The Mystery at Maypenny's

loses one.”
    “How did you know about them?” Honey asked in a tone of complete amazement.
    “Brian bought one for the jalopy right after he first got it. He was going to hide the box under the dashboard, where I just found this one. Daddy advised him against it. He said there was no point in giving car thieves a helping hand.”
    Trixie got out of the car and walked around to the trunk. Honey hesitated, then followed. Trixie put the key in the lock, took a deep breath, then turned the key and let the lid of the trunk rise.
    Trixie let out her breath in a mixture of relief and disappointment. The trunk held a mess of papers and books—but no body.
    Honey reached inside and took out one of the leaflets. “‘Your Right to a Clean Environment,’ ” she read.
    “Here’s a book called ‘Disease in Wildlife,’” Trixie said. “It’s stamped with the name and address of CAUSE on the title page.” Trixie put the book back in the trunk. “Doesn’t it seem strange to you that John Score would leave all these things in the trunk? Wouldn’t he need them for his work?”
    “He might not have had much choice,” Honey pointed out. “If he left Sleepyside by bus or on foot, he couldn’t possibly have taken all the stuff in this trunk.”
    “That’s true,” Trixie said. “But why would he have left by bus or on foot? We didn’t see any damage to the car.”
    “There are lots of things that can go wrong with a car that aren’t visible from the outside,” Honey said. “Brian’s jalopy always looks perfect from the outside, because he keeps it washed and waxed and polished. But if he weren’t such a good mechanic, he wouldn’t be able to get it started half the time.”
    “That’s true,” Trixie said again. She sighed. “I guess steps one and two didn’t give us any new clues to work with.”
    “What’s step three?” Honey demanded.
    Trixie looked at her friend appreciatively. Honey’s nervousness had almost vanished. Now her curiosity, which was almost equal to Trixie’s, was taking over.
    “Step three,” Trixie said musingly. “I hadn’t gone that far. I was sure we’d find something if we got inside the car.” She looked around. “I think step three is to walk down this ravine a way and see where it leads.”
    “All right,” Honey said eagerly.
    Trixie closed the trunk, put the key back in the magnetic box, and put the box back beneath the dashboard. Then the girls set off down the ravine.
    The layers of fallen leaves provided a springy carpet under their feet, and the shaded ravine was comfortably cool. The girls felt increasingly relaxed as they walked on, their whispers giving way to normal conversation.
    Suddenly Trixie stopped and grabbed Honey’s arm, pointing to a small clearing at their right.
    “It’s a tent!” Honey exclaimed, her voice lowered again to a whisper.
    Trixie put a finger over her lips, dropped to a crouch, and moved silently toward the clearing. Honey followed close behind.
    Trixie was almost to the clearing when she heard a muffled scream from Honey. As she started to turn around, an arm snaked around her and a hand was clamped over her mouth.
    The owner of the arm pushed her roughly from behind, propelling her the rest of the way into the clearing. A final push sent her sprawling onto the ground, and Honey tumbled down next to her.
    Trixie quickly sat up and spun around. A few feet away, looking down at the two girls, hands on hips, was John Score.
    “What are you two doing sneaking around here?” he asked gruffly.
    Trixie stood up and began dusting herself off, buying time in which to regain her composure.
    “What are you doing here?” Score asked again.
    Trixie straightened and looked at him levelly, hoping her fear didn’t show. “I was just about to ask you the same thing,” she said.
    John Score threw back his head and began to laugh. Trixie and Honey stared at him, feeling a combination of surprise and relief.
    “Your question is a fair one,” Score said when he’d stopped laughing. “Maybe we could exchange information. Would you like to sit down?” He gestured to a sleeping bag that was spread out in front of the tent.
    Trixie and Honey sat down cross-legged on the sleeping bag. John Score sat down on the ground across from them.
    “I’ll answer your question first,” he said. “What I’m doing here, in short, is hiding out. I have been, ever since Mr. Maypenny paid my fine and got me out of jail.”
    Honey gasped, and