Malone found him a morose and silent companion on the way to town. The inspector in fact could not get Penelope out of his mind. He bent his mind doggedly to consideration of the next steps that should be taken. He would have to see Gertstein immediately upon his arrival in town. For in any case Mrs. Gertstein was now a fugitive from justice. She had tried to murder him. She would have to be run down for that, and whatever her husband’s attitude was, she would certainly have to be charged with forgery, although Labar could foresee trouble about that, when he came to tell of the circumstances of her admission to him. A dour smile broke upon his features as he reflected that this woman was likely to be an even greater embarrassment to Larry Hughes than she was to him.

“I guess Larry will find her a difficult proposition to handle,” he said aloud.

“Who? What?” demanded Malone, who had been dozing in a corner of the compartment, after his vain attempts to lure his chief into conversation.