The Mystery at Mead's Mountain

targets.
    Finally the boys could stand the cold air no longer and were forced to jump back into the pool. The girls delighted in taking their revenge by dunking the boys thoroughly and repeatedly. Honey challenged each of the boys to a race and won easily each time.
    Floating lazily in the shallow end, Di announced that she had to get out so she could get her hair dry before breakfast.
    “Excellent timing,” said Mart. “You damsels go try to beautify yourselves, a task, which, although feasible for Di and Honey, will be impossible for Trixie. By the time we he-men get out, you can be cleared out of the bathroom.”
    “By the time you he-men get out, you’ll be as wrinkled as prunes,” said Trixie saucily, “which, I must say, will greatly improve your looks.”
    Clutching their towels around them, the girls darted to the sliding glass door, and Trixie tugged on it. It didn’t move.
    “It’s locked!” she gasped.
    “Oh, no!” Honey trembled, hopping from one cold foot to another. “Were covered with goose bumps. Pound on the door, Trixie. Maybe Miss Trask will hear.”
    Trixie thumped on the door, but Miss Trask had apparently left for breakfast. “I guess we’ll have to make a run for the hallway door,” she quavered.
    “What if that one is locked, too?” worried Di as they started running.
    “There’s got to be an unlocked door around here somewhere,” answered Trixie. “111 bet anything this is Mart’s idea of a cute trick. He probably locked the door, and that’s why he was so generous about letting us have the bathroom first.”
    “Y-You don’t think it could have been the ‘ghost’ again, do you, Trixie?” asked Di apprehensively.
    That thought had already occurred to Trixie, but to reassure Di she said, “Actually, we probably locked it ourselves accidentally. I guess it couldn’t have been Mart after all. He was with us the whole time.”
    The girls cheered breathlessly when they found the hallway door open. Once in the hall, they stopped running, but it was hard to stop shivering. As they rounded the corner that led to their suite, they almost ran right into Eric.
    “What are you doing here?” Trixie demanded, her teeth still chattering.
    “I—I was looking for Rosie,” he said, staring at the girls. “She said she was going to visit you, but she’s not there. You girls shouldn’t be running around in weather like this in those wet bathing suits. You could freeze to death. I didn’t think you were that dumb.” Trixie looked Eric right in the eye. “Someone locked our patio door that opens out onto the pool.”
    Eric just shrugged and walked away.
    Di ran ahead and tried their door. “Hurray!” she yelled. “First dibs on the shower!”
    While Honey and Trixie waited their turns, Honey said, “Trixie, don’t you think you were kind of rude? Why, the way you looked at him, you were practically accusing him of locking our door.”
    “Well, he called us dumb for getting locked out,” Trixie said defensively. She knew she tended to jump to conclusions.
    Trixie went over to examine the lock on the patio door. “This isn’t the kind of lock you can accidentally lock,” she announced. “Someone must have locked it from the inside.”
    “It must have been that practical joker,” said Honey. “I don’t like this, Trixie. You don’t really believe there is a ‘ghost’ who doesn’t want Daddy to buy the lodge, do you?”
    “Of course not. Nobody else really believes it, either. But if a person is playing ghost, I’d sure like to figure out how and why.”
    “Why can’t we ever go anywhere without strange things happening?” Honey sighed. “Trixie, why are you grinning? There’s nothing funny about this!”
    “I know,” Trixie said honestly. “I just—well, when your father started telling us about the ghost, well, I was kind of hoping for some excitement.”
    “Well, I think you’re getting more than you bargained for,” Honey cautioned. “Come on, let’s get ready for breakfast.”
    Trixie’s short curls dried much faster than the shoulder-length cuts of Di and Honey, so she decided to meet the others in the restaurant later. She thought she would take a walk before breakfast and see more of Mead’s Mountain.
    When she stepped out into the hall, she saw a young couple coming toward her, arm in arm. He was tall and slim, with smooth, dark skin and long, black hair. She was shorter, but slim and dark, too. Her hair was pulled back and piled