The Hudson River Mystery

that way,” said Thea with a vague wave of her right hand.
    ”This area is really fascinating, isn’t it?” Trixie went on enthusiastically. ”There’s no end to the stuff you can learn about it. Jeepers, just the other day I found out that our very own Hudson River inspired one of the world’s first detective stories.”
    ”You’re kidding!” exclaimed Honey.
    ”Nope. One of Edgar Allan Poe’s earliest stories was called ’The Mystery of Marie Roget.’ It was based on the true story of the discovery of a murdered girl, Mary Rogers, in the Hudson.” Thea’s eyebrows arched. ”I’ve heard that the New York harbor police recover over one hundred bodies a year from the Hudson,” she said. ”How horrible!” Honey shuddered.
    Not to be outdone, Trixie said, ”I’ll bet there’re all kinds of things in that river that no one knows about—cars, trucks, ships, and, of course, fabulous sunken treasure.”
    ”Sunken treasure?” Thea repeated.
    ”Sure! If you’ve done any research at all, you must have heard about all the pirate ships that have sunk around here. Then there’s the treasure Captain Kidd buried around here, too.”
    ”Oh, that,” Thea said. ”The only treasure Kidd buried around here was supposed to have been dug up centuries ago, before he was even hanged.”
    ”I’ve heard that, too,” Trixie said a bit defensively. ”But those pirates were awfully sneaky about finding good hiding places, not to mention the fact that a lot of them»—the pirates, I mean— ended up in shipwrecks. So it doesn’t do any harm to dream about stumbling on treasure that’s been overlooked for years and years.”
    Thea laughed dryly. ”I suppose not.”
    ”Trixie’s just a dreamer at heart,” Honey explained. ”If her brother Mart were here, I’m sure he’d have something cute to say about Kidd stuff.”
    ”Only he’d probably say ’stidd kuff’ or something equally dumb,” said Trixie. To Thea she said, ”Did you see Sunnyside?”
    ”Well—” Thea began.
    ”That’s always the first place tourists visit. I’ll bet you’re quoting Washington Irving a lot in your book,” Trixie went on. ”He got most of his inspiration from this river. He especially designed Sunnyside so it had the best possible view of the river. No wonder he was so furious when the railroad was built right through his property and spoiled his perfect view.”
    ”Isn’t it strange,” Honey mused, ”how so many of the estates right along the river are owned by people who made their fortunes from railroads? And the tracks cut right through their front lawns, same as they do through everyone else’s!”
    ”It’s so hard for the billionaires to get to their yachts,” Trixie tut-tutted playfully.
    Thea was silent, gazing out over the still water. ”Does it make you nervous to be down here by yourself?” Trixie asked concernedly.
    Thea darted a glance at her. ”Not at all. I—I am afraid of water, though. Never learned to swim.”
    Trixie felt a tap on her shoulder.
    ”Let’s go, Trix,” Honey said. ”I have to get back early, remember?”
    ”Huh—oh, sure,” said Trixie, getting to her feet. ”I hope we run into you again soon, Thea.” Thea waved good-bye casually. ”Just don’t creep up behind me next time!”
    As soon as they were out of Thea’s hearing, Trixie turned to Honey. ”What’s the hurry? We didn’t even get to talk about the shark. Was I asking too many nosy questions?”
    ”You certainly were,” Honey chided. ”Or at least, I think Thea thought you were. Haven’t you noticed how quiet she gets when you bring up her book? I don’t think she was kidding when she said that writers don’t like to be disturbed.”
    ”I’m not trying to disturb her, for heaven’s sake. I thought I was helping her, by telling her interesting tidbits she might not know about.”
    ”Well, she already seems to know plenty,” said Honey.
    Without really paying attention to where they were going, the girls were ambling down a path in the direction Thea had pointed out. Trixie spent most of her time watching the water, but once she looked up the cliff and caught a glimpse of a silver car.
    ”Jeepers, I didn’t even get a chance to ask Thea about her car,” said Trixie.
    ”What about it?”
    ”Why does she have such a nice one when she told us she was underpaid?”
    ”Talk about nosy questions!” Honey scoffed. ”You were actually going to ask her that?”
    ”Well, you know,