The Mystery at Maypenny's

Mr. Maypenny’s Mystery ● 1

    YOU’D BETTER HURRY, Trixie,” Brian Belden called up the stairs. “The school bus will be here any minute.”
    “I’m coming!” his fourteen-year-old sister shouted from her bedroom. Hurriedly, she finished buttoning her blouse and tucked it firmly into the waistband of her pants. She hunted frantically for her hairbrush, which was buried under the piles of books and papers on her dresser. Finding it, she ran it through her sandy curls without bothering to look in the mirror.
    “If Brian would help me get Bobby ready for school instead of reading the sports section of the paper, I might be ready on time once in a while,” she grumbled. Then she blushed, realizing she was being unfair to her older brother. All of the Beldens had their share of chores to do. Getting Bobby, the youngest of the four Belden children, ready for school in the morning was Trixie’s task. On mornings when he dawdled, Trixie had to rush. But in the afternoon, Trixie often had free time to spend with her best friend, Honey Wheeler, while Brian and Mart were busy with yard work and repairs around the house.
    Trixie shoved her feet into a pair of loafers, gathered up her schoolbooks, and started out of the room. Then, remembering that the weatherman had predicted cool temperatures, she hurried back and grabbed a red jacket off its hanger in the closet. The jacket had “B.W.G.” embroidered in white across the back. It was one of seven jackets Honey Wheeler had made for a semisecret club called the Bob-Whites of the Glen. The members were Trixie and her two brothers, Honey and her adoptive brother Jim Frayne, and two other friends, Dan Mangan and Di Lynch.
    The club had been formed shortly after Honey and her parents had moved to the Manor House, a huge estate just down the road from the Beldens’ modest Crabapple Farm. The club devoted itself to helping people who were in need, such as a group of Mexican children whose school had been destroyed by a hurricane. In addition, the Bob-Whites frequently found themselves in the midst of a mystery, thanks to Trixie and Honey, who planned to be partners in a detective agency when they finished school.
    The other Bob-Whites teased Honey and Trixie about their knack for uncovering mysteries, but they all pitched in eagerly to find a solution when a new case presented itself.
    As Trixie ran down the stairs on this September morning, however, the only mystery on her mind was whether the school bus had left without her. She heard the kitchen door slam and realized that Brian and Mart were already leaving. Pulling on her jacket as she went, she hurried through the kitchen after them, shouting a hurried “Good-bye, Moms” over her shoulder.
    Trixie caught up with her brothers halfway down the long driveway to the road where the school bus stopped to pick them up. The bus was already visible in the distance, and they all had to run the last few feet.
    They climbed breathlessly onto the bus and walked to the back where Honey, Jim, and Dan were saving seats for them. Di Lynch had taken a late vacation with her parents and would not return to Sleepyside for almost two weeks. As the bus started up, Trixie looked through the rear window and saw a battered-looking green car pulling into the driveway of Crabapple Farm. Neither the car nor the driver looked familiar, and her mother hadn’t mentioned expecting a visitor. Trixie wondered briefly who it could be, then lost herself in the chatter of her friends.
    “The Belden contingent came perilously close to missing their means of public transport this antemeridian,” Mart Belden said. Mart was Trixie’s almost-twin. He was eleven months older than his sister and had the same sandy hair and freckles. His cropped hair and love of big words were the major differences between them.
    “I thought for a minute there we’d have to take the jalopy this morning,” Brian agreed. He and Jim, the two oldest Bob-Whites, each had a driver’s license. Brian had worked hard to save the money for the secondhand car that was his pride and joy. It was also a source of teasing from the rest of the Bob-Whites, since it took all of Brian’s considerable mechanical ability to keep it running.
    “I’m glad you managed to make it,” Dan Mangan said. “Mr. Maypenny asked me to give everyone a message this morning.”
    Mr. Maypenny was the gamekeeper for the large preserve that Mr. Wheeler had bought and stocked with deer, pheasant,