Chapter XIII: What the Pictures Revealed

“What is it?” asked Holly, taking the pictures from Judy’s hand and flipping through them. “I see you didn’t snap any beavers, just the dam and those creepy ferns and a few ripples—but what’s this?”

“You tell me what it is,” Judy replied in a bewildered voice as Holly stared at the last picture in the folder.

It had been taken in the dark. Judy had expected some surprises, but not anything like this. Neither she nor Holly had the faintest notion that they were being watched by anything but beavers. They hadn’t yet seen the table leg and yet, somehow, Judy had photographed the lady’s head so that it looked as if it had a shadowy body.

“But it’s a man’s body,” Holly objected, studying the picture more closely.

“I know. The first thing I saw was that lady’s face and it—it sort of startled me,” Judy confessed, “but now I think I can explain it.”

“You can?”

Holly seemed to think the picture was beyond explanation, and no wonder! But, peering toward the camera, was another face that Judy instantly recognized.

“That’s Danny there in the ferns,” she pointed out. “He and that—that man—”

“You mean that apparition?”

“No, it must be a man, but his face is behind that lady face as if he were wearing a mask. I started to say that he and Danny must have been there all the time I was trying to photograph beavers in the dark. Remember the noises we heard?”

Holly shivered. “I remember. Now I’m twice as scared. You can see the beaver dam right through the beavers. They don’t seem real.”

“Danny was real enough,” Judy insisted. “I told you he had a reason for watching the beaver dam, and this picture proves it. I must have taken another picture on top of it to create this curious effect of the lady’s face, but at least it will prove to Peter that the lady table leg was there.”

Holly turned the picture sideways. “I see what you mean, but it’s still spooky. You have a reputation for explaining ghosts, Judy, but this is the first time you ever took a picture of one. Danny must have known the man was there.”

“I’m sure he did,” Judy agreed. “When Horace and I questioned him he said he had to watch the beavers, but afterwards he claimed he was waiting for his father.”

“His father?” gasped Holly. “I thought he was an orphan.”

“So did I,” Judy admitted. “Now I don’t know what to think. This ghost in the picture may be the man Meta Hanley was going to marry.”

“George?”

“She did say his name was George, didn’t she? They were going to live in that house with the boarded-up windows,” Judy remembered, “and that’s where Danny said he used to live before his mother died. Afterwards, he claims, his father closed up the house and left him at the orphanage.”

“But that’s fantastic!” Holly exclaimed. “Did he know Meta Hanley was the matron?”

“I think he must have known it,” Judy replied thoughtfully as she put the folder of pictures in her pocketbook. “I want to show them to Peter before anyone else sees them,” she explained to Holly as they headed for home.

On the way they talked of the old romance and what might have happened. But it was all supposition. They weren’t sure of anything. They weren’t even sure Danny’s father was still alive.

“People don’t always tell children the truth about such things,” Judy commented gravely.

“Sometimes it’s better—”

“Not to tell the truth? I don’t think so,” Judy declared. “Some things are hard to face, but it’s better to face them. I remember when the Roulsville dam broke. Grandma fainted when she heard it. But I ran all the way to Roulsville to find out what really happened. I had to know. And it wasn’t half as bad as it could have been. We lost our homes, but we had each other, and now it begins to look as if we might recover a few of our belongings as well.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” agreed Holly. “I’d be so happy for you, Judy. It was just the other way around with me. We kept our precious old things but lost the people.”

“You have your sisters,” Judy reminded her.

“Yes, and I’m an aunt.” Holly smiled at the thought. “Bobby’s a lot of fun when I have him all to myself. He was pretending clothespins were people the other day and putting them to sleep under a blanket. I’m baby-sitting again tomorrow. What will you be doing?”

“Housework, I suppose. I’ve let it go.”

The prospect of spending a whole day cleaning house did not appeal to Judy. She brought out the vacuum cleaner as soon as Holly left and started on the living room. Blackberry glared at her through the window. He had been shut outside all the time Judy and Holly were arranging the library exhibit, and now his heartless mistress was making the house horrible with noise. The telephone rang, and Judy shut off the vacuum cleaner to answer it.

“Where have you been all day?” Horace’s voice came over the wire. “I have news—”

“You always have,” Judy interrupted teasingly.

“But this is important. The police traced the license number of that green car, and they’re sure it’s Meta Hanley’s car we saw racing through Farringdon right after Holly’s typewriter was stolen.”

“It couldn’t have been,” Judy protested. “Her car was parked in front of the Jewell sisters’ house all day while they were picking apples.”

“Where’s the orchard?” Horace wanted to know.

Judy couldn’t remember seeing any orchard. Perhaps it was just over the hill. Could the thief have borrowed Meta Hanley’s car and returned it before the three women had finished picking apples? Horace thought it was quite likely. He asked how the pictures came out.

“You’ll have to see them to believe it,” Judy told him, “but Peter gets the first look. ’Bye, Horace.”

Judy put away the vacuum cleaner and started cooking dinner. The lamb pot pie was ready just as Peter arrived home.

Blackberry came in with him. Both of them looked hungry. Judy greeted Peter and handed him the pictures.

“See what you think of them,” was all she said.

Dinner was eaten in comparative silence. Judy was bursting with curiosity, but she wanted Peter to be the first to comment on the amazing picture she had taken.

“The crust,” he finally said, taking another helping of the lamb pie, “makes it difficult for me to tell exactly what I’m eating.”

“And what does that mean?” asked Judy.

“Well, it’s the same way with that picture you took. With one face on top of the other, it’s hard to tell just who was at the beaver dam.”

“Danny was, and that is the lady table leg. I told you it was there, but that other face is hidden. I’m sorry,” Judy said.

“No need to be. Whoever it is,” declared Peter, “it answers a question that has been in my mind ever since we talked with Danny. He wasn’t alone at the beaver dam all night. Someone was with him.”

“Do you think he’ll tell you who it was?”

“He may. I’ll question him later,” Peter decided. “First I’d like to find out if anything more has been taken from the beaver dam. I’m convinced he was watching it for fear someone would break it up.”

“I agree with you,” declared Judy, “but in the picture Danny is watching the man, not the beaver dam. See the way he’s crouched among the ferns. The man, whoever he is, may not have known he was there. I thought at first it might be his father, but it was _after_ this picture was taken that he said he had to wait for his father, wasn’t it? He wouldn’t have said that if they had already met each other.”

“True,” Peter acknowledged. “Tell you what I’ll do, Angel. I’ll take this picture to the office tomorrow and have it blown up and separated. Then we’ll take a little ride out to the beaver dam—”

“You and me?” exclaimed Judy, delighted.

“I certainly wouldn’t take any other girl,” Peter replied to tease her. “Old Blackberry can come along, too. He looks as if you’d hurt his feelings.”

Judy giggled. “I used the vacuum cleaner.”

“Good! Then you won’t have any housework to do tomorrow, and we can get an early start. Bring that camera of yours along,” Peter added, his blue eyes twinkling. “Maybe this time you can photograph beavers instead of ghosts.”