Penny Nichols Finds a Clue Part 30

Brunner entered the shop and Penny settled herself to wait. An hour pa.s.sed. It began to grow dark.

"I really should telephone Mrs. Gallup that I'll be late for supper,"

Penny reflected. "Either that or I should give up this silly chase and go home."

In her heart she did not really think that it was silly. The conviction had steadily grown in her mind that in some way the garage owner was involved with Jerry Barrows and others in a questionable business activity.

Noticing a drug store nearby, she stepped inside to telephone her home.

After several rings, the operator informed her that no one answered.

"Mrs. Gallup must have been detained," Penny thought. "I'll not need to hurry home now."

As she was leaving the drug store, the door of the tire shop on the opposite side of the street opened and George Brunner emerged. Penny hastily dodged back into the doorway to avoid being seen.

Brunner walked directly to his car, preparing to depart. Before he could start the motor, the owner of the shop came running after him.

It was the same man who had spoken so harshly to Penny upon her previous visit.

The two men conversed in low tones for several minutes, but as they became more excited, their voices grew louder.

"It's too dangerous I tell you," she heard the owner of the tire shop say. "The police are getting wise. And only a day or so ago Nichols sent his daughter around here to spy."

"I'll deal with her," Brunner promised. "She's getting too curious for her own good."

"After tonight I'm through," the other insisted. "The little I make isn't worth the risk I take."

Penny could not hear Brunner's reply. He seemed to be arguing with the tire shop owner. She felt elated and excited at the information she had gleaned.

_After tonight_! The words burned into her mind. What coup were the two men planning for that evening? If only she might learn!

Could it be that Brunner was involved in the auto accessory thefts? It was generally believed that the disreputable owner of the tire shop made a practice of receiving stolen goods. Why then, should a man in Brunner's position stoop to have dealings with such a person unless he too were guilty?

The evidence against the two was purely circ.u.mstantial, that Penny plainly realized. It seemed ridiculous to connect Brunner with the underworld and yet the very fact that no suspicion had ever been attached to him offered a measure of safety for his dishonorable activities.

"Dad warned me that one must move cautiously in trying to gather evidence against influential citizens," Penny reasoned. "Yet, if I wait until I can talk it over with him, it may be too late."

Brunner's automobile was moving away from the curbing. Penny did not have a minute to debate. The instant that the tire shop owner vanished inside his store, she darted to her own car.

Already Brunner was far up the street, but by speeding she managed to approach close enough to keep him within sight.

"Perhaps I'd better take Joe into my confidence," she thought a trifle uneasily. "There's no telling where this chase may end."

She glanced back, but the detective's familiar black coupe was not in view. Nor did she see it when she looked again a few blocks farther on.

"I've lost him somewhere," she told herself in annoyance. "If that isn't my luck! Just when I might have used him to advantage!"

Penny soon discovered that George Brunner was returning to his own garage. As he drove into the building she drew up at the curbing, puzzled as to how she could shadow him further.

Then it occurred to her that she was directly opposite her father's office. From there it would be a simple matter to keep watch of the Brunner garage without attracting attention to her own actions.

Before taking up her station in the little room high above the street, Penny fortified herself with several sandwiches and a bottle of milk purchased at a cafe nearby. Then she was ready for her vigil.

An hour pa.s.sed and nothing happened. There was little activity at the Brunner garage. Several motorists stopped at the red pump for gasoline, but that was all.

"Perhaps my hunch was wrong," Penny thought as she grew tired of waiting. "I really haven't much reason for being suspicious of Brunner."

After a time she used her father's telephone to call home. No one answered. Obviously, Mrs. Gallup had not returned.

"I wonder what detained her," Penny mused. "It isn't like her to stay away."

She remained at her seat by the window. Several times she was tempted to pick up a magazine and read for a few minutes. She resisted the impulse, remembering that she had heard her father say that a good investigator never took his eye from the place or person he was watching.

Another hour dragged by. Penny grew tired and bored. It was a warm night and the tiny room had become oppressive.

"I'll wait a little while longer," she decided.

Penny ate the last of her sandwiches and wished that she had bought coffee instead of milk. It would have helped her to stay awake.

Suddenly she became alert. A man stood in the doorway of the Brunner garage alley entrance. She did not need her father's field gla.s.s to see that it was the manager. He looked at his watch, then cast a glance up and down the street.

Penny studied her own wrist watch. It was exactly ten o'clock.

A garage service car rolled swiftly down the street. It swerved into the alley.

Simultaneously, Brunner swung wide the rear doors of the garage. The truck drove in, but not before Penny had riveted her eyes upon the license number.

At sight of the last three figures, her heart leaped. The numbers--684--were identical with those she had noted upon the license of the service car at the Big Dipper!

CHAPTER XVII

Under the Canvas

"It begins to look as if my hunch might be correct," Penny told herself. "Unless that truck merely drove into the garage for gasoline or service, things look suspicious!"

She saw Brunner follow the car into the building, carefully closing the doors.

"If everything is honest and above board, why did they use the alley entrance when the other one is far more convenient?" she reflected.

"Obviously, Brunner knew the car was coming at exactly ten o'clock too."

Convinced that she was on the verge of important discoveries, Penny settled herself for a long wait. From her chair by the window she could watch both the alley and the main entrance.

A half hour elapsed, then another. At length Penny's patience was rewarded. The alley doors swung open and a heavy truck which was covered over with a canvas top, emerged. The driver wore a cap and his head was bent low. In the semi-darkness of the dimly lighted street Penny could not catch even a glimpse of his face.

"I must follow that truck!" she thought tensely. "If Dad were here he would do it I feel sure! It's the only chance to gain real evidence!"

She waited at the window only long enough to see that the car had turned down Center Avenue. Scribbling a brief message to her father explaining what she intended to do, she left the note where he would find it in the event he returned to the office that night. Then she raced to the street.