The Mystery in Arizona

was just about to give me a lot of help with my theme on Mexican Customs, but ever since the square dance she’s done nothing but shake her head vaguely every time I ask her questions.”
    “She’s awfully unhappy,” Trixie said, more to herself than to Honey. “She knows that Petey wants to be with the other Orlandos, wherever they are.”
    But nobody paid any attention to Trixie when she talked like that—nobody except Rosita.
    “You are right, Trixie,” the Indian girl said one day. “Maria is very unhappy, and I can understand why. Customs are important; one cannot cast them off too quickly. My father, for instance, is a longhair,’ but I am not ashamed of him because he does not go to the barber regularly, as white men do. And although Maria quarreled with her father- and mother-in-law the night they left here because they, too, have faith in ancient customs, she is now sorry that she did not obey their wishes.”
    "They wanted her to go with them and take Petey, didn’t they?” Trixie asked softly.
    Rosita merely shook her head. “I know nothing. All I can do is guess. But one thing I am sure of is this: If I were Maria I would go now before it is too late. They traveled in a very old station wagon; she and Petey could go by plane and arrive in a matter of minutes.”
    She hurried off before Trixie could ask her any more questions.
    Trixie stared after the Indian girl, thinking, “I’ll bet Rosita knows more than she is willing to admit.”
    That afternoon Petey tried to run away again. This time he was picked up halfway down the long driveway by Foreman Howie and brought back to Maria before she had any idea that the little boy had slipped out of their cabin instead of taking a nap.
    Trixie was in the kitchen when the foreman appeared with Petey.
    “You better keep this youngster hog-tied!” he said gruffly.
    For a moment Maria looked so frightened that Trixie thought she was going to faint. Then, with a murmured “ Gracias ” to Howie, she pulled the little boy into her arms and burst into tears.
    Later, when Trixie and Honey were getting ready for bed, Trixie said, “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we woke up some morning and found Maria and Petey were gone.” She told Honey what Rosita had said, ending with, “I’ll bet Rosita knows a lot about what is going on.”
    “I agree with you,” Honey said. “The Mexicans, you know, are really cousins of many of the southwest Indians. A lot of their customs are the same. Rosita may know where the Orlandos are now and why they left so suddenly.”
    Trixie climbed up to the top bunk and dangled her pajama-clad legs over the side. “Maria was very upset today when she learned that Petey had tried to run away again,” she said thoughtfully to Honey. “As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we woke up tomorrow morning and found that they were both gonel”

Dark Deductions • 19

    WHEN THE GIRLS arrived in the kitchen the next morning, the boys were in full charge. This was not surprising because lately they had been doing most of die cooking under Maria’s supervision. What was surprising—to Di and Honey but not to Trixie—was the fact that Maria was not there.
    “Oh, my goodness!” Honey gasped. “Trixie’s dire prediction must have come true.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jim said, ‘Taut Maria and Petey have gone. She left this note for your uncle, Di. All it says is ‘Tell the patron I am sorry,’ but maybe you’d better take it to him.”
    Di took the slip of paper and hurried out.
    “I was pretty sure Maria would leave last evening,” Trixie said smugly. “I’m honestly surprised that she didn’t go last week.”
    “How can you sound so cheerful?” Honey asked. “Don’t you realize that tomorrow night is Christmas Eve? Who’s going to do the cooking?”
    “The boys,” Trixie said, laughing.
    Mart came closer with a menacing look on his freckled face. “Do you expect us boys to set the tables, too?”
    “No, no,” Honey said hastily. “You don’t ever have to set a table again. We girls will manage the dining room as long as you boys do the cooking. Won’t we, Trix?”
    Trixie nodded. In another minute Di came back with her uncle, who said hopefully, “Now, let’s not get worked up about what may be nothing. I believe Maria will show up in time to fix dinner.”
    "What makes you think so, sir?” Jim asked as he measured meal into the big mixing