The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

right, then.” The driver shrugged his shoulders as Trixie handed him the fare. “Kids go to the craziest places nowadays.”
    “Is it dangerous around here?” Trixie was a little alarmed at what the driver had said.
    “Depends on how you look at it. I’ve delivered some queer characters to this place. Makes me wonder if it’s really hamburgers they sell here. Ain’t never seen any police raidin’ the place, though.”
    “Can you come back for me in half an hour?”
    “Sorry, kid.” The driver shook his head regretfully. “I can’t promise that. I might be tied up. I’ll give it a try. Tell you what: If I am tied up, I’ll send someone back here to pick you up. Okay?”
    “Okay, I hope.” Trixie climbed out of the taxi and looked around cautiously.
    There wasn’t a soul on the street. Jake’s Hamburger Place showed no sign of life. When Trixie tried the door, however, it opened easily. For a moment, she didn’t see anything, for the change from bright sunlight outside to half-darkness inside blinded her. Then, off in a corner next to the wall, she saw a single electric light bulb glowing dimly above a table where two men sat.
    As Trixie entered the room, one of the men stood up. He was small and stocky. He had a livid scar across his forehead, down one eyelid, and well into his cheek.
    From behind the counter on the other side of the room, a third man spoke. “Coffee, miss?”
    “No, thank you. I must hurry back home for my breakfast. You are the man who telephoned to me, aren’t you?” she asked the scar-faced man at the table.
    “I am. Come over here to the table. My friend’s here. We talk business.”
    Trixie accepted the chair he offered against the wall next to his seated friend. When she sat down, she was hemmed in between the two men.
    “Now, sister,” said the man with the scar, “we talk. The idol you got belongs to Don Alfonso Alfredo. We come from his hacienda in Peru. It’s a idol been in the family a thousand years. Somebody steal it, bring it to this country. He wants it back.”
    “He’s gonna get it back!” the other man said. Tall, olive-skinned, his face creased with wrinkles, he was more hideous-looking than Scarface. He moved closer to Trixie menacingly. She felt suffocated... frightened... more terrified than she had ever been in her life.
    “I’m prepared to return it,” she said in a trembling voice. “You told me you would pay me a thousand dollars for its return. I only came here because I want to give that thousand dollars to a fund in Sleepyside— the fund to buy a station wagon to take handicapped children to school.”
    “Well, now, isn’t that a charitable thing to do?” the man over at the counter sneered.
    Startled, Trixie looked across the room to the third man. “Why, you—you’re the man at the United Nations—and at the Museum of Natural History! There are three of you!”
    “Exactly! So you can count, can’t you?” the man answered Trixie in a mocking voice. “If you had been a clever girl, you’d have handed the statue over to me in the first place. It would have saved you a lot of trouble. If I had been clever, I’d have taken it from you by force at the gift shop in the United Nations.”
    “You shoulda got rubbed out for missin’ it, Pedro. Wipe that smile off your face!” The scar-faced man scowled.
    “Watch your language, Blinky!” Pedro glared at the scar-faced man. “Can I help laughing when I think of you and Big Tony in the welfare racket? A thousand dollars for handicapped children!”
    Big Tony stood up. “That’s enough outta you! I got business to take care of. Come on, sister, hand over the idol! We ain’t got all day to wait!”
    “Softly there, Tony. Treat the young lady gentle!” Blinky said with a cruel smile. “I got her purse, see? I’ll hand it over to ya in justa—say, kid, if you double-crossed us....”
    He shook the contents of Trixie’s purse onto the table. Her compact rolled to the floor. Her lipstick followed. Blinky opened her coin purse. He handed the bills to Big Tony.
    “Don’t you dare touch my belongings!” Trixie cried, her eyes blazing. “Where is the reward you promised me?”
    “Yes. Yes. I call that a good question, now,” Pedro called from across the room. “Where is the young lady’s thousand dollars? Take it from your bankroll, Blinky. Give it to her!” Pedro laughed loudly again, at his own joke.
    Big Tony picked up Trixie’s purse and threw it with terrific