Author's note: standard stuff, not my characters, I’m not making money. Thanks Aurie and Anna. Thanks Missy, for being like Trixie!
CHAPTER 6
THE MOON AND SUNEveryone was asleep; it seemed, except Trixie. She was too hot on the top bunk. Her mind wouldn’t slow down to sleep mode. "If I were sleeping, I would probably be having a weird dream about elephants," she thought. Trixie quietly left the trailer.
The moonlight shone through the trees, casting spooky shadows around. Trixie jumped noiselessly when she felt something touch her hand. She turned around and saw a glint of red. She felt Jim take her hand.
"You scared me," she whispered. Trixie had always admired Jim’s ability to move through the underbrush without a sound.
"Sorry," he said.
As her eyes became accustomed to the moonlight, Trixie noticed that, while she was wearing pajama shorts and a top, Jim was wearing only shorts.
He guided her around several obstacles leading to the train tracks. She was pulled along between the rails, carefully stepping on the ties. Trixie realized that Jim was taking her on the trestle bridge, and she worried about trains. Jim suddenly stopped. Taking Trixie’s shoulders, he turned her to the left. She drew in her breath at the view of Front Street bathed in moonlight.
Trixie backed into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, one arm under her chin, the other across the bottom of her rib cage. "Oh, Jim," she said dreamily, "it’s perfect." She closed her eyes and felt his lips on her hair. For the life of her, Trixie could not remember what had been holding her back. She tipped her head back and felt his breath on her face.
That’s strange, she thought. The earth is supposed to move during his kiss, not before. Trixie’s eyes opened as she realized the danger and they moved quickly off of the bridge and tracks.
The train drowned their laughter out as Jim walked Trixie back to her front door. Trixie was glad that he couldn’t see how flushed her face was in the dark, as he leaned toward her, and she placed her hand on his bare chest.
The light in the trailer snapped on and Honey opened the door. "Oh!" the sleepy girl said before quickly closing it.
Trixie put her hands to her cheeks and said, "Better your sister than my brothers," and ran inside.
"I’m sorry Trixie, I just noticed you were missing."
Di sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"
"One thirty. Go back to sleep," Trixie said, climbing onto her bunk. It was a long time before she drifted off.
Everyone was up early and ready for work. An impromptu Bobwhite meeting the night before had lead to the decision to volunteer at the museum. Cutting the alfalfa would be hard work, but one of their club’s purposes was to help others.
Trixie had tried to find out about Ned’s appointment, but Brian had given her a ‘Don’t you pry into something that is not your business’ look, so she dropped it.
Ned told the boys to wear jeans and hats, in order to protect themselves. They also had sunscreen and insect repellent. Mart, who wanted to study agriculture in college, was disappointed that he was too young to wield the blade.
The Bob-Whites and Ned gathered around the picnic tables with the interpretive staff for the morning meeting. Here they learned that the mayor was actually the supervisor of historical interpreters and that Judi, the assistant supervisor, was the woman that introduced them to the goats. Judi told everyone why the Bob-Whites were there.
Towards the end of the meeting, the two ladies were wondering why the Marshal had not yet arrived. "I’ll have to call his house and see if something is wrong or he just forgot. That’s all I have for the meeting. Be careful out there!" She always quoted ‘Hill Street Blues.’ Everyone headed for his or her site. The Bob-Whites followed Dani and Judi to the cabin area.
Judi unlocked the log ‘store house’ and removed the scythe. She handed Ned a pair of gloves and instructed them to not work for over a half-hour without taking a break. Mart was asked to stack the cut alfalfa and take what had been cut earlier down to the red barn.
"I’ll put the girls to work in the garden," Dani said with a grin. She unlocked the cabin and retrieved two buckets and a basket. The girls were to peel the leaves off the lettuce plants and carry water from the well to the garden. Dani gave them a quick tour for orientation.
North of the house was the summer kitchen, which she couldn’t use because the stovepipe was missing. A retractable clothesline stretched between the house and summer kitchen. It was made with a rope attached to the kitchen and strung through an iron loop nailed to the house. The house end was waited down by a fishnet full of large rocks. Remove the net, coil the rope up to the kitchen, and it is retracted. A low wash table made of halved logs was near the line.
The privy was behind the house. Dani told them to not be afraid of using it; toilet paper was hidden above the door so they wouldn’t have to utilize the corncobs provided. She explained that the term ‘outhouse’ belonged to every building that was not THE house.
The storehouse was south of the cabin, between the house and barn. The only inhabitants of the barn were the swallows who had a nest on the rafters. A small chicken house was behind the barn. The corncrib and garden were east, by the road. A crooked patch of broomcorn was growing behind the barn, which, Dani pointed out, she planted herself. She showed the girls some bittersweet and a grape plant behind the chicken house. "You can put some water on them while you are back here with the broomcorn."
Dani went inside to start the fire, but came back out a minute later with three sunbonnets. "Kay, the mayor, made these," she said. "The yellow one is mine. I’d feel better if you wore them in the sun. They do help. I couldn’t live without mine."
Diana picked the red one, and Honey knew Trixie would like the blue, so she took the yellow bonnet with pink flowers for herself. They giggled at seeing each other, but the bonnets protected their heads and necks from the sun. "Maybe I should wear one of these in the garden back home," Trixie said. "But Mart would tease me to death!"
They were called into the house after half an hour. Dani showed them the wash basin and they rinsed the sweat from their faces. She had Trixie hold a cool, wet cloth to her face, and put Diana’s hair into a bun. After the girls had cooled off for a few minutes, they were given a new task. Trixie carried the buckets and a couple towels out to the alfalfa field. Di and Honey each had a pitcher of water and some cups.
"Do my orbs deceive me?" asked Mart. "I see angels! Two angels and a pterodactyl in a sunbonnet!"
Trixie sniffed, and stated, "I guess we know who gets his water last." She approached Dan with a bucket and wet towel. Honey and Di, loyally, gave Mart his cup after Brian and the others had drank their fill.
The girls returned to the house, wanting to help Dani with lunch. "I have never in my life seen such a tiny stove. It’s darling!" Honey said.
"Dolly is small and very finicky. But I am happy to have a stove with an oven. The stove in the summer kitchen used to be in here, and I used to cook in it. I like Dolly better," Dani said.
"I think it is sweet that you named the stove," said Di.
"I think the stove named itself," Trixie said, pointing at the brand name ‘DOLLY’ on the firebox door. They all laughed.
Dani was frying bacon, Honey sliced bread, and Diana tore the lettuce while Trixie cut tomatoes. Honey arranged the bread on the handmade cookie sheets to toast, then tore the remaining bread into chunks. Dani greased her Dutch oven and showed Trixie the recipe for bread pudding. Diana brought in and cut up the rhubarb. Dani made the salad dressing with the bacon grease, vinegar and sugar. Soon they had the makings for BLTs and wilted lettuce salad, plus dessert in the oven.
Miss Dani hung up the triangle and rang it. The boys came in from the field.
CHAPTER 7
HARD LIFE"We can’t give food we have prepared here to our visitors, it is against heath regulations or something," Dani told them when everyone had lined up to eat. "But today you are volunteer staff!" The kids filled up their plates and went outdoors to sit in the shade. Trixie followed Jim out to a twisted old ash tree that would be perfect for climbing. She turned around and noticed that everyone had sprawled somewhere else, leaving her alone with Jim.
He sat with his back against the tree. He looked hot and tired, Trixie knew she must look the same. She sat with her knee touching his jeans. "Should we talk about last night?" Jim asked.
"What was going through your mind," Trixie blurted out, "when you tugged at Missy’s curl at the dance?"
Jim chewed slowly, trying to think of the right way to put it. "Missy is a lot like you. She is pretty in the same natural way, but that is not what I mean." He was talking quickly, now, trying to avoid seeing that look on her face—the lines between her eyebrows, her pursed lips. "She is a little bit impulsive, says things before thinking it out, puts her foot in her mouth. Sounds familiar? I wanted to make her feel better, not so self-conscious. I told her not to worry, that my girlfriend does that all the time. But I made a mistake! I realized that it was a stupid move as soon as I saw you tip the bench over on Ned. I wanted to find you and apologize, but you ran off with Ned!" He looked at her face with apprehension, trying to read her reaction.
"All right, Jim," Trixie said. "I’ll accept that explanation." She hadn’t really been that jealous, Trixie knew Jim cared for her, especially after last night. Besides, Trixie had felt something was wrong before she saw Jim with another girl. His reasons didn’t take away her confusion. "The only time I feel sure about anything," she thought to herself, "is when Jim has his arms around me."
Lying down with her head on his lap, Trixie asked, "You wanted to talk about last night?"
Jim was relieved that she didn’t seem upset. He set down his plate and stroked her damp hair. "We haven’t talked about how things stand between us since I left for college last fall. You were 15 and I was 18. I have always tried to be careful with you and not do something you weren’t ready for."
Trixie yawned. She hadn’t realized how exhausted she had become after loosing sleep several nights in a row. She wanted to listen to what Jim was saying, but the words swirled around and made little sense. "I’ll be careful," She promised, before falling asleep.
The next thing she knew, a voice said in her ear, "Wake up, sleeping beauty, I have to get back to work." She sat up, feeling sheepish, and allowed Jim to pull her to her feet. "You have a sleep mark on your cheek," he said, tracing the pattern left on her face by his jeans.
"I’m sorry I fell asleep. Can we have that talk later?"
at work in the field."I’ll put it first on the agenda for if and when we ever have a moment alone together again. Or maybe second on the agenda," he said while moving towards the others, already
Trixie gathered up their plates and walked back to the house. Miss Dani was giving some visitors a tour of the garden. The dishpans were sitting on top of the covered well as Honey and Di, armed with tea towels and a straw pot scrubber, tackled the dishes. Trixie set her plates in the water and went inside to fetch her sunbonnet.
"There were about 35 Germans and a few Americans who formed a town company in Davenport, Iowa," Dani was saying to the guests as they approached the cabin. "They picked this area because of the Grand Island, which was a miles and miles long island in the Platte River that was covered with trees. The Pawnee used to winter their horses there. The island was a known landmark along the trail, mentioned in guidebooks and diaries, so they knew it would be a good source of timber for building and fuel. The Davenport group arrived in July of 1857. Some started building while others broke sod. The bank that funded the Town Company went under, so they didn’t have the provisions promised them. They had a few hard years, but then the crops started coming in. Some had what is called a road ranch, where people traveling on the Overland Trail could stop and get supplies and fresh produce. They never built the town, but had a nice settlement. Then the railroad came through the area in 1866 and built the town of Grand Island."
As they entered the cabin, Dani continued, "This house was built by Christian Menck in 1859. It was a part of the original settlement. These cottonwood logs came from the island; they would cut them and pull them across the river. Mr. Menck put a lot of extra effort into making this a nice house, like squaring the logs, chamfering these beams and building the dividing wall. See how it is constructed differently." Dani motioned toward an exposed area of the wall. "The logs are up and down, and sticks are nailed across to support the mud plaster. They would then cover the plaster with wet newspaper, then whitewash. You can see a lot of old whitewash and, under the window in the other room, you can still see some German-language newspaper on the wall."
"They had glass windows?" a lady asked.
"Not at first. They would have had shutters for a while, like on the barn. The shingles came later, too, as well as the floorboards and cement between the logs. They might have been brought out on a freight wagon or later on the train. There is a full sleeping loft overhead but, unfortunately, we have a broken beam there--over by the entrance—so we can’t use it." Dani then went outside to show them the summer kitchen and explain the ash hopper.
Trixie joined the girls outside. "I didn’t know you got lye from ashes," Di said, holding up the bar of soap she was using for the dishes.
"This must have been a really hard life," Honey said.
"Can you imagine leaving your family and everything you know to follow a man across the country--to start over from scratch with nothing but a piece of land and what fits in the bed of a pick-up?" Trixie said, looking towards the field.
A tan minivan stopped in front of the cabin. Dani quickly approached it and leaned through the passenger window.
"Isn’t that the mayor?" Honey asked.
"Yes," answered Trixie. "I wonder what is going on."
"Oh, no!" they overheard Dani say. "Let me know if I can help with anything." The van left and Dani turned around, looking concerned and a bit puzzled.
"What’s the matter?" asked Trixie.
The girls followed her into the house. Dani pulled the bread pudding out of the oven and lifted the lid, letting steam hit her in the face. "I can’t believe it," she said.
Di looked over at the rhubarb dessert, finding nothing wrong with its appearance. "What’s wrong, Miss Dani?"
"Gene didn’t show up for work today. Gene Watson is our town Marshal. Kay called his house and talked to his wife. She found out that he didn’t come home last night. Gene teaches a night class at the college across the street. He didn’t make it to that, either. He’s been missing since right after work yesterday."
CHAPTER 8
DETECTIVE DI"There is no privacy on a camping trip!" Trixie exclaimed to Honey while Di was in the shower. It was early in the morning of Wednesday, June 28. Trixie hadn’t been able to talk to Jim in private or get any clues out of Ned. She couldn’t talk to Honey about the mystery, either. They had five minutes, tops.
"I think we might as well start investigating what happened to the marshal," Honey said in a low voice. "I understand all the arguments the boys gave us last night, but I am still worried. I would fell better if we try. It may be moot anyway. We might find out that he isn’t missing anymore."
"I wouldn’t mind if he did turn up. I mean, I would be glad, because he would be okay, but, well…"
"I know—you won’t feel disappointed in losing out on a mystery because you still have one—right?"
"I sure am glad you understand me, Honey. Since the guys think they talked us out of the case of the missing marshal, I think we shouldn’t say anything yet."
"Does that ‘yet’ mean that you’ll agree to tell the others if we find something out?"
Di came out of the shower and Trixie was glad she didn’t have to answer Honey. It was possible that the guys would eventually go along with the investigation. It seemed more likely, though, that Jim would argue with her. She had been surprised last night to find that even Ned was against looking into the disappearance of someone that he knew and liked. He had been excited to help her find out who was stealing her uncle’s sheep and would have been disappointed if she hadn’t found a mystery when he was visiting them in New York. Ned had said something like, "Gene is a grown man, he is a retired policeman. I am sure that he can take care of himself in any given situation. Don’t make a mystery out of this, Trixie."
Mart would have supported her, she was sure, so would Dan, if Ned had wanted them to investigate. If everyone else had voted to, Jim and Brian would have reluctantly agreed. Trixie hated to lie. It was almost as hard to lie to Jim as it was to lie to her mother. She answered Honey’s look with an almost imperceptible nod. They would tell.
Jim sat next to Trixie in the middle seat of the station wagon as they left for the museum. She leaned into his side and he wrapped his arm around her. "What are you ladies going to be doing while we finish up the alfalfa?" he asked, watching Trixie’s reaction carefully. She looked straight ahead.
"He will know if I look at Honey," she thought. Aloud, she said, "Miss Dani told us about all the things she wants to make for the parade." No lie there.
"I’m sure we’ll find some way to help," Honey said, telling them the vague truth.
"I think Kay said something about digging up some clothes for us," said Diana.
"Which one is Kay?" asked Jim.
"The Mayor."
"How is it that they have a woman for mayor? Did anyone ask?" Brain inquired.
"It’s not unheard of," Mart said. "Also, some communities allowed women to vote on local matters, and a few states gave women the vote in the 1890s, but not Nebraska. The Railroadtown Mayor was appointed assistant to the previous mayor, who then stepped down due to illness. She was never voted in."
They arrived in the parking lot just as the morning meeting let out. Trixie scanned the rapidly dispersing crowd for a glimpse of the marshal or any of the girls from the list. She saw a couple of blonde French braids down the back of a thin girl in a light pink dress. "Is that the other Jenny?" Trixie wondered. "One Jenny had dark hair, the one that is engaged. The other was blonde. I think she was wearing the same dress."
Ned was waiting for them at the picnic tables. "No news," he said to Trixie, before she could even ask. "I’m sure his wife will call the police if he is still missing at 5:30. That would be 48 hours. Don’t worry, they’ll find him."
The guys went to finish their work and the girls walked down Front Street. Honey stopped short in front of the newspaper office. "Did you ever find what you were looking for in those newspapers?"
"I couldn’t get anything from them at all," Trixie answered, pulling the papers from her purse. "Ned said that the newspaper was full of stuff about other people, but it’s all names you don’t know or else it makes a point not to mention to whom it is referring. Like this: ‘A young lady in town was stood up for lunch by the new blacksmith. His name was used in blaspheme for several days.’ Who are they?"
"I don’t know why that would be important, but I’m sure someone could tell you. You need a translator," Honey suggested.
"She’s trying to figure out who Ned was mooning over at the dance Saturday night," Diana told Honey. Trixie almost fell off the boardwalk. She grabbed the hitching post to steady herself.
Trixie noticed Miss Susan exit the Mercantile to start sweeping the boards in front of her store. "Let’s go over there and talk." She motioned towards the bandstand. They sat on the north steps. "How did you know?"
"I am not totally oblivious to the goings on around here. Besides, this is the kind of mystery that I can really get into. The only time that I honestly object to detecting is when it’s dangerous. My first suspect was you, Trixie."
CHAPTER 9
NOWHERE AND UPSTAIRS"You can’t be serious!" Trixie exclaimed.
"Ned obviously likes you, Trix, ever since you made all those baskets at that basketball game in Iowa. He probably would have asked you out if it weren’t for the fact that you live thousands of miles away from him, and are in love with someone else."
"What changed your mind?’ Trixie was happy for a fresh perspective. "You have changed your mind, haven’t you?!"
Di laughed. "Yes. It was the way he was looking at the group of girls gathered around our guys at the dance. It was very similar to the way you were watching Jim. He was sitting next to you, but they had his eyes. I should say she had his eyes, whoever she is. But I think that this girl should have been a bit jealous of you, while you are here. We should have picked up on some hostile vibes or something."
"Di, you are a genius!" Trixie excitedly jumped up. "Let’s go see if Jenny hates me!"
"Wait a minute," Honey said, pulling Trixie back down by the waistband. "I hate the be the voice of reason here, but there must be some reason Ned doesn’t want us to know about his girlfriend. What if it is important? Shouldn’t we reason the reason first?"
Di giggled. "You are so lucky that Mart isn’t here for this conversation."
"We can’t tell anyone, Di. I promised Ned. If he finds out you know, he’ll think I told you. For some reason Ned doesn’t know about, the girl won’t let him tell anyone that he is seeing her. It’s like a secret affair or something. I didn’t think you could have secret affairs at 18."
"Then maybe we shouldn’t mess with this, Trixie. It might be more serious than we think," Honey said. "But what could possibly be going on?"
Trixie and Diana laughed. "You are just as curious as we are to find this out! But we do need to be careful. I don’t want to see Ned in any more pain."
The girls found Jenny alone in the schoolhouse. Jenny had a long, narrow face and light complexion, almost angelic—but not quite. She was making a necklace out of tiny glass beads. Trixie wasn’t getting much of a reading from her, so she decided to bring up Ned.
"Railroadtown looks like a nice place to work. Ned sure is lucky to be spending his summer here."
"It’s nice having another guy our age around. We have a lot more girls than guys. There’s only the two Jakes. We have two Jakes and two Jennys," she said with a laugh. "Jake Kosmicki is in the Hardware store today. He asked me to make a necklace for him. It keeps me busy."
When comparing notes afterward, they agreed that Jenny’s response to the topic of Ned was not the least bit suspicious. "There was no flash, no flicker, no shadow of anything! I’m ready to cross her off the list," Trixie said.
"Who else have you eliminated?" Honey asked.
Trixie went over the list with them and explained that she thought Ned was with the girl on the day he wasn’t with them. "If I’m right, then it’s either Missy or Lauren."
"But these are just guesses, Trixie. We can really only cross off two."
"You’re right, Honey, we aren’t really getting anywhere. Let’s see if you two can get anything out of Ned tonight. In the meantime, we have other things to do."
They found Kay, who took them upstairs at the gray house to a room at the end of the hall. "This is where Judi and I keep our stuff, and we have some storage across the hall for items, especially clothes, that can be used. Unfortunately, we don’t have a reproduction clothing program, what we have are basically things donated by former interpreters. Everyone is responsible for providing their own period appropriate clothing. So, we are pretty limited in what we can lend you. Try these on. Trixie, we will probably need to take up the hem of your skirt."
"I can do that Miss…Mayor Kay. I love to sew," Honey offered.
They tried on their outfits, and Trixie’s did need alterations. Honey and Di traded dresses and decided to let out Honey’s hem. "We don’t have any underpinnings to lend you," Kay said. "You should wear a pair of cotton shorts underneath, no man-made fabrics and no pantyhose. I’m late for another meeting. I’ll let you finish up here yourselves, just make sure the rope is up when you leave." A padded rope kept guests from going to the end of the hall.
As Honey was measuring the hem of Trixie’s light blue walking skirt, Diana decided it was too hot and went to stand by the window in the hall. "Okay, she said that your skirt was supposed to touch the top of your shoes in the front and brush the floor in the back," Honey was saying when Di returned.
"I don’t think that they know we are up here," Di said quietly.
"Who?"
"The ladies downstairs. They were talking like they are alone. To summarize, the museum has a new director named Chris Browne and the employees aren’t happy with him."
"I guess Ned was right about the gossip around here. Maybe we should make some noise. Someone tell a loud joke," suggested Honey. The pressure was too great, and they irrupted into nervous laughter.
"It’s hot up here, but it has to be worse in that field," Di said. "Let’s get out of these clothes and get lunch for our guys." They noisily descended the stairs and went out into the bright sun.
CHAPTER 10
UPSIDE-DOWN HORSESHOE
The young men in the field rejoiced when they saw Trixie coming towards them carrying an overstuffed picnic hamper and followed by Honey and Diana, each holding the end of a large cooler. They ate under Jim and Trixie’s tree. The feast of cold fried chicken, potato chips and raw fruits and vegetables was enjoyed by all. Mart said that the repast could only have been improved by one of Celia’s chocolate cakes; and Diana produced a plate of brownies.
Everyone stretched out to rest and digest. Jim didn’t look happy when Trixie maneuvered a spot next to Ned, but she needed to talk to someone more familiar with Railroadtown. She lay down on her stomach so that she could see his face.
Ned’s skin was pink from the sun and heat. Black, wet curls stuck to his forehead where the rim of his hat had been. He had the kind of eyelashes that women envy—long and thick. "Hey, Ned," Trixie said softly. He grunted without opening his eyes. "What’s the deal with the new director? I hear that he isn’t very popular."
"I should have known you would pick up on that," he said wearily. "I heard something about a meeting he had with the interpreters that went badly and had everyone upset. He said he didn’t like first-person interpretation, which a lot of us use."
"What is that?"
"I can’t explain it very well, but first-person is like being in the past. Third person is being in the present, looking at the past with hindsight. Don’t ask what second person is, I haven’t a clue. Mr. Browne has made some other changes that people don’t agree with, but I think they just really like to complain."
"You don’t think they have a legitimate reason to be upset?"
Ned opened his eyes to give her a direct, stern look. "Trixie, don’t you go around thinking that the director of the museum kidnapped Gene Watson. That is the most farfetched idea you have had since thinking that my father was stealing your uncle’s sheep."
Trixie blushed at the memory of one of her more famous blunders. "I haven’t even investigated the matter, Ned. I am not going to accuse anyone without proof. But I do need your approval. At least, I want it." She lowered her voice and added, "If I’m investigating the disappearance of the marshal, I won’t have time to be suspicious about the mysterious actions of a friend of mine."
"That’s blackmail!" he hissed. Then he grinned. "You’re evil. You have my blessing on one condition. Promise me you won’t go running off somewhere on an impulse. Don’t go off the museum grounds without one of the guys. I know you learned a lesson from that Big Tony incident when we were in New York City," Ned lowered his voice until it was barely audible. "I don’t want anything to happen to you, Trix, but I have to look after myself, too. If Jim can’t find you, he’s gonna blame me. You can’t tell me that redhead doesn’t have a temper. I wouldn’t blame him. I can imagine how I would feel if my girlfriend got into some of the scrapes you do."
"And who might that be, Ned?" she whispered.
He squirmed under the concentrated might of her gaze. "Go investigate Gene and leave me alone!" Ned closed his eyes.
Trixie smiled and stood up. She was torn. Part of her wanted to go talk to Jim; he had looked so forlorn by himself as she was sitting with Ned. But she knew that the alfalfa would be finished this afternoon and then she wouldn’t be free to pry into the lives of Railroadtown citizens. "Well, ladies, I guess it’s time to go."
Her eyes lingered on Jim as Honey and Di started back with the ice chest. He finally relented and gave her a smile, as if he knew that was what she was waiting for. Reassured, she gave him a dazzling smile in return. Trixie turned to catch up with her friends and felt a familiar tug at her heart. She quickly brushed the feeling aside and called for the girls to slow down.
"We have Ned’s okay to investigate the marshal’s disappearance," Trixie excitedly told Honey and Di. "But I had to agree not to snoop into Ned’s mystery."
"Oh, no, Trixie! We can’t find out the secret?"
"Sure we can, Honey. That’s what we have Di for. She didn’t promise him anything!" They shared wicked grins.
A few minutes later, the trio decided to rescue a new friend in distress. Dani was attempting to cut a very large ‘U’ shape out of thick poster board. "It’s the kind where you have to score it on one side, bend it, score it on the other side, then bend it back and forth until it comes apart. That doesn’t work on a curve!" Dani had a blade in her hand and the large poster board on a picnic table. The screen door creaked behind her. "Will you do me a favor and watch this?" she said as she bounded up to the house. Dani was in the telephone exchange today.
Trixie worked on cutting through the layers of cardboard while Dani was with her visitors. They heard the old phone ring, then, a few minutes later; the harried woman followed her guests outside.
"What is this going to be?" Diana asked her.
"It’s a horseshoe," Dani answered. "It’s the hardware store’s entry into the parade. I am just cutting it out, Miss Laura’s going to draw on it. She’s quite an artist."
"You’re right, this isn’t easy," Trixie said with a grimace. "While I am working on this, do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Dani seemed like a straightforward person, so Trixie decided to ask her some direct questions.
"I would be glad to answer any questions you might have."
"What do you think could have happened to the marshal?"
Dani was a bit surprised. "I don’t know. My fear is that he is somewhere needing medical attention. Gene is diabetic. I don’t think he has too much trouble with it, but you never know. My uncle is diabetic and recently passed out in a parking lot, so I guess that is why this springs to mind."
"You don’t think anyone would want to hurt him, do you?"
"No. He is a retired police officer, so I suppose there may be someone who doesn’t like him…but really--. He’s harmless—his license plate says ‘Grandpa’! What could he do to hurt anyone now? If you are thinking that his disappearance is the result of foul play, he was probably in the wrong place at the right time. Or would it be the right place at the wrong time?"
"Well," Trixie knew this would be putting her foot in her mouth, but she decided to go ahead with it anyway. "What about the new director? I heard that he doesn’t get along well with everyone."
"It’s not really my place to talk to you about that…but I will say this. Chris Browne is skinny and young; Gene Watson is stocky and not so young. There is no way that Chris could physically make Gene do anything that he didn’t want to do. And Gene would just quit if he got too upset with Chris. He wouldn’t confront him, he would just leave. He doesn’t need this job."
"You said yesterday that Mr. Watson teaches a night class at the college across the highway?" Honey asked.
"That’s right. He also researches old crimes and writes stories about them for the Grand Island newspaper. He’s thinking of collecting enough for a book. But neither of those things makes him much money. What I am saying is that most people who work out here are either retired or students. Not people who are trying to support themselves on this income alone."
Trixie, still reeling from the fact that an adult was taking her seriously, asked, "Do you think that I am on the wrong track thinking that something mysterious is going on at the museum?"
"This whole year has been, and will be mysterious to me," Dani replied thoughtfully, "because we don’t know where the new leadership will take us." Miss Dani left to see to more guests.
"Just because people complain about someone, that doesn’t make them bad," said Honey. "He is probably a nice person, trying to do the best he can. I’m sure it’s hard to be the new guy, especially if you’re the boss."
"I agree with Honey," Di said.
"So do I. Besides, what Dani said about Gene’s other job kind of intrigues me."
"What do you mean?" Honey leaned in closer to Trixie and Di followed suit.
"She said he researches old crimes and writes them up for the paper. I think we should find out if he was working on a story—and what it was about."
Diana was able to finish the horseshoe-shaped sign and they were asked to deliver it to the Mercantile, where Laura was scheduled to be the next day. Trixie said, "I’ll be right back!" and went to find the public restroom.
"I should have let Mart have that last can of strawberry pop," she thought. "There it is." She found the little tan building on the corner of Depot Street and the alley. It had latticework around the doorways for privacy and wooden benches in front of the lattice. A row of lilac bushes separated the restrooms from the house next door.
When Trixie exited the ladies room, she stopped in the shade of the building. Trixie didn’t realize why she hadn’t continued on to the store until she heard it again. Voices were coming from the men’s room window right next to her head--angry voices. She stood as if frozen, listening.
"How could you do something so stupid? After I had carefully planned everything out! Do you realize what kind of trouble we are in now?" said the first voice, quietly panicked.
"He’s not dead, he’s just out of our hair for a while. I’m not a killer, but I’m not gonna let some ex-cop mess this up for me!" The second voice was rough and deep. Despite his protests, he sounded quite sinister.
"Don’t worry, you’ll get what’s coming to you." The first voice was cold now. "It’s too risky to meet like this. Next time you screw up, just leave a message on my voice mail and I’ll call you back. You’re such an idiot."
"And it’s smart to insult someone who could snap you in two?"
"Trixie Belden, I’ve been looking all over for you! Why are you just standing by the restroom?" Diana called to her startled friend.
To Be Continued