Clue of the Silken Ladder

  CHAPTER 20 _INSIDE THE CABINET_

  Despite Mrs. Weems' protests, Penny remained firm in her decision toinvestigate Mr. Gepper's studio. She ate a belatedly prepared lunch anddid not reach the Hodges' cottage until nearly four o'clock, havingdriven there in Lena.

  The doors were closed and Penny knocked several times without receiving aresponse.

  "Everyone must have gone away," she thought. "Oh, dear, now what shall Ido?"

  Penny reasoned that it was of vital importance for her to inspect AlGepper's room during his absence. She might never have anotheropportunity. Yet she hesitated to enter the house while the Hodges wereaway, even though she felt certain the seamstress would not mind.

  Walking to the rear, Penny noticed that the porch screen had been leftunfastened. Entering the kitchen, she called Mrs. Hodges' name butreceived no answer.

  "If I wait for her to come home it may be too late," decided Penny. "Thisis an emergency."

  Her mind made up, she took the stairs two at a time to Al Gepper's room.Her knock went unanswered. Satisfied that he was not there, she tried thedoor and found it unlocked.

  Penny raised a blind to flood light into the darkened room. Save that afilm of dust covered the furniture, everything was approximately the sameas she had last seen it.

  Her gaze fell upon two suitcases which had been pushed beneath the bed.The first contained only miscellaneous clothing. The second merited amore careful inspection.

  Almost at once Penny came upon an old faded picture, the one of CousinDavid which Mrs. Weems had given to the photographer's "agent."

  "So that was how it was done!" she thought. "Al Gepper sent one of hisconfederates to see Mrs. Weems and obtain information about her cousin.The painting which appeared so miraculously during the seance was merelya copy of this! Even so, how was it painted so quickly?"

  Forgetting the picture for a moment, Penny picked up several newspaperclippings which were fastened together with a rubber band. All had beentaken from the obituary column and concerned the death of well-to-doRiverview persons.

  "Al Gepper and his pals are ghouls!" Penny told herself. "They prey uponthe relatives of persons who have died, realizing that at such a time itwill be much easier to interest them in trying to communicate with thedeparted!"

  Lifting a tray from the suitcase, her attention focused upon a small redbooklet. As she turned rapidly through it, a folded sheet of paper fellto the floor.

  Examining it, Penny saw a long list of names, together with pertinentinformation about each person. Not only was the address and financialstanding of the individual given, but the deceased relatives in eachfamily and other facts of a personal nature. The list had beenmimeographed.

  "This must be a 'sucker' list!" thought Penny. "No wonder it's easy for amedium to find victims and tell them astonishing facts."

  Thrusting the paper into her pocket, she turned her attention to thewardrobe closet. Al Gepper's clothes hung in orderly rows from thehangers. Behind them, half hidden from view, was a small box.

  Pulling it to the window, Penny examined the contents. There were manybottles filled with chemicals, the names of which were unfamiliar. Shenoted a bottle of varnish, another of zinc white, and some photographicpaper in a sealed envelope.

  A glance satisfying her, she replaced the box and next turned herattention to the cabinet behind the large circular table. Here she wasrichly rewarded as her gaze fell upon a banjo.

  "The same one which played during Mrs. Weems' seance!" she thought. "Wewere able to see it in the dark because it's covered with luminous paint.But what made it rise into the air, and how could it play without the aidof human hands?"

  Penny examined the instrument closely. She chuckled as she discovered atiny phonograph with a record built into its back side. As she pressed acontrol lever, it began a stringed version of "Down Upon the SwaneeRiver."

  Quickly turning it off, she inspected other objects in the cabinet. Atonce she found a rod which could be extended to a height of five feet.

  "That's how the banjo was raised!" she reasoned. "And by use of this rodit would be easy to make a ghost appear to float high overhead. Thisluminous material must have been used."

  Penny picked up a filmy robe, shaking out the many folds. While it wasclear to her that Al Gepper had employed the garment to materialize theso-called spirit of Cousin David, she could only guess how he had made itenlarge from a mere spot to a full sized figure.

  "He must have wadded the cloth in his hand, and held it above his head,"she mused. "Then he could have slowly shaken it out until it covered hisentire body. Thus the figure would appear to grow in size."

  In one corner of the cabinet Penny came upon a luminous slate.

  "This was used for Cousin David's message," she thought. "Al probably hadan assistant who wrote on it and thrust it through the curtain."

  While many questions remained unanswered, Penny had obtained sufficientevidence to indicate that Al Gepper was only a clever trickster. Greatlyelated, she decided to hasten to the _Star_ office to report herfindings.

  Noticing that she had neglected to return the two suitcases to theirformer places, Penny pushed them under the bed again. As shestraightened, a door slammed on the lower floor.

  For an instant she hoped that it was Mrs. Hodges or her husband who hadcome home. Then she heard footsteps on the stairs, and their rapiditywarned her that they could belong only to a young person.

  Frantically, she gazed about the room. The cabinet seemed to offer thesafest hiding place. Slipping into it, she pulled the black curtainacross the opening.