Chapter 10

Sunday, June 27, 1987

It was a hectic morning at the Belden household. Brian and Mart were finalizing their packing. Larry and Terry Lynch had spent the night with Bobby and the three of them were sent out to gather the eggs. That took longer than usual and for some reason they came back with about half of the eggs that they would normally get.

Earlier, it had been decided that Moms and Dad would drive the guys up to Victory Camp. Moms was packing a lunch and snacks for the four-hour trip and Dad was getting the van ready. Trixie and Hallie busied themselves making breakfast. Hallie was making buttermilk pancakes and frying sausage while Trixie made orange juice and set the table.

When breakfast was finished, Brian and Mart brought the last of their gear out to the van. Larry, Terry and Bobby decided their services were better needed outside. Hallie and Trixie didn’t argue. Sometimes it was just easier to do things yourself and today cleaning up the kitchen was best left up to the two of them.

They were just hanging the wet dishtowels up to dry when Trixie heard a car pull up. Trying not to appear too excited, she quickly made her way out to the driveway. It was Diana. It hadn’t taken much arm twisting to get her to come and pick up her brothers this morning.

Diana quickly made her way over to Mart, shouting over her shoulder, “Larry and Terry, get your stuff gathered up. Mummy and Daddy want to go into the city today. We’re not supposed to be late.”

“We won’t be the ones who’ll be making us late,” Terry said. “You’re the one that has to play kissy face with your boyfriend.” The twins ran into the house to get their stuff while Mart and Diana made their way to the terrace for some last-minute private time.

A few minutes later, the Bob White station wagon pulled into the driveway. Honey was driving. Jim and Dan were squeezed in among their gear. When the car stopped, both guys jumped out and quickly made their way toward their girlfriends for a quick kiss. Then they helped Mr. Belden load the van. Somehow they managed to get the sleeping bags and duffle bags into the back of the van. Once the van was packed, the couples said their good-byes and before everyone knew it the guys were on their way. No one shed any tears. They were all getting used to some sort of separation.

Diana loaded the twins up into her car and headed back to her house. Honey, Hallie and Trixie decided to spend a little more time reviewing the notes from Mr. Lytell.

“Last night, Jim and I were going over some of the information Mr. Lytell gave us,” Trixie said. They headed into the house and up to her bedroom where all of her notes were.

“Trixie,” Honey gasped. “You mean to tell me that you spent the last evening you have with Jim for six weeks going over clues?” She made herself comfortable on one of the beds. Trixie sat down at her desk and began to pull out all of her notes. Hallie sat down on the other bed.

Trixie blushed. “Well, not the entire night and besides, it was Jim’s idea, not mine. And for the record, he found something very interesting.”

“Jim didn’t give you a lecture about sticking your nose into other people’s business?” Hallie asked.

“As a matter of fact, I was ready to throw in the towel, and he suggested we continue. He felt even if we quit, whoever has been stalking us won’t know or believe it.”

“So what did my full-blooded adopted brother discover?” Honey asked.

“The A&P lost a significant amount of money when they sold the land where the bowling alley is,” Trixie explained. “It seemed like the A&P paid a lot for the land. Then this FRM and Associates buys it for what appears to be less than market value. Tomorrow, if I have time, I’m going to try and research land values from the late 1960’s.”

“I could ask Daddy,” Honey suggested. “I’m sure he would be able to get the information quickly. He’s been buying real estate since he was in college and even back then he took meticulous notes. He never buys anything without researching it thoroughly.”

They hoped they could find that missing clue soon and get this wrapped up before any more damage was done.

Monday, June 28, 1987

On Monday, Trixie returned to work. She was going to work half days to begin with but hoped to work up to full days by the end of the week. She had given thought as to how she would manage to move the books as she needed them. She decided that with the library cart she would be able to work rather efficiently.

At lunch, Honey met her at the library.

“I spoke with Daddy this morning,” Honey said as they sat down at one of the large library tables to begin their research. “He said that $30,000 was a huge amount of money to pay for that size parcel of land, even $15,000 was a lot.”

“I wonder why the A&P paid so much for the land,” Trixie said. She picked up her pen and began to write down a list of unanswered questions.

“Well, we could ask Mr. Lytell,” Honey suggested. “He can probably tell us.”

“Good idea,” Trixie said. “Let’s stop by on our way home. There are a few other things I want to look up. I’m really curious about this John Manydeeds.”

Trixie dug into her backpack and pulled out the notes she had made. She rifled through them until she found the timeline she had made.

“Wow!” Honey exclaimed. “You’re really organized about this, aren’t you?”

Miss Conlin, the librarian, tapped Trixie on the shoulder and then raised her fingers to her lips, reminding Trixie to be quiet. Trixie blushed and apologized. She didn’t want to get on her bad side.

She whispered to Honey, “I made it early this morning. Last night, I couldn’t sleep and all of the clues kept racing around my head. I decided I needed to be more organized if I were going to solve this mystery. It really helped. Now I know where the holes are and can start looking for articles around that time.”

“What do you want me to do?” Honey asked.

Trixie pointed out several dates that she wanted to look at back issues of the Sleepyside Sun as well as planning commission meetings. They divided them and began their research.

“Look!” Honey said, pointing at an article she’d just printed off. “Here’s an article about John Manydeeds. Apparently he made quite a few allegations about land that was scheduled to be developed being sacred Indian land.”

Miss Conlin shot the two girls another look.

Not wanting to get into any more trouble with the librarian, Trixie suggested. “Let’s just copy any article we think might be of interest and get out of here. I don’t want to get on Miss Conlin’s bad side. We can head back to my house and go over them.”

In less than a half an hour, they had a pile of articles to be read. As they left the library, Honey asked, “Are we going to stop at Mr. Lytell’s on our way home?”

“Yes,” Trixie replied. “I feel like we’ve almost got all of the puzzle pieces. Now we have to get them in the right places.”

They saw Spider Webster walking into the police station as they headed out of town. He waved them down.

“I just wanted to give you an update,” he said as he walked over to the car. “We interviewed that Moose fella who’s the assistant manager at the bowling alley. He denies everything, claims that it’s just some kid trying to play a prank. We left it at that for now. We know he’s behind something. We’ve got too many different witnesses. We’ll give him a little rope and eventually he’ll hang himself.”

“We’ll let Moms, Dad, and Bobby know. I’m so proud of him. He really got a lot of details,” Trixie said.

“Well, he learned from the best. Your curiosity and investigation skills must have rubbed off on him,” Spider said. They said their good-byes.

As they drove out of town, both girls kept checking behind them to see if anyone was following them. If they were, they were getting better at keeping their distance.

Honey pulled the BWG wagon into the parking area of Mr. Lytell’s store. “It looks like we’re in luck,” she said. “There are no other customers here.”

The door jingled as the two friends pushed it open. Mr. Lytell was standing at the register, staring off into space. When he saw the girls he greeted them.

“How are you young ladies today?” he asked.

“Doing better,” Trixie replied. Not one to beat around the bush, she got straight to business. “We’ve been working really hard. The information you gave us was so helpful. We’re this close, but one thing came up that is bothering us.”

“Is it something I can help with?” he asked.

Trixie let Honey explain. Despite Mr. Lytell’s change in attitude toward her, she still had a hard time believing he wasn’t going to criticize her.

“One of the documents you gave us indicated the A&P paid $30,000 for the land where the bowling alley sits today. I asked my father about that price and he seemed to think that was incredibly high. We were wondering why the price was so high,” Honey explained.

Mr. Lytell shook his head. “The company’s development people insisted that parcel was the perfect spot for the A&P. They wanted to have a presence in the area and were willing to spend the money. Someone got wind of it and started a bidding war on the parcel. I had hoped to get it for about $18,000; instead they paid almost double that.”

Trixie thought for a minute. “Did you ever find out who was bidding against you?” she asked.

“Not until several years later,” Mr. Lytell said. “It was FRM and Associates.”

Trixie’s eyes lit up. “That’s the same company that bought the land after the A&P pulled out.”

“You’re right,” he said. “Fred Murphy and his cronies pulled a fast one.”

Honey thought for a few minutes and then asked, “So how did they get around the claims that the land was sacred? We did find something about John Manydeeds having a reputation for making such claims in other locations, but it seems like what was a huge issue when the A&P wanted to build became a non-issue when Fred Murphy decided to develop the land.”

“Fred Murphy pulled something,” Mr.Lytell said. “I just could never find the missing link. I had done all of my homework when we were applying for the permits for the project. I had even hired an archaeologist to look at the land to make sure there would be nothing to hold up the project. Then all of a sudden this John Manydeeds shows up, making all of these claims. David Trent prints a bunch of articles in the paper and everyone believes them even though he doesn’t have any solid evidence that the land is sacred.”

“That’s terrible,” Honey said leaning her arms on the counter. “Didn’t anyone question what had happened?”

“Not really,” Mr. Lytell replied. “I think a lot of people were afraid to stand up to Fred Murphy. He talked a big talk and made everyone believe that everyone else agreed with him. No one wanted to be the odd man out and cause trouble for him. Then there was some false evidence they planted in my car that made it look like I knew the land was sacred and I had tried to cover it up.”

“Well, that just makes my blood boil to realize how easily people are manipulated,” Trixie said, pacing back and forth, trying to release some of the frustration she felt. “So many people think that just because the paper prints it, the story has to be true.”

“So whatever happened to John Manydeeds?” Honey asked.

“I’m not sure,” Mr. Lytell responded. “I think there was an article about him getting caught in the stuff I gave you.”

“I thought we had gone through everything,” Honey said.

“Just about,” Trixie replied. “There are a few more articles to read through. Hopefully, it’s still in there.”

Honey glanced at her watch. “Oh, look at the time,” she said. “It’s after four and we’ve taken up too much of your time already.”

“Yeah, and I promised Moms I’d help her with dinner tonight,” Trixie said. “We’d better get going. Thanks for all of your help.”

As the two friends exited the story, Honey asked, “Does Diana have rehearsal tonight?”

“I think it was just this afternoon,” Trixie said. “Why?”

“Well, I thought maybe the four of us could get together and finish reading those articles,” Honey explained as she backed the car out of the parking lot. “I think with four brains we should be able to make a lot of headway.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Trixie replied. “Why don’t we meet at my house after dinner?”

That evening, the four girls huddled in Trixie’s bedroom, perusing all of the documents they had. Trixie and Honey were reading the articles they had printed off earlier in the day while Hallie and Diana read through the other articles and the notes that had been made.

After a few minutes of reading, Trixie said, “I know we’ve been through this a hundred times but let’s list what we know. Something’s got to click.”

“We know that Mr. Lytell came to Sleepyside to open up a series of A&P grocery stores, including one that would be located where the bowling alley is,” Honey started. She took out a sheet of paper and started making another list.

“The land was bought for $30,000. Mr. Lytell said that he had prepared all of the necessary documents to apply for a permit,” Hallie added.

“They were all set to break ground on the project when John Manydeeds claimed that the land was sacred Indian land,” Diana continued.

Hallie got up and started to pace. “According to Mr. Lytell, Manydeeds had been underhanded in his claims,” she said. “Where’s that article about when Manydeeds started making the claims about the sacred lands?”

Diana rummaged through a pile of articles and passed it over to Hallie. “Here’s the first one and I think there’s another one here as well.”

Hallie glanced through the article. “Just as I thought. Manydeeds says that it’s sacred Indian land. Even back in the late sixties, they wouldn’t have said it was Indian land. They would have named an Indian Nation like the Iroquois or the Mohawk Nations.”

Honey noted that in her notes. “Has anyone found the article Mr. Lytell was talking about earlier?”

“I think I found it,” Trixie said waving an article around. “It’s from about six months after the deal fell through on the A&P.” She handed it to Honey.

“This is interesting,” Honey said. “It says here that a John Manydeeds was arrested for criminal trespass on some land in upstate New York that was scheduled to be developed into a resort. He claimed that the land was sacred Indian land and was leading a protest about the development.”

“Well, doesn’t that sound familiar,” Hallie said. “What happened?”

“This is interesting,” Honey said. “The developer was the Hart Company.”

“Really?” Trixie asked. “I wonder if the owner is a relative of yours.”

Honey giggled, “You might say. They are my parents. The Hart Company is a subsidiary of Wheeler Enterprises. Daddy formed the company as a gift to my mother. She has the controlling interest in it. She’s actually been fairly active running it.”

“Really?” Diana asked. “I just can’t picture your mother as a business woman.”

“I can,” Trixie said. “Your mother is a very intelligent lady.”

Honey continued to examine the article. “Well, the date on this article is 1969, that would be before I was born. After she had such a hard time when I was born, she stepped away from the day-to-day running of the company.”

“So what else does the article say?” Diana asked.

“Well, it turns out that John Manydeeds was an alias. His real name was Chico Martinez and he’s not even a Native American. Apparently, he had been hired to go around the country claiming land on controversial projects was sacred. It’s surprising how many organizations just believed him without doing any further investigation.”

“So what tipped the authorities off to him?” Hallie asked.

“It just says that one of the Hart Company’s employees thought something sounded fishy and did a little investigating,” Honey explained.

“Okay, so we know Manydeeds or Martinez was an imposter. I wonder if he just tried to stir up trouble,” Diana asked.

Trixie held out another article. “This one is a follow up. It says that he admitted to taking money from various organizations to stir up trouble. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say anything about what organizations paid him off.”

The girls silently read through more articles for a few more minutes.

“Listen to this,” Hallie exclaimed. “Here’s an article from the Sleepyside Sun. It looks like it was a couple of weeks after the Hart Company discovered Martinez’s fraud. It was buried on the back page of the paper.”

Trixie walked over to where Hallie was sitting and began to read the article over her shoulder. “Wow, this is interesting,” Trixie said. “Martinez died in a fiery one-car accident out on Old Telegraph Road. The article says investigators did not find any skid marks on the road but the car was so badly damaged they couldn’t determine if it malfunctioned.”

“Too bad they didn’t have the technology they have today,” Honey said. “They could have determined the speed of the car and whether it had been tampered with.”

Trixie thought for a few moments. “Old Telegraph Road is a pretty straight road and it doesn’t have too many trees or other hazards along it. I wonder what caused the accident.”

“Do you think someone either tampered with the car or forced him off the road?” Diana asked.

“They could have,” Hallie answered. “But what’s their motivation?”

“Maybe someone was afraid that Martinez would cut himself a deal, spill his guts, and name names,” Honey suggested.

Trixie thought for a few minutes trying to come up with the right words. “That sounds really plausible, but would exposing someone for paying someone off warrant what would amount to murder?”

“People have killed for less,” Hallie pointed out.

“The person probably thought he was above the law,” Diana suggested. “He was probably a prominent member of the community and didn’t want his name sullied.”

Trixie sighed. “The problem is, it’s all speculation right now. There really isn’t any proof that Martinez’s car was tampered with or run off the road. I’m sure any evidence from the accident has long been destroyed.”

“So what else do we have?” Diana asked. “Maybe we can piece some other information together to figure out who might have tried to get rid of Martinez.”

Then Trixie picked up her notebook and started summarizing ideas again.

“Let’s go back to when Manydeeds claimed the land was sacred,” Trixie suggested. “At some point in time, someone had to realize that the land where the bowling alley is really wasn’t sacred. I wonder what happened to change the planning commission’s mind.”

“I think I might have part of the answer,” Hallie said. “Here’s an article about the planning commission meeting that was held after the permit was issued for the A&P grocery store. It notes that Fred Murphy was extremely upset that the permit had been issued. He tried to suggest that the application was full of false statements and should be voided. The city attorney had reviewed the document along with several of the other commission members and could not find anything wrong with them. The minutes from the commission meeting also indicate Fred Murphy was upset over this.”

“Can I see that article?” Diana asked. She took it from Hallie and then began comparing it to another article she had been reviewing. “It wasn’t a week later that Manydeeds showed up in Sleepyside.”

Trixie said. “He came in, made a stink and then quickly left town. Here are the minutes from the meeting that granted Fred Murphy a permit to build the bowling alley. I’d love to see that application and see what he wrote in it.”

“I wonder how long they keep those applications,” Honey said. “It would be interesting to see what he put in it and how he got around the sacred land issue.”

“Look here,” Hallie pointed out, reading over Trixie’s shoulder. “At the very bottom of the newspaper article that, by the looks of the page number, was buried on the back inside page of the paper. It just says the sacred land issue had been resolved.”

“Well, I think we’ve kind of figured this out then. Mr. Lytell wants to build a grocery story on land that Fred Murphy wants to build a bowling alley. He tries to discredit Mr. Lytell by accusing him of covering up information about the land in question. Manydeeds claims the land is sacred and is arrested for making similar claims that proved to be false at a location upstate. Before he can go to trial, Manydeeds, or I guess you should say Martinez, dies in a single car crash under mysterious circumstances. The sacred land issue is resolved. FRM and Associates buys the land in question for half the price Mr. Lytell’s company paid for it. The bowling alley is built. Even though it was proven that Mr. Lytell didn’t try to fool the community, no one ever really tried to clear his name.”

“That all makes sense,” Honey said, “but I don’t know if it’s serious enough to make someone try to terrorize Trixie and the rest of us. There’re too many coincidences to not think they are related.”

“That leads us back to the theory that Martinez was killed and it wasn’t a car accident,” Trixie said.

“Like you said before,” Diana began. “We’ll probably never know for sure. So what do we do now?”

“I don’t think you could prosecute Fred Murphy on anything we’ve got solid evidence on since the statute of limitations has already run out,” Trixie said.

“We could go to the newspaper with the story. It would get the truth out for once and for all,” Hallie suggested.

“I don’t know about that,” Honey said. “With Paul Trent on staff he’d probably twist the story around so much. He’d somehow make Mr. Lytell out to be the villain again.”

“Let’s just take all of the information back to Mr. Lytell and ask him what he would like to do about it,” Diana suggested. She started to carefully gather up all the notes and articles, trying to keep them in chronological order.

Suddenly, Trixie yawned, showing off all of the fillings in her molars. “Boy, all of a sudden I’m really tired.” She glanced at her watch and gasped. “I can’t believe it’s after nine o’clock. We got a lot accomplished today.”

“We did,” Honey said. “Let’s call it a night. I’ve got to work the evening shift tomorrow. Maybe the three of you could go visit Mr. Lytell and show him what we have.”

When all of the information was gathered up and filed neatly away, Trixie walked her friends to the door and then turned back to go upstairs. She could hardly keep her eyes open.

Still, when she finally had changed into her pajamas and was lying in bed, she couldn’t sleep. Her mind was racing with all different ideas. She kept thinking about all that Mr. Lytell had gone through. Then she started thinking about all of the strange things that had happened to her family and friends over the past few weeks.

She glanced at the clock. It said it was after eleven and as tired as she’d been when Honey and Diana had left, she now felt wide awake. She realized she hadn’t written to Jim today and hoped that would relax her enough to finally fall asleep. She knew that Jim probably wouldn’t have as much time to write as she did. To her, that made it that much more important to write regularly. Her goal had been to write every day, but she wasn’t sure that would be doable.

Dear Jim,

I hope you enjoyed your first day of camp. I’m sure you were busy getting everything together for the campers to arrive tomorrow. I hope Mart hasn’t eaten the camp out of everything.
I had a busy day today. Work was the same. We’re really making progress on getting everything on the computer. Miss Conlin is very pleased. I was a little worried about that. I wouldn’t purposely drag my feet but if we get done early I wondered if I would be out of a job. She said not to worry. The grant was for so much money. She had included some other projects in the application should this one get done and there’s money still left.
Diana and Honey came over tonight. The four of us spent the evening looking over all the information that we have regarding the Mr. Lytell mystery. We think we’ve got it figured out. Legally, it won’t mean much. The statute of limitations has run out, but I think we’ll be able to clear Mr. Lytell’s name. Of course, it will be up to him what we do with the information.
By the time you get done with camp, we should have this all wrapped up and be on to other things.

Trixie started to yawn and decided that by now she could probably get to sleep. She signed the letter and placed it in an envelope. Too tired to look up the address, she decided she would do that in the morning.

She turned off the light and crawled back into bed. Within five minutes she was sound asleep, dreaming about a certain supple redhead.

Thursday, July 1, 1987

Trixie had to work early. She still hadn’t been cleared to drive, so she decided to ride into town with her father. When she was done with work she’d walk over to the bank and catch a ride home with him. Later that evening, the four girls were going to get together again. They hadn’t had time to talk since Monday.

She would be back to working on the electronic conversion today and was glad of that. Shelving books and checking out people were not that fun. She didn’t always have the patience to deal with the customer, especially if the customer was a bratty kid.

She and Julie had been working in silence for about forty-five minutes. They made a great team and really complemented each other. Julie was very meticulous while Trixie had become proficient at entering the data into the computer. They had discovered that they liked to do different parts of the process so they had ended up rarely changing who did what.

All of a sudden, Trixie felt like someone was watching her. “Do you notice anything different?” she whispered to Julie as she looked around the area they were working. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. There weren’t a lot of people in that section of the library.

“Not really,” Julie replied. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but it felt like someone was watching me,” Trixie said. She gave the room one last look and then shook her head. “It must just be my overactive imagination. It’s gotten me into trouble before. I hope it doesn’t now.”

They worked for a few more minutes in silence, but the feeling didn’t go away. Trixie kept scanning the area to see if there was someone around. Finally, she decided to get up and check between the shelves. She noticed someone heading out of the area, but she didn’t recognize him.

She stopped herself from calling after the person. Instead she walked over to the window that overlooked the parking lot. She noticed who she thought was the man she’d just seen heading to a white cargo van. As the van pulled out onto the street she noted its license number.

When she returned back to her work area she noticed that it was almost noon. She decided to take her lunch and sit outside in the sun.

She sat down at the picnic table, took out her sandwich and opened the book she had been reading. She was engrossed in her book and didn’t notice anyone approaching until someone sat down next to her. She jumped when she realized that Jake Welty was sitting next to her. She started to slide away from him and ran into a solid body. Turning, she realized it was that Moose guy.

“You just don’t know when to stop, you meddlesome girl,” Jake gritted through his teeth as he grabbed her injured shoulder. “What does it take, someone getting killed before you will mind your own business?”

Trixie winced but didn’t say anything. She looked around and realized there weren’t very many cars in the parking lot.

“Well, we’ve had enough of this. You’re coming with us,” Moose growled. Before Trixie knew what was happening, she was being jerked down off the picnic table. Each man had a hand wrapped around her upper arm as they pulled her toward a white van. The same white van she had seen earlier in the day. She’d bet her bottom dollar it was the same one that followed Diana and Mart last week.

She tried to resist but her arm started to give out. “Let go of me,” she shouted, trying to make enough noise to attract someone, anyone’s attention. Tears started to form in her eyes, as they continued to pull on her arms. She tried to blink them back so they wouldn’t see how they were affecting her.

“You’re coming with us,” Jake Welty insisted. “My boss wants to have a few words with you.” He yanked on her arm so hard Trixie thought she would pass out from the pain.

“I don’t know what Fred Murphy wants with me,” Trixie stated innocently.

“You don’t fool me,” Moose said. “You’ve got a reputation in this town for solving mysteries. I’m sure by now you know all about John Manydeeds and know he died mysteriously.”

Jake loosened his grip so he could smack Moose upside the head. “Keep your mouth shut,” he warned. “Maybe she hadn’t figured that out yet.”

Taking advantage of the situation, Trixie remembered what she, Diana and Honey learned in the self-defense course they had taken for a P.E. requirement last year and stomped on the instep of Moose’s foot. Then she stepped back a bit and kneed him in the groin. He loosened his grip just enough so she could break away from him.

She started screaming and making all kinds of noise. She tried to run away but her shoulder hurt as did her ankle. Not paying any attention to where she was going, she ran into a hard body. Looking up, she collapsed with relief into Spider Webster’s arms.

“Trixie,” he asked. “Are these two gentlemen giving you trouble?”

The tears that she had been trying so hard to check started to flow freely down her cheeks. When Spider tightened his arms around her she winced in pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jake Welty and Moose hastily trying to leave the area.

“Stop them,” she said. “They tried to take me go with them.”

Spider gently let go of Trixie and sprinted across the parking lot. He managed to catch Jake Welty, but Moose escaped. “Not so fast, Mr. Welty,” Spider said as he grabbed Jake’s arm to detain him. “Miss Belden tells me you were taking her against her will.”

Nervously, Jake laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “My boss wanted to talk to Miss Belden and I had just come to relay the message. I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.”

Spider glared at the man. “I don’t think it was a misunderstanding. Trixie’s a pretty bright girl and she knows a threat when she sees one.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong. Why don’t you try to capture a real criminal,” Jake snarled as he turned to get into the van.

Spider tightened his grip on his arm. “I’m not done discussing this with you, Mr. Welty,” he said forcefully. “It takes a lot to put tears in Trixie’s eyes.” Jake pulled hard on his arm and was almost into the van when Spider noticed Officer Gary Jackson drive by. He flagged him down.

Officer Jackson pulled his cruiser in front of the white van, blocking its way. As he got out of the car, he asked, “Need any help, Spider?”

“I think I’ve got this under control but Moose Schneider just took off along the nature path behind the library. I need to question him.”

Officer Jackson took off at a brisk run.

“I tell you, I did nothing wrong,” Jake Welty said. “I was just escorting Ms. Belden to my boss. He had some questions for her.”

By now Trixie had hobbled her way over to the commotion. “Mr. Welty tried to forcefully take me to see his boss, Fred Murphy.”

“I did no such thing,” Jake insisted. “I just suggested that she talk to him.”

Trixie cradled her injured shoulder. “If that’s what you call suggested, I’d hate to see what force is. I’m afraid he reinjured my shoulder.”

Spider glared at Jake.

“You’re not going to take some snotty detective wannabe’s word against mine, are you?” Jake whined.

“If that ‘snotty detective wannabe’,” Spider snarled, “is Trixie Belden, I will.”

“You have nothing on me,” Jake insisted. “I’m going to call my lawyer and by the end of the day I will have your badge.”

“I doubt that,” Spider said. “I was on my way over here because someone spotted your van here. Earlier today an arrest warrant was issued for you, Moose Schneider and Fred Murphy.”

“What are you talking about?” Jake asked, his voice losing some of its confidence. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Let me see,” Spider said. “The charges include hit and run, reckless driving, threatening a minor and now I can add attempted abduction.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jake insisted. “I haven’t done any of that.”

“Tell that to the judge,” Spider said and then he proceeded to read him his Miranda rights. Jake started to struggle. “Would you like me to add resisting arrest to the charges?” Spider asked, as he pulled out his handcuffs and placed them on his wrists. Once the handcuffs were on Jake, Spider put him in the back seat of his cruiser.

“What about my van?” Jake asked. “I can’t leave it overnight. It will be towed.”

“I guess you’ll have to make arrangements with whomever you use your one phone call on,” Spider said.

Once Jake was secured in the squad car, Spider went back over to Trixie.

“Are you going to be all right, Trixie?” he asked.

As she started to reply, she saw her father rapidly making his way to her. “Sweetheart, are you all right?” he asked, as he pulled her into an embrace. Trixie winced in pain.

“I think so, eventually. Right now my shoulder hurts like the dickens,” Trixie said. “How did you know what was going on?”

Peter Belden gave a slight smile. “Well, this is Sleepyside and the gossip mill is in full force. I don’t think it had been thirty seconds after Gary Jackson called in his stop at the library that someone was telling me that Trixie was in trouble.”

Trixie finally took the time to look around. She was shocked at the number of people who were standing back watching what had transpired. She blushed and buried her head into her dad’s shoulder.

“I’ll need to get a statement from you later, Trixie,” Spider said. “That can wait until you’ve had your shoulder looked at.”

Peter settled his daughter into his car and then drove her to the medical clinic.

Later that evening...

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Moms asked her daughter. Trixie was sitting on the sofa in the family room surrounded by her parents, Diana, Honey, and Hallie.

“I’m fine, thanks to the pain pill they gave me,” she replied.

“So what happened?” Diana asked. “When your mom called and told us you would be delayed tonight, she didn’t know much of anything.”

Trixie tried to get comfortable before she started to tell the story for the third time. While they had waited in Urgent Care, she had told her dad the entire story. He hadn’t been too happy that she hadn’t heeded his advice and dropped her research in June. When she told him that Mr. Lytell had asked her to try to find out what really happened, his anger subsided.

Then she had recounted the entire episode to Spider Webster, Gary Jackson and Sergeant Molinson.

Gary Jackson had captured Moose Schneider about a half mile into the path. Moose hadn’t hesitated to spill his guts. He confirmed that he and Jake Welty had tampered with Chico Martinez’s car and then forced him off the road. Fred Murphy had paid them to do it, as well as to keep their mouths shut all these years. When Moose thought Trixie had figured it out, he panicked and confessed.

“You know,” Trixie said. “They just weren’t thinking. Nothing I found would have held up in court because too much time had passed or it was just speculation.”

“That might be the case,” her dad said, “but even though Fred Murphy couldn’t be charged with what he had done, if the information had been brought to light it still would have damaged his reputation.”

Trixie shook her head. “So now his reputation is ruined and he’s facing criminal charges including accessory to a murder.”

“Well, Fred Murphy has been running roughshod over the city for years and I think many of the councilmen were getting tired of his tactics. I don’t think you’ll hear too many people feeling sympathetic for him,” Moms commented.

For several minutes the group discussed the situation. Moms asked several questions about the research the girls had done. There was a knock on the kitchen door. Peter went to answer it. When he returned, Mr. Lytell was accompanying him.

“Sorry to interrupt your evening,” Frank Lytell said. “I heard what happened to Trixie this afternoon and I wanted to make sure she was all right.” He glanced around the room until his gaze fell on Trixie.

“I’ll survive,” she said. “My shoulder was reinjured, but no permanent damage was done.”

Relief washed over Mr. Lytell’s face. “Thank goodness,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if there had been.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Mr. Lytell,” Trixie insisted. Honey, Hallie and Diana all agreed. “From what Spider Webster told us, Fred Murphy, Jake Welty and Moose Schneider would have tried to do something once they realized how much I had uncovered.”

“Well, they aren’t very bright, are they?” Mr. Lytell said. “Obviously they haven’t been paying attention to the news for the last few years. They would have known that you guys always get your man.”

Trixie and Honey were speechless. They had never heard such compliments from Mr. Lytell.

“Thank you,” Honey said shyly. “We really don’t go searching for mysteries. They just seem to fall in our laps.”

“Well, it seems like the gossip mill is in full force this evening. I’ve had several citizens stop by the store, people who have never set foot in it before, some who were very vocal twenty years ago. They actually came and apologized for what they had done.”

“That’s so nice,” Diana said, “but it’s too bad they didn’t see the error of their ways back then.”

Mr. Lytell thought for a few minutes and then said. “Twenty years ago, I probably would have thought the same way. Now, when I think back on my life, I think everything happens for a reason. Had I stayed with A&P, I would have gotten all wrapped up in the corporate life. Every year I would have moved and I don’t think I’d have been happy. I’ve made some good friends here on Glen Road. So while I’m glad my name has been cleared, I really don’t regret what happened. They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. I guess they’re right.”

That night, even though she was exhausted, Trixie wrote a letter to Jim before she climbed into bed.

Dear Jim,

Well, it’s been a very exciting day. Thanks to Honey, Diana, Hallie and me, Fred Murphy, Jake Welty and Moose Schneider are in jail facing all kinds of charges, including murder and attempted murder. It’s a long story and I’m too tired to go into all of it. I’m sure it will be in the newspapers and I’ll send you the clippings.
Thanks to Jake Welty, I reinjured my shoulder. The doctors don’t think there will be any permanent damage, but I might need surgery someday if I continue to have troubles with it. By the time you’re home it should be a lot better and I’ll be able to properly greet you.
Moms and Dad weren’t too upset with me about the research I did even though Dad had warned me against it last month. When he learned that Mr. Lytell asked me to help out, he was much more understanding. I didn’t even get a token grounding. I guess they must have thought I had suffered too much.
Moms was livid when she realized that Fred Murphy had arranged my “accident” on Glen Road. He’s facing some really stiff charges.
I hope I haven’t scared you too badly. Really, I’m fine. I’m exhausted and really need to get to bed. I’ll write more tomorrow when I’m more coherent.
I hope the kids aren’t driving you crazy. I know they won’t, but I worry about Mart. I have visions of him fighting some camper over the last piece of chocolate cake.
Can’t wait to see you.

Love,
Trixie

She placed the letter into an envelope, addressed it and sealed it. Then she crawled into bed. Despite being exhausted, she relived the excitement of the day before her eyes finally closed and she fell asleep.

 

 

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