDESS SERIES - - _THE SILVER RING MYSTERY_ - - BY HELEN WELLS - - [Illustration] - - _GROSSET & DUNLAP_ - PUBLISHERS - _New York_ - - - - - © BY GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC., 1960 - - _All Rights Reserved_ - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - - _The author acknowledges with thanks - the generous co-operation of the Eastern - Region Stewardess Division of American - Airlines and Miss Mary Cody and Miss - Joan McGuckin, Supervisors of Stewardesses, - for the information given in the - preparation of this book._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I ABOARD THE ELECTRA 1 - - II VICKI MEETS THE BRYANTS 10 - - III THE STORY OF LUCY 20 - - IV A PUZZLING DISCOVERY 38 - - V THE GIRL IN THE PORTRAIT 50 - - VI VICKI SEARCHES 63 - - VII WHICH LUCY? 76 - - VIII A GAME OF WITS 95 - - IX SECRETS AT MIDNIGHT 112 - - X THE SIGNAL 134 - - XI ESCAPE 155 - - XII THE SILVER RINGS 159 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -_Aboard the Electra_ - - -“That’s why,” Vicki explained to her family, “the Electra is so -challenging. Mary Carter warned us stewardesses, while she was -retraining us for the Electra, that this beauty flies so fast there’s -hardly time to get all our jobs done.” - -“You mean it’s a hard assignment, don’t you?” said Ginny. She was -fourteen, and Vicki’s younger sister. - -Their mother, Betty Barr, said, “I’m sure if I had your job on a -jet-prop--Or is it a jet? Which is it, Lewis?” - -Professor Barr looked amused. “You know perfectly well. The all-jet -without propellers,” he said, “the Boeing 707, is used more for long -hauls--nonstop coast to coast, or across oceans. The Electra 188, with -jet engines _and_ propellers, is used mainly for intercity travel. I -trust I have the facts correct, Victoria.” - -He smiled at Vicki who looked so much like him--fair hair, light-blue -eyes, the thoughtful Barr gaze--that it was a family joke. - -“Well, anyhow,” said Vicki’s mother, “if _I_ had to get sixty-eight -passengers safely on, off, and fed, in two hours--Whew!” - -“Fortunately I’m not going to have to do everything all by myself,” -Vicki answered. “Jean Cox and I will work the New York-Chicago-San -Francisco run together on the Electra.” - -They were having a leisurely early lunch at home, at The Castle, before -Vicki started out for Chicago. It was Thursday, February twelfth, -Lincoln’s Birthday, an appropriate day to be in Lincoln’s state, -Illinois. The holiday explained why Mr. Barr was not teaching at nearby -State University that day. The holiday did _not_ account for Vicki’s -presence at home. As a flight stewardess, she often worked on holidays. - -Vicki popped in and out of The Castle between assignments, whenever -she could. That wasn’t often. Perhaps now that Federal Airlines was -transferring her to the Electra and one of its transcontinental runs, -she might be lucky enough to see her family more often. - -Her mother was wondering about the same thing. “Will your being based -in San Francisco mean that we won’t see much of you?” - -Vicki went over her schedule again with her family. She and Jean Cox -would fly regularly with the same crew on the New York-Chicago-San -Francisco run, and return flight. They would have at least an -overnight stop in Chicago, and some rest days in New York and San -Francisco, “mostly in San Francisco where our plane will be serviced.” -Also, since passenger traffic was sometimes heavier in the East, Vicki -and Jean would occasionally fly the New York-Chicago and Chicago-New -York “turn-around” run. The fast cruising speed of the Electra--up to -five hundred miles per hour--made these schedules possible. - -“Anyway, I’ll be in and out of Chicago,” Vicki told her family. “If I -haven’t time to run down to Fairview to see you, maybe you’ll drive up -to Chicago to see me?” - -“I’ll come up,” her mother promised. “Now if you don’t start for -Chicago, young lady, the Electra may take off for New York without you.” - -“Heaven forbid! I’ve been studying, practicing, and dreaming -jet-props!” So had her stewardess friends, so had pilots and -navigators--all of them had been training intensively for the new -aircraft at Federal Airlines’ schools in New York and Texas. “I -wouldn’t miss today for anything!” - -Her family drove Vicki to the Fairview station in plenty of time for -the noon train to Chicago. Freckles, their spaniel, sensed Vicki’s -excitement and ran around the platform so wildly that for safety they -had to lock him in the car. - -“Do you think, dear,” Mrs. Barr asked Vicki, “that you’ll meet any -especially interesting people on this new plane?” - -“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.” - -They could hear the train coming. In another minute it pounded in -alongside the platform. Vicki’s mother and sister hugged her. “Good -luck! See you soon!” Mr. Barr picked up her overnight kit, helped her -aboard the train, and found her a seat. He bent over to kiss her. - -“You look mighty little to be flying coast to coast, Victoria.” - -“I feel like an eagle in the sky--you know, the words of the spiritual? -Dad! The train’s starting to move!” - -He got off, and then her family was waving to her, and the train slid -quickly out of the station. She was on her way. - - * * * * * - -By three o’clock Vicki was in Chicago, and a little before four -she reached Midway Airport. That allowed comfortably for an hour’s -preflight ground duties before departure time at five P.M. In the -stewardesses’ lounge, Vicki changed into her blue uniform and cap, then -picked up her topcoat, purse, and overnight kit. She walked over to the -operations area where she initialed the crew check-in sheet, wrote in -the time, and noticed that Jean Cox had signed in five minutes ago. - -Vicki found Captain Jordan in the busy meteorologist’s room. Jean was -there, too. - -“Good afternoon, Captain Jordan--Jean. Reporting in for our very first -Electra flight!” - -The pilot, a graying, solidly built man in blue uniform, smiled at -her and Jean grinned. Jean Cox looked like a good-natured imp, with -her cropped brown hair and twinkling eyes. Vicki knew that her fellow -stewardess, despite the elfish grin, was absolutely reliable--just as -their million-mile Captain Tom Jordan was a rock of strength. He told -his two stewardesses: - -“Dan McGovern will be our copilot, and Chuck Smith our navigator. Good -men, both of them. I expect the five of us will work together fine as a -unit. Now, then--” - -Captain Jordan gave Vicki and Jean the flight plan and briefed them -on the route and the flight conditions for this trip. Vicki knew that -the passengers who asked questions about the flight might include -anyone from a businessman who flew his own private plane to an aviation -engineer, so she listened carefully. The pilot planned to fly above the -day’s overcast, at an altitude of around 22,000 feet. “Our cruising -speed will be about 400 to 420 miles per hour,” he said. - -Captain Jordan then handed Vicki and Jean the Stewardess Briefing -Book, which they quickly read and initialed. He answered a couple of -questions for them, discussed the ETA--estimated time of arrival--and -said, “See you aboard.” - -“Aye, aye, sir,” said Jean, for both of them. - -The two girls hurried back to the stewardesses’ lounge. There they -prepared the necessary report forms for the trip. - -“Do I look all right, Vic?” Jean asked. - -They both checked their appearance--a stewardess had to be perfectly -groomed and turned out--before leaving the operations area of the -building. - -They hurried down a flight of stairs into Hangar One. In the vast high -shed, Captain Jordan had two men in blue uniform with him. The five of -them met beside a DC-7 which a repair crew was tuning up. The engines -roared; Captain Jordan had to shout. - -“Miss Vicki Barr, Miss Jean Cox, this is our first officer, Dan -McGovern--” - -The girls shook hands with their copilot, who was a large, quiet, -serious-looking man. - -“--and our navigator, Chuck Smith.” - -Chuck Smith was young, small, and wiry, with an ingratiating grin. - -“See you aboard,” they all said. - -The two stewardesses went outdoors onto the windy airfield. A little -distance away their immense silver Electra stood waiting for them. The -plane was 104 feet long with a 99-foot wing span. Its sheer size took -their breath away. - -Vicki and Jean had forty minutes’ work to do before the passengers -came aboard. They had many things to check--it would be just too bad -if, once aloft, they discovered there was not enough water for making -coffee, or found the ventilation or heating system wasn’t functioning -perfectly. Hurrying up and down the long cabin aisle, they took pride -in their handsome Electra. Wide reclining chairs were upholstered in -blue, in beige, and a few in pumpkin color; the silver-beige walls -and curtains and coral-colored carpet harmonized. Vicki took special -satisfaction in the semicircular observation lounge with its wide -windows in the rear of the plane. - -While Jean checked their service kit, all emergency equipment, cabin -and lavatory lights, seat belts, and a dozen or more other items, -Vicki was busy in the buffet area amidship. The two tall, wide, -metal buffets, facing each other, held drawers and compartments -for everything she and Jean would need to store, heat, and serve -sixty-eight dinners, and to brew gallons of fresh coffee. Vicki found -it a big job to check every item. Next, the caterer brought aboard -precooked dinners on individual trays, water, bags of coffee, and Vicki -checked all items off on her report form. She called through the open -service door to the commissary men on the ground: - -“We’re short one dinner.” She saw the fueling crew hosing kerosene for -the plane’s four jet engines into the storage tanks inside the wings. -Daylight was fading; the first of their passengers were gathering -behind the wire gate, looking on. - -Captain Jordan came aboard and went into the cockpit. In a minute or -two his copilot and navigator followed. The cockpit door stood open -until departure time; Vicki could see the complex instrument panel, and -the three airmen at work with their air maps and weather charts. She -turned on the music--a little early, but they all were keyed up about -this flight, and it helped to have lilting music fill the cabin. - -Twenty minutes later Vicki and Jean were breathless but ready. They -repowdered their faces, and smiled expectantly at each other. Jean said: - -“I must say you look poised and calm.” - -“Calm? Who, me? Well, here’s wishing us good luck.” - -Jean said a fervent amen, and then pressed down on the switch which -released a folding staircase from the plane to the ground. Slowly the -stairs for the passengers’ use dropped down into place. Then Jean -took up her post just inside the main entrance door, to greet their -passengers. Vicki stood smiling in the aft cabin to greet them and -assist them in getting seated. - -Mothers with babies and small children straggled aboard first. Vicki -directed them to window seats in the quieter locations. - -“Miss, will you be able to heat my baby’s bottle?” one mother asked her. - -“Yes, I’ll be glad to.” - -Vicki turned to a young couple who looked like honeymooners. Their -faces shone, and the girl wore flowers. “Welcome aboard,” Vicki said to -them, and nearly added, “Congratulations.” She suggested the forward -cabin compartment which was smaller and more private. - -Most of the passengers, many of them businessmen with brief cases, -found seats by themselves in the large main cabin and, beyond the -buffet area, in the aft cabin. For several minutes the wide aisle -swarmed with people. - -“Please be seated,” Vicki said to them as they passed her, “and then -I’ll hang up your coats.” - -A white-haired, well-dressed couple came very slowly down the aisle. -They must be in their mid-sixties, Vicki thought. The elderly woman -looked pleasant, but the heavy-set man was scowling and grumbling about -something. He had a look of authority, of command. - -Vicki went forward to help them. “Good afternoon. Would you like to sit -here?” - -The man nodded curtly. He helped his wife into the window seat, then -placed her hatbox up on the luggage rack. - -“If you don’t mind, sir,” said Vicki, “may I put that hatbox in the -closet? It might bounce off the rack during flight, and the sharp -corners might hurt somebody.” - -The elderly man sat down as if he had not heard her. Then he remarked, -“The hatbox can stay where it is.” - -Vicki gulped, and said with her sweetest smile, “Yes, of course, if you -prefer.” The man’s wife half smiled at her as if to say, “You mustn’t -mind.” - - - - -CHAPTER II - -_Vicki Meets the Bryants_ - - -All the passengers were aboard now. Jean had closed the main cabin door. - -Captain Jordan flashed on the “No Smoking--Fasten Seat Belts” sign. -Vicki went up and down the aisle checking to see that passengers had -fastened their seat belts. The airplane began to vibrate. She made her -welcoming announcement over the plane’s public-address system, adding, -“Captain Jordan will keep you informed of flight data en route.” Then -both stewardesses found seats--the observation lounge was the only -vacant place--and strapped in for the take-off. - -Suddenly the Electra was taxiing and in instants they were racing past -the end of the runway. Even more suddenly--no wail, no warm-up of the -engines--zoom! Whoosh! Up they went! - -Jean and Vicki were so amazed that they stared at each other. “Jet -engines!” they exclaimed. “Look at our rate of climb! And steep--almost -straight up!” - -The plane tore into the sky. The “No Smoking--Fasten Seat Belts” sign -went off. Here in the cabin there were music, air at a comfortable -temperature and pressure, newspapers, magazines, and pillows which -Vicki and Jean distributed. The captain’s call button sounded on the -board in the buffet area, and he spoke over the plane’s communications -system to the two hostesses. - -“Everybody comfortable?” - -“Yes, Captain,” said Vicki. - -“You can tell our passengers we reached our cruising altitude within -five minutes after take-off. Anyone especially interesting aboard?” - -“We’ll tell you soon, sir,” said Vicki. - -The passengers were interested in the Electra and asked questions. -With sixty-eight aboard, Vicki and Jean could not stop to visit. But -they chatted with the passengers while they set up at each seat the -tray tables for dinner and spread linen tablecloths. The white-haired -couple, Vicki learned, were Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Bryant. The lady -told her this; the elderly man had fallen asleep, as if overtired. One -genial man was a movie star, perennially young, even though he had -five children. Several passengers recognized him, judging by their -interested glances. He asked Vicki several stiff technical questions -about the jet-propelled Electra. - -From across the aisle a woman touched Vicki’s sleeve. “My two -youngsters are getting hungry, I’m afraid. Could you please--?” - -“Yes, indeed, we’ll serve dinner soon. And we always serve the children -first.” - -Vicki made her way along the slightly swaying plane toward the buffet -area. She was waylaid by only three passengers on the way. One man -wanted to know if there was a razor aboard which he could borrow. -There was. A woman asked Vicki how to adjust the individual air vents -and reading lights. And a determined-looking man announced to the -stewardess that he was a vegetarian. - -“Y-yes, sir,” said Vicki, and made her smiling way to the sky kitchen. -Once inside the closed accordion curtains, Vicki lost her smile and her -face became as desperate as Jean’s, in her struggle with several oven -drawers full of turkey dinners. - -“Hi,” Jean greeted her. “Better put your smock on, like me. I’m scared -we’ll still be serving dinners ten minutes after landing in New York.” - -“We’ll do fine,” Vicki said without believing it, and started to make -coffee. - -“Parsley, parsley, where’s the parsley?” Jean muttered. “Somewhere in -this overgrown filing cabinet--oh, yes, here.” - -“Can we spare extra rolls for some hungry kids?” Vicki peered in the -roll warmer. “Yes, we can.” - -She collected nine rolls on a tray, one for each of the children -aboard. On her way back to the buffet area with her empty tray, Vicki -noticed that something was wrong in the Bryants’ area. Two men -passengers were standing over Mr. Bryant, one loosening his collar and -tie, and the call button rang. Vicki hurried to them. The people nearby -were considerately snuffing out their cigarettes and opening air vents. - -“My husband has a heart condition,” Mrs. Bryant said anxiously to -Vicki. “I don’t think he’s having a heart attack, but he--” - -Vicki concealed her alarm and looked at Mr. Bryant who was lying back -weakly in his chair. He was conscious but exhausted, breathing with -some difficulty. His face was pale and sweaty. - -“Uncomfortable--” he muttered. - -“He needs oxygen,” Vicki said. “I’ll get the oxygen bottle, Mrs. -Bryant. Is he in any pain?... No? That’s good. I’ll be right back.” -To the two men standing by rather uselessly, Vicki said, “Thank you, -gentlemen. I am trained to give first aid.” - -The men nodded and resumed their seats. Vicki sped to the storage -compartment, being careful to look calm for the benefit of the other -passengers, and hurried back down the aisle carrying a walk-around -oxygen bottle and a blanket. She paused a moment at the buffet area. - -“Jean, is there a doctor aboard?” - -“Not among my passengers. Who’s sick?” - -“That elderly man. Mr. Bryant. Heart condition.” - -“Want me to notify Captain Jordan for you?” Jean asked. - -“Yes, phone him. I’ll report soon. Please start serving dinners, Jean. -We must keep it pleasant aboard just as usual.” - -Vicki hastened back to the Bryants. She covered the man with the -blanket. - -“Miss Barr, I must tell you”--Mrs. Bryant made an effort to control -her trembling voice and hands--“that my husband is more exhausted than -ill. He had three quite tiring days in Chicago on business, and it’s -been hard on him.” - -Vicki said soothingly, “Certain people need extra oxygen at high -altitudes, where the air is thin. Our cabin air is pressurized, but for -someone who is a cardiac, and for other special needs, we carry extra -oxygen.” - -As she talked, she placed the oxygen bottle on Mr. Bryant’s lap; he was -able to hold it steady. Vicki opened the bottle’s knob, then adjusted -the constant-flow mask snugly over Mr. Bryant’s mouth and nose. - -Almost at once his breathing grew easier. A little color returned to -his face. When he seemed comfortable again, Vicki removed the mask and -closed the knob. Just the same, she was worried. He was still weak, and -he was an elderly person with an impaired heart. - -“Mr. Bryant, Mrs. Bryant, if you wish to have a doctor’s care within -just a few minutes,” Vicki said earnestly, “we can arrange it for you. -The pilot can make an emergency landing. Captain Jordan will radio -ahead to the nearest airport to have a doctor and ambulance waiting to -meet our plane.” - -Mrs. Bryant murmured, “That’s wonderful. What do you think, Marshall?” - -“No. Not necessary. Make myself conspicuous. Inconvenience all these -people.” - -“Not at all, sir,” Vicki said. “Captain Jordan probably will be able to -make up the time.” - -“No. I’m all right. Only a weak spell. Thank you, anyway.” - -Vicki asked respectfully, “Did a doctor give his permission for you to -fly, sir?” - -“The doctor most certainly did _not_--” Mrs. Bryant started, but the -man interrupted. “Fool doctors would keep me in a rocking chair. I have -to do what _I_ think is right.” - -Vicki mentioned briefly the regulation for Federal and all airlines: a -person with a serious heart condition was not supposed to fly unless -he had a doctor’s written permission to do so, on the grounds that the -trip was necessary, and unless he had someone to accompany him who -could nurse him. The airlines relied on cardiacs not to board a plane -without such certification. - -“If we had known in advance, Mr. Bryant,” Vicki said, “we would have -been obliged to keep you off the plane.” - -“Well, you took excellent care of me, young lady. It worked out, didn’t -it?” - -Mrs. Bryant shook her head. “You are so self-willed, Marshall. So -stubborn.” - -Vicki turned to her. “The oxygen I gave your husband is only first aid, -you know. Do _you_ feel a doctor should see him immediately?” - -“Well, I’ve seen him have worse spells than this one--not in the air, -either.” The elderly lady hesitated. “He does seem much better now--” - -Vicki said that it was really up to the captain of the plane to decide -whether to make an emergency landing. She excused herself, went forward -past curious passengers, unlocked the cabin door, and stepped up into -the cockpit. - -In the cabin dozens of black-and-white dials on the instrument panel -glowed, needles flickered, the radar screen flashed. At a signal from -Captain Jordan, the copilot took over the controls. - -“Well, Vicki? How is that man?” - -“He came fairly close to fainting, Captain Jordan. He’s elderly, a -little overweight, and he has a heart condition. However, since he’s -had therapeutic oxygen, he’s not in any distress. And his wife seems -fairly satisfied with the way he looks now.” - -“I’d much rather land than take chances with a passenger’s life.” -Captain Jordan looked at his wrist watch, thinking. “I’ll tell you -what. Observe him for ten minutes and if he shows any sign of relapse -call me. We can come down at Clarkville. In any case, Vicki, we’re -going to have a doctor and an ambulance on hand at New York. We’ll -radio ahead to La Guardia Airport.” - -“Thank you, Captain,” said Vicki. - -“That’s all for now, Vicki. Keep me informed.” - -Vicki returned to the Bryants. Mr. Bryant was sitting up erect now; it -was a relief to see that. She told them of the captain’s decision. - -“I am so grateful!” Mrs. Bryant exclaimed. “I’m sure we won’t need to -make a special stop.” - -Mr. Bryant apparently was not a man to yield a point easily, but he did -say, “Very good of you airlines people. Very good indeed.” - -Vicki brought the Bryants their dinners right away, and both old people -perked up as they ate the hot food. She raced through serving all her -other passengers. Jean cheerfully doubled up on jobs, so that Vicki -finished her in-flight chores on time. - -“Do you know we haven’t sat down once since take-off?” Jean said -breathlessly. - -“Jean, you’ve been an angel on this trip! For a while there I thought -you had four hands.” - -“Save the compliments. We’re coming in for a landing in twenty minutes.” - -Twenty-one minutes later they were down at La Guardia Airport. Vicki -summoned the passenger agent. He gave Mr. Bryant his arm on the way -out of the plane to the waiting ambulance. Vicki escorted Mrs. Bryant, -walking slowly. - -Vicki waited for the Bryants outside the ambulance while the doctor -checked over the elderly man. She hated to leave Jean alone to say -good-by to the other passengers and pick up in the cabin afterward, but -she’d make it up to Jean some other time. The passenger agent had sent -a man to locate the Bryants’ car and chauffeur. He would bring the car -onto the airfield as near to the ambulance as possible. - -The doctor stepped out and said to Vicki: - -“All right, stewardess, he may go home. I think it’s safe for this -gentleman to drive to the city now.” - -He helped Mrs. Bryant down out of the ambulance, then Mr. Bryant. -Their car pulled up at that moment. Captain Jordan came hurrying over, -carrying his flight papers. - -“Miss Barr, are both Bryants all right?” - -“Yes, Captain. Tired but all right.” - -The Bryants thanked him, and he went off. They particularly thanked -Vicki. They climbed into their car, and asked Vicki if she wished to -drive into metropolitan New York with them. - -“It’s kind of you, but I still have some duties here.” - -“Then you must come to lunch,” Mrs. Bryant said. “You’ve been a -wonderful help, and I want a chance to thank you properly.” - -“I was only doing my job,” said Vicki. - -“Come to lunch tomorrow,” Mr. Bryant barked at her. “Can you?” - -Vicki was so startled she stammered, “Y-y-yes, th-thank you.” - -Mrs. Bryant smiled, and told her the address. “At twelve, Miss -Barr?” Then she said an odd thing. “You know, my dear, we have a -granddaughter whom we’ve never seen. Lucy. I hope she’s like you.” - -Vicki must have looked puzzled, because Mrs. Bryant smiled again. -“We’ll talk about that tomorrow. Good-by for now, little Miss Barr.” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -_The Story of Lucy_ - - -Vicki went to the Bryants’ house not knowing quite what to expect. -It was Friday the thirteenth, but since she was not foolish enough -to be superstitious, the date alone did not account for her sense of -something special about to happen. - -“Well, I can expect lunch and conversation,” Vicki thought, and went -up the white marble steps of the Bryants’ house. She was a little -intimidated by its grandeur, and by the butler who admitted her. “My -goodness, this is much too grand for _me_,” Vicki thought. “They must -be awfully rich.” - -The butler said, “Who shall I say is calling?” - -“Miss Victoria Barr.” Vicki tried to stand up taller than she was and -look older. It never worked. - -“Oh, yes, Miss Barr, you are expected.” - -She gave the butler her coat and followed him from the entrance hall, -past a formal high-ceilinged living room, and into a big, sunny -sitting room. It was cheerful in here, with flowered chintzes, -green plants, and several extraordinarily beautiful parakeets in -cages shaped like pagodas and dollhouses. Vicki exclaimed aloud “Oh! -Lovely!”--without meaning to, just as the butler announced her. - -Mrs. Bryant was sitting half hidden in an immense wing chair. She put -aside the needlepoint she was working on and made a point of getting up -to greet her young guest. - -“How nice to see you again, Miss Barr. You were so busy yesterday on -your plane that there was almost no chance to visit with you.” - -“_I_ kept you busy, for one thing,” Mr. Bryant said. “A tiresome old -codger, wasn’t I, young lady?” - -Vicki smiled shyly, and said Mr. and Mrs. Bryant were kind to let her -come. She asked Mr. Bryant how he was feeling. - -“Better, thanks, better. Oh, I’m perfectly all right!” He started to -pace up and down. - -Mrs. Bryant changed the subject. She invited Vicki to sit next to -her on the couch in the winter sunshine, and they chatted about the -Electra. Mr. Bryant joined in with a question or two. He seemed less -forbidding today. Still, Vicki thought, this imposing man would -probably never be easy to get along with. She’d as soon attempt to be -friends with a polar bear--he reminded her of an old, still powerful -bear with his heavy, rolling gait and thatch of yellowish-white hair. - -“Where’s Dorn?” he demanded. “Not here yet?” - -His wife said, “Mr. Dorn telephoned to say he will be a little late. It -was unavoidable, dear.” - -“Humph. Well, I’ll lie down again for a few minutes. Excuse me, -ladies.” He abruptly thumped out of the room. - -Mrs. Bryant waited until he was out of earshot, then smiled at Vicki. - -“When I invited you to lunch yesterday, Miss Barr,” said Mrs. Bryant, -“I thought you would be our only guest. But this morning a young lawyer -who is doing a particularly important piece of work for us telephoned -and asked whether he couldn’t see us about noon today. So he’ll be here -for lunch, too. I’m sure you and I will have our visit, anyway.” - -Vicki was a little disappointed, and offered to leave rather than -intrude. - -“No, indeed!” Mrs. Bryant exclaimed. “I want you to stay. Mr. Dorn is -going to tell us about Lucy--our granddaughter whom we’ve never seen.” -She looked very thoughtful. “Does that seem odd to you?” - -Vicki was not quite sure what to answer. “Unless,” she said, “your -granddaughter has always lived at a great distance from you.” - -“Yes, she has. In every sense. Tell me, Miss Barr, in the course of -your stewardess work are you ever in San Francisco?” - -“I’ll be in and out of San Francisco all the time, now that I’m based -there.” - -“That’s extremely interesting.” But Mrs. Bryant did not say why. “Well. -Shall we look at my parakeets?” - -Vicki walked along with Mrs. Bryant and admired the exquisite birds in -their cages. Her elderly hostess pointed out the birds’ markings in -every tone of blue and rose and green. Yet her mind seemed to be on -something else. - -“I hope you won’t find it tiresome at lunch, Vicki, listening to a -conversation about a girl you know nothing about.” - -“What is Lucy like?” Vicki asked. - -Mrs. Bryant said helplessly, “I don’t know. It _is_ odd, isn’t it? -Our daughter’s daughter, and we don’t even know what she looks like. -Except for an old snapshot. Lucy was ten when it was taken, and she’s -twenty-one now.” - -From a desk drawer Mrs. Bryant took a small, faded snapshot, in a -frame, and handed it to Vicki. Vicki studied it. The little girl’s face -was rather blurred. She could have been any little girl sitting on a -porch step. Her hair was either dark blond or light brown; it was hard -to tell which. - -“I suppose Lucy’s hair might be darker by now,” said Mrs. Bryant, as -Vicki gave her back the snapshot. “Our daughter Eleanor wrote in one -of her rare letters that Lucy had my disposition. They named her Lucy -after me, in spite of--everything. But I must be boring you.” - -“I’m very much interested, Mrs. Bryant.” - -“Well, I _am_ rather keyed up about Mr. Dorn’s visit. So many old -memories come to mind today. The silver rings, for one thing. I hadn’t -thought about them in years. There are only two like them. Lucy has one -and I have the other.” - -Vicki glanced at Mrs. Bryant’s hand. Her hostess noticed. - -“No, I’ve put mine away. I never wear rings of any kind,” Mrs. Bryant -said. “They annoy me. But this pair of silver rings has an interesting -history.” - -They had an identical lacelike, open design. Mrs. Bryant had long ago -given one ring to her daughter Eleanor, and Eleanor in turn had given -the ring to _her_ daughter, young Lucy. - -“Almost all Mr. Bryant and I know about our granddaughter is that she -has the ring. We had a few facts about her schooling and a sketchy -description of her. Eleanor wrote us those things before she died.” -Mrs. Bryant looked down at her tightly clasped hands. “As for the -letters from Lucy’s father--” Mrs. Bryant stared past Vicki, past the -birds. “We never answered certain of those letters and we were wrong. -So terribly wrong!” - -Then the whole grievous story of Lucy came tumbling out. Mrs. Bryant, -in telling Vicki, tried hard not to blame her husband. But Vicki -understood that Marshall Bryant was a man who valued money and -important connections above all else. Mrs. Bryant could not cope with -his domineering ways. - -[Illustration: _Mrs. Bryant handed the faded snapshot to Vicki_] - -The Bryants had planned a brilliant marriage for their only child. They -were bitterly disappointed when Eleanor married against their wishes a -boy who had little money and limited education. They felt, unjustly, -that Jack was a fortune hunter. Marshall Bryant made several attempts -to break up the marriage. When he failed, he disowned his daughter. -He was determined that Jack Rowe should never get hold of the Bryant -money, no matter what the penalty to Eleanor or to any children Eleanor -would have. - -The young couple moved to California “--to get as far away from us as -possible, I suppose,” said Mrs. Bryant, and also because Jack had job -opportunities there. As for Jack’s family, they were scattered over the -United States and were not in touch. - -The young couple made several overtures to the Bryants, especially -after their daughter was born. They named her Lucy after her -grandmother. But the old couple refused any reconciliation. They never -saw their granddaughter. “I wanted to, but Mr. Bryant was adamant. No -one can blame Eleanor and Jack for feeling resentful.” A rupture and -silence of many years ensued. Once Mrs. Bryant wrote to her daughter, -offering aid for small Lucy, but Eleanor never answered. - -When young Lucy’s mother died a few years ago, her father wrote this -news to the grandparents and asked if they wished to attend the -funeral. Marshall Bryant decided that they would not go. Mrs. Bryant -murmured, “It was hard to lose Eleanor without ever seeing her again.” -Jack Rowe had suggested that the Bryants might, at long last, wish to -see their granddaughter. But Marshall Bryant hinted that Rowe’s motive -was a desire to gain their fortune. Young Lucy’s father, as a result, -felt freshly antagonized, and wrote them a bitter letter. Once more the -two families ceased to communicate. - -Recently, within the past year, Marshall Bryant had developed a severe -heart condition. “He’s still active,” said Mrs. Bryant, “but he may not -have long to live. This knowledge has--has modified his personality. -He is more concerned than ever about what will become of his fortune -after he and I pass away. I am afraid he is not a charitable enough man -to leave the bulk of it to institutions for--as he says--strangers to -enjoy. Also, he now feels great remorse for disowning Eleanor, and for -refusing any contact with her daughter.” - -As for herself, Mrs. Bryant said, she had grieved for years about the -family rupture. For a long time she encouraged Marshall Bryant to make -amends for the past. Finally, this past Christmas Day, they decided to -find their granddaughter, Lucy Rowe, and arrange for her to inherit the -Bryant fortune. - -“_If_ Lucy wishes to live with us, we’d be so happy.” - -“I’m so glad,” Vicki said softly, “that you’re trying to find her.” - -“You’re right to say ‘trying,’ because all we definitely know about -her is her last address in San Francisco. That’s the one on Jack Rowe’s -letter five years ago.” For a moment Mrs. Bryant closed her eyes. Then -she said matter-of-factly, “A five-year-old address and an old snapshot -aren’t much to go on, are they? That’s why were relying on Mr. Dorn to -locate Lucy for us.” - -Mrs. Bryant explained that she and her husband were too elderly, -and he too ill, to travel to San Francisco and search for the girl -themselves. Also, Mrs. Bryant said, they hesitated to approach Lucy -directly, either in person or by mail. “After all the antagonism which -my husband--and I, too--showed them, Eleanor and Jack naturally felt -antagonistic toward us. I’m afraid some of that feeling may have been -instilled in Lucy. She might not be glad to see her grandparents.” - -So Marshall Bryant had engaged his law firm to locate young Lucy -and bring her East. He planned to transfer a generous part of the -inheritance to her immediately. The law firm assigned Thurman Dorn, a -young man, to do the traveling and investigating involved in finding -Lucy. Mr. Bryant was pleased with the choice. Though Thurman Dorn was -relatively new in the firm, his uncle, now dead, had for many years -done fine work for Mr. Bryant through the same law firm. - -“My husband and I feel we know young Thurman Dorn,” said Mrs. Bryant. -“Our lawyers have told us that he came from Chicago, his home -town, with the highest recommendation from one of his law school -professors.” She mentioned the name of the law firm, Steele and Wilbur. -Vicki recognized it as a respected company. “Mr. Dorn has persuaded us -to stay entirely in the background and to let him act as intermediary -with Lucy. I do think that’s the most discreet way in such a delicate -situation.” - -_A painful situation for a sick man and his elderly wife_, Vicki -thought. She said, “I do hope Mr. Dorn’s search will be successful in -every way.” - -“Thank you, my dear. Mr. Dorn was in San Francisco three or four weeks -ago, and got his search for Lucy under way. Unfortunately he could not -find her on that trip--she has been away--but perhaps he has some other -leads or news to tell us about today.” - -“Oh! Do you think he’ll bring Lucy with him?” - -Mrs. Bryant smiled shakily. “I’m afraid to hope for so much. Let’s go -find my husband. He’s feeling anxious, too.” - -When Thurman Dorn arrived a few minutes later, he was alone. Vicki -was impressed by his air of professional competence, and by his -personal dignity. He was about twenty-seven, a formal, cool young man, -evidently highly educated, very correct in his manners and attire. -His meticulously tailored gray suit, his British-looking mustache, -the stiff way he stood, reminded Vicki of a fashion plate. Or perhaps -of a stone statue. She wished someone less formal, less unsentimental -were to bridge the gap between young Lucy Rowe and her grandparents. -Well, perhaps it took someone as cool, deliberate, and as obviously -hard-headed as Mr. Dorn to trace Lucy in the first place. Vicki could -see how highly Marshall Bryant valued this young lawyer. - -Mrs. Bryant introduced Vicki and Thurman Dorn. He said “how do you -do” to her with a delightful little bow and smile, and remarked--when -Mrs. Bryant said, “Vicki Barr is a flight stewardess with Federal -Airlines”--that he was an air-travel enthusiast. However, he quickly -turned away, and had little further to say to Vicki during lunch. She -was sure that Mrs. Bryant’s mention of her work did not interest him -and probably never registered with him at all. - -He was busy describing to Mr. Bryant--and to Mrs. Bryant, too, though -secondarily--the progress of the search for Lucy in San Francisco. - -“Now, Mr. Bryant, and Mrs. Bryant, you already know that this search is -not proceeding as easily and quickly as we would wish,” Thurman Dorn -said. “Reaching Miss Lucy takes time and patience. So will effecting a -reconciliation.” - -The elderly couple listened to him, their hopes visibly rising and -falling as he spoke. - -“You know that I made only partial progress when, at your request, I -visited San Francisco for a week, and personally conducted a search for -your granddaughter.” - -“I remember receiving your bills from the St. Clair Hotel,” Mr. Bryant -said dryly. - -Young Dorn accepted this with a deferential smile. “And unfortunately I -had to come back and tell you the disappointing news that by the time I -had located Lucy’s present home and work addresses, she had just gone -off for a trip. For, I believe, a month or more.” - -Mrs. Bryant turned toward Vicki. “At least Mr. Dorn learned that Lucy -has gone traveling with respectable friends, another girl and the -girl’s mother.” - -Mr. Bryant looked up from serving himself seconds from the dish the -maid offered. “Well, sir, it’s about a month now since you’ve been out -there. You say Lucy will be back in San Francisco soon. How soon can -you go out there again, and get on with this job?” - -“Very soon, I hope, sir,” Dorn said. “Although it would be a waste of -my time and your money to wait around San Francisco until Miss Lucy -returns.” - -“Don’t see how a girl who you say is a secretary can afford to stay -away longer than a month,” Marshall Bryant grumbled. “Dorn, are you -certain that this Lucy Rowe is actually our granddaughter?” - -“No, I’m not certain. It’s only a reasonable _presumption_ at this -point, Mr. Bryant. Let me actually see and talk to the girl. I want -to question her--yes, discreetly--about certain particulars of the -Bryant family history, which she would be likely to know. I want to see -whether she has any of your old letters, or photographs of yourselves -or your daughter Eleanor. That brings me to my reason, or one of the -reasons, for asking you to let me come today.” - -“The name Lucy Rowe isn’t so unusual,” Mr. Bryant interrupted. “Might -be more than one girl by that name in a city as large as San Francisco.” - -“Exactly my view, too, sir,” said Mr. Dorn. “You have told me many -details of the family history and shown me documents, but a few -questions occur to me. Also, it would help in proving _this_ Lucy -Rowe’s identity if you could let me really study those documents, and -study any letters in your daughter Eleanor’s handwriting or any family -photographs. If you happen to have any available that I could examine, -say, overnight--or for a few hours this afternoon--” - -“Good idea,” said Marshall Bryant. “Plenty of those things in the safe, -right here in the house. I’ll lend them to you overnight or for a day -or two. Whatever you say.” - -“That will be a help,” said Mr. Dorn. “I’ll return them to you -promptly.” - -One thing puzzled Vicki. Why had no one at the luncheon table mentioned -Jack Rowe, the girl’s father? She murmured her question to Mrs. Bryant. - -“Because Lucy’s father died two years ago in an auto accident,” Mrs. -Bryant answered her. “Lucy did not write and tell us. Lucy has never -written to us, except one or two Christmas letters when she was a -child--which my husband asked me not to answer.” Mrs. Bryant sighed. -“So we had no way of knowing about Jack until Mr. Dorn investigated and -reported to us about three weeks ago. I’m sorry about Jack, if only -because his passing has left Lucy entirely alone in the world.” - -“She has you and her grandfather,” Vicki said. - -“_If_ we can find her, and _if_ she can forget old difficulties. -However”--the elderly woman brightened--“on the basis of what he’s -already learned, Mr. Dorn is hopeful that everything will work out -well.” Then she said, “Oh, Mr. Dorn! Didn’t you say you had some -further word about Lucy?” - -“Yes, Mrs. Bryant. I’ve had a letter from one of her friends whom -I was unable to meet in person. Her friend writes that Lucy is an -accomplished swimmer and horsewoman. You know how Californians go in -for sports and outdoor living. Her friend also wrote my firm--sorry I -forgot to bring the letter--that Miss Lucy is fond of birds and knows -something about them.” - -“She’ll be interested in your parakeets,” Mr. Bryant said to his wife, -“and she’ll enjoy the swimming pool.” - -“Let’s hope so. We old people might be dull company for her. She sounds -like a delightful girl, Mr. Dorn.” - -The lawyer said, “From everything I’ve learned so far, she sounds like -a charming girl, and a girl of considerable character.” - -Marshall Bryant looked gratified, while his wife looked so eager that -Vicki felt almost afraid for her. How every detail which Mr. Dorn was -able to supply increased their desire to meet their granddaughter! How -disappointed they would be if Lucy were not all they wanted her to be, -or if--Heaven forbid--Dorn could not locate their granddaughter after -all. - -As they were rising from the dining table Mrs. Bryant reminded the -lawyer about the silver ring. “If you want another look at it, it’s in -the safe, too.” - -“Thank you, Mrs. Bryant. I _will_ examine it again. It will be -interesting to learn whether Lucy Rowe still has the silver ring which -is twin to yours.” - -“Now, young man, how soon are you going back to San Francisco?” Mr. -Bryant pressed him. “How about this week?” - -The lawyer was inclined to wait until the next week, in order to -be sure that Lucy Rowe was back in San Francisco. He offered to -telegraph her employers and friends there to learn if and when she had -returned. This was reasonable, the Bryants had to agree, but they were -disappointed about the delay. - -“I am sorry about the delay, too,” said the lawyer, “but let us make -haste slowly. Let’s be a little cautious and discreet. There is a large -inheritance involved here, you _are_ well known, and if any false -moves were made, they’d invite a lot of publicity--newspaper stories, -pictures in the paper, and so forth.” - -Mr. Bryant made a gesture of distaste, while Mrs. Bryant pretended to -shudder. There was a moment’s awkwardness. The lawyer turned to Vicki -and said: - -“I understand that you--ah--were of service to Mr. Bryant yesterday -when he was taken ill.” - -“Not at all,” said Vicki. “I’m just sorry Mr. Bryant didn’t feel well -enough to enjoy his flight on the Electra. Mr. Dorn, when you fly out -to the West Coast do you go on the Electra, via Chicago?” - -She said it only to make conversation, thinking someday Dorn might be -one of her passengers. But suddenly his expression changed. She was -surprised at the odd look on his face. Was he thinking of something -else? - -Mrs. Bryant said, “I believe, Mr. Dorn, you told us your mother still -lives in Chicago?” - -“Yes, I sometimes go home week ends to see her. Very occasionally.” - -“Of course. Well--I think my husband is waiting to see you.” - -“Oh, yes. Will you excuse me, Mrs. Bryant? Miss--ah--” He had forgotten -her name. The young lawyer followed Mr. Bryant into the library. - -Vicki felt that it was time to say good-by to her hostess. But Mrs. -Bryant led her back into the room with the parakeets. By now the sun -had moved to the far end of the room, and the birds were asleep. Mrs. -Bryant took Vicki’s hand. - -“I hope all this talk about our granddaughter wasn’t dull for you.” - -“On the contrary, Mrs. Bryant! I couldn’t help thinking ‘Suppose it -were _my_ grandparents whom I’d never seen, who were looking for me--’” - -“You’re sympathetic, Vicki. I wonder--You’re going to be in San -Francisco often?” Vicki nodded. “Then I wonder whether I could ask you -to do me a great favor--but only if it won’t take too much of your -time.” - -Vicki said, and meant it, that if the favor had anything to do with -Lucy, she would be only too happy to give it her free time. - -Mrs. Bryant smiled. “Then I wish very much that you’d see whether _you_ -can learn anything further about our granddaughter. While I have every -confidence in Mr. Dorn and his careful, discreet approach, this delay -is very hard. Even another week or ten days seem such a long time to -wait.” - -“I’ll be in San Francisco day after tomorrow,” Vicki said. - -“Wonderful. If Lucy is back by then, won’t you try to telephone her and -give her my love? All I have is her last address in Sutro Heights in -the suburbs, it’s five years old--I think Mr. Dorn mentioned that she -had moved in with friends in the city, in order to be nearer her place -of employment. I wish I had thought to write down that firm name, but -we are leaving everything, all the details, to Mr. Dorn.” - -“Do you think Mr. Dorn will consider that I’m interfering? I wouldn’t -want to cause any--any complications for him.” - -“I don’t see how you could.” Mrs. Bryant went to her desk for Lucy’s -last address, and copied it for Vicki. “It might be more tactful, -though, not to let Mr. Dorn know that you are taking part.” Vicki -agreed. “And let’s not mention it to my husband, either,” Mrs. Bryant -said with a gleam of mischief. “Here’s the address, my dear. Thank you -very, very much.” - -“Don’t say that yet, Mrs. Bryant. First, let’s see what I can do.” - -She thanked Mrs. Bryant for her hospitality, and said good-by. Mrs. -Bryant walked to the front door with Vicki, and stood looking after her -as she went down the marble steps. She looked so hopeful and yet afraid -to hope that Vicki thought: - -“I’m going to do everything I can to help those two old people.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -_A Puzzling Discovery_ - - -“I don’t even want to hear anyone suggest that we go sightseeing around -San Francisco today,” said Jean Cox from the other twin bed, on Monday -morning. “I want to stay right here in our nice hotel room and sleep.” - -“I wasn’t going to suggest sightseeing--not yet, anyway,” said Vicki, -at the mirror. - -“Then why are you up and dressed so early? After those week-end runs we -put in, why aren’t you unconscious, too?” - -On Saturday their crew had flown from New York to Chicago, stayed -overnight in Chicago, and on Sunday had flown on from Chicago to San -Francisco. Now they were to have a day in San Francisco to rest. Vicki -figured she would rest later and look for Lucy Rowe first. She told -Jean her plans. - -“Well”--Jean yawned and stretched under the covers--“all I can say is -that a frail-looking, dreamy-looking little blonde like you has more -stamina than some of us husky people.” - -Vicki grinned. “Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?” - -“Just go away, my love, and let me sleep.” - -They arranged to be in touch later in the day. Vicki softly let herself -out into the hotel corridor and went downstairs to the busy lobby. Part -of the fun of being a flight stewardess was living all over the United -States, and staying at the pleasant hotels where the airline put up -their crews. Along with her breakfast Vicki enjoyed a magnificent view -of San Francisco’s hills. - -Ever since talking with Mrs. Bryant, Vicki had kept Lucy Rowe’s old -address safely in her purse. Now she took it out. At the hotel desk she -asked for directions to Sutro Heights. Vicki made her way there--riding -up and down steep hills--walking down a long wooden stairway from -one street level to another. She climbed past a cliff-top park with -white-painted statues, high above beach and ocean. - -“San Franciscans certainly have their ups and downs,” Vicki thought, -puffing. “But what views!” On three sides she looked down over the -blue Pacific. The air was sea-fresh, cool, springlike. Vicki was so -enchanted that she almost forgot about the address in her purse. - -It led her to a modest, leafy street and an unpretentious cottage. -There were a yard and an attempt at flower beds; children’s toys -littered the porch. When Vicki rang the doorbell, a pleasant young -woman in shirt and jeans came to the door. She looked not much older -than Vicki, or than Lucy’s age, twenty-one. - -“I’m looking for Lucy Rowe,” said Vicki, and introduced herself. She -was careful not to mention the Bryants, not to intrude on the lawyer’s -province. She said she understood that the Rowes lived here, or used -to. “I wonder whether you could tell me what Lucy Rowe’s address is -now?” - -“My goodness, I should be able to! Lucy and I went to high school -together; we’re old neighbors, too. After her mother died my family -bought their house. This house. Come in, Miss Barr. I’m Jill Joseph. -Come in, don’t mind the boys--” - -The living room seemed to be overrun with very small boys and puppies. -Young Mrs. Joseph shooed the whole group outdoors, and she and Vicki -sat down to talk. - -“I haven’t any address for Lucy at the moment,” Mrs. Joseph said, -“because she’s away. Lucy is a darling. Are you a friend of hers?” - -“I’m a friend of a friend of hers,” Vicki said. “An elderly lady who -hasn’t heard from Lucy, or had any news of her, since Eleanor--Mrs. -Rowe died.” - -“Why, that was five years ago!” - -“Would you fill me in?” Vicki asked. - -Jill Joseph nodded. “Five years ago Lucy and I still had another year -to go in high school. Then she lost her mother. This house was quite a -lot of work for Lucy and her father--you know how full the last year -of high school is, and Mr. Rowe worked hard at--” She named a large San -Francisco department store. “So Lucy and her father moved to a small -apartment near here, and we bought their house.” - -“I see. What sort of work did Mr. Rowe do?” - -“For a long time he worked at any job the department store gave him. -The Rowes never had an easy time of it financially.” The neighbor -hesitated. “It was hard on Lucy’s mother; she seemed to be used to more -than the Rowes could afford. A lot of us wondered about Eleanor Rowe. -Not that she ever complained-- - -“Anyway,” the young woman went on briskly, “Lucy’s father finally -worked himself up to be head of the store’s delivery service, I think -it was.” - -“What was Jack Rowe like?” Vicki asked. - -“Nice. The most devoted husband and father you ever saw. He would have -made a good doctor; he was so kind and patient and gentle.” - -_So this was the son-in-law the Bryants had considered unworthy of -their daughter_, Vicki thought. - -“Lucy’s mother was nice, too,” the neighbor said, “though she was -quiet and sort of sad, sometimes. She worried about what would become -of Lucy. Lucy used to try to laugh her out of it.... My goodness, I’m -chattering!” - -“Won’t you tell me more about Lucy?” Vicki said. “I’m not even sure -what she looks like.” - -“Well, she’s taller than you are, and slim--but she’s strong. Good -at all sports, and she knows a lot about naturelore.” _Mr. Dorn had -reported that_, Vicki recalled. “Brown hair, brown eyes, only sometimes -they look hazel,” Mrs. Joseph said. “She--she’s active and friendly. -Isn’t it hard to describe someone you know? The chief thing about Lucy -is that she’s a nice person, and it shows.” - -“Does she miss her mother very much?” Vicki asked. “And her father?” - -“Yes, terribly. Lucy’s such a loyal and warmhearted person. She always -befriends lost dogs, and hungry cats, and people who need her.” - -It was out of lonesomeness and a need to be with people, the neighbor -said, that after her father died in an auto accident two years ago Lucy -moved into downtown San Francisco to live with another girl and the -girl’s mother. Also, Lucy wanted to be nearer her job. After graduation -from high school she had taken an intensive three-months’ business -course, and had been working as a secretary ever since--nearly four -years by now. - -“Can you tell me the name and address of her employer? And of the girl -and her mother?” Vicki asked. - -“Yes, I’ll write them down for you. But you won’t be able to see Mary -and Mrs. Scott. They’ve gone off on a trip. Lucy is away, too.” - -_So Dorn had learned_, Vicki reminded herself. She asked: - -“Do you know when she’ll be back?” - -“She wasn’t sure herself, when she called me up to say good-by. Why -don’t you ask at the women’s hotel where she’s been living? Maybe she -left word. It’s the Hotel Alcott.” - -“The women’s hotel?” Vicki felt confused. “I thought Lucy had been -living with Mary and Mrs. Scott?” - -“Well, she did until recently. I’m not sure how recently. Lucy and -I aren’t in constant touch.” Jill Joseph explained that the Scotts’ -household was a small one, and Lucy had felt she was crowding them. - -Vicki could not remember whether Mr. Dorn had reported where Lucy -lived. She’d had the impression, and perhaps the Bryants did, too, -that Lucy lived with the girl and her mother with whom she was now -traveling. Well, Vicki thought, she’d clear up this point. - -“If I telephone Lucy’s employer,” Vicki asked, “couldn’t they tell me -when she’ll be back?” - -“I think she gave up her job at the Interstate Insurance Company, -though you can ask them.” - -“Gave up her job?” _Dorn had not reported this._ “Why?” - -“Something about a new job. The kids were having a squabble, and I -couldn’t get it straight over the telephone.” - -“You mean Lucy starts on a new job when she comes back from her trip -with the Scotts?” - -“Lucy isn’t traveling with Mary and Mrs. Scott. And I _think_ -traveling is part of her new job.” - -This news did not tally with Mr. Dorn’s report, or more accurately, it -went beyond the lawyer’s report. Well, it was possible Lucy had been -away during the period that Dorn was looking for her, and then had -returned to give up her job and take a new one. Then, too, Jill Joseph -admitted she didn’t have all the facts straight. - -“I’ll inquire at the Hotel Alcott,” Vicki said, “and at the Interstate -Insurance Company.” - -“Try telephoning the Scotts, too. Perhaps they are back now and have -heard from Lucy.” - -Vicki and Jill Joseph chatted a while longer. Vicki gathered that -Lucy’s life was rather bleak. Even though she had friends and one or -two not important beaux, she missed her family and home, and felt -alone. Evenings after work she often kept herself busy taking college -courses, and attending church choir practice. - -“I guess the Reverend Mr. Hall has done more than anyone to help Lucy -feel less alone,” Mrs. Joseph said. “He’s a wonderful man. He knew her -parents, and he’s known Lucy all her life. He used to be in charge of -a church here in Sutro Heights, but he’s been transferred to Russian -Hill. I’ll give you his address, too.” - -A few minutes later Vicki thanked Jill Joseph and said good-by to her. -“You’ve been a great help. More than you know.” - -“Anything I can do for Lucy--well, she needs all the help and love her -friends can give her.” - -How wonderful it was going to be for Lucy, Vicki thought as she -traveled back to the center of town, to discover that her grandparents -cared for her. What a happy change in her life there would be. - -On the way Vicki stopped at a drugstore and called the Scotts from -a telephone booth. Their telephone rang repeatedly without answer. -Vicki then called the Interstate Insurance Company and talked to the -personnel manager. - -“Miss Lucy Rowe?” he repeated. “Just a moment while I look up her -card.” A pause. “Miss Rowe resigned from our employ on January -twenty-second.” - -Vicki scribbled down this date, and noted that it was now Monday, -February sixteenth. A little less than a month ago ... just about -the time Mr. Dorn said she had left San Francisco. Well, then, Dorn -_was_ right. Vicki asked whether the personnel manager could tell her -anything further about Lucy. - -“Well, I can tell you that she’s an excellent secretary, was with us -for over three years, and we were sorry to lose her.” - -“That’s a fine record, isn’t it? Thank you very much, sir.” - -Vicki hung up. She telephoned the Scotts twice again on her way back -to downtown San Francisco. No answer. On a third call a man’s voice -answered. - -“Mary Scott? She and her mother went away on a long trip. This is the -superintendent. I’m in their place fixin’ a leaky pipe.... No, ma’am, I -don’t know when they’ll be home.” - -“Thank you,” Vicki said. Next she tried the Reverend Mr. Hall’s number. -Here she kept getting busy signals. She decided to stop for lunch, then -visit Lucy’s place of residence. - -Arriving at the Hotel Alcott in the early afternoon, she found it to be -a pleasant, friendly, plain sort of place. A few people, mostly women, -were in the lobby. She spoke to the desk clerk. - -“I wonder if you can help me? I’m looking for Miss Lucy Rowe.” - -“Oh, yes, Lucy!” The middle-aged woman behind the desk smiled, but -shook her head. “You won’t find Lucy here, young lady. She checked out.” - -“Can you please tell me when? And where she is now?” - -The woman hesitated. Vicki produced her airline identification card to -introduce herself and explained that she had a message to deliver to -Lucy. The woman seemed satisfied. She opened a ledger. - -“Lucy checked out on--let me see--Saturday, February seventh.” - -That would be--today was Monday, February sixteenth--only nine days -ago. _Yet Mr. Dorn reported that Lucy had left San Francisco a month -ago._ Vicki could not account for the discrepancy. She asked the desk -clerk: - -“I wonder whether Lucy has been out of town--taken any short trips--in -the last month or two?” - -“Yes, recently some of the girls here persuaded her to go off for week -ends with them, to ski, or to hike in the mountains.” - -“Can you tell me,” Vicki asked the desk clerk, “whether Lucy was away -about a month ago?” - -“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember the dates.” - -“Well, will you please tell me one more thing?” Vicki was trying to -figure dates, starting with the fact of Dorn’s visit about a month ago. -“Did Lucy live at the Hotel Alcott a month ago?” - -The woman consulted the ledger again. “Yes. Lucy was with us just -barely a month.” - -It was possible, Vicki thought, that Lucy might not yet have moved to -the Hotel Alcott at the time of Dorn’s visit. - -“If you’re trying to locate Lucy, Miss Barr,” said the clerk, “I think -the best way to do it would be through Mrs. Heath.” - -“Who is Mrs. Heath?” - -“A very nice older woman who is now Lucy’s employer. Mrs. Elizabeth -Heath. A writer. Gray hair, well-dressed, and distinguished-looking. -She stayed with us at the hotel for a while. She was looking for a -secretary-companion, and Lucy turned out to be just the right girl -for the job.” The hotel clerk said this with a certain pride and -satisfaction. “It’s a happy arrangement for both of them, I think.” - -Vicki was surprised, but she felt better. Here was definite and -reassuring news of Lucy. She asked the woman for Mrs. Heath and Lucy’s -address. - -“They haven’t sent us their address yet,” the woman said. “Probably -they’re just traveling around. Mrs. Heath had a car, and as I -understood it, her plan was to travel around California and stay at -inns here and there, and write her memoirs in a leisurely sort of way. -Mrs. Heath _may_ rent a house. It sounds like a lovely job for Lucy. A -lot of the girls here at the Alcott would like to have such a job.” - -“It does sound like a pleasant job,” Vicki agreed, “but how can I find -Lucy, Miss--?” The clerk said her name was Mrs. Stacey. “Hasn’t anyone -here heard from Lucy since she left? Not even a post card?” - -“She’s been gone only a little over a week,” the hotel clerk pointed -out. “She’ll write to her friends here, I’m sure. She may already be in -touch with the minister, Mr. Hall; he’s a great friend of hers.” - -Vicki said she had his address and telephone number and would call him -right away. She thanked Mrs. Stacey for all her kindness. - -When Vicki again telephoned the Reverend Mr. Hall, she was able to -reach him. He was rather chary of giving any information on the -telephone. Vicki explained who she was, and told him a little of why -she was looking for Lucy Rowe. - -“Ah, I see. As a matter of fact, Miss Barr, I myself would like to -know where Lucy is at the moment.” - -The minister’s voice was friendly and direct. Vicki thought she heard -an undertone of worry. - -“Mr. Hall, I’m here at the Hotel Alcott, and they’ve told me Lucy has a -fine job with a Mrs. Heath.” - -“Yes, I know. Everybody is enthusiastic about Lucy’s new job except -myself. I advised her to consider, and make haste slowly, but she--” -Vicki heard voices in the background. “However, I cant go into this on -the telephone.” - -“May I come to see you, Mr. Hall?” Vicki asked. “It’s important for me -to locate Lucy.” - -“Yes, indeed, though today is all filled up.” He suggested that Vicki -telephone him again in a day or two. Vicki promised she would, thanked -him, and hung up. - -Vicki went back to her hotel. She wanted to pack and to rest so that -she would be fit for work: she was scheduled for an eight A.M. Electra -flight the next morning. - -Jean Cox was rested after extra sleep. “What did you find out about -Lucy Rowe?” she asked. - -“Don’t ask me yet. I haven’t any answers--only some new questions.” - - - - -CHAPTER V - -_The Girl in the Portrait_ - - -From San Francisco to Chicago on Tuesday, and back on Wednesday, left -Vicki free by Thursday morning. She at once telephoned the minister. He -said she might come over immediately. - -Vicki found her way to Russian Hill, an area of steep, far-flung -streets crisscrossed with leafy lanes. The church she was seeking was a -handsome modern stone building. The minister’s residence next door, in -contrast, was one of the old wooden houses with lacelike balconies and -ornate cupolas that had survived the San Francisco earthquake and fire. -A housekeeper admitted her and led her into Mr. Hall’s study. - -Vicki’s first impression of the minister was of a pair of -extraordinarily perceptive eyes. He received Vicki simply, without any -ceremony, and made her feel at ease. She presented her credentials, -wishing she could tell the minister about Lucy’s grandparents, and -their wonderful plans for her. - -“I’m glad you have come to me, Miss Barr,” he said. “Are you a little -worried, too, about Lucy?” - -“I don’t know what to think, Mr. Hall. I had been advised by -Lucy’s--ah--friends in New York that she was probably on vacation -traveling with friends. Now I find that isn’t exactly how it is, unless -there’s been some misunderstanding.” - -The minister said that was possible. “Let me speak frankly to you, -Miss Barr. I wasn’t keen about Lucy’s taking this job, at least not so -quickly. I asked her to get a little better acquainted with Mrs. Heath -first, before she went off traveling with her. It’s true Mrs. Heath -showed Lucy unimpeachable references, and she seems to be a substantial -person.” - -“Did you meet Mrs. Heath?” Vicki asked. - -“I very much wanted to,” the minister said, “but unfortunately the lady -was too ill with a virus to see me. We did have a pleasant telephone -conversation. I was left with the impression that she is above -reproach. Still, I’m not satisfied.” He looked out the window where a -lemon tree stood. “You see--” - -The minister said that Lucy had met Mrs. Heath at the women’s hotel, -and liked her from the start. In some ways Mrs. Heath reminded Lucy of -her mother, whom she missed. Within a short time, only about a week, -they were good friends and Mrs. Heath asked Lucy whether she’d like to -be her secretary and traveling companion. Lucy came to Mr. Hall to talk -it over with him. Mrs. Heath’s offer was attractive, a long-term job, -interesting work, a good salary plus all her living costs paid for by -Mrs. Heath, and a chance to travel. Lucy felt confined, living in the -city and working at a routine job, so Mrs. Heath’s plan appealed to her. - -“I pointed out to Lucy that she needn’t be in such a hurry to give up -her job and accept this new one,” said the minister. “But she told me -Mrs. Heath was eager to start work on her book. At any rate, as Lucy -pointed out to me, they did not rush off at once.” - -Lucy gave up her job at the insurance company and for the next two -weeks helped Mrs. Heath prepare for their trip, and did some library -research for her. “I must admit Lucy seemed interested and happy,” said -the minister. In those two weeks Mrs. Heath allowed Lucy plenty of time -to wind up her own affairs in San Francisco. Then, using Mrs. Heath’s -car, or, rather, a car which Mrs. Heath rented for several months, they -started out. - -“When did they start?” Vicki asked. - -“It was a Saturday, I believe the first Saturday in February.” - -Vicki scribbled down this date, with a note. “And did they say where -they were going?” - -“Oh, yes, certainly,” the minister answered. “I don’t wish to give you -the wrong impression about Mrs. Heath,” the minister said to Vicki. “I -only wish Lucy had gone more slowly and made sure that she and Mrs. -Heath really would be compatible over a period of several months’ close -association--and checked a little on Mrs. Heath’s financial ability to -pay all the bills and Lucy’s salary.” - -[Illustration: _“Are you worried, too, about Lucy?” Dr. Hall asked_] - -Their plan, the minister told Vicki, was to head slightly north and -east of Sacramento, into the Mother Lode country. Mrs. Heath had made -an earlier trip through the hill region and had said that she might -possibly rent a house in the area. - -“I received a post card from Lucy,” said Mr. Hall. “Just a moment.” - -The minister picked up a picture post card from his desk and handed it -to Vicki. It was postmarked Placerville, California, February seventh, -at four P.M. Vicki glanced at the desk calendar. February seventh was -the first Saturday in February. - -“Wasn’t this post card mailed the same day that Lucy and Mrs. Heath -started out?” Vicki asked. - -“Yes. Evidently Lucy mailed the post card en route. She says nothing, -actually--‘Beautiful country, beautiful weather. Will write soon.’ But -she hasn’t written since, Miss Barr. Not to me or, so far as I can -learn, to any of her friends. And I don’t know where she is.” - -Vicki felt a sharp misgiving. “Have you--have you planned to take any -steps to get in touch with her, Mr. Hall?” - -He hesitated. “It’s not quite two weeks since Lucy left. I believe they -planned to work on Mrs. Heath’s book, so that possibly Lucy hasn’t had -a chance to write to me. I don’t mean to alarm you, Miss Barr.” - -“But I think _you_ are a little alarmed, Mr. Hall?” - -He thought for a moment. “Now that you pose the question, yes, I am -uneasy about Lucy.” - -“Did a Mr. Dorn ever call you?” - -“Dorn? No.” - -That troubled Vicki. She also wondered what really lay behind Lucy’s -change of jobs. She remarked as much to Mr. Hall. - -“Yes, I feel there is more to know about Lucy’s job situation than we -do know,” he said. He reflected. “Maybe Gravy could tell you something -more.” - -Vicki smiled. “I beg your pardon, but did you say someone’s name is -Gravy?” - -The minister smiled back at her. “Graves. Knowlton Graves. He and his -wife are young people, friends of Lucy’s. She’s the one who dubbed him -Gravy. He’s a painter, and he’s been doing Lucy’s portrait. I think -that because of work on the portrait the Graveses had been seeing Lucy -oftener than anyone else had, just before she left.” - -“Do you think Mr. and Mrs. Graves would be willing to talk to me about -Lucy?” Vicki asked. - -“We’ll see.” Mr. Hall picked up the telephone and dialed a number. He -talked to Knowlton Graves, paving the way for Vicki. “Yes, I think Miss -Barr can come over right away.” Vicki nodded. “What?... Yes, I’ll tell -her. Thanks very much,” and the minister hung up. He turned to Vicki. - -“Gravy wants me to tell you, with due apologies, that he has a heavy -work schedule. If you’re willing to go over to Telegraph Hill for just -a short visit, he’d be very glad to see you.” - -Vicki got to her feet. “Even a few minutes’ talk could be revealing.” - -Mr. Hall wrote down the Graveses’ address, and gave Vicki directions -for getting there. She thanked the minister warmly for all his help and -kindness. He said, just as warmly: - -“I feel you and I are in league for Lucy’s best interests.” He smiled, -and his eyes seemed to look through and through her. “Perhaps you have -more news of Lucy than you were willing to confide in me on a first -visit. Come back and see me again, whether or not you learn any news.” - - * * * * * - -Gravy was a large, noisy young man. He boomed at her that his wife -Maggie was out shopping, he’d made a mess of the studio, and if she was -a friend of Lucy’s how come he’d never met her before? - -Vicki followed him into a workmanlike studio, explaining that she was -only the friend of a friend of their mutual friend. - -“How’s that again?” Gravy boomed at her. He looked at her sternly. -“Interesting planes in your face. Ever sit for a portrait?” - -Vicki perched on a paint-splattered wooden chair and said firmly, “No, -and I’m afraid I’m too busy to. Can we talk about Lucy?” - -“Okay. Gosh, you look serious. There isn’t anything wrong, is there? -About Lucy, I mean.” - -“I don’t _know_ that anything’s wrong,” Vicki said carefully. “It’s -just that I’ve heard confused reports about her, and she’s gone off -traveling with a woman she hardly knows. That wasn’t wise.” - -“My wife feels the same way you do--though I say that Heath woman -sounds all right. Don’t worry.” Gravy moved a pile of unframed canvases -out of the way, and sat down facing Vicki. “Lucy likes that Mrs. Heath. -She was motherly to Lucy, I guess that’s why.” - -Vicki asked whether the Graveses had heard from Lucy. They had not, and -Gravy was untroubled about it. He said blithely: - -“All I want is for Lucy to drop by here one of these days, so I can -finish her portrait. Want to see it?” - -He rummaged through the pile of canvases, pulled out one, and set it on -an easel so Vicki could see it. She took a long, curious look. Allowing -for the painter’s rather abstract style, she could see from Gravy’s -portrait what Lucy Rowe looked like--a girl with big eyes, light-brown -hair, a rather square face which in a feminine version recalled -Marshall Bryant’s. Vicki could also see a little of Lucy’s pleasant -personality from the easy way she had tossed a bulky green wool scarf -around her shoulders, and her friendly half-smile. - -“Lucy looks as if she’s about to speak,” Vicki said. - -“Well, we did talk a lot while we were doing this portrait,” Gravy -said. “She was all excited about the job offer from Mrs. Heath.” - -“Did she ever talk about anyone else?” Vicki asked. “About her parents, -or--or her grandparents?” - -“It’s funny that you should ask that. Sure, she always talked about her -parents. But during the sittings a lot of stuff about her grandparents -came out. Funny she never would mention their name, it was such a -touchy subject with her.” Gravy looked searchingly at Vicki. “I guess -it’s all right to repeat it, it’s not exactly a secret. A confidence, -maybe. Well-- - -“Lucy told Maggie and me she’d always felt no one but her parents -ever really wanted her or cared about her. She just couldn’t believe -her friends care a whole lot about her, or that some day she’ll -find a husband who cares for her and needs her. You know what that -feeling comes out of? From the way her grandparents rejected her and -her parents, all of Lucy’s life. Made them feel humiliated, left -out. Wouldn’t answer their letters. Never even cared to meet their -granddaughter. The three Rowes didn’t have any close relatives. They -sort of huddled together by themselves; then Lucy lost her mother, and -then her father. So now Lucy feels alone, and unwanted. - -“Well! Along came this Mrs. Heath, and she was motherly to Lucy. -Besides, _she_ needed Lucy, _she_ wanted Lucy to be with her--to help -her with the book and to be her traveling companion. She even decided -to go to the hills to please Lucy. Pretty nice of her, hey? You should -have seen how much happier that girl was, all of a sudden! My wife says -that’s why Lucy took the new job almost without hesitating. I tell you, -Lucy’s heart is in that job.” - -Vicki felt puzzled as she listened to all this. How could a lawyer like -Mr. Dorn, a man trained to make investigations, not have unearthed -the fact of Lucy’s job with Mrs. Heath? Except that Mrs. Stacey had -said Lucy had been in and out of San Francisco several times with her -friends, just around the time Mr. Dorn was here.... - -“Mr. Graves, did a man named Dorn get in touch with you?” - -“Dorn? Never heard of him.” - -“Did Lucy mention a Mr. Dorn to you?” - -Gravy shook his head. Well, Vicki thought, Dorn and Lucy must have -just missed each other, and some of her friends must have given him a -garbled or incomplete account of her trip and plans and the respectable -older lady with whom she was traveling. - -“You said Mrs. Heath and Lucy were going to the hills. Can you tell me -where in the hills?” Vicki asked. - -“About a three hours’ drive from San Francisco, in the foothills of -the Sierra Nevada Mountains,” Gravy said. “It’s east of the Great -Valley, in the Mother Lode country with all those little pear-growing -towns like Placerville and Auburn and Grass Valley. It’s west of the -mountains on the way to Donner Pass. Just about where the hills really -start to roll and climb and start turning into mountains. That’s where -Lucy spent some happy vacations with her parents when she was a child.” - -As Gravy talked, Vicki visualized a map of California in her mind and -tried to fix the locale. “Isn’t the Mother Lode country where they -first discovered gold in 1848?” Vicki asked. - -“Right. That was gold-rush country. They’re still mining a little gold -in them thar hills,” Gravy said with a grin. - -Vicki asked him what that stretch of hills was like. - -“It’s high, about fifteen-hundred to two-thousand-feet elevation, -and Lucy talked about the pine trees. There are a few little towns -scattered trough there, and a lot of small two-to five-acre pear farms -and almond farms. Lucy said it was really pretty, kind of quiet and -peaceful, not too many people around.” - -“Isolated?” Vicki suggested. - -“Well”--Gravy thoughtfully rubbed his chin--“I suppose if this Mrs. -Heath wanted to find a real private location to hole up and write her -book, she wouldn’t have too many neighbors to bother her in the Sierra -foothills. Especially if she didn’t stay at inns, if she rented a -house--” - -So Lucy and Mrs. Heath were somewhere in the Sierra foothills, around -the pear-growing towns! Gravy had said that was about three hours’ -driving time from San Francisco. By private plane, Vicki figured, it -would take much less time. If she visited and inquired at the main -villages in the area, she probably would learn something about the two -women. Strangers in a rural area would surely be noticed. - -“That’s what I could do,” Vicki thought. “It’s not much of a trip, and -it shouldn’t be too difficult to look around a bit. I did promise Mrs. -Bryant I’d do my best.” - -She noticed Gravy glance, with embarrassment, toward the large clock on -the wall. - -“Oh, _I’m_ sorry, Mr. Graves,” said Vicki. “Mr. Hall told me I mustn’t -detain you too long.” - -“Gosh, I’m sorry. Guess I told you everything I could about Lucy. Maybe -Maggie could’ve remembered something more--” - -Vicki said she hoped to meet his wife another time, thanked the -painter, and went to the door. - -“If you see Lucy,” said Gravy, letting her out, “tell her one more -sitting will finish up the portrait. So long, now.” - -_If_ she saw Lucy! She wanted to try. - -Vicki found a drugstore, ordered a coke, and took her bid sheet out of -her purse. The bid sheet showed her scheduled flying days and her days -off. - -She had three rest days--today, tomorrow, and Saturday. Her next -assigned flight, with Jean Cox, was not until nine A.M. on Sunday. That -was fine. - -This afternoon she could arrange to rent a private plane and study -maps. Tomorrow, and if necessary Saturday, she could search for Lucy. -That should be enough time. - -Vicki had one misgiving. Suppose Lucy and Mrs. Heath were no longer in -the Placerville region, where Lucy had mailed the post card? Suppose -Mrs. Heath had decided to move on, or--a fleeting suspicion occurred to -Vicki--suppose Mrs. Heath had never intended to settle in that region? -The whole story of the sudden job offer disturbed Vicki as much as it -had the minister. - -“There’s only one way to find out,” Vicki decided, “and that’s to go -look for Lucy Rowe.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -_Vicki Searches_ - - -The next morning Vicki went to Novato airport, in Marin County, forty -minutes from San Francisco. Having been out there late yesterday -afternoon, she was briefed for her flight. Placerville, her first stop, -was about a hundred and twenty-five miles away. Joe and Ed Foster, -the men from whom she was renting a Cessna 150, had marked on her air -map the routes, landmarks, and sites of small airports in and near -Placerville and surrounding villages. - -The trim little Cessna 150 was a single-engine, two-place airplane, -with landing lights, wing lights for navigation, and a two-way radio. -Vicki carefully went over the plane, making a line check. It was in A-1 -condition and fully fueled. She climbed in, with a lift up from Joe -Foster. - -“All okay?” he asked. Vicki smiled and nodded. “Now remember, this -plane has a fast rate of climb. Watch it.” - -“I’ll remember.” Yesterday afternoon she had taxied the Cessna around -a little, to see how the plane handled, and had fallen in love with the -instantly responsive aircraft. Vicki said: - -“I’ll bring her back late this afternoon, Mr. Foster.” She would rather -not do night flying in an unfamiliar airplane over country which was -new to her. - -Foster waved. “Happy landings.” - -“Thanks. See you.” - -Vicki closed the door, put her feet on the pedals, cracked the throttle -forward slightly, released the brakes, and pressed the starter button. -The plane went skimming along the airstrip. As the Cessna left the -ground, Vicki felt she was simply floating up into the air. While -she was figuring how rapidly to reach the altitude and air speed she -wanted, the Cessna reached these and almost flew off by itself. - -“Whoa, there!” Vicki exclaimed aloud. This was exhilarating! She put -the nose down a little, leveled off, and turned northeast. - -Once across the comparatively low Coast Range mountains, Vicki looked -down on the Sacramento River flowing through rich farms and cattle -prairie. Vicki bypassed the city of Sacramento, capital of California, -and went sailing along over the Great Valley. Her cockpit was full -of sunshine, and the plane flew quietly, smoothly. She was making -sixty miles an hour. The plane could do eighty or more, but Vicki had -landmarks to watch for. - -Another hour passed. Vicki saw the towns below grow smaller and -farther apart, and the land begin to roll slightly. Blue outlines of -hills appeared on the horizon. Vicki climbed to a higher altitude. -The temperature grew much cooler. Vicki buttoned her jacket. A few -minutes later she saw much higher outlines on the horizon--the immense, -distant peaks of the Sierra Nevadas loomed up like a great wall. Vicki -consulted her air chart, and looked down to locate Placerville. It was -the first of the villages, nestled low on this side of the distant -mountains. - -Vicki found the local airstrip and made a neat landing. A mechanic at -work in the hangar told her it was ten minutes’ walk into town. - -“Or you can hitch a ride, miss.” - -“Thanks, I’ll walk.” She was wary of driving with strangers; and -besides, the countryside of nut and fruit ranches offered a beautiful -walk. - -In the village Vicki inquired first at the small hotel. The owner put -down his newspaper and obligingly looked through the register. It had -just a few guests listed; Lucy and Mrs. Heath were not among them. - -“Did you see _any_ older woman with a young, brown-haired woman?” Vicki -asked the hotel owner. - -“No, miss. Why don’t you ask at the Pines Motel? You can ’phone from -here.” - -Vicki telephoned. The motel had no record, no recall of the two women. -She went to the Placerville restaurants, garage, police office, and -asked. No news. - -Vicki flew on to the next town, Auburn. She talked with friendly -tradesmen and local people at a roadside stand heaped with cherries, -almonds, grapes, walnuts, and apples. No one, not even the motel -keeper or the gas-station owner, had seen the woman and the girl Vicki -described. Neither had Auburn’s police officers. - -In the next town, Marysville, Vicki inquired again, with no results. -In each village--a few of them were almost ghost towns of gold-rush -fame--she got the same story. No one had seen the two women. By -midafternoon Vicki felt badly discouraged. - -“Well, shall I give up?” - -Vicki thought it over. So far she had tried only the villages. The -minister and the painter had mentioned the possibility that Mrs. Heath -might rent a house in the Sierra foothills. “A house off by itself in -the hills--that’s the next thing to look for and ask about.” - -Vicki took the Cessna up again, thinking hard about the best way to -locate such a house. She had been aloft fifteen minutes when she -decided it would be a wise precaution to replenish her gas supply. The -air chart showed a small airport off to the northeast. Vicki hoped she -could buy gas there. She turned, reduced speed, and watched for an -airport. - -Just off the highway, she spotted a meadow with airstrips mowed in the -grass. Three or four planes and cars were parked outside a barn, which -must be the hangar. - -She circled low over the meadow twice, to let the people below know -she wanted to land. Two men in coveralls came out of the hangar. They -motioned to her how to come down, pointing to the windsock atop the -barn. Vicki waggled the plane wings in reply, flew into their air -pattern, and coasted in for a landing. By this time, three other men -wearing coveralls had come out to watch her. They gave Vicki friendly -smiles as she stepped out of the plane. - -“Hello, anything we can do for you?” one asked her. They were all -young men, deeply tanned, with sun squint lines around their eyes, and -immediately interested in Vicki’s Cessna 150. - -“Thanks, I’d like to buy some gas here,” Vicki said. “And maybe you’ll -advise me how to find a place I’m looking for.” - -“Glad to do both,” said one young man. “I’m Wes Clark.” - -He introduced the four others--the two McKee brothers, a redhead called -Red Jones, and the tall man who had spoken first, Jack Whiting. Vicki -told them her name, and said her home was in Fairview, Illinois. - -They all said hello, and invited Vicki to see their airplane. She was -interested in their heavy plane and special equipment, and asked what -they were doing. - -“We’re prospecting from the sky,” Wes Foster said. “We search for ore -buried in the ground. Mostly for mineral pockets. Want to see how we -aerial miners work?” - -“I certainly want to know what that long torpedolike thing tied to the -back of your plane is,” Vicki admitted. - -The McKee brothers said, “That’s ours.” They were electronic experts, -and at work they sat inside the big instrument to watch for the -telltale jump of dial needles, as the “snooper” plane flew over -mountains, lakes, and valleys. The young men explained to Vicki that a -strong radioactive source--such as uranium--showed on the detectors. - -“Do you need maps?” Vicki asked. She was thinking of her own search for -a secluded house in the hills. - -“Sure, we use maps. Whiting here is our aerial photographer. He makes -an aerial survey with a movie camera that’s co-ordinated with the -electronic needles. Then he pieces the photographs together into one -big map, and that gives us and our geologist an over-all picture of the -region we’re exploring.” - -Red Jones, stammering slightly, told Vicki he was the geologist of the -team. She asked if she might see the map he used. - -“We were just looking at it in the hangar. Come on in, Miss Barr.” - -They all went into the hangar where equipment and a large photographic -map were spread out on a table. Jack Whiting and Wes Clark started to -explain the map to Vicki. They said it showed the contours of the dips -and peaks of the rugged terrain around there. The photo-map resembled a -complicated diagram; it was not easy for Vicki to read. - -“Well, are you looking for anything in particular?” Whiting, the aerial -photographer, asked her. - -“Yes. An isolated house,” said Vicki. - -“Hmm. That’s a tall order. There are several houses and buildings off -by themselves, way up in the hills.” - -Wes Clark suggested that they start by locating such houses on the -photo-map. They located several small marks on the map which were -houses. However, Whiting remembered that two of the buildings were -power stations, one a sportsman’s hunting lodge, one a house they knew -to be boarded up. - -“What’s this?” Vicki put her finger on a blurred spot on the photo-map. -It was the size of a pinhead. - -“That’s half a dozen houses and a general store, too small even to be a -village,” the younger McKee brother said. “No post office or anything. -The ranchers around there call the place Pine Top.” - -“No, I don’t mean the cluster of houses,” Vicki insisted, “I mean this -tiny dark spot. Could it be a hidden house?” - -The young man peered at the blur. “Could be,” the aerial photographer -finally said. “Lots of forest and high, winding roads at that point. If -it’s a house, it’s hidden, all right. The camera doesn’t tell _what_ -that blur is, I’m afraid.” - -Vicki looked searchingly at the map. She could not see any other mark -which suggested a private house. Only the one above Pine Top. - -“I think,” she said slowly, “I’ll gamble on it and fly to Pine Top.” - -“Maintain enough altitude,” Wes Clark advised her. “You can get gas -from someone at Pine Top, if necessary.” - -“Gas!” Vicki remembered. “I need some right now, if you can spare it.” - -The airfield had a commercial, self-service gas pump. Wes Clark said -with a grin, “Our advice is free, but you have to pay for the gas.” - -“I’m glad to have both,” said Vicki. - -The young men helped her to refuel her plane, and watched her climb in. -Wes Clark looked at his wrist watch and said: - -“It’s pretty late in the afternoon to head for Pine Top. I wouldn’t try -it for the first time at dusk, if I were you.” - -They were right. To explore half-mountainous terrain, by air, in fading -light would be foolhardy. Besides, she was growing tired, and there was -still the return flight to San Francisco to make. - -“All right, I’ll try for Pine Top tomorrow,” she said. She smiled and -waved at the five young men. - -“Thanks a lot for everything. I hope to see you all again sometime.” - -“See you,” they repeated. “Get home safely. Happy landings.” - - * * * * * - -That night Vicki dreamed of Pine Top and of a dark, fantastic house -clinging to a wooded mountainside. Those troubled pictures were the -reflection of her worry about Lucy. - -Actually, when she was wide awake on Saturday noon, and looking down -from the Cessna 150 in the bright sky, Pine Top turned out to be a -cheerful place. There wasn’t much of Pine Top, just a few houses -clustered together in the refreshing green of forests and hilly grazing -lands. - -She looked down and circled, losing altitude, searching for an area to -land. The one level place she could see was a back road--a wide, empty, -dirt road. Vicki came down bumpily, then staked down the plane at the -side of the road, and hiked toward the houses. - -No one was in sight, only a yellow hound-dog. The general store -seemed the likeliest place to make inquiries. Going in, Vicki found -it deserted. She looked around at the shelves, counters, boxes, and -barrels piled with provisions for living deep in the country. She -noticed a bell on the counter, rang it, then waited. - -Presently a man and woman came in, carrying baskets of garden produce. -They said good morning to Vicki, and looked at her curiously. - -“Was that you flying around here a while ago?” the man asked. Vicki -smiled and nodded. - -“Well! What’re you doing in these parts, young lady?” - -“We don’t often see strangers,” the woman put in. She said their names -were Carl and Angie Potter. “My, that’s a handsome jacket you’re -wearing.” - -“Thank you,” said Vicki. “I wonder if you’d give me some advice?” The -couple were eager to help. “I wonder if you’ve seen an elderly lady and -a brown-haired girl about my age with her?” - -“Why, sure enough, we have,” the man said. Vicki’s hopes leaped up. -“They came here in a car about two weeks ago.” - -“The lady’s name is Mrs. Elizabeth Heath,” the woman said importantly. -“I saw her name on an identification tag tied on her suitcase--I -noticed it when I carried some of the groceries out to her car. I can’t -figure out whether the girl is her daughter or niece or exactly what. -They bought a whole carload of groceries from us, same day they got -here, and went on up to the old Glidden place.” - -“The house up in the hills?” Vicki asked. - -“Uh-huh. Nobody’s seen hide nor hair of them since,” said the man. -“Bill Jenkins from the telephone company strung up a wire to their -house, so we know Mrs. Heath has the phone working again. But except -for phoning me to bring more groceries, she hasn’t called up nobody -here.” - -The woman sniffed. “That Mrs. Heath was uppity when she bought her -groceries from us. The girl seemed real nice, though.” - -“It’s the girl I want to see.” Vicki felt a great sense of relief at -actually having located Mrs. Heath and Lucy. “How far is the Glidden -place from here?” she asked. - -“Oh, about twenty minutes up an awfully curvy, narrow piece of road. We -could drive you up there.” - -They all piled into the couple’s jalopy. The narrow road up to the -house climbed and wound. “On a wet day,” said Mr. Potter, “anyone who -drives on this road’ll break his neck.” - -At the top of the road the land leveled off, and they reached a high -stone wall. Behind it, Vicki could see only treetops and the second -floor of a house. The Potters said the wall completely enclosed the -Glidden place. - -Mr. Potter stopped the car before a large wooden door in the wall. -“We’ll have to honk,” he said. When there was no answer, he tried the -door. “Locked,” he said. - -Angie Potter raised her voice. “Oh, Mrs. Heath! Mrs. Hea-ea-eath!” -Still no answer. “Maybe nobody’s home.” - -Vicki said, “The upstairs windows are open, and the curtains are open, -too. Someone’s probably at home.” - -Mr. Potter honked, Mrs. Potter called, Vicki knocked on the wooden door -in the wall. They made so much noise that a flock of birds swooped out -of a nearby tree, and flew away. - -“Not very neighborly,” Mrs. Potter grumbled. - -Vicki felt discomfited. Granted that Mrs. Heath wanted an isolated -place in which to write her book; still, did the two women have to -isolate themselves so rigidly? - -“Well, we might as well go,” said Mrs. Potter. - -They made a cautious descent down the narrow, steep road. The Potters -drove Vicki back to the spot where she had parked the plane. They would -not hear of accepting the payment she offered, and said good-by. - -She waited until the Potters drove safely off the back road. Then she -got into the Cessna, taxied as far as the road permitted, and took off. -In the air she figured out a route which would take her clear of the -jutting hillside, yet bring her over the house. - -Within sight of the wall and the house, the fast plane rolled a little -when Vicki overcontrolled it to fly more slowly. First she followed the -wall, to get her bearings in relation to the house and road, and to -look for a possible place to land. - -She was surprised to see that the property covered quite a bit of -acreage. The far end of it was hilly woods, but this led into a long, -fairly level stretch of meadow which would afford a landing area. The -meadow led up to the house. - -Before she knew it, Vicki had flown over the house, which was not very -large. She had to circle around and fly back for a better look. The -house was rather rustic and long and low. It was not far from the road -behind the wall. A garden surrounded it in front and on both sides. - -But the most interesting thing she saw below was two women working -in the garden on the sunny south side of the house. One woman was -gray-haired. The other figure was a girl’s, with brown hair; she had -thrown around her shoulders a bulky green woolen scarf like the scarf -in the portrait. - -“Lucy!” Vicki thought in excitement. “There’s Lucy Rowe! I’ve found -her.” - -In the instant that Vicki flew over them, they looked up at the -plane which had now flown past twice. Vicki thought, “Won’t they be -astonished when I land inside their wall!” - -She headed over the meadow, thinking about wind direction and landing -speeds. Then she remembered to glance at her wrist watch--and was -alarmed at the time. There simply wasn’t time today to land and talk to -Lucy and Mrs. Heath. Her free time had nearly run out. - -Vicki was obliged to fly past the meadow, beyond the wooded hillside, -and out over Pine Top country in the direction of the coast and San -Francisco. She was exceedingly disappointed. - -“Well, I’ll have ample time off next week,” Vicki consoled herself. -“I’ll come back.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -_Which Lucy?_ - - -“Vicki, there’s a Miss L. Rowe aboard!” Jean said excitedly. “I just -discovered it when I had to check tickets and passengers’ names!” - -Vicki stopped her preparations for lunch and stepped outside the buffet -into the aisle. “Where, Jean? Where is she?” - -“’Way up forward. You can’t see her from here. A stunning girl. Brown -suit, brown hair.” - -“I can’t stop and go up there now.” Vicki craned to see down the length -of the Electra cabin. “Has she a squarish face?” - -“I’m not sure.” Some of the passengers noticed their excitement. The -two stewardesses stepped back into the privacy of the buffet. “Vic, -could she be _your_ Lucy Rowe?” - -“Hmm. It’s possible--” - -Today was Tuesday. She had seen Lucy Rowe from the air on Saturday, -in California. Since then Vicki had flown to Chicago, had a rest day -in Chicago on Monday, and now was flying from Chicago to New York. -The Electra had taken off from Chicago half an hour ago, at noon. With -Jean she had greeted the boarding passengers but hadn’t seen anyone she -could have imagined to be Lucy Rowe. Still, with sixty-eight passengers -enplaning, she might not have noticed every face. - -“Yes, it’s possible she’s my Lucy Rowe,” said Vicki. “I’m surprised, of -course. Lucy must have left Pine Top rather suddenly--or at any rate, -awfully soon after I was there. It seems like a strange coincidence.” - -“One point,” Jean said. “Her ticket reads ‘Miss L. Rowe.’ It _doesn’t_ -read Lucy. Her first name might be Lillian, for all we know.” - -“I’ll go forward and speak to her first chance I get,” said Vicki. Not -that Gravy’s abstract portrait provided a sure means of identifying the -girl, by any means. “Did she come on from California?” - -“Her ticket doesn’t say, it just reads Chicago as point of origination. -But she could have started from California, and changed planes in -Chicago. That could involve two separate tickets.” - -“That’s right. So her ticket doesn’t tell us anything. Gosh, I’m -intrigued! It _could_ very well be the right girl. Well, back to the -coffeemaker.” - -Captain Tom Jordan had been delayed several minutes in take-off and -had notified the stewardesses he intended to make up the time during -flight. That meant Vicki and Jean had even less than the usual two -hours in which to take care of the needs of sixty-eight persons, and -set up and serve sixty-eight hot luncheons. The stewardesses hadn’t a -minute to spare. Vicki’s one chance to see Miss L. Rowe was when she -brought her a lunch tray. - -[Illustration] - -“Are you enjoying the flight, Miss Rowe?” - -“Yes, it’s very smooth and pleasant.” - -The girl glanced up as she spoke. She was in her early twenties and -did rather resemble the girl in Gravy’s vague portrait, except that -her hair was dark brown. Vicki had expected from the portrait that it -would be light brown. As for the squarish face, Vicki could not decide -whether Gravy had exaggerated its shape. Her large eyes and wide mouth -resembled the portrait. Did this girl look like a topnotch secretary? -She was trimly dressed, well groomed, and well made up. Did she look -like an outdoors girl? That was harder to guess. - -Vicki looked to see whether Miss L. Rowe wore the Bryant family’s -silver ring; but she wore no rings at all. This, too, proved nothing. -Most women wore little or no jewelry while traveling. Vicki longed to -ask Miss Rowe her first name, but she had no right, no excuse, no time -to do so. She smiled at the girl and went on with her tasks. - -The trouble started shortly before they were due to land. The captain’s -buzzer sounded on the stewardesses’ call board, and Vicki--wanting -another glance at Miss L. Rowe--went forward to the cockpit, unlocking -and then closing the steel door behind her. - -In the bright light of the cockpit she saw that the faces of the two -pilots and the navigator were strained but calm. Chuck Smith, the young -navigator, had his jacket off and sleeves rolled up, and there were -grease stains on his shirt and arms. - -Captain Jordan said: “Vicki, we’re having a little trouble. We -discovered the nose wheel has not retracted properly.” Vicki knew it -was not uncommon for nose wheels to get stuck like this. - -“We’ve tried everything we can to repair it, but no luck,” Captain -Jordan went on. “I’ve decided to make our scheduled landing, anyway. -I think the shock of landing will jolt the wheel down into place. We -have tricycle landing gear, so that this landing won’t be too risky. In -fact, I expect it to be a success. However, _if_ it doesn’t work, we’d -better be prepared.” - -Vicki was trained for emergencies. Her heart pounded but she listened -calmly to the pilot. - -“I want you and Jean to inform the passengers of our situation, and to -use emergency landing procedures. Just in case.” - -“Yes, sir. How soon?” - -“Start right away. You have about twenty minutes to prepare.” - -“Yes, Captain Jordan.” Twenty minutes was ample time. - -Back in the cabin she found Jean and repeated the pilot’s message. Then -each stewardess went to her half of the cabin and explained quietly -to the passengers. Vicki stressed that the landing very probably -would be a success, but because of the risk they must be prepared. -The passengers took the announcement as calmly as it was made. Vicki -realized that these sixty-eight people looked to her and Jean for -leadership; they must keep cool and move fast and accurately. - -First, they saw to it that every passenger had his seat belt fastened -tightly, that all seats were in upright position, and that no one -was smoking. Then Vicki selected four men who told her they had had -military or aviation experience. Vicki quickly showed them how to -operate the lounge-door exit, window exits, ropes, and evacuation -slides when the plane landed. She and Jean were responsible for opening -the main-entrance door and the buffet-service door. Jean, meanwhile, -selected three passengers, showed them how to operate the three window -exits, and seated them there. Next, the stewardesses briefed the -passengers on locations of all the exits. They showed the passengers -how to brace their feet and arms, how to press their heads against -the seat in front of them in order to avoid being thrown forward and -getting bloody noses. The stewardesses quickly distributed pillows and -blankets for extra protection. - -Jean showed the woman with the one baby aboard how to lock the baby in -her arms. Some of the men passengers removed parcels from the overhead -luggage racks and stowed them in the luggage and coat closets. - -“Will you please remove all sharp objects,” Vicki said, walking along -the plane aisle. “Please remove your glasses, all pens and pencils, -brooches, belts with buckles, any sharp objects--” since these things -could stab. “Will the men please loosen their ties.” Then she hurried -to check the fire extinguishers, first-aid kit, all emergency equipment. - -Sooner than Vicki expected, they were flying in over New York City. -The captain’s buzzer sounded. He said, “We’re cleared and coming down -any minute now.” Jean sat down in the forward cabin adjacent to the -main-entrance door, Vicki sat down in an aisle seat across from the -buffet-service door. They strapped themselves in. - -Soaring down above the length of La Guardia Airport, everything below -looked as usual as on any other winter afternoon--except that two -emergency trucks for extinguishing fire came racing after them on -the ground. Vicki said a little prayer. She spoke confidently to the -passengers near her. - -Dropping--dropping--now Vicki could see the faces of the men on the -field as the Electra flew low past them. They stopped working to watch, -and to help if necessary. Then the plane gave a terrific jolt, a jar -which Vicki felt to the roots of her teeth. Men and women swayed and -rolled in their seats, the baby cried, as the Electra touched ground. -The plane shuddered all over and rolled on to a stop. Safe! No one -thrown--nothing broken nor on fire--The nose wheel must have come down -exactly as Captain Jordan planned. - -“Praise be!” Vicki exclaimed. She unstrapped and jumped to her feet. - -She and Jean ran to reassure the children and the elderly among their -passengers. Everyone was shaken up, profoundly sobered, but relieved -and grateful. The men were inclined to joke now that the danger was -over. The two stewardesses made certain, and Captain Jordan came out to -make certain, that each passenger was all right. Not one person showed -panic or caused any trouble. Captain Jordan praised the stewardesses -for their share in maintaining high morale. - -The cabin was littered with passengers’ garments, handbags, eyeglasses, -and pens. For several minutes Jean and Vicki were busy picking these -up. Everyone helped them. Or almost everyone--Vicki noticed that Miss -L. Rowe, like a few others, did not bother to help anyone but herself. - -Something glistened on the plane’s carpet. Vicki picked it up: it was -a gold charm off a woman’s bracelet, inscribed “Dorothy.” She held it -high and asked: “Does anyone own a charm marked ‘Dorothy’?” Several -women shook their heads. Vicki hastily consulted the manifest with its -list of names. No woman passenger aboard had the name “Dorothy” or the -initial “D.” - -“Does anyone own this gold charm?” Vicki asked, carrying it -conspicuously all through the cabin. It was a valuable piece of -jewelry. No one claimed it. She knew it was unlikely that the charm had -been left on the plane from a previous flight, since the cleaning crews -at terminals did a thorough job. The owner was aboard this very minute. -Why didn’t Dorothy--whoever she was--claim it? - -The passengers began leaving the plane, the stewardesses managing an -orderly evacuation. There went Miss L. Rowe! Vicki was seized by an -irresistible curiosity to see whether the Bryants or Mr. Dorn would -meet the girl. With a promise to Jean Cox and the passenger agent -to come back, Vicki went down the plane stairs after Miss Rowe. She -followed her at a short distance across the airfield, into the crowded -terminal building, and out again at the front portico to the taxi -stand. Vicki watched Miss L. Rowe get directly into a taxi by herself, -without looking around to see whether anyone was waiting to meet her. -Apparently she didn’t expect to be met. - -“Well, I guess she isn’t the right L. Rowe,” Vicki thought. “If she -were, the Bryants would at least have sent their car and chauffeur for -her. Or is her arrival a surprise? Even if it were, Mr. Dorn probably -would be on hand to escort her to the Bryants’ house,” Vicki reasoned. -“Wrong girl. That’s that. Just a coincidence of names and brown hair.” - -In all likelihood the Bryants’ granddaughter--the girl with the brown -hair and green scarf which tallied with the portrait--was still at the -hill house near Pine Top. - -Vicki still had the gold charm clutched in her hand. The “Lost and -Found” desk was only a few steps away. She went over and turned the -charm in. It was odd, she thought, that no one on the plane had claimed -it. - -On her return to the Electra, she joined Jean in completing the final, -routine picking up in the cabin and putting equipment back into place. -After handing in their reports to the Flight Stewardess Supervisor, -Vicki and Jean went to the stewardesses’ sleeping lounge to have a nap -and tidy up. Now that the emergency was met and past, they admitted -they felt tired. - -“We were lucky,” Jean murmured from the other cot. - -“Luck and skill and a well-engineered plane,” Vicki answered. - -She lay there on the cot thinking about the landing preparations, the -unclaimed charm, and Miss L. Rowe. Her thoughts drifted on to the -Bryants. Suddenly she sat up, took a few coins from her purse, and -walked next door to the stewardesses’ lounge. - -“Where you going?” Jean called after her sleepily. - -“I’m going to telephone Mrs. Bryant.” - -She wanted to tell Lucy’s grandmother that although she had not yet -been able to deliver her message, she had, to the best of her belief, -located Lucy and actually seen her from the air. - -A secretary answered. The Bryants were not at home. She evidently knew -from Mrs. Bryant who Vicki was. Vicki decided not to relay her news of -Lucy secondhand and asked the secretary for an appointment. Vicki said -she expected to be in New York again, with free time, next Sunday and -Monday. - -“I’m sure that Mrs. Bryant would be delighted to see you at lunch or -tea,” said the secretary. “I’ve put you down for tea at four on Sunday, -Miss Barr.” - -“Thank you, that’s perfect. Until Sunday, then.” - - * * * * * - -Between that memorable Tuesday and the following Sunday, the first -of March, Vicki flew three more Electra flights between New York and -Chicago, with two days off in Chicago between flights. On one rest day -her mother took the local train from Fairview up to Chicago, and they -spent a happy day together. - -On her other rest day, Vicki stayed at her Chicago hotel. Resting, she -tried to plan exactly what she was going to tell Lucy’s grandmother -when she visited the Bryants’ house on Sunday. What disturbed Vicki was -the fact that she had learned some things about Lucy which Mr. Dorn, in -San Francisco a month or so earlier, had not learned and possibly could -have learned. Allowing that Mr. Dorn had missed meeting Lucy, as she -herself had, and allowing that her own visit came a month later, still, -either she or Mr. Dorn could be mistaken. And Vicki did not want to -give Mrs. Bryant any wrong information, or raise any false hopes. - -“I’m going to ask Mrs. Bryant the exact dates when Mr. Dorn was in San -Francisco,” Vicki thought. “Because _if_ he was there during the time -Lucy became involved with Mrs. Heath, it’s strange he didn’t find out -about that. Unless”--an odd idea struck her--“Mrs. Heath dodged Mr. -Dorn’s inquiries and managed to keep him from learning of Lucy’s new -job? Mrs. Heath avoided meeting the minister, didn’t she? She managed -things so that a good friend like Gravy never met her, didn’t she? Hmm.” - -Reviewing the few facts she had learned about Lucy’s new job, Vicki had -to admit they were sketchy and elusive. It even occurred to her, in a -wave of skepticism, that the girl she had seen from the air _might_ not -necessarily be Lucy Rowe. A green scarf and light-brown hair were not -conclusive proof. - -“Oh, it’s likely that girl _is_ Lucy Rowe,” Vicki thought, impatient -with herself. “Why don’t I be sensible and see, on Sunday, what Mr. -Dorn has learned in the meantime? Maybe what he’s discovered by then -and what I’ve discovered will tally, after all.” - -She daydreamed about Sunday, and the pleasure she hoped it would give -Mrs. Bryant to hear her news of Lucy. - - * * * * * - -The minute Vicki entered the Bryant house on Sunday afternoon she -sensed the excitement there. The whole household had changed its -mood: every lamp and chandelier in every room was alight, bouquets of -fresh-cut flowers bloomed everywhere, dance music came from a radio. -The house seemed young! - -Mr. and Mrs. Bryant, when Vicki entered the room with the parakeets, -looked as if they had waked up from a long sleep, refreshed and happy. -They both were beaming. Mr. Bryant had a flower in his buttonhole, and -Mrs. Bryant was as flushed as a girl in her rustling taffeta dress. -Vicki had never seen them in such festive spirits. Around the tea -service were trays of tiny, fancy sandwiches and cakes, ready for a -party. Vicki, trying not to look inquisitive, said good afternoon. - -“Vicki, how nice to see you!” Mrs. Bryant took her hand and drew her -into the room. “You’re right on time. Our other guests are coming at -five, but I especially wanted you here early. You’ll see why.” - -“I’m so glad to see you again,” said Vicki. “I hope you’re both well.” - -“We’re feeling exceedingly well,” said Mr. Bryant. “Mrs. Bryant has a -surprise which she thinks you’ll enjoy.” - -“Now, Marshall, you mustn’t spoil my surprise. First I want to ask -Vicki where she’s been flying recently, and all about the fascinating -people on her plane--” - -“I think I hear her coming downstairs,” Marshall Bryant interrupted. - -Mrs. Bryant looked flustered. Vicki, to help her, said her last few -trips were probably not as special as Mrs. Bryant’s surprise. The -elderly lady smiled at her delightedly. - -“Well, my dear, it _is_ a most wonderful surprise for Mr. Bryant and -me. Just wait--one more moment, now--” Vicki heard someone’s light, -quick footsteps. “Vicki, Mr. Dorn has found our granddaughter. Ah, here -she is!” - -A slender dark-haired girl, taller than Vicki, came into the room. She -was the Miss L. Rowe who had been on Vicki’s plane. She lightly kissed -both elderly people, and smiled politely when Mrs. Bryant said: - -“Lucy, this is Vicki Barr who is about your age. She’s the one who was -so helpful to your grandfather on our airplane trip.” - -“How do you do, Miss Barr?” If the girl recognized her, she gave not -the slightest sign. - -“I remember you on my plane earlier this week,” Vicki said pleasantly. -She started to say how excited she’d been on finding a Miss L. Rowe -aboard, but caught herself just in time. Mrs. Bryant _had_ requested -her not to mention her own search to anyone. It was likely that Mrs. -Bryant had not told even Lucy this secret. Then Vicki noticed that Lucy -Rowe was staring at her blankly, as if she had never seen the flight -stewardess before. - -“You remember, Miss Rowe,” Vicki said, “the day we nearly had to make -an emergency landing.” - -Lucy Rowe gave her a forced smile and turned away. Vicki was astonished. - -“Why, Lucy,” her grandmother said, “you didn’t tell us about any -difficulty in landing!” - -“It was nothing. I didn’t want to alarm you,” the girl said. “May I -have a cup of that nice, hot tea? I’m not used to your cold weather in -New York--but I expect I’ll love it here. Who else is coming today? I’m -so eager to be presented to your friends.... No, I won’t mind a bit -that they’re all older people.” - -Lucy chattered on. Although Mrs. Bryant was eager for the two girls to -be friendly, it seemed to Vicki that Lucy avoided conversing with her. -Particularly it seemed that Lucy did not want last Tuesday’s flight -mentioned again. Evidently it embarrassed her in some way. - -“I wonder why?” Vicki thought. She would not be so tactless as to raise -the subject again, of course. “But why does Lucy Rowe act as if she’s -never seen me before?” - -Vicki felt embarrassed and disappointed. She’d anticipated a lively, -warmhearted, approachable girl--from the several descriptions of -Lucy Rowe--not someone so very charming and sophisticated. Lucy was -affectionate toward the Bryants, and they were already devoted to their -new-found granddaughter. Vicki saw the lacelike silver ring that Lucy -wore. She recognized it as the Bryant family’s ring, no doubt about -that. Vicki said, hoping to prompt her to talk: - -“What a lovely and unusual ring you’re wearing, Miss Rowe.” - -“Thank you.” Lucy held out her hand for Vicki to inspect the ring, and -said, “I value this ring more than I can tell you, because it’s a -family heirloom. Mother gave it to me, and I’ve worn it constantly ever -since she died. It hasn’t ever been off my finger, not even once.” - -Mrs. Bryant murmured appreciatively, even Marshall Bryant looked -touched. But Vicki was thinking, “_You didn’t wear the silver ring last -Tuesday on my flight. I looked, I made sure--_” - -Why was Lucy lying? A lie about the ring--an evasion about having been -on Vicki’s plane--what else would she lie about? Vicki was puzzled and -troubled. She managed to conceal it, for if something was amiss here, -she must not arouse the girl’s suspicions. She needed to gain more -information. - -“I think it’s wonderful that Mr. Dorn found your granddaughter so -soon,” Vicki said to Mrs. Bryant, hoping she would talk. - -“Yes, Mr. Dorn found her on his second trip to San Francisco,” Mrs. -Bryant said, looking warmly at Lucy. “He flew out there just last week -on Friday, and by the following Sunday--exactly a week ago today, I -remember it was Washington’s Birthday, February twenty-second--he wired -us that he had found our young lady.” - -“_Last Sunday_,” Vicki thought. “_And I saw the girl I took to be Lucy -at Pine Top last Saturday._” - -Lucy said, with a little laugh, “I was the most surprised girl in the -world when Mr. Dorn appeared and told me that my grandparents wanted -me. And the happiest girl.” - -Marshall Bryant lighted a fresh cigar and gave a grunt of approval. -“Dorn is a good man.” - -Vicki thought, “_Have I made a mistake and traced the wrong Lucy? I -don’t see how. Yet surely Mr. Dorn, who’s a lawyer, and who has time -and money to work with, didn’t make any mistake?_” - -“Of course we wanted to meet our granddaughter instantly, the very next -day after Mr. Dorn’s telegram,” Mrs. Bryant said with a smile. “He flew -back to New York and came to tell us--Lucy, darling, you can’t imagine -how absurdly disappointed your grandfather and I were when Mr. Dorn -told us that you needed a little time to settle your affairs in San -Francisco, and would fly east by yourself.” - -“I could hardly wait, too,” Lucy said. “I practically ran, in San -Francisco, doing all my good-bys and chores. Even so, the fastest I -could get here to you was Thursday.” - -“_Thursday!_” Vicki nearly exclaimed aloud. “_Why, this Miss L. Rowe -was on my plane on Tuesday. She left La Guardia Airport, alone, at -three o’clock Tuesday afternoon--I saw her--but she didn’t meet her -grandparents until Thursday! Where was she during that interval?_” - -Lucy leaned toward her grandparents. “And when Mr. Dorn met me at La -Guardia Airport on Thursday afternoon I was terribly nervous about -meeting you! He had to talk quietly to me for about half an hour before -I’d even get in the car.” - -Another lie, Vicki thought angrily. Or had this girl returned to the -airport two afternoons later and pretended to Mr. Dorn that she had -just got off the plane? So this was why, Vicki realized, Lucy Rowe did -not want any mention of her having been on the New York-bound plane on -_Tuesday_ afternoon. Vicki said guardedly: - -“New York is a wonderful place but so is your city, Miss Rowe. I’m just -getting to know San Francisco on occasional visits. It’s a fascinating -place. In what part of the city did you live?” - -“For a while I lived on Telegraph Hill, wonderful views from there. -Then three other girls and I took a beach house one summer. It was fun, -but such a lot of commuting to my job.” - -No mention of the women’s hotel, Hotel Alcott. No mention of sharing an -apartment with Mary Scott and her mother. That did not tally with what -Vicki had learned. Lucy had answered readily, even glibly. Vicki tried -another tack. - -“Some of the best views in New York,” she said, “are from high up in -the office buildings. Is that true in San Francisco? Was it so on your -job?” - -Lucy looked amused. “I worked so hard at Whitney Decorators that there -wasn’t much time to admire the views.” - -“Poor darling,” said her grandmother. - -“Oh, no, it was a perfectly nice job with nice people,” Lucy said. “But -I was awfully happy to give it up and come to you.” - -No mention of working for the Interstate Insurance Company. Was the -interior-decorator job a fact or another lie? If a fact, _when_ had -Lucy worked for a decorator? And why didn’t she mention her job with -Mrs. Heath? Lucy made it sound as if she had been employed in a San -Francisco office building at the time when Mr. Dorn had found her a -week ago. Vicki knew she had resigned from Interstate about a month -earlier, and had gone to Pine Top a couple of weeks later. Why all -these lies? If this girl was actually Lucy, she was trading on the love -of her grandparents. Or if she was an impostor, she must be very clever -to have fooled Mr. Dorn. - -Vicki said to her, “I’m not sure, but I _think_ that I met an -acquaintance of yours while I was in San Francisco. Jill--I can’t -remember her last name--” Vicki pretended. - -“Was it Jill Baker?” said Lucy. “Such a nice girl.” - -Vicki nodded and did not press the point. - -Not Jill Baker--that name was Jill Joseph. Unless Baker had been Jill’s -name before her marriage? Vicki decided to check the next time she was -in San Francisco. She noticed that Lucy did not mention her old friend -Jill’s living in her family’s former house, nor their having been in -school together--in fact, nothing about Jill. Didn’t this girl know -Jill Joseph? Lucy again chattered along, changing the subject. Or was -the omission of no importance? - -Just then Thurman Dorn came in. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -_A Game of Wits_ - - -For a moment Vicki wished she had never gotten mixed up in the search -for Lucy Rowe. The lawyer looked so cold, so professional, that her own -small efforts to find Lucy shrank to absurdity. How impertinent she -would appear if Mrs. Bryant happened to tell about Vicki’s search--how -difficult it would be to justify to the lawyer her doubts about _this_ -girl. - -Vicki glanced beseechingly toward the grandmother. Very, very slightly, -Mrs. Bryant shook her head. Did that mean she was not going to reveal -their secret? Vicki hoped so. She glanced away just in time to hear and -answer Mr. Dorn’s “How do you do?” - -“Careful, now,” Vicki warned herself. “Don’t say or ask anything which -could alert Lucy that I suspect her. And I mustn’t intrude on Mr. -Dorn’s territory, particularly since Mr. Bryant has praised him so -highly.” - -The lawyer seated himself at Marshall Bryant’s right. He was a -perfectly correct and formal figure as he accepted a cup of tea from -Lucy. She made a little fuss over the young lawyer, and her grandmother -teased her about it. - -“Well, just think of what Mr. Dorn has done for me!” Lucy answered, -laughing. “He’s the one who found me, and I shall always be grateful -to him.” She shook her head, remembering. “Last Sunday, this stranger -came to me asking to see my family letters and my silver ring. Asking -me to identify myself. At first I didn’t know whether to take Mr. Dorn -seriously.” - -Vicki longed to know if they had met at Pine Top, but she could not -afford to ask questions. - -Thurman Dorn smiled a little. “I can tell you now, Miss Lucy, that -a month earlier I was exasperated at not finding you. And your -grandparents”--he turned toward them deferentially--“were exasperated -with _me_. It’s a good thing for all of us that you came back to San -Francisco from your vacation. If you hadn’t met me in the lobby of the -St. Clair Hotel last Sunday, I believe I would have sent out some sort -of alarm for you.” - -So they had met last Sunday in San Francisco, Vicki noted. That meant -Lucy had come in from Pine Top. Reasonable enough. But why did Lucy -give Dorn and the Bryants the impression that her tour with Mrs. Heath -was a “vacation”? Vicki wanted to see whether Lucy would mention, in -the course of conversation, Mrs. Heath or the Reverend Mr. Hall or -Knowlton Graves. - -Curiously, she did not mention them and Mr. Dorn did not, either. -He did talk in detail about his methods of search and the fine -co-operation he had received from the San Francisco Post Office and -Police Department. Mr. Dorn named persons and places involved in his -search--Whitney Decorators, Lucy’s old Telegraph Hill residential -address (where he couldn’t find her), a Dr. Alice James who was Lucy’s -and Lucy’s mother’s physician. Vicki had not unearthed any of these in -the course of her own search in and around San Francisco. Not one of -them! This was nightmarish! - -“_Then who is the girl I traced to Pine Top?_” Vicki thought again, in -utter bewilderment. “_Is this girl the same girl I saw? No, she isn’t. -This girl’s hair is very dark brown, sable brown, and that girl’s was -almost dark blond._” - -Yet, Vicki thought, in tracing Lucy Rowe herself, she had received -straightforward answers from Jill Joseph, Mrs. Stacey at the Hotel -Alcott, Mr. Hall, Gravy. _They_ obviously were not lying because all -their accounts of Lucy Rowe tallied and dovetailed. Vicki could only -think: - -“_Either Mr. Dorn has been misled by this girl who is lying, or--less -likely--the lawyer’s lying. Or--more likely--I’ve made some glaring -error._” - -In fairness to all concerned, she could do only one thing: check back -on the facts in San Francisco, this coming week. She must try to keep -an open mind. Even so, she felt uneasy about this avowed Lucy and her -several lies and evasions. She was startled out of her thoughts when -the girl said: - -“Mr. Dorn, Miss Barr met a friend of mine in San Francisco. Isn’t that -a coincidence?” - -“Small world,” he said casually, though he paid attention to Vicki for -the first time since he had come in. “Are you in San Francisco often, -Miss Barr?” - -Vicki noticed that Mrs. Bryant had grown tense. Evading Dorn’s -question, she simply said: - -“I’m in San Francisco only when my airline sends me there. It isn’t too -often.” - -“Oh, yes, I remember now,” said Dorn. “You’re a stewardess on--?” - -“Federal Airlines,” said Vicki. - -Mr. Dorn nodded and lost interest, and started to talk to Marshall -Bryant about something else. Vicki half waited for Lucy to ask her a -question about Jill Baker or make some further remark about Vicki’s -being in San Francisco. But Lucy, too, dropped the subject. - -Mr. Bryant, Mr. Dorn, and Lucy went into the next room to discuss some -legal papers. Mrs. Bryant came over to Vicki. - -“Will you accompany me upstairs, my dear? I want to--ah--show you -something of interest.” - -A pretext? So that they could talk together privately? Vicki wondered -whether the elderly lady shared her doubts as to whether this girl was -actually the Bryants’ granddaughter. - -She did not. Indeed, she told Vicki how happy she was “that Mr. Dorn -has found Eleanor’s daughter,” and what a fine girl she considered her -to be. “I can see something of Eleanor in her, in little ways.” - -“In what ways?” Vicki asked. “Does she look like her mother?” - -“N-no, Lucy doesn’t really resemble Eleanor--or Jack Rowe, either. But -then I never resembled _my_ parents! No, she reminds me of Eleanor in -a certain dignity and reserve which she has, and in--oh--maybe I’m -imagining it, but in little mannerisms-- - -“And Lucy knows so much about our family history,” Mrs. Bryant went -on. “It’s gratifying to me, naturally, that she takes such a great -interest in the family. It--In fact, it’s--” The lady hesitated. “I -almost wonder, considering her youth and the family’s separation, how -it’s possible for her to have learned so much family history. In such -detail, too.” - -Vicki waited for Mrs. Bryant to think further about her doubt, to pay -attention to this danger signal. But the elderly lady smiled and said: - -“Lucy’s family loyalty accounts for her remarkable knowledge, of -course.” - -Vicki said nothing, but she did not necessarily agree. The Marshall -Bryant family was a prominent one; from time to time newspapers and -magazines mentioned their activities and printed photographs; Mr. -Bryant’s career was listed in _Who’s Who_. What was there to prevent a -clever, unscrupulous girl from going to the public library in any big -city, looking up these facts, and memorizing them? - -A question occurred to Vicki: How had this girl, _if_ she was an -impostor, discovered that Thurman Dorn was seeking the young heiress -to a fortune? She could have found out in a number of ways--something -overheard, a newspaper notice inquiring about Lucy Rowe, even a word -dropped by Lucy herself. And how had this girl sidetracked Mr. Dorn -from finding the true Lucy? Was it more than a coincidence that Dorn -had been unable to find Lucy on his first trip to San Francisco? Was it -more than a coincidence that another girl named Lucy Rowe had gone away -on a job to a lonely place like Pine Top? Vicki shivered. - -Mrs. Bryant was saying, “I couldn’t be happier, and I couldn’t be more -grateful to Thurman Dorn. He’s done a wonderful thing in reuniting the -three of us.” The lady said hastily, “I appreciate the interest _you_ -took in this matter, Vicki. I hope you didn’t put yourself to any -trouble.” - -“Nothing worth mentioning, at least not now, Mrs. Bryant.” How and what -could she tell of her own search under the circumstances? - -“My husband says Mr. Dorn located Lucy comparatively quickly, after so -many years of silence.” - -Vicki remembered the questions she wanted to ask. “Mrs. Bryant, about -Mr. Dorn’s search--do you happen to recall the exact dates of his -first trip to San Francisco?” - -“I remember every detail of the search for our granddaughter. Mr. Dorn -said he was in San Francisco his first trip from January tenth to -twenty-third. His second trip was February twentieth to twenty-second.” -Vicki imprinted these dates on her memory. “Don’t you think Mr. Dorn -was quick to find Lucy on his second trip? Apparently his efforts on -the first trip paid off.” - -“Yes, indeed,” Vicki said, trying to keep the doubt out of her voice. -“Mrs. Bryant, you--you haven’t told anyone that you wanted me to try to -get in touch with Lucy?” - -“Oh, no, indeed!” Mrs. Bryant laughed. “Wouldn’t you and I look -foolish, now that Lucy is here? I was foolish ever to make such a -request of you, I’m afraid. Why don’t we simply forget our little -secret?” - -Vicki smiled, but she had no intention of dropping her search, not -after meeting that dark-haired girl today. - -“Vicki, as a matter of sentiment, this morning I took the other silver -ring out of the safe here in the house to show you. Come in here with -me, won’t you?” - -Vicki followed Lucy’s grandmother into an old-fashioned bedroom. From -a bureau drawer she took a silver ring, exactly like the one the -dark-haired girl wore. - -“You see, Vicki? It _is_ unusual. There isn’t another ring like it -anywhere except Lucy’s. A jeweler made just the two from his own -original design, and then destroyed the pattern. Mr. Bryant had them -made when Eleanor was born.” - -“It’s lovely, like filigree or lace,” Vicki said. - -Mrs. Bryant said she would return the ring to the safe, and suggested -they go downstairs. - -Mr. Bryant and Mr. Dorn had finished their business, and Lucy had -disappeared in order to powder her nose. It was five o’clock. Other -guests were beginning to arrive. Although the Bryants urged her to -stay, Vicki asked to be excused. She had experienced quite enough for -one afternoon. - -She returned to the apartment which she shared with several other -Federal Airlines stewardesses. Jean Cox was at home, writing letters -to her family. She said Charmion Wilson and Dot Crowley had just come -in from their Texas run, and were asleep in the front bedroom. Tessa -and Celia were working aloft somewhere along the Atlantic seaboard. The -stewardesses’ housekeeper, Mrs. Duff, was out visiting friends. - -Vicki was glad that the apartment, so often full of guests and parties, -was quiet this Sunday. She wanted to be alone for a little while, -to write down the names, dates, and addresses she had learned this -afternoon at the Bryants’, and to plan her next steps. - - * * * * * - -It was the following Wednesday, March fourth, before Vicki’s scheduled -New York-Chicago-San Francisco flight landed her in San Francisco -again. She had fumed at the delay but now she had three days--Thursday, -Friday, Saturday--off. “And I’m going to make good use of them!” - -She wanted tremendously to fly at once to Pine Top, but it would be -foolish to go unprepared, with spotty information. Her first step, -obviously, must be to check on the statements she had heard Lucy and -Mr. Dorn make on Sunday. - -Vicki decided to make full use of the telephone. In her hotel room she -collected paper, pencils, the telephone directory, her list of names -and addresses, which Dorn and Lucy had mentioned in accounting for -Lucy’s recent past. Then Vicki sat down at the telephone. - -First she called up Jill Joseph, out in Sutro Heights. When Jill -answered, Vicki could hear in the background a babble of children’s -voices and dogs barking. She and Vicki exchanged hellos, and then Vicki -asked: - -“Have you heard from Lucy?” - -“No, I haven’t,” Jill Joseph answered. “It’s beginning to worry me. -Have you?” - -Vicki hesitated. “I’m still trying to get news of her. Tell me -again--is her hair light brown or dark brown?” - -“Light brown. Lucy calls it dirty blond.” - -The alleged Lucy Rowe at the Bryants’ house had dark, sable-brown hair. - -“Would Lucy color her hair, do you think?” Vicki asked. - -“I can’t imagine why she would, its natural color is pretty. She never -_has_ tinted it.” - -Vicki said she had an even stranger question, and asked Jill Joseph -what her maiden name had been. - -“Rossiter. Why, for goodness’ sake?” - -“Do you know--or does Lucy know--anyone named Jill Baker?” Vicki asked. - -“Never heard of Jill Baker. Vicki, all these questions--is something -wrong?” - -Again Vicki hesitated. “There may be. I’m trying to find out. One more -question--did you ever hear from a Mr. Dorn?” Jill had not. “Or from a -girl, or anyone else, inquiring about Lucy?” - -“No,” said Jill Joseph. “You’re the only one.” Well, that proved -nothing. Mr. Dorn’s line of investigation need not have included an -old friend whom Lucy now saw only occasionally. “Vicki? If something’s -wrong, why don’t you report it to the police?” - -“Because I’m not positive anything _is_ wrong. Besides, there’s a -delicate situation here.” Vicki was not at liberty to mention the -Bryants and their dislike of publicity; if the police stepped in, the -newspapers would get wind of the story. Vicki said, “I really don’t -think it’s necessary to go to the police. Don’t worry.” - -“Well, I am worried. Let me know as soon as you have any news of Lucy, -will you, please?” - -Vicki promised, said good-by, and hung up. - -Would the Scotts be home from their trip by now? According to Jill -Joseph, Lucy had lived with Mary Scott and Mrs. Scott. Dorn and Lucy -in New York had never mentioned them. Why? Vicki tried the Scotts’ -telephone number, which Jill Joseph had given her earlier. - -A woman’s voice answered. Vicki introduced herself, and explained that -she was trying to locate Lucy Rowe. - -“This is Mrs. Scott,” the voice said. “I don’t see why you should have -any trouble in locating Lucy, Miss Barr. She has an excellent job with -a Mrs. Heath.... Well, no, Mary and I haven’t heard from her.... No, -Lucy was _not_ traveling with us, not at any time.” - -But Mr. Dorn had told the Bryants that day at luncheon that Lucy was -traveling with another girl and the girl’s mother. Had the lawyer lied? -Such a minor point to lie about. Or had he honestly misunderstood -Lucy’s trip with Mrs. Heath to be a trip with the Scotts? There was no -way of knowing. Vicki set aside this question of traveling and tried -another. - -“Mrs. Scott, did Lucy _live_ with you and your daughter?” - -“Yes, she shared our apartment for several months. Then, last January, -she moved to the Hotel Alcott for women.” - -Last Sunday, when Vicki asked Lucy Rowe where she’d lived in San -Francisco, the girl had not mentioned the Scotts and the Hotel Alcott. -Instead, she’d talked of living on Telegraph Hill and, one summer, -sharing a beach house with three other girls. - -“Mrs. Scott,” Vicki asked, “can you give me Lucy’s former address on -Telegraph Hill?” - -“Why, Lucy _never_ lived on Telegraph Hill, to the best of my -knowledge.” No wonder Mr. Dorn had said he couldn’t find Lucy there. - -“Did she share a beach house one summer with three other girls?” Vicki -asked. - -“If she did, Lucy never mentioned it to us. And it isn’t like her to be -secretive. I think you must have some wrong information, Miss Barr.” - -“I guess I have.” Unless the alleged Lucy’s story of the beach house -and living on Telegraph Hill was an out-and-out falsehood. Or unless -she was _another_ Lucy Rowe? - -“Mrs. Scott, Lucy Rowe isn’t an uncommon name. The Lucy Rowe I’m -looking for is the daughter of Eleanor Bryant Rowe and Jack Rowe, both -of them deceased.” - -“Yes, that’s right. That’s the Lucy we know--the Lucy who stayed with -us.” - -Then the presumed granddaughter in New York _was_ lying. Vicki sighed. -“I’m sorry to have troubled you, Mrs. Scott.” - -“Not at all. Any more questions?... Good-by, then, Miss Barr.” - -Well, in fairness to Mr. Dorn, _he_ had not mentioned the beach house -and Telegraph Hill. The lie was the girl’s. - -Vicki consulted her list of names and addresses. She was feeling -rather grim about these lies. She decided to check with Whitney -Decorators, where the presumed Lucy had said she had been employed. - -There was no Whitney Decorators listed in the regular telephone -directory, nor in the Classified Advertisements telephone book. Vicki -called a professional association of decorators. They had no knowledge -of a firm or person named Whitney. Next, Vicki called Information. She -waited while the operator looked up the name. - -“We have no record of any firm by that name. However, there are several -persons named Whitney listed in your regular directory, if you care to -call them.” - -Vicki did that. Not one of them was a decorator nor even in any allied -field. Not one of them had ever heard of a Lucy Rowe. - -So that was that. An outright lie! Vicki tried to recall whether Mr. -Dorn had been party to this lie. No, as she remembered the talk last -Sunday, only Lucy had mentioned Whitney Decorators. - -“I suppose,” Vicki thought, “that seeing her silver ring and family -letters convinced Mr. Dorn that he had found the right Lucy. How in the -world did she come by the ring and other family things, if she’s an -impostor? It doesn’t seem possible! Unless she stole them from the true -Lucy?” - -That was perfectly possible--though Vicki had no way of proving it, as -yet. - -Dr. Alice James.... Let’s see, it was _Dorn_ who last Sunday had -brought up this physician’s name. Vicki remembered how he had made -rather a point of telling that Dr. James had been both Lucy’s and -Lucy’s mother’s physician. - -Vicki had difficulty in locating an address and telephone number for -Dr. Alice James, in San Francisco or in any of its suburbs. She used -the same methods as in her search for Whitney Decorators, with the same -result: there was no record of any Dr. Alice James. No such person -existed. - -Lucy in New York had lied again. _And on this point, Mr. Dorn had lied._ - -Up to now Vicki had more or less dismissed her doubts about why Dorn’s -findings did not tally with hers, by taking the blame for any error -upon herself. But now she was brought up short. Mr. Dorn _was_ guilty -of a lie about the search for Lucy Rowe! - -It struck her as odd that, so far as she had checked today, he had lied -only about this _one_ point--about the nonexistent Dr. Alice James. On -what other points involving Dorn could she check? - -“Well, Mr. Dorn said he met Lucy last Sunday in the lobby of the St. -Clair Hotel,” Vicki recalled, “and Mr. Bryant, that first day at lunch, -mentioned Dorn’s being at the St. Clair Hotel. I assume Dorn stayed -there on his second visit last week, too. Let’s see what a check turns -up on that.” - -She tried calling the St. Clair Hotel, but the desk would not release -any information over the telephone. Vicki powdered her nose, put on -her hat and gloves, and went over to the hotel. - -She was obliged to see the hotel manager, prove who she was, and state -her business (as far as she discreetly could) before she could persuade -him to have an assistant look up back records. The assistant, a Mr. -Craig, finally told her: - -“Mr. Thurman Dorn stayed at this hotel from January twelfth through -January twenty-first, and overnight on February twenty-first.” - -But these dates did not fully tally with Mrs. Bryant’s statement! -According to her, Dorn was in San Francisco, and presumably at this -hotel, January tenth to twenty-third, and February twentieth to -twenty-second. Two days were unaccounted for at the beginning of his -January trip, and two days were unaccounted for at the end of his -January trip. Also, two days were unaccounted for on his February trip. -Where had Dorn been? At another San Francisco hotel? Not likely, no -point to it. At Pine Top? But in January, Lucy and Mrs. Heath had not -yet left San Francisco for Pine Top, so Dorn would have had no reason -to be there. And in February--on Sunday, February twenty-second--Dorn -and Lucy had said they met in this hotel lobby. - -Where had Mr. Dorn been on those unaccounted-for days, and what had he -been doing? Since he flew from coast to coast, traveling had not eaten -up those several extra days. Unless he had made a stopover somewhere en -route, and not come directly from New York to San Francisco? But that -was sheer speculation. - -Vicki walked back toward her own hotel, wondering. A total of six days -unaccounted for! A great deal could happen in six days. Especially -during the course of an intensive search--That brought another -question to mind. Why had neither the presumed Lucy _nor Mr. Dorn_ -ever mentioned Mrs. Heath or Graves, the painter, or the Reverend Mr. -Hall? Lucy Rowe was closely associated with these three people, yet the -Bryants had never been informed of their existence. - -“Even if Lucy in New York hadn’t wanted Mr. Dorn to know about these -three people,” Vicki thought, “Dorn could have found about them on his -own, just as I did.” - -Her mistrust of Dorn grew. Either the lawyer had made an inadequate, -misleading investigation--or he had discovered the existence of Mrs. -Heath, Gravy, Mr. Hall, but was not telling the Bryants about them for -some reason. The reason was sadly obvious. Dorn--Dorn and the alleged -Lucy together--did not want to give the Bryants the names and addresses -of three persons who could help the grandparents find the true Lucy. - -“Yet that may not be true at all. I’m only speculating,” Vicki reminded -herself. “Before I can believe anything, or say anything to the -Bryants, I must get proof--more facts.” - -Even more urgent than proof was the need--assuming the Lucy in New York -to be an impostor--to find the true Lucy Rowe. Was she the girl seen -at Pine Top? If not, who was that light-brown-haired girl? “I promised -myself to fly back to Pine Top,” Vicki thought. “It seems the time is -now.” - -Returning to her hotel room, she picked up the telephone, called Novato -Airport, and reserved the Cessna 150 for tomorrow. Perhaps she would -discover something of real importance back there in the hills. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -_Secrets at Midnight_ - - -Timing was important. Vicki had figured her flight from San Francisco -in the Cessna 150 to bring her in over Pine Top just about dusk. With -nightfall, and the story she planned to tell, she hoped to _have_ to -stay overnight at the hidden house. She hoped to give Mrs. Heath no -choice, no chance decently to send her away. During the night there -should be time and privacy to talk with Lucy, or whoever the girl -really was--provided Mrs. Heath did not intrude on them. - -It was a bold plan, not foolproof by any means. Vicki had sense enough -to be scared. - -High up in the hills, Vicki left the few houses of Pine Top behind. -She headed the plane higher over the wooded mountainside, flew over -the woods and wall at the extreme end of the Glidden place. Then she -cut her speed as she came soaring out above the meadow. This was the -landing site inside the walled grounds which she had chosen last time. - -Vicki could not see either woman anywhere down there on the shadowy -grounds, but lights were on in the house. Someone was at home. Landing -on the meadow near the rear of the house, she made the plane’s -perfectly tuned engine as noisy as she could, so the women would hear -her. - -The kitchen door flew open. A girl came out, running toward the plane. -An older woman followed more slowly. Vicki already was opening the -engine hood and had assumed an anxious expression. - -“What do you mean by landing on our grounds?” the woman called out. - -“I was forced down--I beg your pardon--” Vicki called back. “I’m -having engine trouble--” - -The girl reached her side. “Are you all right?” - -In one swift glance in the half-light, Vicki took in the girl’s -light-brown hair and open, friendly gaze. She was very like the girl -in Gravy’s portrait, rather tall and athletic as Jill Joseph had said. -What’s more, she wore the Bryant silver ring! “I’ve found her,” Vicki -thought, but she hid her exultation. - -“Yes, thanks, I’m all right,” she answered. - -“You can’t stay here,” the woman said, coming up. “This is really -annoying! Surely you weren’t forced to land right in our laps!” - -“I’m sorry,” Vicki said again. “I’ll try to repair the engine and take -off in a few minutes. Although in this fading light it’s hard”--she -looked in the engine--“to see where the trouble is.” - -She glanced up to study the elusive Mrs. Elizabeth Heath. The woman did -have quite an air of authority, of poise. She was well-dressed and held -her gray head high. Beside her, Lucy seemed very young and unsure of -herself. - -“Can I help you?” the girl asked Vicki. She _was_ a warmhearted girl, -as Jill had said. “Not that I know about plane engines--” - -“I don’t know an awful lot about them myself,” Vicki said pointedly. - -“Then how do you expect to make the repair?” Mrs. Heath said in -exasperation. “I think you had better call up a garage--you may use my -telephone--or an airport, and have them come and get you out of here.” - -The girl said, “I’m afraid there isn’t a garage within miles of here, -Mrs. Heath. And no airport.” - -Mrs. Heath fumed while Vicki poked in the engine. Vicki straightened up. - -“This engine is rough from carburetor trouble. Or there may be a little -water in the engine. Whatever it is, I don’t want to fly at night with -a rough engine and be forced down in the dark.” - -There was a silence. Then Mrs. Heath said, “No, I suppose you can’t be -expected to take such a risk.” - -Lucy asked, “Can’t she possibly stay here overnight, Mrs. Heath?” - -“Well, I don’t wish to appear harsh, but I really hadn’t counted on -having a guest. We were planning to do some work this evening, you -know.” - -Vicki apologized for disturbing them, and said that if they could -possibly put her up she wouldn’t be a nuisance. “Of course I’d want to -reimburse you, and I’d leave early in the morning,” Vicki pleaded. - -“But really--” Mrs. Heath protested. - -“Perhaps someone in Pine Top could take you in,” Lucy said. “I could--I -mean, we could,” Lucy corrected herself, “drive her down to Pine Top -and ask around.” - -“No, no,” Mrs. Heath said hastily. “We’ve steered clear of our -inquisitive neighbors so far. Besides, I shouldn’t care to drive down -that mountain road at night.” In a friendlier tone she said, “You may -have the extra bedroom. I’m Mrs. Heath, and this is my young friend, -Lucy Rowe.” - -“How do you do?” Vicki said and gave her name. “I’ve flown in from San -Francisco. My home is in Illinois. I’ve been in San Francisco just for -a short stay.” - -“I’m from San Francisco,” Lucy said eagerly, “and a little homesick for -it.” - -Mrs. Heath interrupted, saying they had better go in the house and see -about dinner. She led the way around through the side garden and, via a -side door, into the large, long living room of the country house. Mrs. -Heath was being an amiable if resigned hostess. She asked Lucy to take -their guest up to the extra room and see that she would be comfortable. - -“But please come right down, Lucy,” said Mrs. Heath. Didn’t she want -Lucy to talk alone with a stranger? “I’m sure that we’re all hungry for -dinner.” - -Upstairs, Lucy led Vicki to a small, rear bedroom. The large front -bedroom adjoining was Mrs. Heath’s, with its door closed. Across from -Mrs. Heath’s room was Lucy’s smaller front room, with its door open. A -short hall connected all three bedrooms and the bathroom. Vicki noted -the layout, planning where it would be safest to talk with Lucy late -tonight. - -“Here are fresh towels,” Lucy said, bringing them into Vicki’s room, -“and I’ll lend you a housecoat and slippers.” - -Vicki seized the moment of privacy. - -“Miss Rowe--Lucy--” - -“Yes, please call me Lucy.” - -“Lucy, do you know of a Mr. Dorn? Thurman Dorn?” - -“Why, no, I’ve never heard of him. Should I? Perhaps Mrs. Heath would -know him.” - -“Please don’t mention his name to Mrs. Heath,” Vicki said. “Please! -I’ve brought you an extremely important message, but Mrs. Heath mustn’t -know. That’s why I landed the plane here--” - -“You what--?” The girl was startled. - -“Girls!” Mrs. Heath called. “What’s taking you so long up there?” - -“We’ll be down in a minute,” Lucy called back, and looked searchingly -at Vicki. “What message? From whom?” - -Vicki hesitated. She did not want to upset Lucy visibly in front of -Mrs. Heath. - -“It’s not something I can tell you quickly or--or simply,” Vicki said. -She also would rather obtain proofs of Lucy’s identity before revealing -too much. “Can we talk after Mrs. Heath has gone to bed?” - -“I don’t understand why we need to be secretive. Mrs. Heath is my -friend--” - -“Lucy, I don’t blame you for wondering about me. But your old friend, -the Reverend Mr. Hall, knows me and in a way he sent me to you.” - -“Mr. Hall! How do you know I know Mr. Hall? I don’t understand this at -all!” - -“There isn’t anything difficult to understand,” Vicki reassured her. -“I’m looking for a girl named Lucy Rowe, that’s all. Her parents were -Jack and Eleanor Rowe.” Vicki was careful not to mention the Bryant -name--not to give away any leads. “According to the minister, that’s -you, isn’t it?” - -“Why are you looking for this girl?” - -“For a confidential reason. A happy, wonderful reason.” - -Lucy did not or could not believe this. - -“But I’ve come to you as a friend,” Vicki said. “Mr. Hall can vouch for -me--and honestly, I’m bringing you the most wonderful news--” - -Lucy swallowed hard. “Of course, if _he_ vouches for you--But at least -tell me, who sent you?” - -Vicki put her hand on Lucy’s, and touched the silver ring. “Your -grandmother sent me.” - -The girl stiffened, distrustful again. “I have no grandmother. I don’t -know what you’re talking about.” She was pale and trying not to cry. - -“If you’re not the granddaughter, where did you get your silver ring?” - -Lucy took a deep quivering breath. She admitted she was Marshall and -Lucy Bryant’s long-unwanted granddaughter. Vicki noted that Lucy, not -herself, was the first to bring up the Bryant name. - -“If you want proof of who I am, Vicki, I have proof. Right here in the -house with me. Letters, photographs, this ring. My mother gave it to me -when I was a child. There are only two rings like these in existence.” - -There were _supposed_ to be only two such rings, Vicki thought. She had -seen three rings--one which Mrs. Bryant had taken from her trinket box, -one on the hand of Lucy in New York, one on the hand of the Lucy here -beside her. - -One of the two Lucys was an impostor. The Lucy in New York also -possessed letters and documents to prove her identity. Those things -could be forged, a ring could be copied. Which girl was the true Lucy? -Vicki believed her to be this friendly light-brown-haired girl, the -girl of the portrait, the girl whom Mr. Hall, Jill Joseph, the clerk at -the Hotel Alcott had reported to be with Mrs. Heath--the girl whom Mr. -Dorn easily could have traced, if he had wanted to. - -Mrs. Heath called again. The girls started downstairs together. Vicki -whispered, “Not a word to Mrs. Heath about this,” and Lucy nodded. She -was still shaken. - -The lady announced with some impatience that she was keeping dinner -hot in the warming oven. Would Lucy make the salad and coffee, while -she herself set the table? Lucy hurried into the kitchen. Vicki went -into the kitchen, too, to help. In low voices they arranged to meet at -midnight to talk further. Lucy thought the guest bedroom would be the -safest place. Mrs. Heath would have no reason to enter Vicki’s room, -even if the light were on. - -“You two girls,” said Mrs. Heath, coming into the kitchen, “seem to -have a great deal to say to each other.” - -Lucy murmured an apology for their delay, and hurried to finish making -the salad. Vicki helped Mrs. Heath bring the food to the dining table, -in an area just off the living room. Then the three of them sat down. - -Dinner was rather strained. Vicki’s hostess seemed to expect the -intruder to account for herself. Vicki talked about her flight -stewardess job with Federal Airlines, and her enthusiasm for the -sport of private flying. Lucy listened with interest; Mrs. Heath was -thoughtful. - -“About two weeks ago,” the lady said, “a small plane flew back and -forth over our house and meadow. It upset me--it seemed so deliberate. -Was that you, by any chance?” - -Vicki did not dare glance at Lucy. “It must have been someone else, -Mrs. Heath. I was quite lost this afternoon, that’s how I got here.” -She disliked telling an untruth, but she was not sure enough of Mrs. -Heath’s friendship for Lucy to reveal anything of importance. - -Mrs. Heath talked about her book of memoirs “--though I’m afraid we -haven’t actually done much on it, have we, Lucy? I’m still in the -planning stage.” Then Mrs. Heath mentioned a plan for her and Lucy to -go abroad. - -“I don’t really want to go,” Lucy said uncomfortably. “Not very much.” - -“It’s only perhaps,” said her employer. Lucy looked down at her plate -and kept still. - -Mrs. Heath changed the subject to the countryside around here. They had -many lovely trees and birds to enjoy, without ever leaving their own -grounds. Mrs. Heath remarked that Lucy particularly liked birds. Vicki -started to say something about Mrs. Bryant’s collection of parakeets, -then caught herself just in time. - -During the evening Mrs. Heath and Lucy did not work on the book after -all. They chatted with their guest and watched television for a while. -Vicki borrowed a flashlight and went outdoors to make sure that the -plane was safely staked down and the wheels chocked. At nine o’clock -Mrs. Heath announced it was bedtime. - -“We’re early birds in the country. Good night, Vicki. Rest well.” - -The girls wished her good night and started to go upstairs. - -“Lucy!” Mrs. Heath called her back. “Help me lock up down here.” - -Was she trying to keep her and Lucy apart? Vicki wondered. Did Mrs. -Heath suspect something? That was hard to tell. In any case, Mrs. -Heath was keeping a close watch. She and Lucy would have to be careful -tonight. - -From nine until midnight was a long stretch. Vicki changed into the -borrowed night clothes and put out her light. She heard Lucy go to -bed and, at last, Mrs. Heath. She rested but was afraid to sleep lest -she and Lucy both sleep straight through the night. The house was -absolutely quiet. The night grew chilly. - -On the stroke of midnight, by the luminous figures on her wrist watch, -her door opened soundlessly and someone slipped in. Vicki was surprised -at how hard her heart beat. She waited until the figure stepped into -the moonlight, until she saw Lucy’s face, then whispered: - -“Wait. I’ll get out of bed.” - -“Don’t turn on the light, not yet.” - -Both girls perched on the edge of the bed, wrapped in robes and -sweaters. They were able to see each other’s faces clearly in the -moonlight. Lucy said softly that Mrs. Heath was asleep on the other -side of the wall. - -“She’s a sound sleeper.” - -“I hope so!” - -“I don’t see why you mistrust Mrs. Heath, she’s almost like a mother -to me,” Lucy said warmly. “Well, never mind that--I’m dying to know -what my grandparents want! What are they like? Is my grandfather still -awfully stern?” - -“In some ways he is,” Vicki said. “But he’s not so formidable, and -Mrs. Bryant is lovely. Both of them want to know their granddaughter -and--well, make up for--” She realized she was saying too much too -soon. “Lucy, first I must have more proof of who you are. Not that I -question your word, but--” - -Lucy nodded. “That’s all right. Though I can’t imagine why anyone would -have any doubts at all about knowing I’m Lucy Rowe.” - -Vicki kept silent about the other Lucy Rowe in New York, established in -the Bryants’ house. She could discuss that difficult situation later. -Lucy was digging into the pockets of her robe. - -“Here, Vicki, I want you to see these.” She handed Vicki a few worn -documents. “I’ll just turn on this little bedside lamp, and tilt the -shade.” She did so. “The letter on top is--well, read it, Vicki.” - -Vicki unfolded the letter, so old it was tearing at the creases. The -ink had faded and the note paper was losing its tint. This letter was -authentic, all right. It was addressed “Dearest Eleanor,” and was -signed “Mother.” It proposed a family reconciliation and offered aid -for small Lucy. Vicki glanced up inquiringly. Lucy said: - -“Mother never accepted Grandmother’s offer. I guess she never even -answered this letter. We all had such strained feelings about--about my -father. He was a darling. Here’s a snapshot of him.” - -Lucy handed Vicki a thin bundle of old snapshots and photographs. One -was of her parents taken at a picnic. One was of Mr. and Mrs. Bryant, -very formal, taken years before. One was a print of the same snapshot -of Lucy as a little girl, seated on the porch steps, which Mrs. Bryant -had shown Vicki earlier. These pictures, too, impressed Vicki as being -authentic, not clever forgeries. - -“I’d have more photographs and letters to show you,” Lucy said, “except -that Mrs. Heath insisted on putting them away for safekeeping. She -wanted me to give her _all_ the letters and photographs for her to put -away--she even urged me to let her put away this silver ring.” - -“She did!” Vicki exclaimed, then remembered to lower her voice. “Where -did she put your things?” - -“They’re locked in her room somewhere, along with her own valuables, -and she keeps her door locked, too. She says it’s safer that way in the -country.” - -“Is that really necessary?” - -“Well, you see, I do want to please her. So I gave her _most_ of my -letters and photos to put away, but I just have to keep a few things -with me all the time. I’ve done that ever since my parents died, I -suppose it’s awfully sentimental. And of course the silver ring. I -couldn’t bear to part with it, even though Mrs. Heath predicts that -I’ll lose it gardening, or something.” - -“I don’t think you’ll lose your ring,” Vicki said dryly. “I think it’s -strange that Mrs. Heath made such a point of putting away your very -personal things.” - -“No, it isn’t. She locked away all her own things, too. And she says -any time I want my things, I only need to ask her.” - -“We-ell--Ssh! Do I hear her moving around?” - -“Oh, my! Sometimes she knocks on my door when she doesn’t feel well--” - -Both girls listened. Lucy put out the lamp, and moonlight poured -into the room again. On the other side of the wall Mrs. Heath _was_ -stirring. They held their breaths. They heard bedsprings creak, then -quiet. Lucy let out a sigh of relief. - -“I guess she just turned over in her sleep.” - -Nevertheless, they kept perfectly still for a few minutes, and left the -lamp off. Lucy ventured to speak again, softly, eagerly. - -“You still haven’t told me the message from my grandparents, Vicki.” - -“I’ve told you most of it, or you’ve guessed it. They want to give -you all the advantages and good things which they feel you, as their -granddaughter, are entitled to.” - -Lucy murmured, “That’s wonderful,” then asked what made them change -their minds, after so many years? Vicki explained how Mr. Bryant’s -severe heart attack had made him stop and take moral stock of his life. -She added that Lucy’s grandmother had for a long time grieved about the -family separation. - -“Now they want you to come live with them, Lucy, or near them, if you -wish.” - -The eagerness drained out of Lucy’s voice. “They don’t really want me.” - -“Lucy, they _do_ want you! Very much!” - -“But I can’t decently leave Mrs. Heath now. If you had brought me this -news a few weeks ago, it would have been wonderful--it would have -transformed my life! But it’s impossible now. I’ve promised to stay -with her--she needs me.” - -“Why did Mrs. Heath talk at dinner about going abroad?” Vicki asked. -“Have you also promised to go out of the country with her?” - -“It’s just a vague plan Mrs. Heath has had ever since I met her. I -don’t know exactly what she has in mind.” - -Vicki asked whether they would go soon. - -“I suppose it might be soon. Mrs. Heath does things on the spur of the -moment.” - -Vicki found this a troubling prospect. If Lucy went abroad and stayed a -long time, she might never be reunited with her grandparents. Even if -she remained abroad a short time the separation was risky; the Bryants -were elderly people, Mr. Bryant had a heart ailment. However, on this -point Lucy was stubborn. Vicki saw that she felt really committed to -her job with Mrs. Heath. - -“Lucy, do you ever,” Vicki said tentatively, “wonder about your -employer? Don’t you ever have any doubts about her and her plans?” - -“How did you guess that?” Lucy exclaimed. Then she seemed confused. “I -shouldn’t really have said that. Mrs. Heath is kind to me, and this is -a pleasant job. But to tell you the truth, some things _do_ strike me -as strange. Especially now that I have a chance to talk about it--I -mean, now that you make me think about it.” - -“What things?” - -Lucy gave a sigh of relief. “All right, I’ll tell you, though maybe I’m -being disloyal.” - -Ever since they had come to Pine Top, Lucy said, Mrs. Heath had not -actually written anything, though the book was their reason for being -here. Mrs. Heath had not given Lucy any dictation beyond a few letters, -mail orders, to San Francisco stores. As for the mail, what there was -of it, Mrs. Heath handled it herself and never let Lucy touch outgoing -or incoming letters. - -“But surely you could mail a letter if you wanted to,” Vicki said. -“When you go down to Pine Top or drive into the nearest sizable town.” - -“But we haven’t left these premises since we first got here,” Lucy -said. “We’ve stayed right here for--let’s see--a month now.” - -“What! Why, for goodness’ sake?” - -“Oh, Mrs. Heath says she’s thinking out her book, she’s concentrating -and doesn’t want to be distracted. Besides, she hasn’t been feeling -very well.” - -“But _you_ could leave this place for a few hours, surely, just for a -change of scene,” Vicki said. - -“Mrs. Heath wants me with her. We’re busy enough. We keep house and -cook--we brought a big supply of food in the car, and Mrs. Heath phones -Mr. Potter when we need more. She tells him to leave it at the wall -door, and she leaves payment for him in our mailbox. Mrs. Heath doesn’t -like being bothered with deliveries. And, well, there’s the garden to -take care of, we read, we chat. It sounds pretty dull, doesn’t it?” -Lucy said uncertainly. She seemed to be reconsidering their routine. -“Mrs. Heath has kept me busy doing some rather pointless research for -her.” - -“Hmm.” It was extraordinary, Vicki thought, that for a month Lucy had -not seen nor talked with anyone except Mrs. Heath. “Don’t you get -restless or lonesome?” - -“Yes, I do! I wanted to call up a couple of my friends in San -Francisco, but Mrs. Heath discouraged me from doing so. She won’t -even let me answer the telephone, though it seldom rings. It’s in her -bedroom, and she keeps her bedroom door locked.” - -“But why locked?” - -“Because of the valuables she keeps in there, she says.” Again Lucy -seemed to reconsider. “It _is_ odd, isn’t it?” - -“Lucy, I want to say something which I hope won’t offend you. I know -that you’re fond of Mrs. Heath--you’ve mistakenly made her almost a -substitute for your own mother. Well, like her or not, it sounds to me -as if Mrs. Heath is keeping you a prisoner here.” - -Lucy remained silent and motionless. The moonlight had shifted, the -room was darker now, so that Vicki could not read her expression. At -last Lucy said: - -“That’s a harsh thing for you to say. But--but I’ve once or twice -thought the same thing. A prisoner.” - -“You _could_ leave, you know.” - -“It’s not so simple, Vicki. I haven’t any money.” - -Mrs. Heath did not pay her a salary on a weekly basis. That would not -make much sense here in these hills. She promised to pay Lucy’s salary -in a lump sum later on. Mrs. Heath had given her a sum in advance, when -Lucy first took the job with her. But the girl had spent it on clothes -and paid some old bills. “And Mrs. Heath persuaded me to bank what was -left.” - -“You could leave if you wanted to,” Vicki pointed out. “Even without -money. There are always people who’ll help you, and organizations -who’ll help, if you seriously need help in an emergency.” - -“Well, I don’t feel I have the right to leave. I promised to stay with -her for a certain length of time. It’s more than a business obligation, -Vicki. She cares more for me than my grandparents ever did. And Mrs. -Heath needs me. She depends on me.” - -But Vicki had seen that Mrs. Heath was neither ill nor dependent. In -fact, she was a vigorous woman with a decided will. True, the employer -had to be considered, but Lucy needed to consider her own welfare, as -well. Vicki suspected Mrs. Heath of playing upon Lucy’s sympathies, and -her lonesomeness for her family. - -“Lucy, how did you happen to strike up such a close acquaintance with -Mrs. Heath in the first place?” - -“Well, it was rather sudden,” Lucy admitted. At the women’s hotel, -Lucy said, the residents easily became acquainted in the lobby, in -the dining room, in the television lounge. She and Mrs. Heath had -liked each other from the start. She felt complimented when Mrs. Heath -decided almost at once that Lucy was exactly the girl she had been -looking for, to be her secretary-companion. In offering the job, Mrs. -Heath showed Lucy unassailable credentials and identification. - -“She comes from Chicago,” Lucy said. “I think she has friends in New -York, too. I overheard her phoning once when she had given me an -all-morning gardening chore. I ran out of seeds and then the spade -handle broke and I came up to her room to tell her about it, only her -door was locked. I heard her, though. She was having trouble getting -her number. She was trying very especially to reach someone in New -York. I guess you think I’m awful to be an eavesdropper, Vicki.” - -“Not at all, under these strange circumstances. What did you hear?” - -“Well, it was a person-to-person call, but I don’t know _whom_ she was -calling. All I heard was the New York telephone number. I guess it’s -a business place, because she kept asking for an extension number. I -remember the number because it’s an easy one and it’s like one I called -a lot when I was a secretary at Interstate Insurance. It’s--” - -“Wait.” Vicki turned on the bedside lamp, took a slip of paper from her -purse, and wrote down the New York number. It was not familiar to her. - -“I’m going to keep this number, Lucy.” - -“What are you going to do with it?” - -“I don’t know at the moment. Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to -embarrass you or get you in trouble. I think you’re already in trouble, -being here in this isolated house almost as a prisoner. Why, Lucy, -you’re being held here incommunicado! Don’t you realize that?” - -“But I--Mrs. Heath is so nice to me.” - -“Nice! Yes, on the surface, in little things. You’re letting your -sympathies blind you to the facts. I’m a great deal more suspicious of -this woman and these living arrangements than you are. Listen to me, -Lucy! I think you’d better get out of here. Fast. This is an unhealthy -situation for you. I wish you’d fly out of here with me tomorrow -morning.” - -Lucy hesitated. “It’s so sudden. I need time to think, though what -you’re saying is true--I need to think about my grandparents, too. I -hardly know how I feel about them.” - -She was leaving the question open. Vicki was dissatisfied with that. -Once she herself had left this hidden house, she might not be able -to gain entrance and see Lucy again, and she would not be able to -communicate with Lucy by telephone or letter. This was their only -chance, tonight, to set up some arrangement to help Lucy leave. To -escape, actually--because Mrs. Heath would not want to let the girl go. - -Vicki thought hard. If she came back here to get Lucy, she’d better not -use a plane and alert Mrs. Heath a second time. She’d better use a car, -which she could rent, and which she could park out of sight and sound -down the road from the house. Lucy could meet her there. They’d need a -signal for the day and hour. If only she could use the telephone! Well, -she could, in a way. - -“Lucy, do you know the telephone number in this house?” - -“Yes, I got it from the telephone company man when he hooked up the -phone here for us. It’s--” Vicki wrote it down. - -“Lucy, I’m going to come back here secretly and get you. I’ll be -waiting in a car at the first sharp curve at the top of the road. It -will be noon. All you’ll have to do is slip away and run down the road. -Don’t take any luggage with you, not even a coat or purse, nothing to -arouse Mrs. Heath’s suspicion. Do you understand?” - -“Yes, but--You’re really going to do all this for me? You honestly -think I’m not safe here?” - -“Lucy, pay attention! I’ll be waiting at noon.” - -“What day?” The girl sounded frightened. - -“I don’t know the day yet, but on that morning I’ll send you a signal -by telephone. I know you can’t receive a phone call, but here’s a way. -The telephone will ring, Mrs. Heath will answer it, and I’ll say--” - -Vicki stopped. No, she would be driving from San Francisco to Pine Top -that morning. Someone else would have to make that call. The minister? -Yes, she could rely on Mr. Hall to do it. Vicki resumed: - -“Mr. Hall, not I, will telephone on that morning. Early, before his -church service, if it’s a Sunday. Mrs. Heath will answer and he’ll say -it’s the telephone company making a test call, and hang up. Then he’ll -call again, right away. You’ll hear the phone ring a second time, but -when Mrs. Heath answers, he’ll hang up without speaking. As if it were -an error.” - -“And Mrs. Heath will be annoyed enough to mention the two phone calls -to me. I’ll be listening every morning for the phone to ring. To ring -twice.” - -“Good girl.” Vicki sighed. “I’d much rather you’d fly out of here with -me in the morning. It would be surer and safer.” - -“I--I can’t.” - -“Well, the morning you hear the telephone signal, you’re to meet me at -noon. Promise, Lucy?” - -The girl took a deep breath. “Promise. But I’m scared.” - -“I’ll come back as soon as I can.” - -They whispered good night and Lucy crept back to her room. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -_The Signal_ - - -Vicki’s departure the next morning did not go well. For one thing, -Mrs. Heath was suspicious when Vicki “repaired” the plane engine. “So -easily?” she said--and Vicki wondered how much the woman guessed. For -another thing, Lucy was fearful again this morning when Vicki hinted, -“It’s such a fine, clear day. Just come for a little flight, Lucy.” One -look at Lucy’s face showed she longed to leave. - -Mrs. Heath said quickly to Lucy, “I’m not feeling well again this -morning. Please don’t leave me alone.” - -Lucy looked at the older woman almost guiltily. “Maybe someday I’ll -take a ride with you, Vicki,” was the most the girl would say. - -Her employer sighed. “You girls probably think me very strict, but I’d -like to remind you that I’m half ill, I have important work to do. You -know very well, my dear,” she said to Lucy, “that I need you.” - -The woman played on the girl’s pity, and Vicki saw that Lucy had not -the heart to walk out openly. Also, as Lucy herself had pleaded last -night, she obviously needed more time to think. There was nothing now -Vicki could do except thank them both and climb into the plane. - -Just before she slammed the door, Vicki called: - -“I should be back in the San Francisco area by noon. Noon.” - -Lucy nodded. She and Mrs. Heath walked a safe distance away from the -plane, waving to her. In minutes Vicki took off. - -From the air, the hidden house quickly sank out of sight. Oddly enough, -she reached Novato Airport, outside San Francisco, precisely at noon. - - * * * * * - -Who was Mrs. Heath? This was what Vicki wanted to learn now. Who was -this woman who had coincidentally appeared at the Hotel Alcott and out -of the blue offered Lucy a job? Why was she detaining Lucy? - -And who was the “Lucy Rowe” in New York? The girl who had flown -into New York on Vicki’s plane, yet had not _then_ worn the silver -ring? Suddenly Vicki remembered an incident of that flight with its -near-emergency landing--the lost gold charm inscribed Dorothy! It had -fallen off someone’s bracelet or out of someone’s purse or pocket. Yet -when the stewardess tried to return the valuable trinket, no one had -claimed it. Why not? Did Dorothy not wish to identify herself? - -Suppose, Vicki thought in a flash of insight, that the alleged Miss -L. Rowe on that flight was actually Miss Dorothy “Somebody.” In that -case she wouldn’t dare claim the inscribed charm--it would publicly -reveal her to be an impostor. And by now Vicki was convinced that the -dark-haired “Lucy” at the Bryants’ house was in fact an impostor. - -“Or am I only guessing about the charm?” Well, she could think of ways -to find out when she was again in New York. This afternoon she had -other points to check. - -That telephone number in New York which Lucy said Mrs. Heath had -called--apparently a business place--who was at the other end? Vicki -tried a bold plan. She asked on her hotel phone for that New York -number herself. - -She heard the connection go through, heard the San Francisco operator -say, “San Francisco calling,” and give the New York operator the -number, then a telephone ringing three thousand miles away--ringing as -clearly as if it were next door. A crisp, businesslike voice answered. -“Two-three-four-five. Good afternoon.” - -Vicki was disappointed. She had hoped that whoever answered would say -the firm name--if there were a firm name in this case. - -“Hello?” said the voice in her ear. - -“Hello,” Vicki replied, and swallowed nervously. “This is Mrs. Heath -calling.” There, the step was taken! - -[Illustration: _The hidden house quickly sank out of sight_] - -“Oh, yes, Mrs. Heath. One moment, please, and I’ll ring Mr. Dorn.” - -Mr. Dorn! He and Mrs. Heath were linked! She’d never suspected -it--Thurman Dorn’s voice came on. - -“Hello, Mother,” he said. - -Vicki nearly dropped the telephone. She was careful not to answer, not -to make a sound. - -“Mother? Is anything wrong? Whatever are you doing in San Francisco?” A -pause. “Hello? Mother? Hello!” - -Vicki held her breath. She hoped Dorn would think something had gone -wrong with their telephone connection. He repeated his hellos, then -buzzed his receptionist, and demanded, “What’s happened to my San -Francisco call, Sally?” - -“You’re still connected, Mr. Dorn.” - -Now his voice sounded angry. “Mother? Is that you? Hello?” - -Dorn hung up, and Vicki hung up, too. Whew! Her heart was banging away -over the discovery. - -In the next instant Vicki realized that by pretending to be Mrs. Heath, -she had put herself in a dangerous position. Even more, she had put -Lucy in danger! For Thurman Dorn could easily check by calling Mrs. -Heath. Then, when she informed him that Vicki Barr had flown in as an -uninvited guest at the hidden house, and that Lucy had half wanted to -leave with her, Dorn would know Vicki Barr was on their trail. And Lucy -might really disappear. - -“Oh, what have I done!” Vicki groaned. - -But it _was_ done now, and no use fretting about it. She had gained an -immensely valuable piece of information, but at a high price. She had -known all along that the search for Lucy was risky. One thing stood out -urgently--now that she had probably aroused Dorn’s suspicions, she must -get Lucy out of that hidden house and away from Mrs. Heath as soon as -possible. Tomorrow, or next day at the latest. Time was of the essence. -She and Lucy would need time, too, to reach the Bryants and some -degree of safety. But she was scheduled for a Federal flight day after -tomorrow, Sunday. Time! - -Vicki at once telephoned the Federal Airlines office at San Francisco’s -International Airport, and asked for her Flight Stewardess Supervisor. -But Miss Middleton was in a conference which would last the rest of -the afternoon, and no one else was authorized to change Vicki’s flight -schedule. - -“Please tell Miss Middleton,” Vicki said into the phone, “I’ll come in -to see her tomorrow, at eight in the morning.” A day lost, and no help -for it. A day for Dorn to use-- - -Mother and son! Mr. Dorn, the lawyer assigned to find Lucy, and Mrs. -Heath, the employer who took Lucy away with her to the hills--they were -in collusion! - -“The next thing is to prove it,” Vicki realized. “Mr. and Mrs. Bryant -are so delighted with their bogus granddaughter that they might never -accept the true Lucy without proof.” - -Proof. Facts, which were matters of record. She remembered that Dorn -stayed at the St. Clair Hotel from January twelfth to twenty-first, -and on February twenty-first, during his first and second visits to -“search” for Lucy. Vicki called up the hotel, asked for the man who had -advised her before, and inquired: - -“Can you tell me, please, whether a Mrs. Elizabeth Heath was at the St. -Clair Hotel around the middle of January? And again in February, around -Washington’s Birthday?” - -She waited, then was told: - -“Yes, Mrs. Heath registered here last January twelfth and stayed two -days.” - -“Did she leave a forwarding address?” - -“Yes, Mrs. Heath moved from here to the Hotel Alcott.” - -“Was she accompanied by a Mr. Thurman Dorn when she checked in?” - -“We have no record of that.... You’re welcome, Miss Barr.” - -They’d arrived together in San Francisco, and had been discreet enough -to register separately. Mr. Dorn must have gained some information -quickly about Lucy. For two days later Mrs. Heath had moved into the -Hotel Alcott where Lucy had just moved in, too. And Mrs. Heath had lost -no time in striking up an acquaintance with Lucy, offered her a job, -lured her away from San Francisco where anyone could find her, hid her -out in the hills. The next move, Vicki saw plainly, was to lure Lucy -into going abroad. A very smooth way to make Lucy disappear, so that -they could put their own confederate into the Bryants’ house to inherit -the Bryant fortune! - -And Mr. Dorn? While his mother was busy getting Lucy out of the way, -what had he been doing? Finding a suitable hide-out house, arranging to -rent a car? So Mr. Dorn’s “report” to the Bryants that Lucy was on a -trip, was traveling with friends, was a prearranged lie! The same lies -as the glib ones the false Lucy told. - -“Never mind reconstructing the details of their scheme,” Vicki told -herself. “I haven’t time now. The urgent thing is to go get Lucy.” - -She glanced out the window. It was dusk. She could not do much more -today beyond setting up the signal. - -By telephone she reached the minister’s residence but only the -secretary was in. Another conference and delay! Vicki made an -appointment to see Mr. Hall, or at least talk with him on the -telephone, early the next morning after she’d seen her supervisor. She -would know by then how much time she had to rescue Lucy. - -She made one further telephone call, to a car rental agency. On a -gamble, she reserved a car for either tomorrow or Sunday morning, -depending on what free time Federal Airlines allowed her. It was about -a three-hour drive to Pine Top--if she made an early enough start and -drove fast, she could keep the noon rendezvous. - -Vicki sat down to think over Lucy’s dangerous situation--and her own. -She wanted very much to report what she had found to the police, -and leave the responsibility for rescuing the girl to them. But she -recalled Lucy’s fear that her grandparents did not really want her. -Bringing Lucy to them via the police might turn her grandparents -against her. - -Vicki sighed. “I’d better get Lucy out of that hidden house before Mrs. -Heath and Mr. Dorn think up any new plans for her.” - - * * * * * - -Early the next day, Saturday morning, rain poured down. An all-day -March rain, from the Weather Bureau prediction. In the hotel room -Vicki turned the radio on and heard that small aircraft were ordered -grounded, most big commercial airliners continued to fly on schedule, -and for drivers road conditions were fair. - -“Fair is good enough to drive to Pine Top,” Vicki decided. “Providing -I can get there by noon--first, providing I can get extra time off to -allow for any delays or unexpected developments.” For she might not get -back from Pine Top today--she might miss her scheduled nine A.M. flight -tomorrow. - -She bundled up and went to take the bus out to International Airport. -San Francisco was wrapped in fog; it made halos of street lamps and -shadows of people. Vicki barely found the bus which appeared to be -floating. It crawled at a maddeningly slow pace the thirteen miles out -to International Airport. - -“I’ll never be able to reach Pine Top by noon,” Vicki mourned. “Not in -this fog. Why, just going to the car rental place and then driving out -of San Francisco could take an hour.” She’d have to go tomorrow--unless -tomorrow she found herself in uniform aboard the Electra. - -In the fog she groped her way to the Federal Airlines building, using -the Hangar One entrance. It was a quarter to eight. Miss Middleton -was already in her office. For the first time in her career as a -stewardess, Vicki asked to be excused from making a scheduled flight. -Miss Middleton, on learning that Vicki had urgent personal business, -granted her a leave of absence of three days, to be made up later. - -“Provided,” said the supervisor, “I can find a stewardess to take your -place. I’ll phone you at your hotel some time after noon today.” - -That settled it. No trip to Pine Top today. - -Vicki went to one of the telephone booths in the corridor. She called -the car rental agency and said she would want a car tomorrow, not -today. Then, though it was early to disturb him, Vicki called the -minister. He was at breakfast, and very glad and relieved to hear from -her. - -“Have you found Lucy, Miss Vicki?” - -“Yes, I have.” - -“Good, good! Where is she?” - -“At a place called Pine Top, and it isn’t good at all, Mr. Hall. I’m -going to get her out of there--tomorrow, I _hope_--But, in order to -rescue Lucy, I’ll need your help here in San Francisco.” - -“Anything you say, Miss Vicki. Your tone of voice alarms me. Do you -want to come to see me and talk it over?” - -They discussed meeting. But since Vicki had to be back at her hotel -by noon, they decided they might as well talk fully on the telephone. -Vicki dropped more coins into the telephone box at the operator’s -request. - -“Well, Mr. Hall, Lucy is in serious trouble.” Vicki described the -situation with Mrs. Heath. - -“I don’t understand why this Mrs. Heath wants to detain the girl,” said -the minister. “It _is_ detention. But why? Can you tell me why?” - -His voice sounded so concerned that Vicki could almost see the -minister’s face, his quiet expression and perceptive eyes. Why should -she not confide in him? He was Lucy’s good and old friend. - -“Yes, I’ll tell you why, Mr. Hall,” Vicki said into the telephone. -“It’s a long story, it goes back to Lucy’s grandparents--” - -“Her grandparents! Her only surviving grandparents are the Marshall -Bryants, in New York.” - -“Yes. They want Lucy at last, you see. But a terrible thing has -happened because of the inheritance.” Vicki told the minister the whole -story of the Bryants, Thurman Dorn, and the false Lucy. Then she told -him of her own search which had led her to Lucy and Mrs. Heath and the -truth. - -“I am appalled,” the minister said, after she had finished. “Why not go -to the police at once?” - -“Because it could ruin Lucy’s first meeting with her grandparents.” -Vicki explained Lucy’s nervousness about meeting the Bryants, after -years of being ostracized. She mentioned their abhorrence of publicity. - -“Yes, I see,” the minister said reluctantly. “What alternative is -there? What do you plan to do, Miss Vicki?” - -She told him of her plan to return to Pine Top. She told Mr. Hall of -the telephone signal Lucy was listening for, and described exactly what -he must do, and gave him the telephone number of the hidden house. - -“I’ll call you tomorrow, Mr. Hall, just before I start out by car for -Pine Top. It’s a three-hour drive, so I’ll call you early. You’re to -signal by telephone at, say, nine A.M. That will give Lucy three hours’ -notice.” - -“Of course I’ll do it. But, Miss Vicki! Isn’t it dangerous for you, and -for Lucy, too, to attempt this escape?” - -She replied that Mrs. Heath might not be watching Lucy so closely in -broad daylight. On the big grounds of the Glidden place, among its many -trees and bushes, Lucy with her outdoors chores could quite naturally -“wander” out of sight. - -“If the plan doesn’t work”--Vicki caught her breath at the chance--“if -anything goes wrong, Mr. Hall, then you’d better call the police.” - -“How will I know your plan hasn’t succeeded?” - -“When I drive back to San Francisco bringing Lucy, I’ll call you. That -should be about three or three thirty. Four, at the latest. I’ll call -you then. Or if there’s trouble at any point, I’ll try to phone you.” - -“And if I don’t hear from you by four tomorrow I’m to call the police?” - -“Yes, Mr. Hall. Thank you very, very much.” - -“I don’t like it,” he said. “It’s dangerous--” - -“I don’t like it much myself. But it’s the best we can do.” - -They left it at that, and said good-by until the next day. Vicki felt -grateful that she had someone like Mr. Hall to rely on. - -In the fog Vicki found the airport’s bus stop. She rode back slowly -over blurred roads and bridges. When she got off the bus in downtown -San Francisco, the pavement seemed bottomless under her feet. She -reached her hotel, glad to be indoors where there were lights. Though -it was nowhere near noon, Vicki settled down in her room to wait for -the Flight Supervisor’s call. - -Waiting, the day seemed the longest of her life. Vicki did everything -she could think of to pass the time. She read, she sewed a little, sent -down for a sandwich, visited with a stewardess next door, read some -more. At four o’clock the telephone rang. It was the Flight Stewardess -Supervisor to notify Vicki that her request for extra time off was -granted. - -Vicki went downstairs to the lobby about five o’clock. The stewardesses -of several airlines who stayed at this hotel had a favorite corner, -where they looked for one another and exchanged flying news. This -afternoon two girls in Trans-USA’s gray uniform were sitting there, -having hot tea. Vicki knew them slightly; they were Peggy Bennett and -Nancy Notaro. - -“Hello, you look as if you’ve just come in from a flight,” Vicki -greeted them. - -“And such a flight! Grueling,” said Peggy. “Come sit down, -Vicki.” She said they had flown by jet nonstop from New York, a -five-and-a-half-hour run, starting at one thirty New York time that -afternoon. - -“The most demanding passengers you ever saw,” Nancy said, as Vicki -joined them. “I admit that they were interesting people. But one young -man nearly drove Peg and me out of our minds. A lawyer, I think.” - -“He was awfully anxious to get here,” Peggy said to excuse him. “Our -Boeing 707 didn’t go fast enough to suit Mr. Dorn.” - -Vicki froze. “Did you say Dorn? Do you remember his first name?” - -“I think it was Thurman,” said Nancy. “Why, Vicki, what’s the matter? -Aren’t you feeling well?” - -“N-no, I’m not. Was anyone traveling with Mr. Dorn?” - -“He was alone. Vicki, you’ve turned white! Here, have some of this -tea--” - -“I think I’d better go to my room,” Vicki said, and excused herself. - -Upstairs in her room she did some rapid figuring. Yesterday afternoon -she had guardedly telephoned Dorn’s office in New York, giving her name -as Mrs. Heath and then keeping silent. Today Dorn had taken the fastest -plane he could board to San Francisco. His action could mean only one -thing: - -His suspicions were aroused by her telephone call. He probably -telephoned his mother right back, learned _she_ had not just called -him--and learned about Vicki Barr’s surprise visit to the hidden house -the night before. Mrs. Heath would have told him how Vicki Barr struck -up a sympathetic acquaintance with Lucy. The woman had been disturbed -about that; Dorn would be disturbed, too. Further, Mrs. Heath had -probably told him that Vicki Barr had flown back to San Francisco -earlier on the day of the faked telephone call. - -So Dorn knew now that Vicki Barr was checking up on him and Mrs. Heath. -He was certain enough of it to take the first plane to San Francisco, -to come here and circumvent her. This was what Vicki had feared, and it -had come true. - -“What will Dorn do next?” Vicki wondered. “Steady, now. I mustn’t -panic. Well, he’ll go to Pine Top, and take Mrs. Heath and Lucy out of -there. Take them some place where I can’t find them again. This time -Lucy will really disappear. And then Thurman Dorn will deal with me.” - -She shivered. “_Stop it_,” she scolded herself. “I must try to think -clearly.” - -How soon, how fast, could Dorn reach Pine Top? The city was still -wrapped in fog; so were its outlying highways, the radio reported. That -meant Dorn could not fly or drive to Pine Top today, not with night -closing in. He’d probably start out for Pine Top first thing tomorrow -morning, weather permitting--just as she herself planned to do. - -“Suppose I encounter Dorn on the highway while I’m driving to Pine -Top?” She would have to disguise herself a little, and drive a closed -car. “Or suppose he goes to Pine Top in a private plane--he’d arrive -before I do. Will that ruin Lucy’s getaway, our getaway?” - -At least she had one small advantage. She already had a car reserved. -Dorn would encounter some delay in renting a car, or renting a private -plane and the services of a pilot, since these were much in demand and -often sold out in advance. Probably he would be able to hunt around and -rent _something_, but it would take him extra time. Time! - -When she went to bed, Vicki noticed that the fog had turned into a -driving rain. - -She rose very early Sunday morning. It was still raining hard. The -radio predicted an all-day downpour and reported that roads were washed -out in several localities. Motorists were advised to cancel their plans -and stay off the highways. - -“Oh, how awful!” Vicki thought. “Another day lost! Well, I’ll go to -Pine Top tomorrow--I hope.” - -She immediately made two telephone calls. One was to Mr. Hall, asking -him to call Pine Top tomorrow instead of today. The other was to the -car rental agency, changing her reservation to the next day. Then Vicki -ventured out in the rain to attend church. She lived through the rest -of that Sunday somehow. - -Monday morning she again was up early. The weather was clear. She -dressed quietly, without waking Jean Cox, tied a scarf over her head to -conceal her light hair, and took along a bulky coat and dark glasses. -These things were to make her less recognizable in case she met Dorn -anywhere along the way. She took a scarf, sunglasses, and sweater -for Lucy. Although she was too worried to feel hungry, she fortified -herself with breakfast at one of the few restaurants open that early. -Here she purchased sandwiches, and had the thermos bottle she had -brought along filled with coffee. Now she and Lucy need not stop for -lunch, lose precious time, make themselves visible in case Dorn was out -looking for them. - -That is, _if_ she herself could reach the appointed place in the -road without mishap, _if_ Lucy could keep the rendezvous, _if_ they -actually could make their getaway. - -Before she reached the car rental agency, Vicki put on the coat and -dark glasses. - -A sedan was driven out for her, with its gas tank filled to capacity. -Vicki signed the necessary papers, paid a deposit, and then went to a -telephone booth. She called the minister. - -“I’m leaving now, Mr. Hall. Getting an early start. You’ll -phone--signal--around nine?” - -“Yes, at nine. I’ll be listening for your telephone call this afternoon -to learn that you and Lucy are safe. Good luck, Miss Vicki.” - -“Thanks, Mr. Hall. I’ll need it.” - -Out on the highway traffic was light, and she made good time. Vicki -kept watch in the rear-vision mirror to see if any car was following -her, but so far, so good. Of course Dorn could be heading for Pine Top -on any of several alternate roads. - -The drive seemed a long one. It helped that she had twice flown over -this Mother Lode country; the small towns and rivers were familiar -landmarks and guides. But the car was slow compared to a plane, -particularly when the land grew rolling and then hilly. - -At twenty minutes before noon she was driving through Pine Top, and -there still was no sign of a car or a private plane coming in from the -same direction as she was. Vicki headed the car up the steep, winding -hill which led to the hidden house. - -She drove to the first sharp curve at the top of the road, found an -area of trees a little off the road to provide some concealment for the -car, and backed into it. Vicki turned off the ignition and waited. The -birds were singing. The sun shone down on the empty road. - -“What if Lucy doesn’t come?” Vicki thought. “What if she loses her -nerve and doesn’t try? Or tries but can’t get out? The wooden door in -the wall is kept locked--but surely somewhere she could find a place to -climb over the wall.” - -The minutes dragged. - -“Or suppose she and Mrs. Heath have already left? Mrs. Heath had a -rented car. Dorn could have phoned them to leave at once.” If only she -could go close enough to the house to see and hear what was going on! -Was Dorn there? Was Mrs. Heath keeping an extra close watch on Lucy? - -Vicki got out of the car to stretch her legs. She wanted badly to -venture around the bend in the road to see whether Lucy was coming--it -was a minute or two until noon. But she stayed in the little enclosure -of trees, half out of sight. - -She heard a car coming up the hill. Vicki stepped behind her own -car just as a black sedan whizzed by--the man driving was its only -occupant. He had red hair. Thank goodness it wasn’t Dorn. - -Suddenly a figure came running around the bend, hair flying. It was -Lucy! - -“Here I am!” Vicki hissed. - -“Hurry! Where’s the car?” Lucy gasped. “Get in!” - -They got in, slammed the doors, Vicki turned on the ignition, and tore -out of her hiding place. They streaked down the steep road. - -“Are you all right, Lucy? Is anyone else at the house?” - -“No. A man is coming this morning--driving--he phoned Saturday night -and Sunday morning. Mrs. Heath had me pack our suitcases this morning. -Hurry, Vicki! Mrs. Heath is probably looking for me by now, and she has -a car!” - -They sped through Pine Top and onto the open highway. Vicki saw a car -coming--any car coming might be Dorn. She kept on going, at the top -speed allowed. - -“Lucy, there’s a scarf and sunglasses on the seat. Put them on, cover -up your face and hair all you can. How’d you get out?” - -“I pretended to be gardening near the wall, climbed a tree, dropped -onto the top of the wall, and scrambled down on the outside.” Lucy gave -a shaky laugh. “I tore my stockings. I must be a sight. I didn’t bring -even a purse or sweater or anything with me. Nothing except my family -documents in the pocket of my dress.” - -“That’s all that matters.” The silver ring was on Lucy’s hand. - -“Mr. Hall phoned twice, around nine,” Lucy said. “Mrs. Heath got -awfully annoyed at the ‘telephone company testing.’ She complained to -me--but I’d heard the phone signal, anyway.” Lucy let out a long sigh -of relief. “Where are we going?” - -“Back to San Francisco. To catch a plane to New York.” - -“Think we’ll make it to San Francisco safely?” - -“We have a fast car, a good chance. Sit back and try to relax, Lucy.” - -They rode for many miles in silence. Both girls were tense. After a -while Vicki asked Lucy to open up the sandwiches and coffee. They had a -hard time swallowing any food, and lapsed into silence again. Then Lucy -said: - -“If and when we get to New York, do you plan to take me to my -grandparents?” - -“Yes, we’ll go directly to the Bryants’.” - -Lucy seemed fearful. - -Vicki reproved her. “Besides, unless you want to go to the police, it’s -the only place where either of us will be safe.” - -Vicki omitted saying: “Provided we can reach the Bryants before Dorn -does.” She did not want to frighten Lucy further. And Lucy was already -nervous enough about facing her grandparents. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -_Escape_ - - -At a gas station Vicki slowed down, looking around cautiously for any -car which might be Dorn’s before she stopped. No sign of Dorn--yet. -Vicki bought gas and did not linger. Out on the highway she picked up -speed and said to Lucy: - -“Now, listen to me. Mrs. Heath and her son are trying to keep you away -from the Bryants and your rightful inheritance. They want the Bryant -wealth for themselves.” - -“But how could they? I don’t understand--who is Mrs. Heath’s son?” - -“He’s Dorn, a lawyer your grandparents hired to find you--that was -when Mrs. Heath was luring you out to the hills. Then when you were -practically a prisoner, Dorn brought a girl he said was Lucy Rowe to -your grandparents--” - -“But I’m Lucy Rowe!” - -“--and they’ve accepted her on his word and ‘evidence’ and because -of the silver ring she wears.” Lucy gasped. “Their next step is to -persuade you to go abroad and stay there. Now, this other girl, who’s -in collusion with Dorn and Mrs. Heath, is living in your grandparents’ -house and pretending to be you.” - -Lucy burst into tears. “That’s terrible. Are you sure, Vicki? How do -you know?” - -“I met the girl at the Bryants’ house, that’s how I know. And I only -hope,” Vicki said tensely, “that Dorn and Mrs. Heath don’t stop us from -ever reaching New York.” - -Lucy said, crying, “Even so, please let’s not go to the police. Not -even to report them. I don’t want my grandparents to hear about me -first from the police. I want to meet them in a--a happy way--” - -“You shall. Don’t cry any more, Lucy. Don’t look so afraid. I think -Dorn and Mrs. Heath’s main intent now is to reach the Bryants first -with their story, before you and I do. They probably won’t waste time -trying to stop us.” Vicki did not entirely believe this, but Lucy could -not stand much more strain. - -They were approaching the outskirts of San Francisco. Vicki stopped at -a public telephone booth and called the minister. It was a little past -three o’clock in the afternoon. - -“Miss Vicki!” he said. “What a relief to hear from you! Are you all -right? Is Lucy with you?” - -“Yes, Mr. Hall. Here she is.” Vicki handed Lucy the receiver, -whispering, “Be quick.” She moved away, but heard Lucy say: - -“Oh, Mr. Hall, if only I’d listened to you!” - -Lucy talked to him for a minute or two, then gave the phone back to -Vicki. - -“I’m going to try to get us on a plane to New York this afternoon,” -Vicki said to him. “I think Federal Airlines will find room aboard for -us. Please don’t worry, Mr. Hall. Thank you for everything. We’ll keep -in touch with you.” - -Vicki next called Federal’s reservations desk. As one of their -stewardesses, she could fly free on vacation and, in addition, she -could get a pass when she had the mileage coming to her. Luckily -she had it now. Vicki pleaded for a seat for herself and one for -her friend, Lucy Rowe. Since Vicki insisted this was an emergency, -Reservations agreed to accept her check for Lucy’s fare and told her -to go out to International Airport and wait. If, at the last minute, a -flight had two seats still unpurchased or had two cancellations, she -and Lucy were welcome to them. - -First they returned the rented car, then traveled by taxi to the -airport. In the rotunda Vicki and Lucy made themselves as inconspicuous -as they could around a corner--Dorn and Mrs. Heath might walk through -the terminal at any time! The two girls waited out one flight after -another. Passenger traffic was heavy; not a single Federal flight had -space for them. - -Vicki began to worry, and to grow tired and hungry. Lucy was drooping. -Vicki went again and again to the reservations desk, reminding them, -begging for seats. The evening wore on. By now, Dorn and Mrs. Heath had -had ample time to drive from Pine Top to San Francisco and, as they -themselves were doing, try to get space on a flight. Who was going to -win this grim race? Finally, at ten thirty Reservations cleared Vicki -and Lucy to go aboard a Federal DC-7 air coach. It wasn’t as fast a -plane as the Electra, but at least it flew a direct transcontinental -route. They would have to change planes at Chicago. - -The two stewardesses were acquaintances of Vicki’s, and they were -surprised to see her come aboard. Noticing how tired she and Lucy were, -they brought them sandwiches and hot coffee once they were aloft, and -then blankets. The two girls were too exhausted to say or think another -single thing. They fell asleep and slept through the quiet night flight. - -Next thing Vicki knew, a stewardess was shaking her. “Wake up, Vic. -We’re coming in at Chicago in five minutes.” - -Vicki awakened Lucy. It was half dark and cold as they left the plane, -two bedraggled figures, and boarded another plane. Take-off time was -seven A.M. The girls slept again. At ten thirty A.M., New York time, -they landed at Idlewild Airport. A Federal crew car gave them a ride -into Manhattan. Vicki asked to be let off at the apartment she shared -with several other stewardess friends. It was just as well that no one -but their housekeeper, Mrs. Duff, was at home. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -_The Silver Rings_ - - -“I can’t meet my grandparents for the first time looking like this,” -Lucy said. “I know it’s important for us to get to them before Mr. Dorn -does, but it’s important for me to look nice, too.” - -“Don’t worry,” Vicki said, “I’ll lend you some clothes. You go shower -and change now. I will, too, but first I must make some telephone -calls.” - -She telephoned La Guardia Airport and asked for the “Lost and Found” -Desk. - -“Hello, this is the Federal Airlines stewardess,” Vicki said into the -telephone, “who turned in a gold charm, inscribed Dorothy. One of my -passengers lost it. Can you tell me whether anyone has ever claimed it?” - -“It’s still here,” the clerk told her. “No one has even inquired about -it, so far as I know.” - -That confirmed her suspicion--the owner was _afraid_ to come for it. -The reason why might prove interesting. - -Next, she telephoned the Bryants’ house. Mrs. Bryant was surprised -and pleased to hear from her. Vicki asked whether she could come over -to see them, and added that she’d like to bring a friend to meet them. -“Soon, please? It’s important.” - -“We’d be delighted to see you and your friend,” said Mrs. Bryant, “but -it can’t be this morning. We’re expecting guests for lunch at twelve -thirty. Why don’t you and your friend come at two?” - -“At two,” Vicki repeated. She longed to ask whether the luncheon guests -would include Mr. Dorn, or whether the Bryants had heard from Dorn -yesterday or today. But she couldn’t very well ask. “We’ll be there at -two. Thank you very much, Mrs. Bryant.” - -Lucy had come in, wearing a bathrobe, and heard Vicki make the -appointment. She looked woebegone, still lost. Vicki had to encourage -her. - -“Yes, I know my grandparents want me,” Lucy said excitedly, “but the -other ‘Lucy’--Is she more attractive than I am?” - -“Not nearly as likable,” Vicki said to soothe her. - -“I can’t help feeling nervous, though, especially since you’ve told me -what Mr. Dorn’s been up to,” Lucy said. - -“Come on. Let’s find you some clothes that will fit you and be -becoming.” - -Vicki borrowed from her own and Jean’s wardrobes. She made herself -presentable, then Mrs. Duff gave them a quick lunch. As they ate, the -girls debated whether Lucy still had, in certain ways, the hardest part -of her ordeal to struggle through. - -On the way over to the Bryants’, Lucy was silent and preoccupied. She -wore the silver ring, and had the family documents in her purse. When -she saw the mansion her grandparents lived in, she hesitated. Vicki -took her hand and escorted her up the marble steps. - -“I’ll never fit in here,” Lucy whispered, as they followed the butler -toward the room with the parakeets. - -“Yes, you will,” Vicki whispered back. “Wait and see.” - -Mr. and Mrs. Bryant were waiting for them. Vicki’s heart sank when she -saw that ‘Lucy’--the false Lucy--was with them. She had wanted so much -to talk to them alone! Mrs. Bryant rose and came forward to greet the -two girls. - -“How nice to see you, Vicki. And I’m so glad you’ve brought your -friend. I asked our Lucy to stay and meet her.” - -The true Lucy stared at the impostor. There was no real resemblance -between them, except that both were brown-haired, around the same age, -and either Lucy might have once been the little girl in the snapshot. -The true Lucy must have seen the silver ring on the other Lucy’s hand, -for she thrust her hand in her pocket to hide her own silver ring. -Vicki took her friend’s arm, to give her courage. - -As Mr. Bryant and the sophisticated-looking girl rose from the sofa, -Vicki said, “This is my friend from San Francisco, Lucy Rowe.” It took -all her courage to come right out and say that. She watched the false -Lucy closely. - -“Lucy Rowe!” Mrs. Bryant exclaimed, and a look of wonder crossed her -face. - -“What a coincidence,” the other girl said, after a pause. “How do you -do, Miss Rowe?” - -Lucy was unable to speak. She looked into Mrs. Bryant’s face with her -feelings naked in her eyes. Marshall Bryant said: - -“Quite a coincidence, eh, Miss Vicki? Two girls with the same name. -Well, well. Let’s all sit down, anyway.” He sat down heavily. “I ate -too much lunch.” - -Lucy stared at her grandfather. She stayed as close as she could to -Vicki, her hand still in her pocket. - -“How odd that we’ve never met,” the false Lucy said smoothly to the -true Lucy. “I’m from San Francisco, too, you know.” - -“It--it _is_ quite a coincidence, isn’t it?” Mrs. Bryant said shakily. - -Vicki drew a deep breath and said what sooner or later had to be said. -“It’s more than a coincidence, Mrs. Bryant. This young woman is--is -your granddaughter, and I can--” - -“That’s preposterous!” the false Lucy exclaimed. She was furious. “_I_ -am the Bryants’ granddaughter, and I resent--” - -“--and I can prove it,” Vicki went on evenly. “There has been a -terrible mistake here. If one can call it a mistake.” - -Marshall Bryant snorted. “Young lady, you’re having a pipe dream. -Thurman Dorn is a good man, a good lawyer. He doesn’t make mistakes. Do -you think I’d hire an incompetent man?” - -Vicki was shaking all over. “It isn’t simply a mistake, Mr. Bryant. -Forgive me for contradicting you, but Mr. Dorn has deliberately brought -you the wrong girl.” - -“Rot!” the big man said, and the false Lucy drew herself up in scorn. -Only Mrs. Bryant, her hands trembling so badly that she had to clasp -them, said to the newcomer: - -“Tell me, my dear. Do you believe yourself to be our granddaughter?” - -Slowly Lucy drew her hand out of her pocket and extended it. “Here is -the ring you gave my mother. And here are photographs of us all--and a -letter you wrote my mother--” - -The false Lucy laughed. No one took the things Lucy offered. She -stood there abashed. The false Lucy cried, “Why, Grandpa, they’re -fakes--forgeries, that’s all.” Mrs. Bryant glanced back and forth -between the two Lucys, bewildered and hurt. Finally she reached out and -took the photographs and letters, and examined them. - -“Marshall,” she said, “I did write this letter to Eleanor.” He made a -gesture of disbelief. Mrs. Bryant turned to the newcomer. “Where did -you get this letter?” - -“Mother gave it to me. Just as she gave me this ring.” - -“I also have my mother’s ring.” The false Lucy indignantly held up her -hand with the silver ring. She was still assured, but her face had -turned a sickly white. - -Marshall Bryant exploded. “Someone here is lying! If you think I’ll set -aside the detailed proof of my lawyer, and reject this lovely young -woman we’re so fond of--if you expect me to take the word of a girl -I’ve never seen or heard of before--Why, it _is_ preposterous! Vicki, -where in the world did you find this girl, and what in the world are -you thinking of?” - -Vicki said as bravely as she could, “Mr. Bryant, I have _proof_ that -she is your granddaughter, if you’ll only listen to me.” - -“I think we’d better listen, Marshall,” said Mrs. Bryant. -“I--er--before Mr. Dorn had found Lucy, I requested our young -friend--since she sometimes flies in and out of San Francisco--to see -whether she could learn anything about our granddaughter.” - -“You did!” Marshall Bryant turned to Vicki. “And you actually -investigated? But you’re not a trained investigator.” - -“Just the same, please listen to what I found out,” Vicki pleaded. - -The butler came in to say that Mr. Thurman Dorn was at the door, and -asked whether the Bryants would see him. - -“We certainly will see him!” Mr. Bryant said. “Right away! Lucky for us -he’s here.” - -Mrs. Bryant murmured that this seemed to be their day for coincidences. -Vicki said, “This is no coincidence, either, Mrs. Bryant. Mr. Dorn has -just flown in from San Francisco where he was yesterday--intending to -stop me from bringing Lucy to you.” - -Marshall Bryant stared at her as if she were out of her mind, and the -false Lucy smiled pityingly. - -They waited for Dorn. Lucy said to Vicki, very low, “This is scarcely -the reception I’d dreamed of.” - -Dorn came in. His suit was rumpled, as if he had slept in it all night. -However, he was as self-possessed as ever, and gave Vicki and her Lucy -a look of utter contempt. - -“I see these two fakers beat me here,” he said. “Good afternoon, Mrs. -Bryant, Lucy. How are you, sir? May I impose on your hospitality and -ask for some hot coffee? I’ve just flown to San Francisco and back on -your behalf. I flew all last night on a wretchedly slow coach plane, a -long, roundabout Dallas-Memphis local,” he said disgustedly. “The only -plane I could get on last night without a reservation--” - -He sank into a chair. Vicki and Lucy exchanged glances. Getting here -before Dorn hadn’t done them much good. Marshall Bryant spoke to him -sympathetically while Mrs. Bryant ordered the coffee. - -Vicki decided to attack Dorn before he could attack her. - -“Mr. Dorn, I’ve found out how your mother, Mrs. Heath, lured Lucy out -of San Francisco--” - -“Your mother?” said Mr. Bryant in surprise. - -“--and kept Lucy virtually a prisoner in--” - -“Stop lying!” Dorn ordered. “You’re a ridiculous little amateur -detective who’s been meddling--” - -“--prisoner in a lonely house near the Sierra Nevadas, until I got -her out of there yesterday! And that’s where you were yesterday, Mr. -Dorn--in Pine Top!” - -Dorn’s eyes narrowed. The false Lucy kept perfectly still. The lawyer -retorted: - -“Miss Barr, you evidently are stupid and irresponsible. Perhaps this -girl with you is, too. Dreaming up some fantastic tale! Prisoner!” He -turned to Mr. Bryant. “What has she told you?” - -Mrs. Bryant answered. “They showed us another silver ring, and these -photographs and letters.” - -Dorn smiled dryly. “Documents can be forged, or stolen. A silver ring -can be copied, too, by a clever jeweler.” He turned to the true Lucy -and thundered at her, “How did you manage to steal and forge these -things?” - -As Lucy drew back in fright, Vicki said: - -“Any stealing and forging that was done, _you_ did. From the Bryants’ -safe here in their house. You borrowed their family documents and the -ring--to ‘study.’ You said--” - -Both Bryants were listening to her now. Vicki turned to them. - -“There’s a minister in San Francisco, a Mr. Hall, who’s known Jack and -Eleanor Rowe, and Lucy, ever since Lucy was born. Would you take _his_ -word?” - -Mrs. Bryant gasped. “What else did you find out? Mr. Dorn, why did you -never mention the minister to us?” - -“Because there is no such person in their family history,” he said -boldly. “Lucy”--he turned toward the false Lucy--“did you ever know a -minister named Hall?” - -“No, our minister’s name was Dr. John Sands.” - -“Ah, you see!” Marshall Bryant said with satisfaction. “I shall get in -touch with Dr. Sands.” - -“I wish, Grandpa,” said the false Lucy, “that Dr. Sands was still -alive. He’d tell you the truth.” - -The true Lucy said suddenly, “Ask Mr. Hall. I’ll give you his address -and telephone number.” - -Marshall Bryant eyed her distrustfully, but his wife said, “You haven’t -answered my question, Vicki. What else did you find out?” - -Dorn tried to prevent Vicki from speaking. He heaped her with scorn and -flatly denied all allegations--but Mrs. Bryant insisted. - -Vicki started to enumerate her points: the so-called Lucy had not -worked for Whitney Decorators because no such firm had ever existed. -Her alleged doctor, Dr. Alice James, did not exist. The addresses where -she’d said she lived did not exist. - -“Lies, lies!” Dorn said to Mr. Bryant. “I visited every one of those -persons and places myself. You have my word for it.” - -Marshall Bryant nodded. Vicki said to him: - -“Mr. Dorn is the one who’s lying. You have _only_ his word for these -things, and he and his mother and this girl he misrepresents to be your -granddaughter--they’re all in collusion together.” - -“I’ll take you to court for libel, Vicki Barr!” Dorn fairly shouted. - -She ignored that, and appealed to the Bryants. “Send an impartial -investigator to San Francisco, or go yourselves. You’ll find out from -the Interstate Insurance Company that _that’s_ where Lucy worked, ever -since she got out of school. Talk to Mr. Hall. Talk to Jill Joseph who -lives in Lucy’s old house in Sutro Heights--she and her parents, the -Rossiters, knew Lucy’s parents--” - -“Ridiculous,” said Dorn, with a little laugh. “Perhaps this other -girl’s name actually is Lucy Rowe--though I doubt it--but even if it -is, that does not make her your granddaughter and your heir. Can’t you -see how easy it is for an unscrupulous girl to claim to be your kin -whom you’ve never seen? A crude attempt, I must say.” - -Vicki saw that she was getting nowhere. The more points she raised, the -more Dorn, with a lawyer’s great verbal skill, twisted and bypassed -them. He managed to make Vicki’s statements appear implausible. He -enumerated proofs of his own correctness. Lucy, sitting beside her, was -numb with misery. - -Vicki looked at the false Lucy and had an inspiration. She addressed -her directly, sharply: - -“See here, Dorothy, I know a good deal about you--” - -The false Lucy started. - -“Yes, I know it was you who lost the gold charm inscribed Dorothy on my -plane that day. I know you came here from Chicago, not San Francisco--” - -“I didn’t--” - -“Her name isn’t Dorothy,” Dorn broke in. - -“--and I know,” Vicki kept on, “that you arrived _two days earlier_ -than you pretended to the Bryants. Where were you those two days?” - -“Lies,” Dorn said. “She--” - -Mrs. Bryant turned to the agitated girl. “Two days earlier? Is this -true?” - -“Don’t you know,” Vicki kept at the girl, “that impersonating another -person is a crime and you can go to jail for it?” - -“I’m not--I didn’t--” the fake Lucy stammered. - -“You’d better tell the truth,” Marshall Bryant warned her. - -The false Lucy burst into tears. “He talked me into doing it,” she -cried. “Thurman said as soon as we were married, my name would be Dorn -and no one would ever know of this impersonation. Calling myself Lucy -Rowe was just for a little while--” - -Marshall Bryant in his anger was having difficulty in breathing. Vicki -feared he might suffer another heart attack. “Just for a little while,” -he repeated heavily. “While you tricked us into believing that you were -our granddaughter, eh? I suppose you planned to keep up the pretense -and call yourself Lucy indefinitely. Only now you’ve lost your nerve!” - -“Thurman never told me that there was a real Lucy Rowe; he never told -me I’d be cheating someone,” the other girl asserted, weeping. “Don’t -blame me! He and his mother told me that Lucy was dead, only you didn’t -know it, and that we might as well have the inheritance for ourselves -instead of letting some stupid charities have it. Thurman and Mrs. -Heath are to blame, not me.” Dorn tried to break in, but the girl went -on half hysterically. “They said that with my dramatic school training -and being a quick study, I could easily play Lucy’s part--” - -“You’re telling half-truths,” Dorn said. “You never objected to -becoming rich, did you?” - -“Keep quiet, both of you,” Marshall Bryant ordered. The old man turned -toward Vicki. “What’s this about Dorn’s mother?” - -“Yes, didn’t you once tell us,” Mrs. Bryant asked the young lawyer, -“that your mother in Chicago was widowed and had remarried? What is -your mother’s name?” Dorn tugged hard at his mustache and refused to -answer. “Mr. Dorn,” Mrs. Bryant reminded him, “we can find out from -your law firm.” - -Dorn muttered, “Her name is Heath. Elizabeth Heath. She’s a widow for -the second time; she’s alone except for me.” - -“So you thought you’d provide for your mother, yourself, and your -fiancée at my expense,” Marshall Bryant said bitterly. “No wonder you -were in such a hurry to have me sign over a parcel of stocks and bonds -to Lucy--Dorothy--whatever her name is.” The girl gave her name, very -low: Dorothy Clinton. “Well, I’ll rescind that immediately!” - -“About Mrs. Heath,” Mrs. Bryant said. “She actually kept this -girl, our--our granddaughter”--it was hard for her to reverse her -thinking--“out of sight?” - -“Yes, on a pretense of a job,” Vicki answered. “Not only that! They -also planned to get her to go abroad and maybe never return.” - -The Bryants both caught their breaths. Mr. Bryant got up and pulled at -the wall cord to summon the butler. “I’m going to call the police,” he -said. - -“Wait just a minute, sir,” Dorn said. “You still have no final proof of -who this girl is.” - -“I have proof!” the true Lucy spoke up. “I have some proof with me and -much more if I can get my things back from Mrs. Heath. Besides, I’m -sure Mr. Hall and some of my San Francisco friends and old teachers -will come East to vouch for me. They’ve known me all my life, and known -my mother and father, too.” - -“All right, all right,” the elderly man said, and passed his hand over -his eyes. No one except Vicki noticed the butler waiting at the door. -Mrs. Bryant stared dazedly at Dorn. - -“Maybe you’d better start your explanations with the very beginning of -this rotten scheme,” Marshall Bryant said. “You’re going to have to -explain to us--and the police--sooner or later.” - -Dorn put his head in his hands. “Very well, I will.” Then he said, “I -have some papers in my brief case in the hall, sir”--Dorn stood up--“if -you’ll permit me to get them.” - -Suddenly he seized the false Lucy by the hand, and they ran out of the -room. The butler was so stunned by surprise that he was motionless. So -was everyone for a few seconds--until Vicki sprang to her feet. “Don’t -let them get away!” She and the butler ran after them. She saw Dorn and -the girl racing down the marble steps and along the street. - -Vicki and the Bryants’ man tore after them. They were heading toward a -taxicab waiting at the curb a few houses up. Vicki saw a gray-haired -woman in the taxi who looked familiar. Mrs. Heath! - -“Driver!” Vicki called out. “Don’t take those people! They’re -criminals!” - -“Catch that man!” the butler shouted. - -The taxi driver jumped out and caught Dorn. He struggled to tear free, -while Dorothy screamed at the butler to let her go. Vicki reached Mrs. -Heath just as the woman tried to slip away. Out of nowhere a policeman -appeared on the run. - -“What’s all the shouting about?” he demanded. “What’s the matter here?” - -From the top of his house steps Marshall Bryant told them all to come -into the house. “Pay the driver his fare,” he directed the butler, “so -he can go.” The policeman herded the rest of them into the house, with -Dorothy screaming now at Dorn. Vicki walked in beside Mrs. Heath who -looked as if she, too, had slept in her clothes last night. Mrs. Heath -scornfully would not even glance in Vicki’s direction. - -They all sat down in the room with the parakeets, where Mrs. Bryant and -Lucy waited together. Marshall Bryant explained the situation briefly -to the policeman, who said: - -“You’d better phone the precinct for a couple of detectives, Mr. -Bryant. This is out of my jurisdiction. I’ll stay until they get here, -though.” - -Mr. Bryant instructed the butler to telephone. Then he said to Dorn: -“Talk!” - -[Illustration] - -Thurman Dorn sat crumpled in a chair, head bent. He plucked at his -fingers as he almost inaudibly told the whole story. - -[Illustration] - -He had always had to struggle along and economize, he said, and he felt -that as an educated man he was entitled to more than a small-salaried -job. His mother and his fiancée, too, were ambitious and resentful of -“scrimping along.” They felt they were entitled to wealth just as much -as people like the Bryants. Thurman Dorn was determined to get rich as -quickly as possible. His attitude was “Once you have a great deal of -money, people won’t care or dare ask how you acquired it.” - -When the Bryants engaged him to search for their granddaughter and -heir whom they had never seen, Dorn calculated this was his main -chance. The Bryant fortune was so big that he was willing to risk -committing a crime. He believed that his cleverness and knowledge of -the law would protect him. And he believed he had evolved a foolproof -scheme: to present his fiancée to the Bryants as their unknown -granddaughter, then marry her and through her gain the Bryant fortune. -He flew to Chicago and talked his mother and Dorothy into the scheme. - -First, though, Dorn had to learn whether Lucy Rowe could be gotten out -of the way. He and Mrs. Heath went on to San Francisco in mid-January -and learned--something the Bryants did not then know--that Jack Rowe -had died two years earlier. This left Lucy alone in the world, and -suited Dora’s scheme perfectly. Dorn also learned that Lucy was working -as a secretary at Interstate, had moved several times in the past few -years, and had just moved into the women’s hotel. - -The next step was for Mrs. Heath to move to the Hotel Alcott, strike -up an acquaintance with Lucy, and offer her a job out of town or -“traveling.” At the same time, Mrs. Heath learned a great deal more -about Lucy and passed the information along to Dorn. Meanwhile, Dorn -located a well-hidden house in the back country and rented it and a car -for Mrs. Heath. - -Then Dorn flew alone to Chicago, where for two days he coached Dorothy -in the role of Lucy. To do this, he used the information gained -by Mrs. Heath, and by himself in talking with the Bryants. Dorothy -memorized certain facts of Lucy’s life and acted out a personality -designed to please the Bryants. Dorn carefully supplied her with a -story about Lucy’s recent past. He promised Dorothy further advice on -the role of Lucy. - -Dorn then flew on to New York, and reported to the Bryants that he -could not yet find their granddaughter who was away on a month’s trip. -He was allowing his mother time to get Lucy out of San Francisco and -into hiding. He also borrowed from the Bryants, from the safe in their -house, family letters and photographs and Mrs. Bryant’s silver ring, -ostensibly to “study” them. - -Actually Dorn in the next hour had the photographs and letters -photostated, and he mailed them to Dorothy in Chicago to study for -developing her role. The same day he took the silver ring to a jeweler -and had it sketched to be copied. Within a few days the third silver -ring was ready and he mailed it to Dorothy. Meantime, Dorn had promptly -returned all the originals to the Bryants. - -The rest of their scheme was to persuade Lucy to leave the United -States and stay abroad. - -Unfortunately for them, Vicki had observed the false Miss L. Rowe -on her Chicago-New York flight. By that time Dorothy had devised a -make-up and hair style which helped her to resemble, superficially, -the faces in the Bryant family photographs. Dorn, who had never taken -Vicki seriously and did not bother to remember with what airline she -was a stewardess, never told Dorothy to stay off Federal Airlines. On -Dorothy’s part, it was a piece of carelessness that on that flight -she had worn, and lost, the gold charm inscribed with her own name. -Arriving in New York on a Tuesday, Dorothy went to a hotel, and on that -day and Wednesday, she and Dorn held a final, thorough rehearsal of her -role. On Thursday, Dorn brought her to the Bryants, saying, “Here is -your granddaughter who has just flown in from San Francisco.” Dorothy -had acted her role so convincingly that the Bryants did not doubt this -charming girl was truly their granddaughter. - -“That’s all,” Dorn finished. His voice sounded hollow. “My second trip -to San Francisco was just for show, so that I could come back and say -‘I’ve found your granddaughter.’” - -“Lies from start to finish,” Marshall Bryant said angrily. “I’ll see -that the three of you pay for this! What a fool you’ve been, Dorn! You -threw aside a promising career with Steele and Wilbur--one of the most -reputable law firms in the country. When your employers hear about the -vicious scheme--” - -Two men quietly came into the room. - -“We’re precinct detectives,” one of them said, and they showed their -identification. “We’ve been standing in the hall and heard the whole -thing.” - -“Can you arrest these three swindlers at once?” Marshall Bryant -demanded. “For what they’ve done to my wife and me and to an innocent -girl?” - -“Yes, sir,” said the detective. “You are under arrest, Dorn, and so are -you two women, on a conspiracy charge.” - -“I know my rights,” Dorn asserted. “I’m a lawyer, and you can’t--” - -“I can,” said the detective. “Let me quote the law to you, Mr. Dorn. -The unlawful acts you three persons planned to commit, and in part did -commit, are fraud, misrepresentation, and obtaining money or property -under false pretenses.” - -“I object, I vehemently object!” Dorn said. “We may have planned it, -but we haven’t actually obtained the inheritance.” - -“That’s beside the point,” the detective said. “Quote: ‘Persons -agreeing together to commit a crime can be prosecuted for _conspiracy_. -In a conspiracy it does not matter whether the unlawful act agreed upon -is carried out or not.’ You’re under arrest for conspiracy. Get up. All -three of you.” - -Dorn shrugged and said no more. He, Mrs. Heath, and Dorothy stood up. -The false Lucy pulled the silver ring off her finger and bitterly threw -it at Dorn. - -Marshall Bryant said, “You’re being arrested for conspiracy, but I’m -going to bring action against you in the courts for a whole lot more. -For fraud and misrepresentation, and for detention of Lucy.” - -“They’ll draw heavy sentences,” the detective said. “All right, get -going.” - -When they were gone, the Bryants and Lucy and Vicki were unable to -speak for a few minutes. They looked at one another. - -“Miserable business,” Marshall Bryant growled. - -Mrs. Bryant went to sit next to Lucy, and put her arm around her. “My -child, you don’t have to be afraid any more.” - -“Nor alone any more?” Lucy asked timidly. - -“Nor alone any more,” the grandmother answered. “Will she, Marshall? We -shall make up to you for all the hard things you’ve been through. Tell -me, my dear, did your mother have a pet name for you?” - -“Yes, it was Lucinda,” Lucy said. “Sometimes Lucinda Belle, just for -fun.” - -“That used to be your grandfather’s special name for _me_” Mrs. Bryant -said, and both the old people smiled at Lucy. - -Mrs. Bryant leaned forward to touch Vicki’s hand. “Vicki, how can we -ever thank you?” she said. “You and Lucy and all of us must always be -friends.” - -Vicki smiled as she looked at Lucy’s happy face. “I think we will be,” -she said. - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: - -The 1960 copyright date on this book was not renewed so is now in the -public domain in the United States of America. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Silver Ring Mystery, by Helen Wells - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SILVER RING MYSTERY *** - -***** This file should be named 53448-0.txt or 53448-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/4/4/53448/ - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, MFR and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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