The Indian Burial Ground Mystery

here, and why he’s visiting Professor Conroy?
    Then Trixie had a horrible thought—Harry was Charles Miller’s friend,
not Professor Conroy’s. And it was Charles, she suspected, who had put
Professor Conroy in the hospital in the first place! That might mean Harry was
going to harm the professor, too.
    Trixie broke into a run. She flung open the door to the professor’s
room.
    “Oh, hello there, Miss Belden,” the professor said when he saw Trixie
come running in. “My, my, you certainly do rush around.” Relieved to see that
the professor was all right, Trixie suddenly felt silly for the way she’d come
barging in. She started to apologize. “I-I’m so sorry, Professor Conroy,” she
stammered. “I hope I didn’t alarm you.”
    “Oh, no. Don’t give it a second thought,” he replied, smiling
cheerfully. “It can get very dull just lying in bed all day without talking to
anyone.”
    Trixie moved closer to the bed. She could see that Professor Conroy
seemed to be in good spirits, yet he looked much sicker than he had the day
before. There were deep, dark circles under his eyes, and his skin looked pale
and gray.
    “I just saw someone come out of your room,” Trixie said, filled with
concern. “Are you well enough to have visitors?”
    Professor Conroy glanced at her sharply. “I had no visitors,” he said.
“You must be mistaken.”
    “Why, I could have sworn I saw Harry coming out of—” Trixie began, but
she stopped when she saw a look of irritation sweep over Professor Conroy’s
face.
    “Miss Belden,” he said, “perhaps whoever you think you saw
was coming out of some other room.”
    Embarrassed, Trixie looked down at her feet. I know what I saw, she thought. After all, there’s only a vacant room and a supply closet at
this end of the hall. What would Harry be doing in the supply closet?
    Her eyes came to rest on a pair of shoes neatly placed at the side of
the bed. They were caked with thick, sticky mud. The professor shouldn’t
be wearing shoes here. He should have some slippers, she thought. Then
Trixie remembered that the professor had come to the hospital unexpectedly. Perhaps
he doesn’t have slippers, and no one thought to bring him any, either.
    “Why, you don’t have any slippers,” Trixie said in a rush of concern.
“Would you like me to bring you a pair? They’ll be more comfortable than these
shoes.”
    Professor Conroy chuckled. “Very kind of you to think of it, but I don’t
need slippers, or even shoes, for that matter. The good doctor has told me I
can’t get up at all, not even to use the facilities. Most distressing.”
    “Oh. Would you like me to put these away for you, then?”
    “If you please. Most kind of you, most kind.” Thinking that sometime she
would clean the mud off the professor’s shoes, Trixie put them in the closet.
Then she fluffed up the sick man’s pillows.
    Before leaving the room, Trixie said, “Feel free to ask me for anything
you need, Professor Conroy. I’d be glad to help you anytime.” Then she backed
out the door.
    “Most kind,” the professor muttered drowsily. He closed his eyes and
turned his head away from her.
     
    “The poor professor,” Trixie said to Honey that afternoon as they made
their way to the dig site. “He looks even worse today than he did yesterday.”
    “I guess he took quite a knock on the head,” Honey answered.
    “Maybe Charles hit him harder than he’d intended,” Trixie said grimly.
“And that reminds me, Reddy didn’t come home last night. If Moms hasn’t found
him yet, we should look for him in the woods, or ask the students if they’ve
seen him.”
    “Reddy’s probably at the dig right now,” Honey said, trying to sound
reassuring. “Remember, they have cookouts over the fire. He was probably lured
by the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers.”
    “I hope you’re right,” Trixie said with a sigh. “Moms is really worried
about him.”
    “I’m worried, too,” Honey said. “It was nice of your mom to make us this
picnic lunch, anyway.”
    “Well, she wanted us to start looking for Reddy right away,” Trixie
said. “She thought we’d waste time if we ate at home first.” Trixie and Honey
trudged along the road. When they came to the main dig site, they saw a truck
parked near the tents. Charles Miller and a short, heavyset man were having a
loud conversation. Several graduate students were standing around listening
with interest. As the girls got closer, they were