The Mystery at Maypenny's

bag. You killed them with botulism, and now you’re here to plant them!”
    David Maypenny’s eyes filled with rage, and Trixie knew for certain that she was right. She saw him reach for the door handle.
    “Run, Honey!” Trixie shouted, giving her friend a shove as David Maypenny got out of the car. Trixie started down the path full speed. Then she heard a crashing noise and realized that Honey hadn’t followed her. She’d taken off through the woods instead. Trixie stopped and looked over her shoulder. David Maypenny was standing beside his car. He looked at Trixie, who was already several yards down the path, and then he looked in the direction Honey had taken. Finally, he charged into the woods.
    Trixie froze for a moment, wondering what to do. She didn’t want to leave Honey alone, with David Maypenny chasing her, but she knew that the two of them against a grown man would not be an even contest, either.
    Then another thought struck her, and she took off full speed down the path, running toward the ravine.
    When she reached it, she scrambled down the bank. “Please be there,” she breathed, running toward John Score’s tent.
    John Score was sound asleep in his sleeping bag outside the tent. Trixie knelt beside him and shook him. “Wake up, please!” she shouted. “Help!”
    John Score sat bolt upright and blinked at Trixie. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
    Out of breath from running, Trixie could only gasp, “The ducks— The man— He has Honey!”
    John Score seemed to understand immediately. “Where?” he asked.
    Trixie pointed down the path.
    He threw back the sleeping bag and stood up, revealing the same ragged jeans he had been wearing the first time Trixie saw him.
    He ran to the car, with Trixie following behind him. He got in behind the wheel and Trixie collapsed on the passenger’s side.
    John Score turned the ignition key, put the car in reverse, and floored the accelerator. With a roar, the car lurched up the bank to the path, scattering camouflage branches in its wake.
    Throwing the car into forward gear, Score took off down the path. In seconds, they reached David Maypenny’s car. Trixie, still gasping for breath, was stunned. It had seemed to her that she’d run miles to get to the ravine. Actually it had been only a few hundred yards.
    John Score stepped on the brakes, and the car skidded to a halt. He slammed the car into park. “Which way?” he demanded.
    Trixie pointed to the side of the road where Honey and David Maypenny had disappeared. John Score, followed closely by Trixie, got out of the car and started toward the spot. Then he stopped, hearing noises coming toward them from the woods.
    Trixie watched in horror as David Maypenny reappeared. He was holding a kicking and struggling Honey tightly by one of her slender arms.
    David Maypenny glanced up from the struggle and saw John Score watching him. For a moment, he too stood motionless.
    For a few seconds that seemed like hours, everything was still. John Score and David Maypenny stared at each other. Trixie watched breathlessly. Even Honey stopped struggling and waited for something to happen.
    Finally, John Score took a step forward. David Maypenny looked from him to Honey, then shoved the girl away from him and disappeared back into the woods. John Score ran after him.
    Trixie hurried to Honey’s side. “Are you all right?” she asked.
    Honey nodded silently, her breath coming in tortured gasps.
    Without thinking, Trixie turned and started to run. She ran back down the path toward home. Her frenzied mind couldn’t form a plan. She only knew that she had to find help somewhere, somehow.
    Again it seemed as though she had run for miles, and she wondered how long she could keep going. Then she saw the headlights of a car. She stopped in the middle of the road and waved her arms over her head to stop it. She felt a twinge of fear, wondering if the car were being driven by an accomplice of David Maypenny’s, but she was too tired to care. She only knew she couldn’t run any farther.
    As the car stopped, Trixie was dimly aware that it was black and white. Police! she thought happily. The door on the passenger’s side opened and strong arms pulled her inside. The car started up again immediately, speeding down the path to the place where Honey was waiting.
    Trixie looked up at the person sitting next to her. “Jim!” she exclaimed. “How did you—”
    “I’ll explain that later,” Jim said.