The Hudson River Mystery

I drove the Bob-White station wagon over, so I should make it back in plenty of time. What do you want me to do?”
    Dan took over the digging, while Honey gathered stakes and wire fences to take to the shed and Trixie set about picking the last of the crab apples from the orchard.
    Hardly a few minutes had passed before Dan paused to ask, ”Shouldn’t Brian or Mart be out here helping? Where are they, anyway?”
    ”Don’t worry,” said Trixie. ”Mart’s doing his duty—helping Moms in the kitchen. Probably so he can nab more to eat. And Brian’s off somewhere with Loyola.”
    ”Who?” asked Dan.
    Trixie plopped down on the ground, heedless of the blackening sky and glad of an excuse to talk instead of work. ”Loyola Kevins,” she said. ”You must know her. She’s in the same chemistry class as you and Brian. She’s that short black girl with steel-rimmed glasses. Very skinny, and really smart, too. Brian thought it was a lucky break that they got to be lab partners. They’ve been down at the river every chance they could get for the past couple of weeks.”
    ”Now I know who she is,” said Dan. ”Brian told me they were collecting water samples for some ecological survey—for their semester project. Loyola’s supposed to be especially interested in the Hudson.”
    ”Well, between her brains and Brain’s Brian’s —I mean, Brian’s brains—they’ll probably win a Pulitzer Prize and be admitted to med school by next semester,” Trixie said.
    ”I know her, too,” said Honey, coming back from the garden shed. ”She lent a book to me for one of my classes last year.”
    Trixie nodded. ”Brian thinks she’s really nice. He told me she usually packs a lunch when they go to the river on the weekends, and she throws in extra stuff for him. She makes a Waldorf salad that’s out of this world, and she doesn’t even like it, but she knows he does and so she brings some for him.”
    ”She does sound nice,” said Honey. Then she frowned. ”They’re not on the river bluff just off the game preserve, are they? The county engineers are having a terrible time stopping the erosion there. It’s practically a sheer drop down the cliff into the river. Trixie, I’ve never forgotten the day you climbed down that cliff to rescue Jim’s cousin, Juliana. My hair nearly turned white that day!”
    ”I think Trixie was the last person with guts enough to try that routine, Honey,” said Dan, ”especially after your dad had that guard fence put up around the dangerous section and plastered it with red ’Keep Out’ signs. Brian wouldn’t be dumb enough to go past that fence.” Dan lived and worked with Mr. Maypenny, the keeper of the Wheeler game preserve, and he was acquainted with every one of its three hundred heavily wooded acres.
    ”The last time Brian went near those dangerous bluffs,” Trixie assured Honey, ”was the day that he had to struggle to get me and Juliana up that cliff. So he’s not likely to forget that day, either! No, he said something this morning about meeting Loyola at Killifish Point.”
    ”That’s not even on the game preserve, is it?” Dan asked.
    Trixie shook her head. ”It’s actually part of Sleepyside, I think. It’s on the northern outskirts of town. Brian says the cliffs are lower there. There’re plenty of trails down to the river. It’s supposed to be quiet and private—really beautiful, too—so they’ve been getting a lot of solid work done.”
    ”I’ll say it’s private,” said Honey. ”I don’t think I’ve ever even been there. It sounds like a safe place to work, though.”
    As the three friends were talking, Dan and Honey had joined Trixie on the ground, Honey sitting with her legs folded under her and Dan stretched out with his chin in his hands. Suddenly, over the whistling of the wind came the sound of Mrs. Belden’s voice, and all three—even Dan —looked up with guilty expressions.
    ”I’m worried about Brian,” she called as she came closer. Slim and pretty, Helen Belden looked as if she had had one hour too many in a bustling kitchen. With the back of her hand, she brushed the blond curls away from her face in a nervous gesture.
    ”Whew,” said Trixie. ”I was afraid you were going to ask why the three of us were having a party while the rest of you were doing all the work.”
    Mrs. Belden glanced quickly around the tidy garden area and looked momentarily pleased. ”Oh, you’ve done a fine job. Trixie, your powers of