by Kay Lynn

 

Part One

Diana Lynch stood on her front porch, watching anxiously for Honey and Trixie. Yes! She yelled, jumping up and down excitedly, when they pulled up in her yard in Honey’s new sports car. "I didn’t think you’d ever get here!"

"Well, it’s not like we’re late or anything" laughed Honey, as she and Trixie jumped out and quickly walked to the front porch to retrieve Diana’s luggage. "I mean, this is the time we said we would be here."

"I know, I know." laughed Diana. "It’s just that I’m so excited, we girls have never taken a trip alone before, totally UN-chaperoned and all that, I just can’t believe we’re going."

"I know what you mean," Trixie chimed in, laughing with the two girls as she threw one last piece of luggage into the already crowded trunk of the car. "I’m excited enough for both of us, even though I was scared Moms was going to change her mind at the last minute."

"Oh Trixie," said Honey. "If you couldn’t go, I don’t think I would have wanted to."

"Yeah," said Diana, pushing the front seat up and climbing into the back. "Without you, it wouldn’t be any fun."

Trixie felt like she finally had a chance to exhale as she thought over the last couple of weeks which had passed in a blur of activities with graduation, parties, saying goodbye to the boy’s who would be spending the summer in New York City and preparing for this trip. Honey’s great uncle had died in February, leaving her and her family a beach house in a small island town off the coast of Maine, in a place called Haighton Beach and it was only reachable by ferry. Honey’s parents had hired someone to clean the house and do repairs in preparation to sell, but Honey had talked them into first letting her and her friends take a vacation there. All three sets of parents had some misgivings about the three girls going there alone, especially since they’d be driving, but in the end they had given in. It was especially difficult for Mrs. Belden to allow Trixie to go with no chaperones and her brothers not along. The reason she had misgivings, other than the normal parenting concerns, were Trixie’s love of mysteries and her total lack of fear for dangerous situations. She had many times joked about the fact that all the gray hairs she had were put there by Trixie. In the end, she knew she had to start letting go of Trixie, especially since she would be going to college in the fall.

As the girls traveled, they laughed and reminisced about school, Sleepyside, the boy’s they had dated and the places the Bob-Whites had been together. Finally, some of the girl’s excitement had waned and the three had grown quiet as they rode. Diana fell asleep, Honey turned on the radio and Trixie settled in to read her new Lucy Radcliffe mystery novel.

After a couple of hours, Diana awakened and said, "At risk of sounding like Mart, when do we eat? I didn’t eat breakfast, this morning, because I was too excited about our trip."

"Oh, you don’t sound a bit like Mart," answered Trixie, laughing. "If he had said what you just did, it would have come out like…like… well, you know? Mart never talks in words of one syllable."

"Now, Trixie," Honey joked. "Mart’s not here to defend himself, so let’s don’t talk about him. But, you’re right Diana, I don’t think any of us have been able to eat anything in three days, not with the excitement of graduation and knowing we were coming on this trip, I just now realized, I’m famished."

"So, where should we stop?" asked Trixie. "Fast food?" She was secretly hoping they would have fast food, because she had not been able to bring much money on the trip. Honey and Diana would each have their father’s credit cards, but Trixie had a few dollars in cash she had earned from her part time job at Wimpy’s and from saving up her small allowance.

"We’ll have to wait awhile, because the next town is about fifty miles up the road." Diana said, while looking at the map.

About an hour later, as they drove up one street of a small town and down another, Honey said, "I don’t know if there is even a restaurant here."

"There’s one," said Diana, leaning over the seat and pointing to a dingy looking building, which sat off by itself.

The building looked as if it had seen better days. The rickety sign out front read Barnacle Bob’s seafood shack and bar.

"This doesn’t look like the best neighborhood in the world." As they drove past Trixie noticed  a shabbily dressed man, who stared at the shiny, sports car suspiciously. "But, it looks like that’s all we have to choose from and I’m starving, I don’t think I can wait another hour."

"Maybe the food will taste better than the place looks," said Honey, as she wheeled the little car into the parking lot. "The next town is another forty miles and who knows? The food here may be delicious."

The girls pulled up to the front of the restaurant, which had a lighted neon green sign in the window that said "beer on tap."

"Let’s see what Barnacle Bob’s seafood shack has to offer."

"Yeah" said Diana, as she climbed out of the back of the car. "They got one part of the name right, it definitely is a shack."

As the three were walking toward the front door, Honey and Di both unconsciously patted their hair, and checked their makeup, in the small silver compacts each of them carried. Trixie wished she had dressed more like them today, even though they both wore dresses, because she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb. Diana and Honey were both wearing thin, linen sundresses and sandals. Honey’s was light pink and she wore a pair of white sandals, trimmed with little gold beads and a delicate gold chain and gold earrings. Di’s was a very simply made lavender print, and she wore sterling silver jewelry.

They both look so cool and beautiful, Trixie thought to herself, like they have just stepped out of a fashion magazine.

Trixie looked down at her blue denim shorts, with the little cuffed bottoms and light blue tank top, which she wore with plain white tennis shoes and light blue socks. She had put on a pair of cute earrings though. I wish I had worn a dress, she thought.

Even though she didn’t know it, Trixie was very pretty in her own right. This past couple of years she had outgrown some of her tomboy ways and had become interested in boys, and a couple of guys at school had even been interested in her. And Honey and Diana, were both so beautiful, that after Brian, Mart, Jim and Dan had graduated and moved on, and the girl’s became more interested in after-school activities, they had quickly become the most popular girls in school. This past year, Trixie had gotten interested in wearing light make up and had become more interested in dressing nice. Even though she was a very pretty girl, she compared herself to Diana and Honey and she had begun to think a girl had to be taller, like Honey and Di to be pretty. Honey and Diana were five-five and five-four, respectively. Honey had a slender, delicate shape and Diana had a small waistline, long legs, and was very voluptuous. Honey had long, straight, shiny golden blonde hair which she wore down to her waist and Di had wavy, blue black hair, which she wore a little below shoulder length and beautiful violet eyes, with jet black eyebrows and eyelashes. In the past, Trixie had never felt the need to compete with her two best friends, but, this past year, she some times wished she was more classy like they were. Of course, anyone observing the three girls walking into the place would not have seen things the way Trixie saw them. Trixie was five two with a petite, curvy shape, which had slimmed down once she turned about seventeen. Her hair was kind of a dark blonde, with pale blonde streaks in it from being out in the sun all the time. She had let it grow past her shoulders and it had lost some of its curl, it had just the right amount of wave in it. She had a nice tan, and she had a very cute "little girl" innocent face. She wore just enough makeup to enhance her features.

When the three girls stepped into Barnacle Bob’s, they at first had to allow their eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they could see, Trixie observed several booths on one side of the wall, a full bar at the front of the room and a pool table in the middle of the floor.

"What are you doing in here?" yelled a gruff, masculine voice from behind the bar, sounding annoyed. All three girls jumped and looked toward the bar and saw the huge man with the tattoos from head to toe. He must have been six-foot-four, with a shaved head and more tattoos than they had ever seen on any human. He wore a black leather vest with no shirt on under it and a dog collar around his neck.

"Uh…um," Honey stuttered, as the three girls, their eyes growing wide, backed towards the door.

"Uh, we just wanted to uh, have uh, lunch." Honey stuttered, hanging onto her purse and continuing to back toward to the door.

"Oh hush yourself up, Mad dog" said a lady, with frizzy bleached blonde hair, and a few tattoos of her own, as she came out from the back room, stopping to pick up menu’s. "If these girls want some lunch, it’s not going to hurt nothing, Lord knows we need the money, this place don’t run for free. Don’t pay no attention to him." she told the girls nodding toward the guy, who went back to whatever he had been doing when they came in. "You girls just have a seat." The three girls sat at one of the booths over to the side. "What can I get you to drink?" the lady asked, while loudly popping her gum.

"I’d like a Diet Coke," said Honey, still glancing apprehensively at the big guy behind the bar.

"I’ll have the same," said Diana quietly.

"I’ll have a glass of ice tea," said Trixie as her eyes scanned the menu for something affordable.

"The food doesn’t sound bad," said Diana. "I think I’ll order the shrimp salad, that sounds perfect since it is so hot outside, I don’t need a heavy meal."

The other two girls agreed to have the same, so they put in their order when the waitress came back. The salad was surprisingly good and along with the salad, they got a basket of light and tender homemade rolls with honey butter.

"Well, that salad and bread was great." Said Trixie, after they had finished. "I know," said Diana. "The food was delicious."

"I don’t want to drive now." Said Honey, groaning. "I feel like I’m ten pounds heavier, I didn’t realize salad and bread would fill me up like this."

As the three sipped their drinks, they discussed things they would do while on the island. They were so engrossed in their conversation; they didn’t hear the unmistakable sound of motor cycles pulling up to the front of the building. As they tallied up their ticket and stood up to leave, the front door swung open suddenly, sending a burst of light into the darkened room. Trixie watched in amazement as about fifteen, leather clad, scary-looking biker guys, with the words Satan’s fury on the back of their black leather vests, filed into the room one by one and headed for the bar. Trixie, automatically sensing danger, looked to see if there were other exits besides the front door.

"What do we do?" asked Diana nervously, her eyes scanning the room.

"Well, maybe all those movies we’ve seen about bikers aren’t true." whispered Honey.

"To keep from stirring up any trouble though," suggested Trixie quietly, "I think we should try to get out of here without them noticing us."

"We still have to go up to the cash register to pay for our food," said Diana, worriedly looking around.

"The waitress left our ticket, and anyway, I’m sure we have nothing to worry about, we’ve just watched too many movies," Trixie told her, even though she really wasn’t sure. "Let’s just leave the money for our bill here on the table, along with our tip and just try to get out the front door without causing a ruckus."

The girls quickly counted out their money and tip and left it on the table as they quietly made for the door. The men were gathered around the bar, ordering drinks and talking to the lady that worked there, while the girls quickly and quietly scurried past them toward the front door. They nearly made it when one of the men happened to turn around and see them.

"Wow!" boomed a huge pot-bellied man, with a tattoo of a wizard on his forearm. "Which one’s the sweetest?" With that, all fifteen of them turned to stare at the three girls.

"Let’s just go, don’t look at them and don’t say anything," Trixie whispered to Honey and Diana as they continued toward the door.

But not to be ignored one of the guys stepped in front of them. "Not so fast ladies," he said with a sarcastic grin on his face as he reached out and put an arm around Diana. "To just leave without saying anything, well, that wouldn’t be polite."

"Yeah," said one of the other guys sarcastically. "We might think you don’t want to stay and party with us." He was tall with dark hair and a scar that ran all the way down the side of his face. As he spoke, he grabbed Trixie by one arm and pulled her up close to his body.

Trixie, feeling more anger than fear, instinctively drew her knee up and kneed him in the crotch with every ounce of strength she possessed.

"Aargh!!" He yelled, as he quickly let go of Trixie. "You little ... " he said, after he had recovered.  He then grabbed her by the arm and drew back his fist to hit her. The guy that had grabbed Diana was so stunned that Trixie had the nerve to do what she just did, that he let go of her to watch.

Just when Trixie knew she was about to be beaten beyond recognition, the front door swung open. All eyes turned toward the door as once again, a huge beam of light cut an arc in the darkness of the room. A giant of a man stood in the doorway. He also was about six four, solid muscle, with shoulder length black hair and the most intense black eyes Trixie had ever seen and right now, he focused them on the situation at hand.

It was like time stood still, as Trixie and everyone else stopped what they were doing and looked toward the door. "Let her go, Wolf," the man said authoritatively with a slight accent.

"Man, you didn’t see what she did to me," said Wolf, his big hand wrapped around Trixie’s arm. "She kicked me in the…."

"Let her go, she’s jail bait," interrupted the man, a dangerous look in his black eyes.

"Whoever this man is," Trixie thought, he certainly commands respect.

"Get out of here and don’t come back." He growled at the girls.

With that, all three girls ran out the door. When they got to the car. Honey was so nervous, she could hardly unlock the door. The girls quickly jumped into the car and Honey sped out of the parking lot.

For awhile after the incident, the girls rode silently, as they left the little rural town and continued on toward the island. Trixie kept turning to glance behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed. After a time, they began to calm down and even to laugh.

"Trixie, if I had not have been so afraid, I would have burst out laughing when you kneed that guy," said Diana.

All three girls laughed.

"But, you know?" said Trixie thoughtfully, "I just lost it and didn’t think, but it really was a dangerous thing to do. If that other guy hadn’t of shown up, just in the nick of time"….

"I know," said Honey, it was almost like he was our "bad guy" guardian angel."

After traveling several more hours, they all breathed a sigh of relief when they caught sight of the Haighton Beach Ferry, which was just preparing to leave the dock.

"I don’t think we’ll be checking out the night life on the island tonight," joked Trixie, yawning and stretching, as Honey drove the little car onto the ferry. "I’m bushed."

"I think I want to just relax this evening," Honey said, also yawning.

"I brought us that new movie we had talked about seeing," said Diana. "We can just have a nice, relaxing evening at the beach house, like a pajama party."

"Sounds good to me," Trixie said, stifling a yawn again.

While Honey and Diana napped in the car, Trixie walked over to the observation deck. As she stood there, staring out over the water, she felt more than heard someone come up to the guardrail beside her.

"Hello beautiful lady," said a familiar voice. Trixie’s knee’s turned to Jell-O, as her mind registered on whom that voice belonged to. She slowly turned around to face the tall, dark, stranger that had rescued her and her friends, at the restaurant earlier that day. Stunned, Trixie studied the face of the man in front of her. He was very handsome, probably the handsomest man she had ever seen. He was tall, probably in his early thirties, with jet-black hair, that was pulled back into a ponytail. Even though he was obviously a biker, he was very clean looking. He was muscular and tall and had a tattoo of the face of a devil on his forearm. As Trixie studied him, she wondered if she should feel afraid, because after all, she really didn’t know this person, or what his motives might be, and because he seemed to be of a criminal element, but he had rescued her and her friends earlier that day. The two of them stood there, for a few moments while Trixie, feeling breathless from his nearness, struggled to find something to say.

After a long silence, he initiated the conversation. "I realize that you and your young friends might be curious about certain places and certain kinds of men," he finally told her, focusing those intense black eyes on her. "But, it was very dangerous for you three to let your curiosity get the best of you and go in a place like that, should I tell you what could happen?"

"We didn’t know it was that kind of place and we were just having lunch." Said Trixie, feeling insulted.

"Oh, come on now," he said, raising his eyebrows, obviously not believing her. "You can tell by looking at the place, you saw the bartender, you knew what kind of place it was."

Trixie was tired; she had not slept well in a few days because of all the excitement, then the long trip. And she had had a long, harrowing day and did not feel like dealing with a lecture from a total stranger, who obviously lived outside the law, himself. "Oh, so you think we went in there, because we were curious about big, tattooed guys, who don’t bathe and the places they hang out in?" asked Trixie, becoming angry.

"All I’m saying is, don’t allow your curiosity to put you in danger." He replied, slightly raising his voice because he also was becoming angry, the look in those intense dark eyes was almost frightening to Trixie, but she refused to back down. "I may not be there to rescue you next time."

"Oh," said Trixie sarcastically. "I wonder how I’ve lived all these years without you, whom I don’t even know, around to take care of me." She knew she should shut up and go back to the car, but she was furious now. "Let me tell you something, I’ve been kidnapped by jewel thieves in New York, I was kidnapped by a friends phony uncle, I was kidnapped by gun runners in Mississippi, I…"

"Okay, okay," he said, holding his hands up in front of her, while also holding back a smile. "What an adventurous life you’ve had." He indulgently told her, turning his head, so she couldn’t see him smile.

This made Trixie even angrier, he didn’t believe her! How dare he laugh at her! "I was going to thank you for rescuing us…" she started in angrily.

He just held up his hands again. "No thanks needed," he told her.

"That’s good." she said, "because I’ve changed my mind, I’m not thanking you!" With that, she stomped away from him, as angry as she had ever been at anyone. She could hear him laughing as she walked away. 

The nerve of him! she thought to herself. To imply that we had gone into that place intentionally! I guess, he thinks I secretly want that guy Wolf.

Underneath all the anger, Trixie began to acknowledge something that made her even more angry, not with him, but herself. A strange attraction to this man who had rescued her. Something about him, she could just drown in those intense black eyes…. Jeepers! she thought to herself, What in the heck is wrong with me? I have been around enough criminals to know he’s one also. Every instinct within me tells me he’s dangerous, and I feel attracted to him? Something must seriously be wrong with me.

 

Trixie didn’t tell her friends about her encounter at the observation deck and she felt relieved when they finally drove the little red car off the ferry and onto the island. She glanced behind to see if she could see "him" but she didn’t. Of course there were a lot of vehicles, and several motorcycles, so she wouldn’t have been able to spot him.

Honey following the map and shortly pulled up to 15 Seahorse Lane, the address of the beach house. The house was probably built in the thirties. It wasn’t real big, but it had a huge porch all the way around it. It was in a wooded area, trees and bushes separating it from similar houses on each side, each house facing a cliff. Down below the cliff was the beach. The back yard was totally wooded, with a trail leading into the woods.

Inside, the house had beautiful hardwood floors, varnished to a high shine. The downstairs consisted of an eat-in kitchen, with modern appliances, but still maintaining the original look. The living room went all the way across the front of the house. There was one bathroom downstairs facing the side porch. Upstairs, there were three bedrooms and two baths. The front bedroom overlooked the ocean. It had a lavender bedspread and sheer white curtains and a lavender rug on the floor beside the huge antique bed.

"I don’t even have to guess who’ll want this room," said Trixie, as she, Diana and Honey explored the house.

"That’s right," said Diana. "I’m going downstairs to get my luggage," she said, already hurrying down the stairs.

Honey went to the other room, with the big, old-fashioned four poster bed with the white eyelet bedspread and old fashioned matching curtains. I think this is the one for me,"  said Honey.

"I hope the other one is something I’ll like," said Trixie, as she wandered into the other room. The other room was done in a baby blue, with a seashell motif on the bedspread and curtains. The furniture was wicker. This is what a room at the beach should look like, thought Trixie.

After unpacking, and Honey and Diana changing into shorts and tank tops, the girls went walking on the beach. After picking up a few shells, they returned to the house and sat on the massive front porch overlooking the water.

"It’s really beautiful here," said Diana dreamily, as she stared out over the water.

"I know," said Honey. "I think I’m going to talk to mother and Daddy about not selling it. I want them to keep it, it is such a nice vacation spot."

"It is," agreed Trixie, who had been quiet through their walk. She was still thinking about her encounter with the tall, dark, handsome stranger.

Honey had noticed Trixie’s quietness and was about to ask her about it, when they heard someone on the trail between their house and the one next door.

"Hello," said an older feminine voice stepping into the yard.

"Hi," said Honey, standing as an elderly, white-haired lady stepped out of the trail between the bushes.

"I live next door and I heard you young ladies over here and I thought I would come over and introduce myself," she said, as she extended her hand to the three girls. "It is so nice to see some young people over here."

The girls introduced themselves and the lady acknowledged that she remembered Honey’s great-uncle, who had owned the house. "I would love for you to come over and have some of my fresh-baked oatmeal cookies and milk. I just baked them this afternoon."

"Oh, we’d love to," said Honey.

The oatmeal cookies were delicious. The lady’s name was Mrs. Becton and she introduced the girls to her husband who was a stout, gray-haired old gentleman. They were like someone’s grandparents.

"You girls be careful in that old house all alone," Mrs. Becton warned them, after they had visited awhile.

"Why?" asked Trixie curiously.

"Now, Marge, don’t scare the girls," her husband chided.

Mrs. Becton just ignored him and went on anyway. "I don’t want to scare you, but about a year ago, two girls went missing from here. They were about your age, one girl’s body was found down in the wooded area of the beach, the other wasn’t ever found. Her parents have given up hope that she’s alive though. And they never knew who did it. Some folks think it was the work of a serial killer and that he’s probably left these parts, other’s believe it had something to do with the biker gang that have a club down at the end of the island. The island’s changed a lot from what it used to be, it used to be families and elderly people, people didn’t even lock their doors at night, but now…."

Trixie was intrigued, and wanted to know more, but she saw the frightened looks on Honey and Diana’s faces and quickly changed the subject, at least for now. "Oh, we’ll be careful," she said, standing. "But, I guess it’s time for us to go." After thanking the Bectons for the cookies and milk, the girls walked the short trail back to the house.

"Oh, by the way," said Honety,"dinner tonight is on me, Daddy gave me his credit card to use this week."

"Why don’t we get sandwich fixings?" suggested Trixie, not feeling like going out again.

"I have a better idea," Honey said "Why don’t I go to that little restaurant I saw earlier Clam Basket and order take out? That way, we can eat here and watch the movie Diana brought for us."

"That would be wonderful," agreed Diana, "While you’re gone, I’m going to take a shower."

"Me too," said Trixie.

As the sun began to set over the ocean, with a myriad of colors, Honey returned with the food. Before eating, Honey went to take her shower and put on pajamas. The three settled in front of the television to watch the movie Diana had brought. After a delicious meal, consisting of lobster salad sandwiches on a homemade croissant and a side dish of clam chowder, the girls were stuffed. They watched the movie for awhile, and then the talk got around to guys. Trixie finally told them about her encounter with the handsome stranger today on the ferryboat. When she told them how angry she had gotten, both girls were in stitches.

"It’s not funny," said Trixie. "Why do you think that’s funny?"

At that, Honey and Diana rolled on the floor laughing.

"It’s not funny that he said that to you," said Diana.

"No, it’s just that we know how angry you can get, and it’s just the mental picture, of you stomping off," Honey said, falling over on the floor again.

Trixie began to laugh with them. "And he actually called me beautiful lady," said Trixie, incredulous. "Nobody has ever called me that before."

"So?" asked Diana. "Should we be surprised?"

"Yeah," said Honey. "You are a beautiful lady."

"But, I’m short," said Trixie, looking down at her slight figure. "And I don’t have long, wavy black hair like you Diana, or your long, golden hair, Honey."

"Since when did you have to have all that to be beautiful?" asked Diana.

After more girl talk and several more yawns, the girls opted to finish watching the movie another night.

"We have to go to the store tomorrow morning," said Honey, we have no supplies or food in the house.

The girls tiredly climbed the stairs to their rooms and Honey and Diana crashed.

Trixie couldn’t sleep, because, even though she was tired, she had stumbled into her favorite thing in life, a mystery. In fact, maybe more than one. She wanted to know about the mysterious, dark stranger and she wanted to know about the two girls the Bectons had told them about.

"There are a couple of mysteries here," she said to herself. "And somehow, someway, I’ve got a feeling they’re all connected and I’m going to find out how. But for now, I need to go to sleep and I’m wide-awake. I would love to have a cup of hot chocolate, but since we have no groceries in the house, that’s impossible. But, maybe if I take a warm tub bath, that will help me to relax."

Trixie gingerly climbed out of bed and went down stairs to use the bathtub, so she wouldn’t awaken Honey and Diana. Trixie turned on the water and took off her pajamas. She stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror. "Did he really see someone beautiful?" she asked herself. Even though her freckles had faded and she had a really nice tan, she wasn’t so sure. The breeze blew the thin curtain out from the window, and then it dawned on her that the window was open. As she reached over to close it, she heard a noise outside of it. She saw someone jump back from the window, run off the end of the darkened porch and run toward the back yard.

Quickly, she reached for her robe and bedroom slippers. She had meant to buy some new slippers for this trip, but with all the busyness of the past few weeks, she had forgotten. As a joke last Christmas, Mart had given her these hideous and huge, orange and yellow striped fuzzy slippers, with a big, plastic bird’s head on each toe. Unfortunately, her regular shoes were all upstairs, and these were the shoes she had worn downstairs. So, slipping these on and without bothering to put on her pajamas, she threw on her huge, bright pink, terry cloth bathrobe and climbed out the window, jumped off the high porch and took off running down the trail behind the house. She ran as fast as those ridiculous slippers would carry her, the big rubber bird heads on her slippers, flapping back and forth as she went. She could feel twigs and briars getting in her hair and attaching to her terry cloth robe, which she had to keep pulling closed. Up ahead, she could hear someone running, far up the trail in front of her and she could barely make out a dark shape. Finally, as she was gaining ground, the person on the trail stopped and turned around so fast, that she couldn’t stop. She ran full force into him.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" said an arrogant but familiar voice, catching her by the shoulders, before she fell down. "Allowing your curiosity to get the best of you again?" he said sarcastically, focusing intently on her with those black eyes.

"My curiosity!" yelled Trixie, making a concerted effort not to stare into those eyes. "I have a question for you!" she yelled, her face growing red with fury. "What are you doing on this trail at this time of night?"

"I might ask you the same question," he countered insolently, as he looked down at her. Then, it was like he did a double take and his black eyes darkened with intensity.

Trixie looked down to see what he was staring at, saw that her bathrobe had almost fallen open in front. Embarrassed, she snatched her robe together and tied it.

"You’re playing a dangerous game, beautiful lady. You and your friends don’t belong on this island, you need to go home."

"For your information, we are here to spend a few weeks. You may have some say over that seedy restaurant that we accidentally stumbled onto earlier today, but you don’t own this island. And since you are the person I was chasing down the trail, you must be the one who was playing peeping tom at my bathroom window just a short while ago. Maybe I should go to the police."

"What?" He grabbed her arm. "You’re accusing me of looking in your window?" he said, starting to become angry.

"Let go of me," she said, as she drew her knee back and prepared to kick him like she had earlier kicked his friend Wolf.

He saw what she was doing, and twisted her around, her back up against his chest, with one arm around her waist, he held her firmly against him.

"Let me go!" she yelled indignantly, squirming to get away.

"I will let you go, as soon as you promise to go back to the house and not say a word about seeing me on this trail tonight," he told her.

"I will not promise that, I think the police on this island need to be informed about your activities."

"Look," he said angrily, tightening his grip. "I didn’t look in your window, I don’t go around peeping in windows, and you have no idea what is going on here, so don’t mess around with this situation, because you will find yourself in over your head."

Finally, he let her go and stepped back and she almost fell down. Angrily, pulling her robe together again, she then turned around and prepared to tell him what she thought.

He held his hand up once again, like he had earlier. "If you plan to go out and chase what you perceive to be hardened criminals" he said, looking down at her bird slippers, "You at least need to wear the proper attire..." With that statement, he was gone, into the woods.

Trixie was so angry, she once again found herself furious. "Ooh!" She yelled, and she wanted to say something insulting, but she was at a loss for words. She had forgotten that she was wearing these stupid shoes, until he pointed it out. Angry and embarrassed, she stomped back down the trail to the house, not even noticing how ridiculous she looked in her huge pink terry cloth robe and her bedroom shoes with the big bird heads bobbing back and forth. What was it about this man that made her grow so angry, so quickly? she asked herself, as she stamped back down the trail. "Those intense dark eyes, she thought almost dreamily, the way he looks at me. She scolded herself. Stop it!

Honey and Diana rose early next morning. The two of them showered and went to the store while Trixie slept in. She hadn’t told them about her encounter with the man or that someone was looking in the window last night, they just assumed she was extra tired. She yawned her way through the delicious blueberry pancake and bacon breakfast Honey had prepared.

"Why are you so tired?" Honey questioned. "You’ve slept a long time."

Trixie didn’t want to frighten them with what happened last night, so she said, "I just couldn’t sleep."

After straightening up the beach house, the three girls dressed in their new bathing suits and headed down to enjoy the beach.

Even though the houses each faced the beach, the beach itself was public. Many people were out enjoying the sun and the waves today. Surfers were out, mom’s with young kids, teenagers. A group of surfers got out of the water and started playing volleyball right near where the three girls lay in the sun. As the girls began to fall asleep, the volleyball landed almost square on top of Diana. She awakened to find a very handsome, young man standing over her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Sure," she said.

"I didn’t mean to disturb you," the young man said.

"Oh, that’s okay," said Diana smiling up at him.

"I’m Johnny," he said extending a hand. He was about five-eleven, stocky athletic build, with streaked reddish-brown hair.

"I’m Diana,"  she said, returning the handshake and these are my two friends, Honey and Trixie. He barely nodded at the two of them; he just seemed to have eyes for Diana.

"Hey Johnny, come on!" yelled one of the other volleyball players.

"I guess I have to get back to the game," he said, staring into Diana’s eyes, like he hated to leave. "Can I come back over later and talk to you?"

"Sure," answered Diana, "I’d like that."

Johnny invited the girls to a party for later that night. When the girls returned to the beach house, Trixie felt that something wasn’t right. She just had an uneasy feeling. When she went in the downstairs bathroom to change, she saw a note stuck to the window. It simply said, "I’m watching you." She believed it was from whoever was outside the bathroom window last night. She had to do some research very soon, she stuck the note in her pocket, because she didn’t want to frighten Diana and Honey.

"What do we wear tonight?" Asked Trixie, hoping they didn’t have to get dressed up. "Well, it is a party," said Diana. "But, Johnny said casual, so why don’t we wear jeans?" All three girls wore black jeans and bright colored tank tops. Diana’s was red, Honey’s was emerald green and Trixie’s was royal blue. Honey and Diana pulled Trixie’s hair over to one side and curled it, along with her bangs and applied makeup. She looked beautiful when they got through. "Wow" said Trixie. "I didn’t know I could look like this."

Johnny’s house is only like a mile and a half away, said Diana, why don’t we walk? "Sounds good to me." Replied Honey, "we’ve eaten so much on this trip, I feel like I need some exercise." The three girls walked down the wooded trail that ran behind the house and took a left on a sidewalk, which led through the small town. It was starting to grow dark when they arrived at the older house where the party would be. They automatically felt that they had walked into another world from what they were accustomed to. Loud, heavy metal music blared over a huge stereo; in fact you could hear it a long time before you actually arrived at the house. There were a lot of guys there, and the few girls that were there, were scantily clad in really short, torn, cutoff jeans and bikini bathing suit tops or really short, tight dresses.

"We’ve definitely lived a sheltered life in Sleepyside," Honey commented dryly, looking at the far out dancing that was going on and the group of young people getting drunk and playing strip poker in the corner.

"I think I like the sheltered life we’ve lived," replied Trixie disapprovingly. "It probably kept us out of juvenile detention. This kind of party looks like the kind where one could end up in trouble."

About that time, Johnny came walking out and spotted Diana. "Hi babe," he said, grabbing Diana around the waist. "Come meet my friends." Diana went to another room with him. 

Some guys came up and tried to talk to Trixie and Honey, but Trixie and Honey were not overly friendly.

Finally, Honey said, "Trixie, what do you say let’s go and get Diana and go home?"

"Sounds like a winner to me" replied Trixie. They searched for Diana, walking through the darkened rooms with the entwined bodies and the smell of alcohol and booze. They found Diana at a small round table, sitting in Johnny’s lap, while several other guys passed around a bottle of liquor.

"Diana, are you ready to go?" Honey asked.

"No," said Johnny, answering for Diana. "She’s staying with me."

"Diana?" asked Trixie, hopefully, certain that Diana would want to leave with them.

"Oh, Johnny’s going to take me home later," said Diana, brushing them off. "I’ll see you back at the house." Trixie wanted to insist on Diana coming with them, but she knew Diana would be angry with her and accuse her of acting like a parent, and wouldn’t leave anyway. She and Honey left the house, both very concerned about leaving Diana there.

"I wish now we hadn’t chosen to walk," said Honey. "It’s a lot longer way than I first thought, and it’s dark now."

"Oh, we’ll be fine," said Trixie, her mind on Diana. The first section of the walk was through the small business section and that was okay, but then they turned off onto the darkened sidewalk that lead to the wooded trail, which in turn, led to the house. A couple of times, Trixie thought she heard someone behind them, but when she would look around, she wondered if she were imagining things.

"Trixie, I’m scared," said Honey. "I think we should go back into town and call a cab to come and get us. I just don’t have a good feeling about any of this and remember the story Mrs. Becton told us about the missing girls? And here we are walking down this dark trail at night, I don’t like this at all."

Trixie was about to reassure Honey when they heard a sound behind them that sounded like someone running through the woods. "I don’t know." said Trixie, "But for right now, let’s run!" The two girls took off and didn’t stop till they had breathlessly made it inside the beach house and locked and bolted the door behind them.

Trixie awakened early the next morning determined that this morning she was going to the town library, to do research on the two girls that the Bectons told them about. After showering, she slipped on her white denim shorts and royal blue tank top with spaghetti straps. It was then that she heard a loud car pull up out front.

She stared out the window as Diana, who was riding in the front seat in Johnny’s lap, climbed out. In the car was several of Johnny’s longhaired, surfer, heavy-metal rocker friends in it. Diana and Johnny leaned against the car and shared a long, passionate kiss and then Diana headed for the front door. Trixie was very quiet, she didn’t confront Diana, because she didn’t know how to deal with the situation, she waited until she heard Diana come in and climb the stairs up to her room.

Quietly, Trixie slipped out of the house, locking the door behind her. She passed by the Bectons'; Mr. Becton was outside, working in the small garden. He waved at her and watched her as she passed. She walked down the beach as opposed to the wooded path behind the house, even though the path would’ve been shorter, after last night, she didn’t want to be on it alone. She made her way to the downtown area until she came to the library. She went to the microfilm machine and looked up local newspaper clippings from about a year ago. Finally, she found it. Local girl disappears, read the first headline. The newspaper clipping read how local island girl, Lisa Katone, disappeared after not returning from a date. She was last seen in the company of a group of heavy metal rockers, who often surfed during the day and partied at night.

Oh no, Diana, thought Trixie, Maybe it’s not the same group, though.

Katone was never found. But the other one, who had ties to the group of surfer/heavy metal rockers as well as the bikers who had a club down at the other end of the island, was found. She had been raped and the cause of death was a blunt head injury. The police determined that she had been killed trying to escape.

Trixie left the library and slowly walked the long way back to the beach house, her mind deep in thought. She took the wooded trail this time, because it was shorter than walking down the beach. Even though it was morning and daylight, the trail was kind of dark and spooky, especially after having read a story about a grisly murder scene.

The one thing I forgot to notice, thought Trixie, mentally kicking herself, was where the body was actually found.

Suddenly, she heard someone on the trail behind her. And then, he stepped out of the woods. The tall, dark, handsome stranger. "You," she said.

"What a nice greeting," he said. "I thought we were almost on a first name basis by now." And, he said, looking at her admiringly, "you are certainly dressed nicer than last time I saw you, even though the robe with nothing on under it was quite interesting."

"Oh!" said Trixie, infuriated. He was the most, arrogant jerk she had ever met!" He just laughed softly. "What do you do, hang out on this trail waiting for a girl to come by?" She asked sarcastically, just trying o make him as angry as he made her.

"What do you mean?" he asked, starting to grow annoyed.

"Well, this is the second encounter I’ve had with you on this trail and last night someone followed myself and my friend home."

"Are you implying that I followed you?" he asked, stepping forward menacingly.

"Yes, I’m implying that, just like I’m implying that you were looking in my window the first night we were here and the next day you left a note saying you were watching me!"

"And you think I am the one doing these things?" he asked, those dark, foreboding eyes narrowing, as he stepped closer to her. She drew back and said, "I just may go to the police."

"No, you won't," he said. "Like I told you before, stay out of this, or you will wish you had of."

"Are you threatening me?" she asked loudly, stepping backward even as he kept stepping closer to her. She felt afraid and prepared to kick him where it hurts and run. But, before she could, he had stepped forward and had her in his arms. He pressed his body against hers and pushed her up against a tree and she couldn’t move. "Let me go!" she yelled at him.

"No," he replied, pressing his body even harder against hers. "Not until we get an understanding of some things."

"You let me go now," she said, frightened, but fighting the strong physical attraction she whenever she was near him. Before she knew what was happening, he brought his face down to hers and kissed her. At first, she fought and before she knew what was happening, she found herself responding. This was like nothing she had ever experienced. She had kissed before, she had a few dates in school, she had even kissed Jim Frayne the night of the prom and Dan Mangan one day at the Wheelers' lake, when just the two of them were there, but this was different. This was like every fiber of her being, even parts of her she didn’t notice existed, was responding. She was lost in a moment that she hoped never ended. Just as abruptly as he started, he let her go.

"What am I doing?" He stepped back. "You’re jail bait," he said more to himself than to her.

Trixie didn’t know what to say she just knew she had never felt like this before and if he wanted to kiss her again, she would have let him. With that, once again, he disappeared into the woods. She was left feeling like she had just experienced something she might never experience again. The thought filled her with remorse and longing.

Trixie debated whether or not she should share the information she had found out about the missing girls and the peeping tom incident and the note and the fact that she thought all these incidents were directly related. She hated keeping secrets from Honey, but she was afraid Honey would want all three of them to pack up and head back to Sleepyside.

"Oh Trixie I’m so glad you’re here," said Honey, opening the door for her. "I don’t want to sound like someone’s mom or anything, but Diana stayed out all night last night, now she’s gone again. This isn’t like Diana and I don’t trust those people she’s hanging out with.  And after that story Mrs. Becton told us the first night we were here, I wonder if we should just go home."

Trixie agreed with what she said about Diana, but she had a hard time walking away from a mystery and now, she had another reason for wanting to stay, and it had something to do with a certain mysterious man. "Please, Honey, let’s don’t go home. Between the two of us, we can keep an eye on Diana, if it looks like she’s in any danger…."

"Maybe you’re right," said Honey, thoughtfully. "I love it here and I really don’t want to cut our vacation short,

"I think I’m in love," Diana told them after once again, being out all night.

"Diana, you’ve only known him for like three days," said Trixie. "That’s not enough time to fall in love."

"Yeah, but I’ve never known anyone like Johnny," said Diana dreamily.

Diana went to bed, slept for a few hours and was up and gone again. Trixie and Honey both knew they wouldn’t be seeing her anymore till sometime tomorrow morning. Honey went to the beach, while Trixie walked over to see the Becton’s, the elderly couple next door. Mrs. Becton wasn’t home, but Mr. Becton said "Come in, come in. Have a cup of coffee." Trixie felt a little ashamed that he was a lonely old man and probably wanted visitors and she was there because she wanted to find out what he and his wife knew about the two girls’ disappearance. They made small talk over coffee, for awhile and Trixie brought up how she was concerned about her and her friends staying over at the beach house alone.

"Do you ever hear any strange noises or anything around here, like at night?" She innocently asked Mr. Becton.

"No, I can’t say as I do," he replied, taking a long sip of coffee. "But, I remember one of the girls, the one that was found raped and murdered was dating a guy named uh John…Johnny, something like that. He was one of those what they call "heavy metal rockers." And the other girl, some say, she lives with the bikers now. Her parents were real strict and she wanted to hang out with "bad boys" and some think she left with these biker types. There are even those that claim that she lives down there at the club."

I think the first step is to find out if she is still alive and if so, find out what she knows, Trixie thought to herself, as she took a sip of coffee, a plan formulating in her mind.

The next few days passed uneventfully, with Trixie and Honey going to the beach, staying home by themselves at night, while Diana was gone with Johnny. They were concerned about her, but didn’t know what to do. Diana came home with a tattoo on her leg one morning and Trixie and Honey wisely didn’t comment. But, everything changed the next morning when Diana came in.

"Oh my God, what’s wrong?" Honey asked, aghast. The left side of Diana’s face was fiery red and it wasn’t totally from crying. Her shirt was torn down the front and she had to hold it together. "Oh Trixie, it was horrible." Diana said crying. "Johnny hit me." "He did what?" Trixie asked incredulous. "Oh Diana," said Honey, putting her arms around her and comforting her. "What happened?"

So, the three girls sat on the couch together, while Diana told her story. "Johnny’s different than any guy I’ve ever known. He’s mature, he’s protective of me, being with him made me feel so safe and everything and he is sexy and wild. But, he uses drugs and alcohol and I think they are into some illegal things, you know? He and his friends aren’t employed anywhere, but, they always seem to have money. Well, as much as I like him, I was just looking at this as a summer romance. I know in a couple of weeks I’m going home and then in the fall, going away to college. I wasn’t thinking of tying myself down to a relationship. Even with the drugs and all, which I declined to use, I was just enjoying being with him, because he was different, he was exciting. But, yesterday, one of his friends was talking to me, telling me a story and I was politely listening. Anyway, Johnny walked into the room and just went off. He was crazy, he slapped me and started beating on his friend, and I was afraid he was going to kill him and his other friends pulled him off. And then, he started on me again, he grabbed me and ripped my shirt down the front, but I got away from him and I ran. He followed me and yelled that I was never leaving him, that he would see me dead first, but I got away. I hid in the woods and then, I made my way here. I’m scared."

"I love it here," said Honey. "But, I’m starting to wonder if maybe, we should go home, this sounds a little too dangerous."

"Oh no…" both Trixie and Diana started to protest.

"I think Johnny will leave me alone, but if he doesn’t we’ll go to the police," said Diana. "I don’t want to leave yet and I don’t want to spoil the trip for the two of you. Besides, I love it here."

The girls told Diana what they had discovered about the missing and murdered girls. She was even more afraid, but remained firm that she didn’t want to go home.

Life went on though. At first, Johnny would call on the phone and beg Diana to come back to him, which she politely declined. He told her how sorry he was. Then, he began to follow them to the beach, to make threatening phone calls and to stalk. Trixie grew more and more suspicious that he had something to do with the murdered girl. She needed to find out if the missing girl was still somewhere on the island, and if so, she needed to find out what she knew. She had a plan….

 To Be Continued

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