The Mysterious Code

said.
    “Sleepyside is a
wonderful place. I’m glad I live here,” Honey said.
    “Yeah,” Mart said.
“Who’d want to live any other place on earth?”

Night
Watch • 18
     
    Oh , Moms, it’s the most beautiful place!” Trixie, starry-eyed,
sat at the table and unfolded her napkin. “Why didn’t you come to see the
showroom? Even Mrs. Vanderpoel and Brom came in. It looks like fairyland.”
    “Daddy hasn’t talked
of anything else, and neither has Bobby, ever since they came home. I’m so
proud of all of you. I thought I’d go tomorrow, and tonight I’d have a good
warm dinner waiting, ” Mrs. Belden said. “Eat something, dear.”
    “I just don’t seem
to have any appetite,” Trixie said dreamily. “You should see the way that old
musical jewel box looks. And the Japanese exhibit, and Mrs. Vanderpoel’s
silver...
    “I know it’s wonderful,
dear, but do eat your dinner now and forget about the show until tomorrow.”
    “I have to
talk about it, Moms,” Trixie said. “Daddy, why do you suppose the policeman on
that beat didn’t stop in to see us? We waited a long time, thinking he would
pass the showroom.”
    “Gosh, Trixie, are
you going to start that all over again?” Mart asked. “Dad, she hasn’t talked
about anything else. If she had her way, she’d sit up all night and watch.”
    “I would not, Mart
Belden,” Trixie declared. “Did you happen to notice how that musical jewel box
shows up through the window? It’s an invitation to thieves.”
    “Of course I noticed
it. You can’t seem to get it through your head that right across the street, in
the bank, there are thousands and thousands of dollars. You don’t see Dad going
into a nose dive over it every night, do you?” Mart was tired and cross.
    “He doesn’t have
money bags in the window for all the thieves to see,” Trixie said, “and he has
vaults and things with big time locks. And, besides, he hasn’t had anyone named
Snipe Thompson waiting to grab the money bags. Two of those thieves are still
at large, and we know right well that one
    of them is that
horrible Snipe.”
    “That’s enough,
Trixie,” Mr. Belden said. “I wish you would please stop talking about it
Everything will be safe. Just stop worrying, will you please?”
    “Yes, Daddy,” Trixie
said obediently, and she tried to eat her dinner.
    She didn’t stop
worrying, though. After she went to bed, she couldn’t go to sleep. “After all,”
she thought to herself, “Daddy didn’t see those thieves who hijacked die
desk. He didn’t see Bull Thompson when he broke into Mrs. Vanderpoel’s
house. He didn’t see the way that clubhouse looked when those robbers
tried to set it on fire. He didn’t see Snipe Thompson... well, neither
did I, but he’s a bad man.”
    Trixie turned and
tossed, one name going through her mind time and time again... Snipe Thompson.
“Why didn’t I insist that Sergeant Molinson bring Snipe in and question
him?” she asked herself. “Why didn’t I? Because the sergeant wouldn’t have done
it. He didn’t pay any attention to me when I tried to get him to investigate
that blue and white sedan. How do I know he even inquired at the pawnbroker’s?
How do I know he’ll pay any attention to the showroom? But Daddy said....”
    The clock ticked on.
Trixie just couldn’t sleep. The house was quiet Trixie’s mind was not quiet.
    Finally she could
stand it no longer. She turned on the, light Her desk clock said eleven
o’clock. It was time Spider stopped by at the showroom if he had any
intention of watching it Quietly Trixie put on her clothes, opened her door,
listened, heard nothing, then tiptoed down the stairs. She reached into the
hall closet for her coat and scarf, then went outside and down the walk to the
road that led to Sleepyside.
    She hadn’t gone far
when, back of her, she heard the unmistakable chug of Brian's car. He pulled up
opposite her and stopped. “Have you lost your mind?” he asked. “It’s after
eleven.”
    “I know it You can
go right back home,” Trixie said. “You aren’t going to stop me.”
    “Who said I was? I’m
wide-awake now and might as well go in and give the place the onceover. Say,
Trixie, isn’t that Jim up ahead?”
    It was. Laughing, he
climbed into Brian s jalopy. “We all had the same idea, didn’t we?”
    “Yes,” Trixie said,
“and I thought I was the only one who worried. Gleeps, I’m glad you’re both
going. Moms and Dad won’t be quite so mad at