Signal in the Dark Part 38

"Which may be too late."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the _Mirror_ editor bl.u.s.tered.

"Furthermore, I'm not interested. Get out of my way."

Instead, Mr. Parker grasped him firmly by the arm. Cordell tried to jerk free, and in so doing, dropped his brief case, which Penny promptly seized.

"Give that to me!" the man shouted furiously.

Penny smiled, for through the plate gla.s.s window she had observed the approach of a police car. Another moment and uniformed men were swarming about Mr. Cordell.

"What is the meaning of this?" the man demanded angrily. "I'll report you all to the Safety Director who is my friend!"

"You'll report to him all right," agreed Captain Bricker. "Now come along quietly. If you can answer a few questions satisfactorily, you'll be allowed to return home."

"What do you want to know?" Cordell asked sullenly.

"Where were you on the night of the 16th?"

"Now how should I know?" the man retorted sarcastically. "I can't remember that far back. But probably I was home in bed."

"You're wanted in connection with the Conway dynamiting," the officer informed him.

Mr. Cordell snorted with anger. "Of all the ridiculous charges! I know nothing about the affair."

Out of the door burst Salt Sommers. He was without a hat, but he carried a picture, still wet, in the palm of his hand.

"So you know nothing about the dynamiting," he mimicked. "Well, gentlemen, take a look at this!"

Mr. Cordell and the policemen gathered about him, studying the photograph. Plainly it showed Webb Nelson fleeing toward a car driven by the _Mirror_ editor.

"What does this prove?" the man bl.u.s.tered. "I admit the car is mine. I was driving past the plant at the time of the explosion. This fellow, Nelson, leaped into my auto and ordered me to drive on."

"A moment ago you claimed you weren't even near the Conway Plant," Penny tripped him. "You knew Webb Nelson very well. Furthermore, you entered the _Star_ offices several times trying to get your hands on this picture!"

"Ridiculous!"

"At least once when you found the stairway door locked, you went in through the skylight," Penny accused.

"Of all the crazy ideas!" The editor laughed jeeringly. "Imagine me crawling through a skylight!"

"I notice your coat has a torn place," Penny said, taking a sc.r.a.p of blue wool from her purse. "This, I believe, is a perfect match."

Mr. Cordell gazed at the wool and shrugged. "All right," he admitted coolly. "I did crawl through the skylight twice to see if I could find the picture. I knew this fool photographer had snapped a picture of me, and I feared I might be falsely accused."

"Then you knew Nelson was mixed up in the dynamiting?" Captain Bricker questioned.

"I wasn't certain," Mr. Cordell said in confusion. "The reason I didn't report to the police was that I was afraid of being involved. After that night, Webb Nelson tried to blackmail me. Because of my position, I dared have no publicity."

The _Mirror_ editor's explanation carried a certain amount of conviction, and Penny was dismayed to hear Captain Bricker a.s.sure him that if a mistake had been made he would be granted freedom immediately after he had talked to the police chief.

"I shall accompany you without protest," the _Mirror_ editor returned stiffly. "Later I shall file charges against those who have tried to damage my character."

Captain Bricker asked Salt for the picture which he intended to take to police headquarters.

"May I see it a moment?" Penny requested.

He gave the picture to her. She studied it and her face brightened.

"Captain Bricker, look at this!" she exclaimed, pointing to an object in the car which barely was noticeable.

Everyone gathered about Penny, peering at the photograph. On the rear seat of the car driven by Mr. Cordell was a box which plainly bore the printing: "Salvage Company--Explosives."

"Ed McClusky who works for the Salvage Company, told me that dynamite had been stolen from his firm," Penny declared. "And here it is in Mr.

Cordell's automobile! Apparently, he wasn't just driving by the plant at the time of the explosion! This picture proves why he was there!"

"Right you are, young lady," chuckled Captain Bricker. "You've pinned the goods on him for fair." Prodding the _Mirror_ editor with his stick, he ordered curtly: "Get along, you! This puts a different face on it. You'll be spending the rest of the night in the Safety building."

After Mr. Cordell, still protesting his innocence, had been taken away, Penny, her father, and Salt returned to the deserted newspaper building.

"Will Cordell manage to get free?" she asked anxiously.

"Not a chance of it," Mr. Parker answered. "That picture tags him right.

With Ed McClusky and Ben to testify against him, he's the same as convicted now."

"Speaking of Ben, what's to be done about him, Dad?"

"We'll give him a job here. He's had unfair treatment, but we'll make it up to him. However, we'll have to let one employee go."

"Not me?" Penny asked anxiously.

"No," her father laughed. "It's your friend, Elda Hunt. Her att.i.tude isn't right. We've tried to give her a chance, but over and over she has demonstrated that she isn't cut out to be a newspaper woman."

"She'll probably blame me for her discharge," Penny sighed. "Not that it matters. I ceased worrying about Elda a long while ago."

"She'll have no difficulty getting work elsewhere, and I hope she'll be better adjusted."

"How about the story of Mr. Cordell's arrest? And the picture?" Penny inquired. "Will the _Star_ print them tomorrow?"

"On the front page of our first edition," Mr. Parker chuckled. "Salt didn't turn over the plate to the police, so we're all set. By morning, the story should be bigger and better than ever. By then, the guilt will be well pinned on Cordell, and some of the _Snark_ gang may have been rounded up."

Curious to learn the very latest details, Salt called the police station.

He was told that Ben Bartell had identified several of the _Snark's_ crew from police pictures, and it was expected all would be arrested within twenty-four hours.

"Not a bad night's work," Mr. Parker chuckled, as he snapped off the photography room lights. "Everything locked?"

"How about the skylight?" asked Penny.

"Open again," reported Salt as he checked it. "It's just no use trying to get folks to cooperate around here. Too many fresh air fiends."

"Let it stay unlocked," Mr. Parker directed carelessly. "With our prowler safely behind bars, we've no further cause for worry." He looked at his watch. "Now, even though it is late, suppose we go and celebrate?"