Chapter 5

Friday Afternoon

They met as planned at Sirene’s house later that afternoon. Mrs. Belden was upset, but as long as everyone was together, she felt that they could go over to Sirene’s. Jim picked them up in the station wagon, because Mr. Wheeler had decided that he wanted them to stay out of the woods as much as possible, until it was discovered who was doing the shooting. Mr. Wheeler also decided to increase security around the house and in the woods closest to the house.

After they were settled in the basement of Sirene’s home, Trixie updated the others on what had happened. She assured them that Regan was going to be alright and would be home on Saturday morning.

"Why would someone be shooting that close to the house? Even if someone was poaching, wouldn’t they be deeper in the woods?" Sirene asked, puzzled.

Diana looked over to Sirene and giggled.

"What’s so funny?" Sirene asked her.

"Well, I’m the one usually asking dumb questions," she explained. "It’s nice to see someone else doing it for a changed."

"Okay, fill me in, Genius, and explain why that was a dumb question," Sirene retorted.

"No poacher would be shooting that close to the house. Obviously, someone was shooting at someone or something in the corral," Diana said, smiling.

"Oh, well, okay, so it was a dumb question. Have pity on me; this is all new to me," Sirene said somewhat bashfully.

"From what Spider said, I think they were just trying to scare someone. They shot in front of the horse. Spider was pretty sure that if they wanted to actually shoot the horse or someone in the corral, they would have. He thinks they were in a tree nearby, which gave them a pretty clear shot," Trixie explained.

"They waited until Nightrider had stopped moving, because Regan was dismounting at the time," Honey added.

"Just out of curiosity, was Tansy around?" Diana asked.

"She and Jim had just entered the corral and were walking up to Regan and Nightrider when it happened," Trixie answered.

"So, we have Tansy’s house being broken into, Mr. Marcellus wanting to buy a book from her aunt, and now someone shooting in the same area that Tansy’s in," Honey summed it up.

"We did some research this morning," Mart said. "Be’al is the main god that the druids worshipped. There isn’t much written about the druids, and the little that there is was written by outsiders and what they observed. There was nothing mentioned about the Book of Be’al, and there is no evidence that the druids themselves wrote anything down. Most of their history and religious ceremonies were orally handed down."

"So we still don’t know what’s important about this book," Trixie moaned.

"Was Tansy willing to meet with Mr. Marcellus?" Dan asked.

"Yes, she was. She’s going to see what she can pick up from him. She’ll meet with him tonight at dinner time," Honey told them.

"Where was Mr. Marcellus when all of this shooting was taking place?" Sirene asked.

"That was my first thought too," Trixie admitted. "But he was with Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler at the country club all morning."

"But his brother and his nephews weren’t," Diana pointed out.

"That’s right. They supposedly went into the city last night," Trixie said thoughtfully. "I find it interesting that Silvenus Marcellus is supposed to be here to look over Nightrider, but hasn’t even seen the horse yet."

"Yes, he has. He had a tour of the stables when he first came here on Thursday, and arrangements have been made for Dad and Mr. Marcellus to time Nightrider on Tuesday," Jim told them.

"But as for his brother and nephews, who knows for sure whether or not they really went into the city, " Honey added. "Let’s just suppose that they are the ones that searched Tansy’s place. That would mean that they probably stayed in a hotel. So they could have gone back to the hotel last night and waited around in the woods for Tansy."

"Okay, remember I’m new at this, so here is probably another dumb question, but how would they know what time Tansy would be out and about?" Sirene said.

"That’s not a dumb question," Trixie said, smiling at her. "My best guess would be that they’ve been watching her. For the last month, she’s been out there every morning around the same time with Regan."

"She’s a very strong empath. I find it hard to believe that someone has been watching her, and she didn’t pick it up," Sirene said.

"What if they were using binoculars?" Honey asked. "They could have been spying from the trees. For them to know where to shoot, I would imagine that they have been up that tree before."

"It doesn’t matter. They would still need to be on the edge of the woods to get a clear view of her in and around the stables. She should have picked them up," Sirene insisted. "Did anyone even ask her if she felt like she was being watched, or that there was something different about the feel of the woods?"

The Bob-Whites looked at each other.

"No, we never even thought to ask that," Dan said. "I guess when it comes to psychic stuff, that’s your field."

"Dan’s right. So if we need to ask certain questions, when dealing with psychics, you’re going to have to tell us what they are," Diana said.

"Well, at least I feel like I might be able to contribute something to this investigation," Sirene said.

"Actually, there is something else you could do," Honey said hesitatingly. "But I’m not sure Dan will like the idea."

"What might that be?" Sirene asked.

"I was thinking that maybe, when Mr. Kern Marcellus and his sons return, you could have dinner with us. I’m willing to bet you could get one of them to talk to you. Maybe you could confirm whether they have a hotel room in town or not," Honey said.

Sirene smiled. "Now that I can do."

"But you told us to stay away from them," Diana said, worried.

"Don’t worry about me. I can handle those guys. Mr. Silvenus Marcellus, on the other hand, is totally out of my league," Sirene said.

"I don’t doubt that you can handle them, but I’m not too sure I like the idea," Dan said, scowling.

Sirene smiled at him. "Well, if they should invite me to their hotel, I’ll be sure to bring you along."

"Now that’s a plan I can live with," Dan said, grinning.

"I just don’t get why they shot at her," Trixie said. "It’s not like they’ve talked to her yet. So it doesn’t make sense."

"Maybe they want to make her think that someone else is after the book. By scaring her, she might want to just get rid of it quickly," Honey suggested.

"There may even be another party after the book. We can’t assume that the Marcelluses are the only ones that know of the book or have tracked it to Tansy’s aunt," Jim pointed out.

"I think by finding out whether the Marcelluses have rooms at a hotel will either point the finger towards them or clear them," Diana said.

"Not really. They could have taken rooms at a hotel for other reasons," Mart said. "They may have felt they needed a place to pursue their amorous inclinations without disrespecting their host and hostess."

‘Oh, for goodness sake, Mart, no one’s going to get a hotel before they have someone to go there with," Diana said. "I believe it’s more common for the guy to make those sort of arrangements after they made their conquest."

Mart raised his eyebrow. "And may I ask why you’re so knowledgeable about amorous liaisons?"

Diana blushed. "You’re not the only one that knows how to read."

"Well, I must say that I’m very interested in what you’ve been reading lately," Mart said, grinning at her.

"I don’t care where she got the information, but I agree with her," Trixie said. "First of all, I doubt if they’ve planned on making any conquests in this small of a town, especially since there are plenty of ladies for them to find in the city, which is only an hour away. So any hanky-panky could be done there."

"So, if they have a hotel here, you can bet it’s not for that reason," Honey added.

"I still think we need to find out if the book really exists first," Brian said.

"I agree with Brian. We can’t even make an intelligent guess on what’s really happening until we find out if the book exists or if we can find Tansy’s aunt. I have to admit that I’m concerned that she’s gone missing," Jim said.

"Back to the hotel, I really only have to find out the name of the hotel, right?" Sirene asked. "If I remember right, you know the room number from the key you found."

"That’s right. Honey and I thought about calling around and asking if there were any Marcelluses signed in at the hotels, but we figured that they probably wouldn’t use their real names, " Trixie said.

"That’s true," Sirene said. "I do know one thing. I wasn’t convinced by Kern Marcellus’ disinterest in the book. His remark seemed phony to me."

"How could you tell?" Diana asked dryly. "I felt like he and his sons were phonies."

"Phonies, conceited jerks… you girls sure have come up with some charming descriptions for them," Jim said, grinning.

"What did you think? That we would fall for them just because they have handsome faces?" Trixie demanded. "We’re surrounded by handsome guys all the time, so what’s a few more? I hope you didn’t think we were that shallow."

"Who, me? It never crossed my mind that looks are more important to you than character," Jim said defensively with a grinning.

"Don’t let her fool you. Somehow, I don’t think my dear sister would be as interested in you if you had buck teeth and weighed a ton," Brian said teasingly.

"Excuse me, but I’ve seen you looking at an extremely attractive girl in the past, Brian Belden," Trixie retorted.

"Yeah, but I’m not claiming that looks aren’t important," Brian said.

"Did you hear that, Honey? So, don’t get fat or get any scars," Diana jumped in.

"That’s different," Brian said quickly.

"Forget it, Brian. You’ll never win," Dan said, laughing. "These ladies will get you so tied up, you won’t know if you’re coming or going."

Brian looked over toward Honey and saw that she had a gentle, understanding smile on her face. He relaxed when he saw that, knowing that she knew that who she was inside was more important to him than her looks.

"My auditory system went into failure, because I would swear that I just heard my dear sibling say that Brian and I fell into the handsome category for the male gender," Mark said.

Diana giggled. "I’m sure she was referring to Jim, Dan, Regan, Tom, Mr. Wheeler, and, of course, your father. She was just being nice by not making you two the exceptions."

"Oh, how could you wound me so, my Fair Lady?" moaned Mart as he clutched his hands to his heart and fell back as dead.

"You nut! You know that I think you’re wonderful and handsome," Diana said, smacking Mart’s flat hard stomach.

"Ouch, the abuse I take from you, Woman," Mart said. "Just remember, my fair Diana, some day my turn will come."

"Okay, you two, can we get back to Tansy’s problem?" Trixie said, rolling her eyes at Diana and Mart’s silliness.

"Well, I’m not sure what else we can do at this time," Honey said.

"I think we should go search the area that the shot most likely came from. Maybe we can find a clue there," Trixie said. "If we leave now, we have time to do a good search before we lose the light."

"I think I’ll go talk to Mr. Maypenny. I want him to know what’s going on. Maybe he noticed something strange going on in the woods. I’m sure that they didn’t walk from Sleepyside to the Manor House, and there are only a few places in the woods you can drive. Sirene can come with me," Dan suggested.

"That’s a good idea. I didn’t even think about them needing a vehicle," Trixie said. "Some detective I’ll make if I can’t think of something that logical."

"Hey, don’t worry about it. After all, Spider never mentioned anything about looking for a vehicle," Jim said.

"That’s true. I also wonder why he didn’t go to the edge of the woods to look for clues. I guess he thought talking to Regan and Tansy was more important," Honey said.

"It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he comes back," Trixie said.

"To tell you the truth, we probably won’t find much. With the snow the way it is and with all of us walking and riding through the woods, I don’t think footprints will be much help," Brian said thoughtfully as they gathered up their coats and jackets.

"Do you think we’re wasting our time looking?" Honey asked.

"No, not really. After all, Trixie did find a key, so who knows what else they might have dropped?" Brian said, smiling down at her as he helped her on with her coat.

Sirene received permission from her grandparents to go with Dan. The Bob-Whites got into the station-wagon, squeezing Mart and Diana in the very back. They dropped Dan and Sirene off on a pathway that was a shortcut to Mr. Maypenny’s place.

Sirene and Dan walked in the snow holding hands. Dan stopped her once they had gotten deeper into the woods and turned towards her. He leaned down and kissed her lips softly, caressing her lips gently with his tongue. Sirene moved in his arms, trying to get closer. She reached up and put her hands around his neck. After a few seconds of his teasing tongue, she tried to move her lips closer to his for a deeper kiss, but Dan put his hands around her face and held her in place as he teased her lips. Sirene felt warm and tingling all over. Dan gave her lips one more gentle brush before moving away from her. He looked down at her dazed eyes, smiled slowly, then took her hand and continued walking.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Bob-Whites had arrived in the wooded area that faced the corral area. It was a large area, but Jim was able to figure out which trees the shooter most likely would have been in. They all looked very carefully around the base of the trees. There were a lot of animal prints around those trees, but Trixie noticed something odd about one of those prints.

"Jim, come look at this," Trixie said. Jim walked over to where she was standing. The print was at the base of one of the bigger trees with low hanging, sturdy branches. Jim studied the print.

"I would say that this print was made from some with fat high heels on. You can see the deep impression of the square heel, but there is distance from the heel to the toe area. Whoever had this shoe on wore something with a high arch on it. It could be a boot print, but again, it belongs to someone that has a high arch," Jim said. "This doesn’t belong to anyone we know."

"Do you think we should call Spider and tell him about this?" Honey asked.

"We’d better. I would rather tell him about it and let him make the decision about whether this is important or not," Jim said. "I’ll run up call him right now while a couple of you back track this print and see where it goes."

"No, let me go call Spider," Diana said. "All of these prints look alike to me, so I’m useless out here. This way, I can help."

"Sure, Diana. Just go into the stables and use the phone there. He might want someone to meet him at the house to show him where we found the prints, so if you don’t come right back, we’ll know he’s on his way," Jim said.

Diana smiled at them all and ran up to the stables. Mart stood watching her graceful movements.

"So, are you going to help look for more clues, or are you going to just stand there staring at Di?" Trixie asked.

"It doesn’t take much contemplation to decide if I would rather watch the graceful movement of such an ethereal being, or try to conjure up a hypothesis on the criminal mind. But since she is out of sight, I might as well assist you in your endeavors," Mart replied.

Honey giggled. "I guess that means he’s going to help look for clues."

Trixie just rolled her eyes and, along with Jim, carefully started following the footprints. The footprints led to one of the many paths that ran through the woods, and there were treadmarks where the prints ended. Jim looked carefully at the tread marks.

"These look like bicycle treads. If you look closely, you can see two separate treads," Jim said.

"I see that. I also notice that another set of footprints have been next to this one. It looks like a sneaker print. Of course, some of them have been ruined, because it looked like some animal messed it up," Trixie said.

"I guess we got lucky that they picked an area that we don’t travel through," Jim said. "Let’s head back and see if the others found anything else."

"So, it looks like there were two of them. They used bicycles to get here, walked over to the tree, one of them climbed it, while the other one stood watch," Trixie said thoughtfully.

"That would be my guess. But, except for the footprint showing a high arch, it doesn’t help much in figuring out who it was," Jim said.

As they approached the others, they noticed that Brian was missing.

"Where did Brian go?" Jim asked. Just then a large amount of snow fell on Jim’s head. He looked up. There was Brian perched in the tree.

"Sorry about that," Brian said with a grin.

"Sure you are," Jim said dryly. "What are you doing up there?"

"Honey thought that it might be a good idea to climb up and see what the shooter would have seen. I’m also supposed to be checking for anything strange up here," Brian answered.

"So, what do you see?" Trixie asked impatiently.

"Just a minute," Brian said patiently. He then proceeded to climb down.

"I would say this is the tree he used. It has a very good view of the corral, and the branch is strong and sturdy," Brian said.

"Well, we can’t be sure this is the right tree. There are a couple of trees that are just as sturdy and would have a good view," Jim said.

"Yeah, but how many of them is going to have that?" Brian said as he pointed to the tree branch he had been sitting on. There was something dark on one of the shorter branches.

"I didn’t remove it, because I thought it would be best to have Spider do that. But it looks like a piece of material got caught on one of the sharp smaller branches. I almost snagged my jacket a couple of times and would have ripped it if I had been in a hurry,’ Brian explained.

"That was smart of you. I probably would have taken it without thinking," Honey said admiringly.

Brian smiled down at her. "I guess that’s one of the advantages of having a gir… um… a close friend that gets involved with mysteries. You learn about how to handle evidence."

Everyone noticed his slip, but for once, decided not to tease him about it. Honey just smiled her quiet smile at him.

"Well, here comes Diana with Spider now," Trixie said, breaking the silence.

"Well, I see that you’re ahead of me. I was going to come back to check out the woods, but I wanted to get Regan and Tansy’s statement while it was still fresh in their minds. One of the problems with a small police department is there just aren’t enough policemen to go around. Well, show me what you found," Spider said as he approached them.

They first showed him the footprints and where the tire treads where. Then Brian showed him the material up in the tree.

Spider sighed. "I should have stayed in White Plains. I have a feeling that I wouldn’t be climbing a tree there to get evidence. Okay, let me get a few things for my car."

They watched Spider as he came back carrying a kit and a gym bag. He climbed the tree and carefully took the material and put it in a plastic bag.

"Brian, will you look in that gym bag and hand me up the camera?" Spider asked. Brian did as he was asked, but Spider was too high up, so Brian handed the camera to Honey, climbed part of the way up and had Honey hand him the camera, which he passed to Spider. Spider took some pictures, handed the camera back to Brian, who then handed it back to Honey, as he and Spider climbed down from the tree. After thanking Brian and Honey for their help, he took the camera and photographed the footprints and then took a small can out of the gym bag. He sprayed it over the footprint.

"What’s he doing?" Diana asked Mart quietly.

"He’s making a plaster print of the footprint. He’ll probably make one of the tire treads also," Mart answered her.

After Spider had taken all of his pictures and gotten a good plaster print of the footprints and tire treads, he put everything away and turned back to the Bob-Whites who had been observing everything and had followed him to his car.

"Okay, this is all we can do for now. You kids did a good job at finding clues, and more importantly, you were able to contain the scene. I guess some of Molinson’s lectures have found their way into your head," Spider said, smiling at them. "Remember to call me immediately if anything else happens. I’ll try to keep you posted on anything we find out. I’ll probably be back out to talk to Tansy again. I find it hard to believe that a connection between the break- in at her house and this incident is merely a coincidence. So if you have any ideals, don’t be shy about telling me about them."

The Bob-Whites looked at each other, As much as they liked Spider, they weren’t ready to tell them of their suspicions until after they talked to Tansy.

Spider saw that look that passed between the Bob-Whites. "Well, try not to keep things to yourselves too long," was all he said as he got in his car and drove away.

"We’re going to have to tell him about our suspicions eventually," Brian said.

"Probably, but not yet," Trixie said.

"No, not yet," Jim agreed.

"That’s because you don’t want to explain to Spider how you stopped that horse from stomping on Tansy and Regan. I saw the strange look he gave you when we told him about it," Honey said.

"I must admit, I would like to know how you did that," Diana said. "I still don’t understand how you stopped Nightrider without scaring him away or grabbing his reins."

"Nothing strange about it. They horse just calmed down as soon as Tansy and Regan was still. With no movement inside the corral, he had no reason to keep rearing," Brian explained calmly, ignoring the looks he received from Honey and Trixie.

"Well, I guess, but it does sound odd," Diana said.

"The only odd thing around here is going to be us if we don’t get home. It’s about dinnertime, and I know Moms needs us to help. I believe you were supposed to be home a little early yourself. Mart mentioned that you were babysitting tonight while your parents went out to dinner," Brian said to Diana.

"Oh, my gosh, you’re right. My mother is going to kill me if I don’t get going. She gave the nannies the day off today. I’ve got to run. Call me if anything else happens," Diana said as she took off as fast as she could go in the snow with Mart following her.

Trixie looked at Brian. "I guess we’re supposed to tell Moms that Mart is walking Diana home."

"Look at it this way. If he’s not back in time to help before dinner, then he’ll get stuck with the dishes," Brian said.

Trixie smiled at that thought as they said good-bye to Jim and Honey.

Chapter 6

Saturday, December 30

Sirene and Dan joined Brian, Honey, Jim, Trixie, Regan and Tansy, who were sitting on the veranda in front of the Manor House. It was late morning, and the weather was warmer than it had been for weeks. The sun was shining, even though there was snow was piled high.

"How are you feeling, Uncle Bill? When did they let you come home?" Dan asked.

"I’m fine. I’ve got a little headache but it’s not too bad. I came home this morning. Trixie and Honey have been filling us in on what’s been going on since yesterday," Regan answered.

"Where’s Mart? I know that Diana had to baby-sit again. Apparently, the nannies haven’t returned yet, and Mr. and Mrs. Lynch had some place they had to go," Sirene said.

"It seems that he thought that Di needed help with the twins, so he’s over there," Trixie said. "I think Mr. Lynch is going to send Moms and Dad a bill for Mart’s food, since he spends so much time over there."

Honey giggled. "Well, I have a feeling he could say the same about the amount of time you and Brian spend over here."

"And I know for a fact that he and Diana spend a lot of time at my place. So I would say we all spend about the same amount of time at each other’s homes," Sirene added. "Well, Tansy, did you meet Silvenus Marcellus, and were you able to pick up anything?"

"No, I haven’t met him or anyone else yet. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler took Silvenus to the country club to eat, and, as far as I know, Kern and his sons haven’t returned from the city," Tansy answered.

"Have you heard from your aunt yet?" Trixie asked.

"No, we were able to file a Missing Person report today. Regan and I are going to check the house to see if the notes are still there," Tansy said worriedly. "I tried to get the airport to confirm if her lost luggage was ever returned to her, but they won’t give me any information."

"Can you think of where she would go?" Honey asked.

"I’ve been thinking. The only time she goes anywhere is to get material for my designs. I have a lot of work to do in the next month. I have several orders for Valentine dresses and two wedding dresses, one in April and one in June. She goes directly to suppliers for my material. I tried calling the one in New York to see if she was seen there, but no one has seen her. The other places are Chicago, Toronto, and Atlanta But she usually gives me an itinerary of where she’s going and on what day she’ll be there," Tansy said. "Even if she had to leave on a moment’s notice, she would have left a note."

"One of the people that broke into your house might have taken the note," Trixie said.

"All I know is that no one has called for me, and I don’t even know where to begin looking for my aunt," Tansy said.

"The question I’ve been asking myself is how did she get wherever she went?" Honey asked. "Her car is still there."

"Oh, how can I be so dumb?" Tansy moaned. "I should have called the chauffeur company. When my aunt goes on a buying trip, she hires a car and chauffeur to drive her. She hates any form of public transportation."

"Do you know the name of the company she uses? Do you have the phone number?" Trixie asked excitedly.

"Not off the top of my head, but I think I know where to find it at home," Tansy answered. "Why don’t we all go over to my house? I can look for the chauffeur company’s phone number, and all of you can look for the book."

"That sounds like a good idea," Trixie said. "Let us call Moms and tell her where we’re going to be."

"Good thing Dad decided that as long as we’re together we should be all right going through the woods," Jim said to Brian. "The security guards started this morning. I know that Dad took them over to Mr. Maypenny’s to introduce them to him. I know Dad wants to introduce the security guards to all of us this afternoon, so we need to make plans to meet back here around three o’clock."

"Oh, before I forget, I talked to Mr. Maypenny yesterday. He did see two bicycles on the path yesterday. He was going to report them, but they were gone when he came back around. He said one was green and the other one was blue. He was going to have me keep an eye open for them in case someone was illegally hunting or trapping," Dan told them. "I told him to pass the information to Spider, and he said he would."

"You’d better call Diana and tell her and Mart what’s going on," Sirene suggested. "They can meet us there once Diana is free from rugrat duty."

Honey and Trixie went into the house to make their calls and to let Miss Trask know where they were going to be.

"Good thing we did call Di," Trixie said as she and Honey returned to where everyone was waiting. "The nannies showed up, so she and Mart will meet us at Tansy’s."

"We can go once Regan goes to his apartment to rest," Tansy said, looking over to Regan. "You know that the doctor told you to take it easy for the next few days."

"As long as you promise to see me after you’re done," Regan told her. "I want to be kept updated on what’s going on."

"Of course. I’ll come over as soon as we’re done," Tansy reassured him. "Do you need help getting up those stairs?"

"No, I’m fine. You go ahead and I’ll see you when you get back," Regan said as he slowly stood up. Tansy watched him with a worried look on her face.

"Jim, please go help him. I can feel how much pain he’s in, but he’s too stubborn to admit that he needs a little help," Tansy said pleadingly.

"Sure, Brian and I will make sure he’s settled and has taken some of the pain medicine that the doctor prescribed for him. All of you go ahead, and we’ll catch up with you," Jim said.

"We’ll have to take extra care of the horses for the next few day until Regan’s up to full speed," Honey said.

"He’s a very hard man to keep down. He wanted to go check on the horses first thing this morning. If Mr. Wheeler hadn’t told him point blank to take it easy, and that the horses were fine, I don’t think I could have stopped him," Tansy said, shaking her head.

"One of the things I’ve noticed that all of the guys around here have in common is that they are stubborn," Sirene told Tansy.

"I’d like for you to name a girl around here who doesn’t have a stubborn streak in her," Dan said. "Even, Diana, who has the sweetest disposition, can be pigheaded about certain things."

"Okay, so a stubborn streak seems to be a common denominator for all of us," Sirene admitted. "I hate it when he’s right."

"Funny, but hate isn’t the emotion I feel coming from you," Tansy said with a smile.

"Do tell me more," Dan said, grinning. "I’m more than willing to hear all about Sirene’s emotions."

Tansy laughed. "I’ll tell you Sirene’s emotions, if I’m allowed to tell her what you’re feeling."

Sirene, Honey and Trixie looked at Dan with avid interest.

"Never mind. I think it’s best if I wait for her to tell me herself," Dan said quickly.

"Shucks! And here I thought we were going to hear something juicy!" Honey said, pretending to scowl.

"Forget it, Honey. If Tansy told us what they were feeling, than she might decide that it’s only fair that she tell them our feelings," Trixie pointed out. "Personally, I don’t want anyone digging through my emotions but me."

Tansy laughed. "Trixie, you are probably one of the most emotionally open people I’ve ever met. Everything you feel comes across your face. Plus, you’re not exactly shy about expressing them either."

"Well, I’m sure Trixie is like all of us. Everyone has certain feelings that they want to keep to themselves," Honey said tactfully.

Tansy sighed. "Just so all of you can relax, I can only pick up surface emotions unless I touch you. So you don’t have to worry about me digging through your insides. Believe me, I have no desire to know any of your deepest emotions."

"I think the only thing worse than being an empath would be if you were a telepath. Could you imagine always knowing what everyone was thinking?" Sirene said. "I would think a person would go crazy."

"I don’t know. I think it would be neat to know what someone was thinking. But I would only want to be a telepath if I could control it," Honey said.

"I don’t know , Honey. If you know what people are thinking, doesn’t that mean that chances are you wouldn’t be surprised about anything?. I would think life would be dull if nothing every surprised you," Trixie said thoughtfully.

"Now that’s a good point. I guess I’ll just have to be happy being me," Honey said.

"And who were you thinking that you would like to be?" Brian asked from behind her. He and Jim had caught up with the group and overheard Honey’s last remark.

"Trixie just convinced me that I probably wouldn’t like being a telepath," Honey answered.

"What happened to the good old days when all we seemed to talk about were mysteries? Now it seems like all we talk about is psychic stuff," Jim complained.

"Well, unless I was imaging it, I thought we just spent quite a bit of time talking about a mystery, and unless I’m mistaken, aren’t we on a mission dealing with a mystery?" Trixie asked tartly.

Jim tugged on her curls. "Hey, is that any way to talk to your boyfriend?"

Trixie gave him a saucy grin. "It is when he asks silly questions."

"See what happens once they catch you? They lose all respect for you! At least she’s not abusing me like Di does to Mart," Jim complained, but his eyes were twinkling with good humor.

"Oh, you poor baby! Trixie doesn’t show you any respect especially when she gets you drinks and brings you food, and let’s not forget that she always lets you pick the movie. Yes, you’re definitely mistreated," Honey cooed at her brother.

Jim put his arm around Trixie’s shoulders. "Okay, I have to admit that she does have her moments."

Trixie elbowed him in his side. "Keep it up, Frayne, and those moments are going to be far and few between."

Tansy was laughing. "All of you are so funny. I never knew how much I was missing by staying away from people."

"It took me a while to catch on to their teasing, but it can be a lot of fun. Before I met them, the only kind of teasing I knew about was the hurtful type, so it took me some time to realize that they did it in fun," Sirene told Tansy.

"It’s hard being psychic. It’s not only because people treat me differently but it’s also because I have to put up walls to protect myself," Tansy admitted.

"What you have to remember is that it isn’t only psychics who put up walls. Most people have part of themselves that they keep private," Brian said.

"I guess I never looked at it that way," Tansy said thoughtfully.

"Look, there’s Mart and Diana. It looks like they got to the house ahead of us," Sirene said.

"Well, Diana’s house is closer to Tansy’s house than the Manor House is," Honey remarked.

"So, tell me. What are we looking for again?" Diana asked as the others approached the front porch of Tansy’s house.

"I’m looking for a phone number, and everyone else is looking for a book titled. ‘The Book of Be’al’. It doesn’t look like my aunt came home. Here’s the note we left on the front door," Tansy said.

Tansy walked into the house with everyone following behind her. She went into the study and looked through her aunt’s desk.

"Here it is. I’m positive this is the company she uses," Tansy said, showing the Bob-Whites the name of the company. She dialed the number. After a brief conversation, she hung up.

"Now I’m really confused. They said that my aunt ordered a car and driver on Wednesday, first thing in the morning. She had told them that she wanted the driver for two weeks. I couldn’t find out where she was going, because it’s against their policy to give out the location of their clients," Tansy told them. "But here’s the really odd thing, she had called them late Tuesday afternoon.

"Did you see your aunt on Wednesday at all?" Trixie asked.

"No, I usually get up earlier than she does. I had expected to see her when I went back home. She could have been gone when I got up. I’ve been eating breakfast with Regan lately, so after I got up and got dressed, I just left the house," Tansy explained. "I just don’t understand why she didn’t tell me Tuesday night that she was leaving."

"She must have left because the Marcelluses were coming here!" Trixie said excitedly. "Remember that you told us that you had told your aunt on Tuesday about them coming here, and they would be here on Thursday? Right after you told her that, she made arrangements to leave town. I bet there is a book , and that she has it."

"But why wouldn’t she tell me? Surely, if she thought there were some danger, she would have warned me or taken me with her." Tansy asked confused and hurt. "Instead she left just like my mother did. No note, just gone."

"Oh, I’m sure that she’ll be back. She probably thought that Mr. Marcellus would just ask you about the book, and when you told him that she was gone, he would just go away. She probably figured that as long as the book was with her, then you would be safe," Honey said.

Tansy looked over at Honey and gave her a tremulous smile. "I think I understand what you’re trying to tell me, and since we’re not sure if she left a note or not, you might be right."

"Of course she is!" Trixie said staunchly. ‘Have you had any strange feelings, like someone was watching you, or the woods didn’t feel right, that sort of thing?"

"Not really, but then again, I haven’t quite gotten the feel for everyone around here yet. It takes time for me to figure who is feeling what and which emotion belongs to whom. There are a lot of people around this place. So, to be honest, I wouldn’t know if there were someone around here that didn’t belong," Tansy said. "The shooter knew what he was doing, because he picked a point in the woods that no one goes in a lot."

"But once you were away from the Manor House, you would know if someone were following you, right?" Trixie asked.

"Yes, I would, and no, no one followed me while I was in the woods. So they must have seen me over at the stables and did their spying there," Tansy said.

"But that doesn’t make any sense! If your aunt owns the book, why would they spy on you? I would think they would be spying on your house." Brian said.

"It depends on how much they knew about my family before coming here. As soon as someone sets foot upon our property, my aunt knows about it. I can usually pick up something about fifty feet away. It would be hard, even with a telescope to see too much of what’s going on at my house without one of us knowing about it," Tansy explained.

"So, they picked a place that you’re around a lot, that has enough people around, so that their emotions could blend in with others," Jim said.

"That would be my guess. It’s no secret that we’re able to sense people approaching our property. Most of Sleepyside knows about that. That’s why we’re called witches," Tansy said.

"This is getting pretty serious. I hate to be a spoilsport, but I think we should tell Dad and Mother what’s going on. They already know about the shooting," Jim said thoughtfully.

"But we can’t tell them we suspect the Marcelluses of anything. We just don’t have any proof," Trixie said.

"So, we only tell them the bare facts. Dad’s not stupid. It wouldn’t surprise me if he has some questions for Silvenus Marcellus," Honey said.

"Well, let’s see if we can find that book. If we do, maybe we can find out why it’s so valuable," Trixie suggested.

 

"May I ask why are we looking for the book, when we’re pretty sure that her aunt has it?" Sirene asked Trixie.

"Because we can’t be sure that Roiya has it. She may have left the book here. After all, once Tansy tells the Marcelluses that her aunt has left, they might assume that the book is with her. Which means they might leave soon after finding out she’s gone," Trixie explained.

"Oh, so we have to assume that Roiya assumed that the Marcelluses will assume that she, Roiya, took the book. But because Roiya doesn’t want to be caught with the book, she might have left it in hiding here," Sirene said. "Have I got it right?"

"OH, my gosh! She’s been hanging around Trixie and Honey too long," Dan moaned.

Trixie and Honey glared at Dan.

"Yes, that’s about covers it," Honey said. "So let’s get looking for that book or some clues as to where the book might be."

"I have to warn you that we have books everywhere, so it probably would be best if we split up. I’ll look in here and then in my aunt’s room," Tansy suggested.

It was decided that Dan and Sirene would look in the attic. Brian and Honey would search the second floor. Trixie and Jim would search the first floor, while Mart and Diana took the basement.

Dan looked around at the attic. "Now this could take some time. They sure do have a lot of stuff up here."

"Well, I guess that’s what happens when you have generation after generation living in the same house. We might as well get started,’ Sirene said. "How about if we start on this side of the room and work our way to the other side?"

"Sure, that sounds all right with me. Have you picked up any spirits in this house?" Dan asked.

Sirene had started looking through some boxes. "No, and I find that sort of weird. In a house as old as this one, it usually has one or two spirits hanging around. What’s even stranger is that I don’t sense any activity whatsoever. My bet would be that there never have been any spirits here."

Dan was silent for a few moments as he searched through an old wooden chest. "I guess that would be a bit strange. After so many generations have lived and probably died in this house, it is weird that none of them have ever came back."

"It could be that there is some energy field that keeps them away. That actually makes sense when I think about it. All psychics have the ability to tap into energy that surrounds us. There’s a theory that psychics give off more energy then non-psychics. So if this house has always had psychics in it, an energy field might have formed throughout all these years. Or the house may even be sitting on an energy field," Sirene explained.

"Mmm… it all sounds Greek to me, but you’re the expert, so if you say it’s possible, then I’m willing to believe you," Dan said as he continued his search. "I mentioned to Mr. Maypenny that we were talking about going to Florida the second week of June. He didn’t see any problem with me going. I’m pretty sure Uncle Bill will let me go. Did you mention it to your grandparents?"

"Yes, I did. They thought it was a great idea. They decided to join us. They called down there and reserved three cabins. The cabins could sleep six, but they thought everyone would be more comfortable if we only put four in a cabin. They’re hoping that Miss Trask will be willing to come and help chaperone," Sirene said.

"She probably will;, she usually does. It’s great, because she’s the best chaperone a bunch of teenagers could have," Dan replied.

They worked in silence for a while.

Dan looked behind him and noticed Sirene standing in front of an old full length mirror. He came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, trapping her arms to her side and pulled her back against him.

"We look good together, don’t we?" Dan whispered to Sirene as he started to nibble on her neck. Sirene shivered as she felt one of his hand moving up so that it rested right below her breast. His thumb moved very gently and caressed her on the underside of her breast. Sirene put her hands along his thigh and started running her hands up and down. He watched her as he caressed her. Sirene closed her eyes and felt her insides turning. She slowly turned towards Dan and looked into his deep dark eyes. Dan lowered his head and kissed her lips. At first, it was a gentle kiss, more of a question. Sirene answered with an opening of her mouth and slowly caressed his lips with her tongue. Dan took over with a deep, passionate kiss, running his hands down her back, pulling her closer. Sirene, arms no longer trapped to her sides, ran her hands up his chest until her arms were around his neck, getting as close as she could. Dan kissed and nibbled down neck.

"Is it getting hot in here or is it just me?" Sirene murmured.

"Both," Dan rasped. "God, you taste so good."

"I want to feel your skin against mine," Sirene whispered as she moved her hands down to unbutton his shirt.

Dan held her for a few moments, took a deep breath and moved away.

"What?" Sirene asked, confused. "I don’t want you to stop."

"This isn’t the time," Dan answered. "It would be hurried and rushed, because someone might interrupt us."

Sirene moved close to Dan, filling in the gap he had put between them and ran her hand up back up his chest.

"There’s nothing wrong with a quickie," she said enticingly.

Dan looked at her with a serious look on his face. "I don’t have any protection on me."

Sirene smiled. "I don’t care. I wouldn’t mind having your baby. I’ve got plenty of money, so I could afford to take care of a child. I wouldn’t ask anything of you."

Dan’s eyes got dark with anger. "First of all, the first time we make love is not going to be a quickie. Second of all, if you got pregnant with my child, then, I would definitely be involved. No way would I allow any of my children to grow up without me."

"I’m sorry. I guess you’re right about this not being the right time. Obviously, the sexual attraction is strong enough, but I’m still having problems with mixing my past up with you," Sirene said sadly. "I goofed again. Just because the guys I knew it the past wouldn’t want to know anything about a child, I assumed you were the same. I guess I wasn’t as far along as I thought."

Dan put his arms back around her and hugged her tightly.

"You’re doing fine. This was my fault. I started something that I had no intentions of finishing. I guess I wasn’t expecting the fire to burn so fast. Next time, I’ll be more careful," Dan whispered. "I have to admit that I’m happy to hear that you wouldn’t mind having my baby."

Sirene smiled up at him. "You’re the best person I know. Any child would be lucky to have you for a father. But I guess it would be best all around if we waited… for kids that is."

"Yeah, that would be best. We’re still only fifteen. But I’m glad to know that if it should happen, you would be willing to have it," Dan said, giving her one last sweet kiss before moving away from her.

"We better join the others before they come looking for us," Sirene said, smiling at him.

 

 

Meanwhile, on the Second floor where Honey and Brian started searching…

"So which room do you want to start in?" Brian asked Honey as they stood in the hallway on the second floor.

"Let’s start in the spare bedroom next to Tansy’s room," Honey suggested. Brian opened the door.

"You got to be kidding!" Brian moaned. The room had books stacked everywhere. There were bookshelves all along the wall, books stacked high on the floor. There was barely enough room to walk in between the stacks and bookshelves.

"Let’s peek at the other three rooms," Honey suggested. "I hope all of them aren’t like this one."

They walked over to look at the other three remaining rooms and found that, although each room had a bookshelf in it, none of them were packed with books like the one room.

"I think we should take a quick look through these rooms. That other room is going to take a long time," Honey said.

"True, but with our luck, that room will be the one the book’s in," Brian said as he went into the spare room that was across from Roiya’s room.

Honey giggled. "Not only would it be in that room, but it’ll be the last book we look at."

"What I would like to know is what does the book look like?" Brian asked. "The druids pretty much died out around the time Christianity began to spread. In 1781, a man named Henry Hurle started a druid organization, which split into a couple of other organizations. So there are some modern druids, but how close they are to the original druids is anybody’s guess. Not a lot of writing that was done in that time period has survived. So who wrote the book and when?"

"Those are very good questions. I know that some of the really old books that were in the cellar had to be preserved in a very special way because the pages were so old and yellow. Jim was fortunate that some ancestor seemed to know how to preserve them properly. I know for a fact that those books are worth a lot of money. Dad put them in a safe until Jim decides what he wants to do with them," Honey explained.

"He told me that he had a lot of offers for some of those books," Brian said. "I know he was going to sell a lot of them, and the money will go towards his boys’ home. Changing the subject here, but have you girls decided how and exactly when we’re going to present Sirene with the jacket? We’re suppose to do it tomorrow night, you know."

"Well, we actually have most of it planned out. She’s agreed to watch Bobby tomorrow for us. We told her we had a lot of Bob-White things to take care of and needed a babysitter. That’s her initiation, only she won’t realize it. Diana told her to meet us at Crabapple Farm at ten o’clock for a New Year’s Eve party. Dan is already going to pick her up," Honey told him.

"I’m glad we decided to hold it at my house. I don’t mean to be rude, but I really didn’t want to have to put up with those twins all evening. Since my parents are going to your house for their New Year’s party, and Bobby’s going over the Lynches, it will just be the Bob-Whites," Brian said.

"Well, Trixie and I were talking about inviting Mr. Maypenny, Regan and Tansy. We didn’t want Mr. Maypenny to be alone, and we thought he would be more comfortable if Regan and Tansy were there."

"Gosh, Honey! That’s such a thoughtful idea. I didn’t even think of him. Of course he wouldn’t want to go to the shindig at your place. I don’t think anyone would mind them joining us," Brian said with approval shining in his eyes.

"Dan’s supposed to let us know sometime tonight if he’s going to join us. Regan told me that he and Tansy would join us only if Mr. Maypenny does. Otherwise, Regan and Tansy will just spend it together."

"Those two are getting pretty close. Do you think it’s serious between them?" Brian asked.

"I’m not sure what’s going on. I know Tansy’s in love with Regan, but I really don’t know how Regan feels. He’s always with her, but I have a feeling that he’s keeping an emotional distance from her. He might think she’s too young and inexperienced."

"Let’s not forget that last name thing, either. I can’t see Regan changing his last name to Gifford," Brian remarked.

"No, neither can I. Well, it doesn’t look like anything is in here. That’s one down and three more to go. I guess it’s off to the next room."

"Let’s hope we find something before we have to search that room with all the books," Brian moaned as he followed Honey to another spare bedroom.

 

Meanwhile, down in the basement…

"Be careful coming down those stairs. They’re very steep," Mart told Diana as he walked down into the basement. He had already turned on the light, but it was still very dim. Mart reached the bottom of the stairs with Diana right behind him.

He suddenly turned and caught her in his arms as she stepped down from the last step. He gently kissed her lips.

"Mart Belden! How do you expect to get anything done if you continue to do things like that?" Diana said somewhat breathlessly.

"I can’t help myself," Mart said seriously. "I wanted to kiss you, and there didn’t seem to be any reason not to. But I promise, I’ll be good for the rest of the time we’re down here."

Diana smiled. "I don’t mind, but it makes it hard for me to tell you something that I’ve been dreading."

"What?" Mart asked.

"John Bender has invited me to the country club dance next Friday. My parents really like you, but they think we’re too young to go steady. So they would really like me to go with him," Diana explained. " I told them I would. I like John, but I would rather go with you."

Diana looked at Mart’s face. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking because the light was dim. A part of her wanted him to be furious that she would even consider going out with someone else, but another part of her wanted him to understand about this. She realized that it wasn’t being fair to him, because no matter what he did, a part of her wasn’t going to like it. But, since she was confused over her own feelings she really couldn’t help it. When they had talked about dating other people, she had thought that it would be easy. But after having all of his attention and becoming more and more attached to him, she realized that she didn’t want to date anyone else, but more importantly, she didn’t want him dating anyone else.

"I think we need to start looking for the book. That’s why we’re here," he said quietly as he turned away from her. "Why don’t you look in the areas that are by the stairwells? I’ll look in the places that are out of the lit area."

Diana wasn’t sure how to take this, so she agreed and started her search. There was silence for a very long time as each of them searched through boxes and crates.

"Well, if it’s down here, it’s hidden it’s pretty craftily hidden. I can find. I even looked for false walls and secret doors. Nothing!" Mart said, breaking the silence.

"I’m not having much luck either. I don’t think anyone has been down here for years. Look how dusty it is," Diana remarked, subdued.

"I’m not mad about you having a date with another guy. I admit that I’m not happy about it, but I also understand why you should go out with him. Bender’s a nice guy. I like him," Mart told Diana. "I didn’t want you to think that I didn’t care. But I did promise you that if you wanted to date someone else that I would step back. No matter how much I might not like it, I have to keep to my word. You’re too important to me to have jealousy and anger separate us. I honestly don’t know what else you want me to say. I’m trying to be mature about this."

Diana threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Mart put his arms around her, holding her like he would never let her go.

"Thank you. You always seem to know what to say to make me feel better," she whispered.

Mart kissed her gently then moving away. He started up the stairs. "Just remember that since you’re going to be tied up at the country club dance that leaves me free Friday night."

Diana didn’t like the sound of that. No matter how unfair it was, she wanted Mart Belden home waiting for her.

"I’ll call you when I get home," Diana said as she came through the basement door. "Now, since that is settled, let’s go see how the others are doing.

 

Meanwhile, in the Kitchen…

"I don’t know why you would think that it would be here," Jim said. "It seems a strange place to hide a book."

"Well, we’ve looked everywhere else on the first floor. Tansy told us she didn’t find anything in the study," Trixie remarked as she looked through some cookbooks. "I don’t really expect to find anything in here, but I hate to leave a room not searched."

Just then Honey and Brian, followed by Mart and Diana, came into the kitchen. They admitted that they hadn’t found anything. Honey told them about the one room with all the books. She admitted that she and Brian didn’t have the time to do a complete search, they only glanced through the books.

"Well, it is getting close to one o’clock, and we’re supposed to meet Dad at three o’clock. We still have to eat lunch," Jim said.

"We’ve been here for two and a half hours!" Sirene exclaimed as she and Dan, followed by Tansy, came into the kitchen. "It feels like we just got here."

"Time flies when you’re having fun," Mart said. Trixie looked over to her brother, wondering what was wrong.

"I take it you didn’t have any luck. No spirits wanting to point the way, I guess," Diana said to Sirene.

"Dan and I were talking about that. I find it interesting that a house this old doesn’t have a few spirits lying around. As far as I can tell, there has never been a spirit in this house," Sirene said. "I think this house may be on an energy field or an energy field may have been built up thorough out the years because there have always been psychics in this house," Sirene explained.

"Interesting theory, but how does that help us find the book or Tansy’s aunt?" Trixie said in frustration. She swung around to face Sirene, with a hardcover cookbook in her hand. Papers fell out of the book as she turned.

"Oh, bother! Why does this always happens to me?" Trixie moaned as she bent down to pick up the papers on the floor.

Jim bent down to help her. He noticed that what he thought was written recipes were really, in fact, letters.

"Look, Jim, here’s a letter dated just a week ago. Why would they be in a cookbook?" Trixie asked, startled.

"Which cookbook is it?" Tansy asked curiously.

Trixie turned the cookbook over and read the title as Jim finished picking up the rest of the letters.

"I hate Thai food, so I would never even pick that one up. Who’s the letter from?" Tansy asked.

Jim looked at the bottom of the letter. He turned his green eyes on Tansy.

"This letter was dated a week ago" he told her hesitantly, "and it’s from your mother."

 To Be Continued

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