The Clock Strikes Thirteen Part 19

"I'll ask him not to print the story," Penny promised, none too pleased by the request. "I do hope Adelle is found soon."

She could not help feeling that the inst.i.tution officials seemed far more worried about the prospect of unfavorable publicity than over the missing child's welfare. Saying goodbye to Miss Anderson, she sought her father who was reading in the library.

"Penny, you know I don't like to grant such favors," Mr. Parker frowned when the conversation was repeated to him. "As a matter of principle, it never pays to withhold information unless the telling will harm innocent persons."

"In this case, it will damage the inst.i.tution," Penny argued quietly.

"Besides, I feel more or less responsible. What started out as a nice little party for the orphans, ended in a regular brawl. It was planned primarily for Adelle and then she ran away because she wasn't permitted to attend."

Starting at the very beginning, Penny told her father everything that had happened during the night. The tale was one of absorbing interest to Mr.

Parker. When she had finished, he said:

"Don't worry about the affair, Penny. I am as interested in the Riverview Camp fund as you are. We'll give the inst.i.tution no unfavorable publicity."

"Oh, thanks, Dad!" she cried gratefully, wrapping her arms about his neck. "You're just grand!"

"Weak as water, you mean," he corrected with a chuckle. "By the way, I suppose you know that your friend Blake has been named to the Camp Fund board."

"No!" Penny exclaimed. "How did that happen?"

"He hinted to Mrs. Van Cleve that he would like to serve. Naturally, after his handsome donation, she couldn't refuse."

"Why do you suppose Mr. Blake has taken such a sudden interest in the Home?"

"I wonder myself. I've thought from the first that he's up to something.

So far I've not been able to figure out his little game."

"Well, you're on the board too," Penny declared, undisturbed. "If he starts any monkey business you can put a quick stop to it."

"I fear you overestimate my talents," Mr. Parker responded. "However, I do intend to see that Blake doesn't profit too much by his donation."

The hour was late and Penny soon went to bed. Disturbed by Adelle's disappearance, she did not sleep well. Arising early, she telephoned the Orphans' Home, hoping to learn that the child had been found. No such good news awaited her.

"Searchers have looked everywhere between here and the Davis farm," Miss Anderson revealed. "Unless the child is found by noon, it will be necessary to broadcast a general alarm. And that's certain to bring unfavorable attention to the Home."

"Is there any chance she could have been kidnaped?" Penny asked thoughtfully.

"Not the slightest," was the prompt reply. "Adelle took most of her clothes with her. It's a plain case of a runaway, but most annoying at this time."

Penny ate a hasty breakfast, and then remembering her appointment with Jerry, drove to the Holloway Cooperative. The buildings were of modern concrete construction, located three and a half miles from Riverview in the heart of the truck farming district.

Jerry Livingston had not yet arrived, so Penny waited in the car. Soon his coupe swung into the drive and pulled up alongside Leaping Lena.

"Sorry to be late," he apologized. "I was held up at the office."

Knowing that her father would have told Jerry about Adelle's disappearance, Penny inquired regarding the latest news.

"So far there's not a trace of the child," the reporter answered. "Your father's sore at himself for promising not to carry the story. It may develop into something big."

Penny walked beside Jerry to the entrance of the cooperative plant.

"No one seems to worry much about Adelle," she remarked. "The inst.i.tution people are afraid of unfavorable publicity, Dad's alarmed about his story, while you and I are just plain indifferent."

"I'm not indifferent," Jerry denied. "In a way I feel responsible for that kid. But what can we do?"

"Nothing, I guess," acknowledged Penny unwillingly. "Miss Anderson said they had enough searchers."

Opening the door of the building, they stepped into a huge room which hummed with activity. Girls in uniforms stood at long tables inspecting melons which moved on an endless belt arrangement before them. Sorted as to quality and size, each cantaloupe was stamped and packed in a crate which was then borne away.

"Hank Holloway around here?" Jerry asked one of the workers.

"Over there," the girl responded, pointing to a burly, red-faced man who stood at the opposite end of the room.

Jerry and Penny approached the manager of the cooperative.

"Good morning," the man said gruffly, gazing at them critically. "What can I do for you?"

"We're from the _Star_," Jerry informed. "Do you mind answering a few questions?"

"I'm pretty busy," Hank Holloway responded, frowning. "What do you want to know?"

"There's a rumor going the rounds that this cooperative has been forcing farmers to market their melons through your organization."

"It's a lie!" the manager retorted. "Why they come here begging us to take their stuff! We get better prices than anyone in this section of the state, and we pa.s.s the profit right back to the farmers."

"How do you account for the depredation that's been going on around here lately? Who would you say is behind it?"

"What d'you mean, depredation?" Hank Holloway demanded.

"The destruction of the Preston barn just as their melons were ready for market. Then last night a truck of cantaloupes was stolen from the Davis place."

"That so?" the manager asked. "Hadn't heard about it. Clem Davis always was a worthless, no-good. It wouldn't surprise me that he covered his harvest with plenty of insurance, and then arranged the s.n.a.t.c.h so he could collect."

"That hardly seems reasonable," Jerry said dryly.

"You asked for my opinion and I'm giving it to you. The Davis melons were so inferior we wouldn't handle them at the cooperative."

"Why, I thought their cantaloupes were particularly fine ones!" Penny protested.

"I don't know what you two are trying to get at!" Hank Holloway said with sudden anger. "The Cooperative does business in a fair and square way.

Our books are open for inspection at any time. Now you'll have to excuse me, for I've got work to do."

With a curt nod, he turned away.

Penny and Jerry wandered about the room for a few minutes, watching the packers. They did not much blame Hank Holloway for showing irritation.

Their questions had been very pointed and the man had immediately guessed that their purpose was to uncover facts detrimental to the Cooperative.

"We learned about as much as I expected to," Jerry said with a shrug, as he and Penny finally left the building. "Naturally one couldn't hope he'd break down and confess all."

"What did you really think of him, Jerry?"