Ghost Beyond the Gate

  CHAPTER 18 _THROUGH THE CELLAR WINDOW_

  Penny returned to the front porch and rang the doorbell many times. Noone came to admit her. She tested the door, finding it locked. Windowsabove the porch level could not be raised.

  "I'll try the back door," she said, refusing to accept defeat.

  Louise and Joe followed her to the rear of the dwelling, but remained onthe outside of the fence.

  As Penny had feared, the back door also was locked. She tested eightwindows. Finally she found one which opened into the cellar. To herdelight the sash swung inward as she pushed on it.

  "Here I go!" she called to Louise. "You and Joe stay where you are andkeep watch."

  Penny crawled through the narrow opening and swung herself down to thecellar floor. She landed with a thud beside a laundry tub. The room wasdark. Groping her way toward a stairway, she tripped over a box and madea fearful clatter.

  "I've certainly advertised my arrival!" she thought ruefully.

  At the top of the stairway Penny found a light switch and boldly turnedit on. The kitchen door was not locked. She opened it and stepped outinto another semi-dark room.

  A doorbell at the front of the house began to ring. Penny wasdumbfounded. Then she became annoyed, thinking that Louise and the cabdriver were trying to get in.

  Groping her way through the house, she unlocked the door and flung itopen.

  "For Pity Sakes!" she exclaimed, and then her voice trailed off.

  A uniformed messenger boy stood on the porch.

  "Mrs. Botts live here?" he asked, taking a telegram from his jacketpocket.

  Penny did not know what to answer. Thinking quickly, she replied: "Thisis the Deming estate."

  The messenger boy turned the beam of his flashlight on the telegram."Mrs. Lennie Botts, Stop 4, Care of G. A. Deming," he read aloud. "Thisis the place all right."

  "But Mrs. Botts isn't at home now."

  "I've had a lot of trouble getting here," the boy complained. "Even hadto climb over the gate. How about signing for the telegram?"

  "Oh, all right," agreed Penny, accepting the pencil. "I don't know why Ididn't think of that idea myself!"

  In return for the telegram she gave the boy a small tip. The moment hehad gone, she closed the front door and switched on a table lamp.

  Penny found herself in a luxuriously furnished living room. The rugunderfoot was Chinese, the furniture solid mahogany, hand carved.However, she had no interest in her surroundings. Rather tensely, sheexamined the telegram. Dared she open it?

  "What's ten years or so of jail in my young life?" she cajoled herself."I'm willing to spend it in Sing Sing if only I can find Dad!"

  Penny ripped open the envelope. The message, addressed to Mrs. LennieBotts was terse and none too revealing:

  "HAVE CHANGED PLANS. WILL RETURN THE TWENTY-SEVENTH BY PLANE. PLEASE HAVEEVERYTHING IN READINESS."

  The telegram was signed by the owner of the estate, G. A. Deming.

  "Today is the twenty-seventh of the month," thought Penny. "This messagemust have been several hours delayed."

  The telegram had provided little information. Evidently the woman who hadrefused to tell her name was Mrs. Lennie Botts. Regretting that she hadopened the message, Penny tossed it carelessly on the table.

  Footsteps sounded on the floor directly above. Penny had taken no painsto be quiet. Nevertheless, her pulse quickened as she heard someone padto the head of the stairway. A muffled voice called: "Who's there?"

  Penny's heart leaped for she was sure she recognized the tones. Fairlytrembling with excitement, she darted to the foot of the circularstaircase. On the top landing in the heavy shadows stood a man whose faceshe could not see.

  "Dad!" she cried. "I'm Penny."

  "Penny?" the man demanded impatiently as if the name meant nothing tohim. "Where is Mrs. Botts?"

  "Why, she went away."

  "And how did you get into the house?"

  "Through a cellar window."

  "I thought so! Young lady, I don't know what you're doing here in Mrs.Bott's absence. Unless you leave at once I'll summon the police."

  Penny was not to be discouraged so easily. She started slowly up thestairway.

  "Stand where you are!" the man ordered sharply. "I've been sick, but I'mstill a match for any house-breaker. I have a revolver--"

  So dark was the stairway that Penny could not know whether or not the manwas bluffing. His voice, startlingly similar to her father's, soundedgrim and determined. Knowing that a stranger would have good reason totreat her as a burglar, she was afraid to venture further.

  "Dad--" she began.

  "Don't keep calling me Dad!" he snapped.

  "Who are you?" asked Penny, completely baffled.

  "Who am I?" the man repeated. "Why, I'm Lester Jones, a salesman. I roomhere."

  The answer dumbfounded Penny. "Then you're not being held a prisoner byMrs. Botts?" she faltered.

  "On the contrary, Mrs. Botts has been very kind to me. Especially sinceI've been sick."

  Penny's perplexity increased. "But I've seen you wandering in the gardenat night," she murmured. "Why do you do it?"

  "Because--oh, hang it! Do I have to explain everything to you? My head'saching again. Unless you go away and stop bothering me, I'll call thepolice."

  Penny was completely crushed. She had been so sure that the man was herfather! Seemingly she had made a very stupid mistake.

  "I'll go," she said quietly.

  Retreating down the stairway, she left the opened telegram on theliving-room table and switched off the light. Then unlocking the kitchendoor, she rejoined Louise and Joe.

  "I guess you didn't have any luck," her chum commented, observing herdowncast face.

  Penny ruefully admitted that the man who had been seen in the garden wasLester Jones.

  "I knew he wasn't your father," Louise replied. "You wouldn't listen toreason--"

  "All the same, his voice was similar," Penny cut in. "Why, the man evenused one of Dad's pet expressions."

  "What was it?" Louise inquired curiously.

  "'Oh, hang it!' That's the expression Dad uses when he's irritated."

  Louise helped her chum over the back fence and guided her toward theparked taxi. Midway there Penny paused to stare up at the dark windows ofthe second floor.

  "Lou!" she exclaimed. "That man must have been Dad even if he didn't knowme!"

  "Oh, Penny, don't start that all over again," Louise pleaded. "You'reonly torturing yourself."

  "I'm going back!"

  "No, we can't let you, Penny."

  Louise held her chum's arm firmly. Joe opened the door of the taxi andthey pushed her in. Penny protested for a moment, then submitted.

  "All right, but we're going straight to the police station!" sheannounced. "I'll not be satisfied until that man positively is identifiedas Lester Jones."

  A few minutes later, at the police station, Detective Fuller heard theentire story. It was the first he had learned about Mrs. Botts, forPenny's earlier message had not been delivered by Policeman Burns.

  "For that matter, I've not seen Burns today," the detective explained."I'll go to the estate at once and question the woman."

  Again Penny and Louise taxied to the estate, this time trailed by apolice car. Detective Fuller broke the padlock on the gate and led theparty to the front door.

  A light now burned in the living room. To Penny's astonishment, the doorwas opened by Mrs. Botts.

  "Good evening," she greeted the visitors pleasantly.

  Detective Fuller flashed his badge. "We want to ask you a few questions,"he said. "May we come in?"

  With obvious reluctance the woman stepped aside, allowing the party toenter the living room. Penny's gaze roved to the center table. Thetelegram which she had opened no longer was there.

  Mrs. Botts did not offer chairs to the callers. Glaring at Penny withundisguised dislike, she said coldly
: "I suppose I am indebted to you forthis visit. What is it you want?"

  "I understand you have a roomer here," began Detective Fuller.

  "A roomer?" Mrs. Botts echoed blankly.

  "Yes, a man by the name of Lester Jones."

  "Ridiculous! You don't seem to realize that this is the Deming estate."

  "Are you an employee here?"

  "I am the housekeeper. During Mr. Deming's absence I look after theproperty. I assure you no one but myself lives in the house at present."

  "No roomer ever has stayed here?"

  Mrs. Botts drew herself up proudly. "Would Mr. Deming be likely to annoyhimself with roomers? He has a very substantial fortune."

  "You might try to pick up a few dollars yourself."

  "Mr. Deming would not hear of such a thing! He pays me well."

  Detective Fuller asked additional questions, trying to learn whether ornot the woman was the one who had fled from the cemetery. Mrs. Bottsfrankly admitted that she had taken Mr. Parker to the hospital, but shedenied ever trying to collect a ransom.

  "What you say now doesn't agree with your original story," Pennyprotested. "You admitted to me--"

  "I admitted nothing," Mrs. Botts broke in indignantly. "I have no secretsto hide!"

  "But I'm sure Mr. Jones is living in this house," Penny said stubbornly."He's upstairs."

  "Indeed?" mocked Mrs. Botts. "Perhaps you'd like to search the house."

  "Yes, we would," said Detective Fuller.

  Mrs. Botts remained undisturbed. Bestowing upon Penny a look of deepcontempt, she motioned toward the stairway.

  "Very well, search the house," she invited with cool assurance. "I'vetold you the truth. You'll find no one here but myself."