The Wrigley Field Mystery
by Karen
Trixie Belden, aged 16, was looking forward to the trip to Chicago that she and the rest of the Bob-Whites were taking in June right at the end of the school year. They were going to visit the museums, the Sears Tower and go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. She knew her brothers were big baseball fans and had always wanted to go there. An old friend of theirs, Ned Schultz from Iowa, was spending the summer interning with the Cubs and had promised them a grand tour.
Ned met them at the airport when they arrived and Trixie immediately sensed that he was troubled. As they drove downtown to their hotel, Ned didn't say much, although Trixie did try and draw him out. He just said that his job was very tough and required a lot of work. They talked about the team which was in first place and doing quite well. He was learning all aspects of the game from management. He was hoping to go into sports management when he graduated from college. His chances at a basketball career had ended when he had messed up his knee the year before.
After the Bob-Whites were all settled into their hotel, they met at the lobby. The Chicago Hilton and Towers was truly a magnificent hotel right near the south side of the loop.
They decided to take a walk through the city first taking a cab over to the Sears Tower where they took the elevator up to the top and were amazed at the view. It was a beautiful clear and sunny day so they could see for miles.
Afterwards, they went for a long walk around the city seeing all the famous places they'd heard of always. When dinnertime came, Mart, of course, insisted on going to The Billy Goat, made famous on Saturday Night Live, where they had cheeseburgers or, as they said on the show, "Cheesboogers, cheeseboogers".
As they ate, they talked about Ned. Trixie was concerned that he seemed so worried. She said, "It can't be the team since they're in first place and from what I hear from Uncle Andrew, everything back home is fine. I wonder if there's something else happening. Maybe we'll get some clues when we go to the game tomorrow. It is all very mysterious."
Everyone groaned as she said her favorite word "mysterious". Jim, sitting next to her, took her hand and said, "We're here for fun. Don't get involved in any mysteries."
She grinned at him but said nothing as they finished eating and then returned to their hotel where they spent time talking more before they went to bed.
Ned gave them a magnificent tour of Wrigley the next day before the game. They even got to see the clubhouse. It was early before most of the players arrived, but did get to meet the manager, Jim Riggleman, who seemed upset about something. Before they took their seats they also met the General Manager, Ed Lynch, and President Andy MacPhail who also seemed troubled. They couldn't figure out why.
As the game was about to begin they watched the Cubs starting pitcher, Kerry Wood, warm up in the bullpen. After a few minutes, they noticed he didn't seem right and their worries were confirmed when he fainted right on the bullpen mound
There was pandemonium as the trainer rushed out and called for an ambulance which sped the young star to the hospital. Everyone was concerned about him, but the game went on with an emergency starter taking his place. The Cubs won the game anyway.
Returning to the hotel after the game, the Bob-Whites listened to WGN, the Cubs station, waiting to hear news and were shocked when broadcaster Pat Hughes came on the radio and announced that Kerry Wood had been poisoned. He would be fine, but would be hospitalized for a few days.
The Bob-Whites went down for dinner.
They were soon joined at the hotel restaurant by Ned Schultz. "I'm the one who gave Kerry his pregame sandwich," he said, "so they were questioning me all afternoon. I got the sandwich from one of the concession people as usual. He has it special made, roast beef on rye with mayo, mustard and piccalilli. The concession people make it up for him. Everyone at the ballpark knows his routine. They are testing the sandwich as we speak."
"You have seemed troubled since we got here," said Trixie. "Is there something going on besides what happened today?"
Ned sighed. "A lot of strange things have been going on at the ballpark the last few weeks. Things have been disappearing from the clubhouse that are quite valuable-- like the jersey Steve Trachsel wore when he pitched a perfect game a few weeks ago. That was being readied for the Hall of Fame. Now, Kerry Wood has been poisoned. Something is going on here that's not quite right."
"Well, we're going to get to the bottom of this," Trixie declared. "The Belden-Wheeler detective agency is on the case
Jim grabbed her hand. "You aren't getting involved in this. Listen to me. If someone is stealing jerseys and poisoning pitchers, then something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Stay out of this. I don't want to see you in a situation like being held at gunpoint or sledding down a mountain in a canoe. I don't want our future together to end before it even begins." He left the room obviously very upset.
After a moment, Trixie followed him. He had gone to the lobby where he was sitting on the steps staring off into space. She tentatively sat down next to him and put her hand on his arm.
He looked at her. "I'm sorry I got so mad. I understand you want to get to the bottom of this, but I worry so much every time you get into some crazy mystery that this time you'll get in way over your head and none of us will be able to save you. I know how much solving mysteries is in your blood and I guess I'm just going to have to accept that if we're going to have a future together. I've been giving "us" a lot of thought lately."
She was startled by the emotion in his voice. "Jim, you've always been supportive of me and Honey, too. I understand you're concerned about this and we'll be as careful as we possibly can. I've started to think a lot about the future, too."
Honey appeared then. "Hey, you guys, we have to order," she said, "Come on."
As they started to walk back towards the restaurant, Jim said in a low voice, "Trixie, we'll continue this conversation later."
After they were finished eating, they went to a late night movie near the hotel before returning to go to sleep.
While they were preparing to go to bed, Honey noticed that Trixie seemed preoccupied. "What's wrong?" she asked her friend. "Is it the case we're working on now or is it something else? You and Jim seemed to be in intense conversation when I walked in. I'm sorry I interrupted."
Trixie blushed. "We were talking about the future and what's going on between us. He says we'll continue the conversation later. Right now, I need to get some sleep."
Both girls finished their preparations and were soon asleep. Trixie fell into a wonderful dream where she and Jim were married with a houseful of children and all their dreams coming true. When she woke up, she felt refreshed and couldn't wait to talk to him.
They all met in the hotel lobby and Ned joined them there. He told them that he had talked to Kerry Wood and he had scheduled an interview with him at the hospital where he was staying.
They arrived at Northwestern Memorial Hospital a little while later and went to Kerry's heavily guarded room. For a young man who had just been poisoned he, looked as healthy as a horse. They figured it had something to do with his athlete's build. He shook all their hands and then asked what they wanted to know.
"I understand you have pretty much the same pregame routine whenever you're the starting pitcher," said Trixie. "You have the same sandwich right before you start warming up. Did something seem funny with the sandwich?"
"Only the mustard seemed to taste a little funny," replied Kerry, "Sweeter than normal. I didn't feel anything until I was in my warms. At first, I thought maybe I pulled a muscle in my stomach or something. The doc says that it was a form of rat poison in a very small dosage, not enough to kill me but to make me sick enough to miss a few days."
They asked him a few more questions and then left the room after wishing him luck.
"It's obvious he wasn't the target," Trixie said. "It was someone who wanted to make him miss his start, but not injure him too badly. It would have to be someone with some medical knowledge."
Ned frowned. "There is one person who is new in the clubhouse and is a pre-med student at UIC. His name is Bill and he has always seemed a little strange and secretive. There's a night game today with Kevin Tapani pitching. I can get you guys into the clubhouse before the game starts."
They got into the clubhouse as Tapani was doing some exercises before going to the bullpen mound. The other players were talking and goofing around a little with the eight starters being more serious.
Brian, Jim, Dan and Mart were all fascinated by what they saw. They were all thrilled with the chance to meet Sammy Sosa and Mark Grace who were the two everyday stars of the team. Trixie noticed Di and Honey swoon just a little at meeting Mark Grace, the handsome first baseman.
Ned pointed out Bill who was insisting on bringing Tapani his pregame meal of a burger and fries. Trixie sneaked back and saw that the concession guy had all but one burger in a red wrapping and one was in a gold colored wrapping. She asked him why.
"Bill said he wanted Tapani's burger marked," the concession worker said.
"Do you have any more gold wrappers?" Trixie wanted to know.
Yes, I do," he said with a nod.
"Wrap another sandwich in a gold wrapper and give that one to Bill. The other one should be turned over to the police right away!"
"What on earth....?" he said surprised at her demand.
"Just do it! It's about the poisoning on Kerry Wood."
That got his attention and he did exactly what she asked.
The police came and picked up the original hamburger. Just as Trixie had suspected, the tests revealed that the gold-wrapped hamburger was contaminated with the same poison that had been on Kerry's sandwich, but when they returned to the ballpark, Bill was gone. He had left quickly after he saw that Tapani was able to make it through warms and lead the team on the field to begin the game.
The police got his address from personnel and when they arrived, they found that his apartment was full of memorabilia including some of the things that had been stolen. What they didn't find was Bill. They saw a list of names and numbers including some in Las Vegas and wondered if there was a gambling connection. They knew because of the Cubs nationwide popularity that more money was placed on them instead of other teams and the starting pitcher had a big impact on the outcome of the game and Tapani and Wood were the Cubs best.
They also knew the value of the items that had been stolen and these immediately were marked as evidence and taken to the station. The Bob-Whites were thanked for their help and told to return to their hotel.
They all gathered in the lobby to talk, with the others naturally telling Honey and Trixie to be careful and not get too involved with it. They went up to their rooms and Trixie and Honey turned on WGN and found out that Bill had been found shot dead near his apartment building.
"Oh my gosh!" Honey said, paling, "How horrible!"
"Honey, I think we should go there," Trixie said,"We could find out what's happening."
"Trixie, have you flipped? A man has just been shot dead!"
"The police are probably still there," insisted Trixie, "I want to find out why Bill was shot."
Trixie finally was able to convince her friend to go. They decided not to tell the others because the boys were sure to object.
The police were not there when Trixie and Honey arrived at the building. The street was dark except for a lone streetlamp and the occasional headlights of passing cars.
"Let's leave," Honey said, "I wish we hadn't come here by ourselves."
"Let's go up to his apartment," said Trixie.
"What? We can't do that!"
Trixie sighed. "We won't break in! Maybe we could talk to his neighbors."
Just then, they heard a small meow. Two eyes glowed from the dark near the building.
"Look! A cat. Poor thing," Honey said,"I wonder if it belongs to someone."
Honey went over to see if that cat had a collar.
"Come on, Honey," Trixie said impatiently. She started up the building steps.
Honey turned her gaze back towards her friend and froze. She thought she saw something moving near the top of the stairs. Not something, she realized, Someone.
She had no chance to call out to her friend before the shadowy figure struck Trixie in the head and then ran away. Honey remained unseen in the dark where she stood by the cat. She waited there until the figure had vanished because she knew that if he attacked her then she couldn't help Trixie.
When the figure was gone, she ran over to Trixie. "Trixie!" she cried. But there was no response. Honey screamed. Trixie wasn't waking up and she felt helpless.
Someone heard Honey's scream and opened his window to find out what had happened.
"Oh, please, sir," Honey wailed, "Call 911! My friend's hurt bad! Someone attacked her!"
After what seemed like an eternity to Honey, the ambulance came and sped Trixie off to the hospital. Honey rode along in the back by her friend's side.
At Honey's request, the man who had called for help also called the Bob-Whites at the hotel to alert them to meet Honey and Trixie there.
Soon, everyone was gathered at the hospital. Jim put an arm around his distraught sister trying to comfort her, all the while worrying about Trixie himself.
"I called our parents," said Brian, "They're going to be on the next plane. Miss Trask has agreed to let them drop Bobby off at the Manor House and she'll watch him."
"What's taking so long?" Mart said hoarsely.
"I'm sure we'll hear something soon," Brian said.
The truth was that he and all the other Bob-Whites were just as concerned as Mart because Trixie had been with the doctors for quite awhile.
Finally, a doctor came out to talk to them. The Bob-Whites gathered around him anxiously.
"Trixie is in critical condition. She has a severe concussion and so far hasn't regained consciousness. We are putting her in Neuro ICU right now."
They went up to the Neuro waiting room. They all felt useless. All they could do was try to comfort one another and keep on waiting.
Mr. and Mrs. Belden finally arrived at the hospital and were let in immediately to see her. She looked so young hooked up to the machines. The doctor said that the good news was that the tests showed no bleeding in the brain and full brain activity. They just had to wait for her to wake up.
Little consolation came when they learned that the gamblers who had arranged for Bill's murder were caught and arrested and they also were connected to the attack on Trixie. One of them had gone back to Bill's apartment searching for anything that might incriminate them. He recognized Trixie as the girl responsible for Bill's failure and was suspicious when he saw her snooping at his building.
Once during the next day, Mrs. Belden walked into Trixie's room when Jim was alone with her. He had one of her hands sandwiched gently in his and he spoke quietly to her. "Trixie, you've got to come out of this. We're all here praying for you. We can't lose you. We all love you so much."
Mrs. Belden went over and put a hand on Jim's shoulder. "I think she's going to be all right. I just wish she hadn't gotten herself into this. This time she went too far. I hope that maybe this will keep her from going too far next time. We have to accept that there will be a next time unless we lock her in a room with a straightjacket on."
"That's what we were talking about night before last," Jim said. "I've been thinking a lot about our future together and I know I have to accept that detective work is in her blood and it will be part of our lives."
Mrs. Belden was a little startled, but she recovered and smiled. "I've always thought that the two of you were going to have a future together and that makes me and Mr. Belden very happy. Let's just pull her through this first."
As Mrs. Belden said that, Trixie stirred and slowly came out of it. She saw her mom and Jim standing there and said "I love you" as they rang for the doctor who came quickly.
They left the room and told everyone the news and a few minutes later the doctor came out. "She's going to be just fine," he said. "A few more days here for caution should do the trick and then we can send her home."
Trixie spent two more days in the hospital recovering before she was allowed to leave. And then, everyone returned home to Sleepyside. Trixie was still a little weak but was going to be okay.
Since she had woken up, Trixie and Jim had never been alone together and so never had a chance to talk. Mr. and Mrs. Belden invited him to dinner at Crabapple Farm and when he arrived, they surprised Trixie and Jim by saying they were going out and taking Bobby with them. Brian and Mart were also out, so Trixie and Jim would be alone. Trixie was still a little weak to go out for dinner.
Jim and Trixie had a pleasant dinner together , just the two of them, and then they went into the living room to talk.
"Trixie, what happened to you scared the living daylights out of me," Jim told her, "The very thought of losing you scares the heck out of me. Trixie, I want to have a future with you because I love you."
"Jim," Trixie said quietly, "I love you, too."
They put their arms around each other and it happened--their first kiss. When Mr. and Mrs. Belden and Bobby returned, they were sitting together on the couch holding each other and talking. A little after that, Jim left but not before they shared another sweet, soft kiss.
Mrs. Belden turned to Trixie after Jim left and said, "He's going to be a wonderful husband and father someday."
"Someday," agreed Trixie. "Tonight was just the beginning. Who knows what's going to happen next? I , for one, can't wait to find out"
The End