The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels (16 page)

“Obviously, you were struck from behind with some heavy object,” Mr. Parker said. “They probably dumped you back in your own boat and set it adrift. You never saw your attacker?”

“No.”

Jerry rested for a moment, and then as it dawned upon him that he was being speeded to a doctor, he began to protest.

“Say, Chief, I’ll be all right. I don’t need any doc. Head’s clear as a bell now.”

“That’s fine, Jerry. But you’ll see a doctor anyway and have X-rays. We’re taking no chances.”

“Then at least let me go back to Riverview,” Jerry grumbled. “I don’t want to be stuck in any hick town hospital.”

“If you feel equal to the trip, I guess we can grant you that much. You seem to be all right, but I want to make sure. Can’t take chances on the paper being sued later on, you know.”

“Oh, I get the idea,” said Jerry with a grimace. “Thinking of the old cash register, as usual.”

Penny drew a deep sigh of relief. If Jerry were able to make jokes he couldn’t be seriously injured. She still felt weak from the fright she had received.

“The police will find those men who attacked you,” she told him. “I hope they’re put in prison for life, too!”

“The police?” Jerry repeated. He stared up into Mr. Parker’s face. “Say, Chief, you’re not aiming to spill the story, are you?”

“I was.”

“But see here, if you notify the police, we’ll show our hand to the rival paper. If we keep this dark we could do our own investigating, and maybe land a big scoop.”

“Justice is more important than a scoop, Jerry,” returned Mr. Parker. “If those men had anything to do with Atherwald’s disappearance, and it looks as if they did, then we are duty bound to hand our clues over to the police. By trying to handle it alone, we might let them escape.”

“Guess maybe you’re right at that,” Jerry acknowledged.

As she saw that the reporter was rapidly recovering strength, Penny left him to the care of her father and went forward to speak with Harry Griffith.

“Where are we now?” she inquired.

“Just comin’ to the Kippenberg estate,” he told her.

“Only that far? We don’t seem to be making very fast time.”

“We’re buckin’ the current, Miss. And there’s a right stiff wind blowing.”

She had not noticed the wind before or how overcast the sky had become. One could not see many yards in advance of the boat.

Ahead loomed the drawbridge in open position as usual. But Penny could not see the red lantern which she had noticed upon the trip down. Had the light been blown out by the wind?

In any case, it would not greatly matter, she reflected. Few cars traveled the private road. And any person who came that way would likely know about the bridge.

And then, above the steady hum of the motor boat engine, Penny heard another roar which steadily increased in intensity. A car was coming down the road at great speed!

“The lantern must be there,” Penny thought. “It’s probably hidden by a tree or the high bank. Of course it’s there.”

She listened with a growing tension. The car was not slowing down. Even Harry Griffith turned his head to gaze toward the entrance ramp of the drawbridge.

It was all over in an instant. A scream of brakes, a loud splintering of the wooden barrier. The speeding automobile struck the side of the steel bridge, spun sideways and careened down the bank to bury itself in the water.

CHAPTER 19

A DARING RESCUE

Those in the motor boat who had witnessed the disaster were too horrified to speak. They could see the top of the car rising above the water into which it had fallen, but there was no sign of the unfortunate driver or other possible occupants.

Penny began to kick off her shoes.

“No!” shouted her father, divining her purpose. “No! It’s too dangerous!”

Penny did not heed for she knew that if the persons in the car were to be saved it must be by her efforts. Her father could not swim well and Harry Griffith was needed at the wheel of the motor boat.

Scrambling to the gunwale, the girl dived into the water. She could see nothing. Groping her way to the overturned coupe, she grasped a door handle and turned it. All her strength was required to pull the door open. Her breath was growing short now. She worked faster, with frantic haste.

A hand clutched her own. Before she could protect herself she felt the man upon her, clawing, fighting, trying to climb her shoulders, upward to the blessed air.

His grasp was loose. Penny ducked out of it but held fast to his hand. She braced her feet against the body of the car and pushed. They both shot upward to the surface.

Griffith and her father lifted the man out of the water into the motor boat.

“Have to go down again,” Penny gasped. “There may be others.”

She dived once more, doubling herself into a tight ball, and giving a quick, upthrust of her feet which sent her straight to the bottom. She swam into the car and groped about on the seat and floor. Finding no bodies, she quickly shot to the surface again. Her father pulled her over the side, saying curtly: “Good work, Penny.”

The victim she had saved seemed little the worse for his ducking. With Griffith’s help he had divested himself of his heavy coat and was wringing it out.

Penny had obtained no clear view of the man, nor did she ever, for just at that moment, Jerry raised himself to a sitting position. He stared at the bedraggled one and pointed an accusing finger.

“That’s the fellow!” he cried in an excited voice. “The one I was telling you about—”

The man took one look at Jerry and gazed quickly about. By this time the motor boat had drifted close to shore. Before anyone could make a move to stop him, the man hurled himself overboard. He landed on his feet in shallow water. Splashing through to the shore, he scuttled up the steep bank and disappeared in the darkness.

“Don’t let him get away!” shouted Jerry. “He’s the same fellow I saw in the woods!”

“You’re certain?” asked Mr. Parker doubtfully.

“Of course! If you think I’m out of my head now, you’re the one who’s crazy! It’s the same fellow! Oh, if I could get out of this boat!”

Griffith brought the craft to shore. “I’ll see if I can overtake him,” he said, “but he’s probably deep in the woods by this time.”

The boatman was a heavy-set man, slow on his feet. Penny and her father were not surprised when he came back twenty minutes later to report he had been unable to pick up the trail.

“The overturned car may offer a clue to his identity,”Mr. Parker said, as they started up the river once more. “The police will be able to check the license plates.”

“I wonder what the man was doing at the estate?”Penny mused.

She groped her way toward the cabin, thinking that she would divest herself of some of her wet garments. Suddenly she stopped short.

“Dad, that fellow took off his coat!” she exclaimed. “He must have left it behind!”

“It’s somewhere on the floor,” Harry Griffith called to her.

Penny found the sodden garment lying almost at her feet. She straightened it out and searched the pockets. Her father moved over to her side.

“Any clues?” he asked.

Penny took out a water-soaked handkerchief, a key ring and a plain white envelope.

“That may be something!” exclaimed Mr. Parker. “Handle it carefully so it doesn’t tear.”

They carried the articles into the cabin. Mr. Parker turned on the light and took the envelope from his daughter’s hand. They were both elated to see that another paper was contained inside.

Mr. Parker tore off the envelope and flattened the letter on the table beneath the light. The ink had blurred but nearly all of the words could still be made out. There was no heading, merely the initials: “J. J. K.”

“Could that mean James Kippenberg?” Penny asked.

The message was brief. Mr. Parker read it aloud.

“Better come through or your fate will be the same as Atherwald’s. We give you twenty-four hours to think it over.”

“How strange!” Penny exclaimed. “That man I pulled out of the water couldn’t have been James Kippenberg!”

“Not likely, Penny. My guess would be that he had been sent here to deliver this warning note. Being unfamiliar with the road, and not knowing about the dangerous drawbridge, he crashed through.”

“But James Kippenberg isn’t supposed to be at the estate,” Penny argued. “It doesn’t make sense at all.”

“This much is clear, Penny. Jerry saw the man talking with the two seamen, and they all appear to be mixed up in Grant Atherwald’s disappearance. We’ll print what we’ve learned, and let the police figure out the rest.”

“Dad, this story is developing into something big, isn’t it?”

He nodded as he moved a swinging light bulb slowly over the paper, hastening the drying process.

“After the next issue of the
Star
is printed, every paper in the state will send their men here. But we’re out ahead, and when the big break comes, we may get that first, too.”

“Oh, Dad, if only we can!”

“Count yourself out of the case from now on, young lady,” he said severely. “You scared the wits out of me tonight, risking your life to save that no-good. Now shed those wet clothes before you come down with pneumonia.”

He tossed her an overcoat, a sweater and a crumpled pair of slacks which Griffith had found under one of the boat seats. Leaving the cabin, he closed the door behind him.

Penny did not change her clothes at once. Instead, she sat down at the table, studying the warning message.

“‘Better come through,’” she read aloud. “Does that mean Kippenberg is supposed to pay money? And what fate did Atherwald meet?”

CHAPTER 20

AN IMPORTANT INTERVIEW

Those same questions were pounding through Penny’s mind the next morning when she read the first edition of her father’s paper. Propped up in bed with pillows, she perused the story as she nibbled at the buttered muffins on her breakfast tray.

“Is there anything else you would like?” Mrs. Weems inquired, hovering near.

“No, I’m quite all right,” smiled Penny. “Not even a head cold after my ducking. Have you heard about Jerry?”

“Your father said he was doing fine.”

“Did he leave any message for me before going to the office?”

“He said he thought you should stay in bed all day.”

“Dad would,” Penny pouted. “Well, I feel just fine. I’m getting up right away.” She heaved aside the bed clothes.

Then, because she couldn’t get the Kippenberg case out of her head, she dressed quickly and went downstairs. She was going out the front door when Mrs. Weems stopped her.

“Now where are you going, Penny?”

Penny’s bright eyes twinkled and she flashed the housekeeper an arch, provocative smile.

“Not sure just where I’m going,” she replied, her smooth forehead creasing with thought. “But if Dad should get curious, you can tell him he shouldn’t be surprised if he finds me visiting with the Kippenbergs.”

“Penny! You’re not going there again?”

“Why not? I’m after a story for the
Riverview Star
and I mean to get it. See you later.”

With a wave of her hand Penny walked jauntily off. A few moments later Mrs. Weems heard the clatter of Penny’s Leaping Lena careening down the street in the direction of Corbin. First, however, she called for her chum, Louise, who was eager to accompany her on the long ride.

“I won’t be able to stay long, Penny,” said Louise. “Mother wants me to go shopping with her later this afternoon.”

“That’s all right,” responded Penny as the old car bolted along the road. “If I get delayed, you can take Leaping Lena back home, and I’ll follow later on.”

With both girls keeping up a steady run of conversation they soon reached their destination.

Penny wondered if she would be able to enter the Kippenberg estate without being challenged by the bridgeman or a servant. Her anxiety increased upon approaching the river, for she saw that a large group of persons had gathered by the drawbridge.

No one paid the slightest attention to the two girls as they abandoned the car and proceeded to the water’s edge. Penny was pleased to find the youthful boatman at his usual haunt on the river. He rowed the girls across to the estate, promising to await their return.

Penny escorted Louise through the trees to the Kippenberg house. Boldly she rang the doorbell which was answered by a butler.

“I should like to speak with Mrs. Kippenberg,” she requested.

“Madam will see no one,” began the man.

Footsteps sounded behind him in the hallway and Mrs. Kippenberg stood in the door.

“So it is you?” she asked in an icy voice. “Julius, see that this person is ejected from the grounds.”

“One moment please,” interposed Penny. “If I leave now, I warn you that certain facts will be published in the
Star
, facts which will add to your embarrassment.”