_The Search for the Thief_
For the first time in her life, Linda Carlton was thankful that
her father was not at home. He would object to her calling Ted at
the hospital, but now it was impossible to ask his permission.
Nevertheless, she was trembling when she took off the receiver and gave
the hospital's number.
"Mr. Mackay left last night," the attendant told her, "to go to his
home. He was very much better."
"Oh!" exclaimed Linda, hopefully. That was good news indeed. But she
wanted to learn more.
"Would it be possible for me to talk to his nurse?" she inquired. "I
really have something important to ask."
The attendant hesitated; it was not their custom to call nurses from
their duties to answer inquiries about their patients. But Linda's
voice was so eager that the man decided for once to waive the rule.
"If you will hold the line a minute," he said, "I will see whether she
is busy. You don't know which nurse it was?"
"No. Probably one of the ward nurses."
Linda was forced to wait several minutes, but in the end she was
rewarded. A cheerful girl's voice informed her that its owner had taken
charge of Ted Mackay while he was at the hospital.
"But are you a friend or an enemy of Mr. Mackay, Miss----?" she
inquired, cautiously. "Carlton is my name," answered Linda. "And I am a
friend."
"I'm glad to hear that. Mr. Mackay is such a nice boy that it is a
shame he has to have enemies.... Now, what can I do for you?"
"Tell me what you know of his story," replied Linda. "You see I only
know that he was shot and that his enemies are trying to connect him
with a thief who stole a valuable necklace. I know it can't be true. It
just can't!" She was talking rapidly, excitedly. "I knew if I could see
him he could explain everything. But he's gone!"
"Yes, he went home last night. To his mother's. But I can tell you
the facts, for he told me the whole story. He was piloting another
plane--for his company--and spotted a wreck. It proved to be this
thief, who evidently wasn't hurt by the crash, and so shot Mr. Mackay
and made off in his new plane. It seems perfectly simple to me. I don't
see how anybody could possibly accuse Mr. Mackay, when he was actually
wounded himself."
"How does his company feel about it?" asked Linda.
"Same as we do. He is to go back to his job in a day or two, as soon as
he feels rested."
"Thank goodness!" cried Linda. "Then everything is O.K. Oh, you can't
know how thankful I am! And so grateful to you!"
"You're entirely welcome," concluded the young nurse, pleased to have
been of some help.
Linda began to sing as she replaced the receiver, and she went out
on the porch in search of her aunt. She just had to tell somebody
about Ted's innocence, and the weight which had been taken from her
heart at the nurse's reassuring words. Miss Carlton had not heard any
particulars about the story; indeed she scarcely knew who Ted Mackay
was. So, omitting the parachute jump, Linda began at the beginning and
related everything she knew about him, since that day last April when
she had met him at the Red Cross Fair, and he had promised to take her
up in an airplane.
"And you don't think he's wicked, just because his father is, do you,
Aunt Emily?" she asked, anxiously.
"No, of course not, dear. It wouldn't be fair to jump to any such
conclusion as that. Every human being has a right to be judged on his
own merits--not his parents'."
"That's what I think," agreed Linda. "But Daddy says----"
"Hello, everybody!" interrupted a gay young voice from the hedge in
front of the bungalow, and, turning about, Linda saw Ralph Clavering
striding up the path.
"Hello!" she answered, trying to make her voice cordial. Such a
handsome boy, so charming--why did he have to be so unfair to Ted? Poor
Ted, who had never had one-tenth of Ralph's advantages!
"I've got news!" he cried, as he took the steps two at a time, and
swung into a chair.
"About the necklace?" demanded Miss Carlton, immediately.
"Yes. From our detectives. They have spotted a gas-station that sold
a can of gasoline to a red-headed fellow who said he wanted it for an
airplane."
"Really, Ralph!" exclaimed Linda, scornfully. "You don't call that
news, do you? There must be plenty of red-haired pilots in our part of
the country."
"I know. But that isn't all. This agent carried the gas over in his car
to a field where the plane was waiting, and he says there was another
chap in it who answered the description of our thief."
"Was the plane a Waco?" questioned Linda, keenly.
"The fellow wasn't sure, but when Greer described it, he thought it
was."
"And is that all?" Miss Carlton's tone showed disappointment.
"'Is that all?'" repeated Ralph, in amazement. "Why, that's plenty!"
"I don't see how that will help you to catch your thief," remarked the
woman.
"But it will! Greer has telephoned the hospital, and located Mackay
today. If he really has gone home, as he said, and hasn't run away,
he'll be put through a third degree that'll make him tell where the
thief is hiding. Because he must be hiding. He couldn't go very far on
the gas in that plane, and all the airports and gasoline stations have
been warned to watch out for him."
Linda's eyes were blazing with anger. How could Ralph be so prejudiced,
so cruel?
"But Ted doesn't know any more about that thief than we do!" she
protested, vehemently. "I talked with his nurse this morning--and she
knew all about it. Ted met that thief by accident!"
"By accident is right," remarked Ralph, with a scornful smile. "But
never mind, Linda--don't you worry about it any more. Let's talk about
the masque ball tonight. You're going with me, aren't you?"
"I certainly am not!" announced the girl, haughtily. "I wouldn't go
with anybody who could be so unfair----".
"Children!" interrupted Miss Carlton, distressed at their inclination
to quarrel. She had been so happy about the friendship between Ralph
and Linda--it was eminently right! When her niece did decide to get
married--though she hoped such an event was still far off--she couldn't
imagine any young man who would suit her so well as Ralph Clavering.
Such family! Such social position! And plenty of money! For Miss
Carlton was always afraid that sometime her brother might lose his.
He was so careless about it, he spent it so recklessly upon both his
sister and his daughter. And, though the older woman had enough of her
own securely invested in bonds to take care of her old age, she feared
for Linda. Educated as she had been at that expensive private school,
she was in no way trained to earn a living. She did not dream that
Linda would be only too delighted to go into aviation as if she were a
boy on her own responsibility--like Ted Mackay!
"If I admit I'm jealous of Redhead, and say I'm sorry," conceded Ralph,
"will you forgive me and go to the dance with me tonight?"
His beautiful dark eyes were pleading, and for a moment Linda almost
weakened, thinking of all their experiences together, and especially
that moment when they both had thought they were so happy, in regaining
the box that supposedly held the necklace. But she remembered Ted, and
the cruel gruelling he would be subjected to very soon, because of
Ralph's suspicions, and she closed her lips tightly.
"Not unless you promise to call off your detectives from Ted Mackay,"
she pronounced, firmly.
"But I can't do that--couldn't now, even if I wanted to. It's too late."
"Then I'm not going to the party with you."
"But Linda, dear," put in Miss Carlton, going towards the screen door
in her embarrassment at being a witness to the quarrel, "it's too late
to arrange to go with anybody else. All the other girls already have
their partners!"
"I'll go with you, Auntie!" replied the girl, complacently. "Lots of
girls go with their parents."
"Very well," agreed her aunt, disappearing into the living-room, with
the unpleasant thought that it was only the unpopular girls who were
forced into such a situation.
As soon as she had gone, Ralph came over to Linda's chair. But he was
afraid to touch even her hand--she looked so aloof and determined.
"Linda--after all we've been to each other----" he began.
She stood up, holding her head high.
"I think you'll have to excuse me, Ralph," she said. "I'm very busy."
"All right," he returned, sullenly. "Have it your own way, then! I'll
get Louise to go with me."
"Very well. Good-by." Her tone was icy; she did not even offer to shake
hands with him.
Ralph turned and hurried down the steps, angry at himself for pleading
so hard, angrier at her for being so cold. No girl ever thought of
treating him--Ralph Clavering--like that before! The very idea! Most
young ladies would be only too delighted at his invitation! And all for
the sake of a penniless, dishonest, red-headed pilot! For Ralph had not
yet learned that there were some things which he could not buy with his
father's millions.
So he strode to the nearest telephone booth, and called Louise Haydock
who, although she was flattered by the invitation, did not immediately
accept. She had already promised Harriman Smith, and she so informed
Ralph.
"Well, there isn't any law that says a girl can't go with two men, is
there?" he demanded. "If she happens to be popular enough! Can't we all
three go together?"
"Why aren't you going with Linda?" inquired Louise, shrewdly.
"We've quarreled," he admitted.
"Then make it up!" she advised. "Pull yourself together, Ralph--and
apologize."
"I tried to, but it was no good. No, we're off!"
"Then Linda hasn't any partner?"
"She says she's going with her aunt," muttered Ralph.
"Oh, that won't do!" exclaimed Louise. "Wait, Ralph, I'll fix
everything. I'll get Harry to take Linda--he's crazy about her
anyhow--and then I'll go with you."
"O.K., Lou. You're the little sport!"
"And fixer," added the girl, to herself, as she bade Ralph good-by, and
called first Harry and then Miss Carlton.
Louise's suggestion seemed like an act of Providence to the older
woman; it would have been mortifying indeed to her to have Linda appear
at the ball without a masculine escort, as if the girl were a mere
wallflower. Harriman Smith had been most agreeable about the whole
arrangement; anything Louise decided suited him, he told her. And
Linda, too, was delighted with the news.
She came out of her bedroom while her aunt was talking on the
telephone, dressed in her flyer's suit.
"Where are you going dear?" inquired Miss Carlton, in anxious surprise.
"I'm going scouting," explained Linda. "I think I'll fly around--pretty
low--and look for wrecks. I have a hunch that that thief has smashed
his plane by now. He was such a poor pilot, you know I told you."
"Well, be careful," cautioned her aunt. "But so long as you fly low, I
won't worry."
Linda smiled to herself. If Aunt Emily only realized how infinitely
more dangerous it was to fly low than high!
She found her Pursuit in perfect condition, and had it taken to the
runway, where she taxied off without the least difficulty. She climbed
to about fifteen hundred feet, and flew over past the hospital and the
field where the Waco had been smashed. Then she carefully came lower,
using her glasses to watch the ground as she flew.
The country was open--there were no buildings and few trees, so she
felt safe in keeping within sight of the ground. She was flying along
confidently, when suddenly a long pole seemed almost on top of her.
Swerving sharply upward, she just avoided striking some wires that the
pole was supporting.
"Oh!" she gasped. "What a lucky break! Suppose I hadn't had a foolproof
plane!" For she knew that her Arrow had been designed especially for
amateurs like herself.
"Crazy of me to fly so near to the ground!" she exclaimed, in
self-contempt. "After all the warnings I've had! I deserve a crash!"
And she continued to climb upward to safety.
As she flew onward, steadying her thoughts, she decided that it was
senseless to try to hunt the thief with a plane. If she wanted to look
for him it would be much more reasonable to use her car--or to hike. So
she abandoned that project entirely.
But as she continued her flight towards Green Falls, it suddenly
occurred to her that she might help Ted in another way. She could
establish his alibi for him--by means of his company! That red-haired
man that the agent claimed he saw with the thief couldn't have
been Ted, and she would take means of proving it. Then, if Ralph's
detectives insisted upon throwing him into prison, there would be a way
to have him released.
So she flew back to the airport, confident that her morning had not
been entirely wasted, and, to her aunt's relief, she arrived home in
time for lunch.