The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

Bob cried, awed.
    “Wow!” Ned added.
    “Where did you find it?” Barbara gasped.
    Trixie was so excited she couldn’t talk. She started speaking, then sputtered and stopped. Honey came to her rescue. “Daddy, let’s go into the lounge, away from this crowd, so we can talk about all that has happened.”
    “It’s fabulous!” Jim said, his eyes on Trixie in deep admiration.
    “I found it in the restaurant!” Trixie announced breathlessly. “Right on the floor! Isn’t it perfectly beautiful? It was lying there just where the idol fell.
    Why I didn’t think to look there this morning, I’ll never know.”
    “The obvious always escapes us,” Miss Trask said softly. “Where did you actually find it, Trixie? That area had been swept thoroughly. The diamond must have been lodged somewhere.”
    “It was!” Honey said. “There was a little crevice in the floor. It had fallen into it. When Trixie left the rest of you, Jim and I didn’t know what had come over her. We just followed. Then we saw her creep around on the floor and come up with that!”
    “Holy cow!” Bob cried reverently. “Now you’ll cut in on the reward. Those handicapped kids sure are lucky to have you for their friend, Trixie.”
    “And we’re lucky to get in on the finish,” Barbara said, hugging Trixie.
    “Boy, I’ll say,” Bob added. “Trixie always gets her man!”
    Trixie’s face fell. “Keep the stone for me, please, Mr. Wheeler. You aren’t in on the finish, Barbara. I don’t always get my man, Bob. Blinky, Big Tony, and Pedro are still at large. Worse than that, I don’t have the ghost of an idea where they may be.”
    “Hallelujah for that!” Mr. Wheeler exclaimed. “Let the police take care of them, Trixie. Remember the roadblocks that have been put up.”
    “I remember that we’re working with the slipperiest crooks in the world,” Trixie said sadly.
    “I’d settle for finding the diamond, sis,” Mart told her. “Boy, you’re good—really good! Keeping after that stone like you did till you found it!”
    Trixie’s eyes brightened at Mart’s praise. It never was too plentiful. “Of course I’m glad the diamond has been found. I can just see Blinky’s face when he finally grabbed that idol, then got it outside and found the stone was missing! Jeepers, look at the time. I wish you didn’t have to take that plane!”
    “There’s no other way out,” Ned said. “It’s a good thing we packed our bags last night.”
    “You haven’t had anything to eat!” Diana wailed. “Nobody ate breakfast at that coffee shop.”
    “Who cares?” Bob spoke for the Iowans. “We’ll get something on the plane. I don’t know about Ned and Barb, but I couldn’t choke a thing down. I’m too excited. Gosh, Trixie!”
    “There’s never a dull moment around Trixie, Bob. I never thought I’d have a Sherlock Holmes—or should I say Dr. Watson—in my family, either.” Mr. Wheeler looked at Honey fondly. “I guess I’d better find some cabs. Is everyone going to the airport?”
    “Of course,” Trixie said. “If we hurry like everything, maybe there’ll even be time to meet the Wellingtons on the plane from Paris.”
    “That will be simply wonderfully wonderful!” Barbara said blissfully. “Hurry, everyone!”
    “Simmer down, Barb,” Bob advised. “We’ll make it okay. Gosh, just think, those friends of yours were in Paris this morning and now New York for lunch!”
    “We’ll keep these same cabs,” Mr. Wheeler said as they stopped at the apartment. “If your bags are packed, Bob and Ned can pick them up.”
    “Good!” Trixie clapped her hands. “Then we’ll be sure to see the Wellingtons’ plane come in. Hustle!” she called to Ned and Bob.
    “Before we go back to Sleepyside, we must take the diamond to the police,” Mr. Wheeler reminded her.
    “And Trix can collect the loot,” Mart said.
    “We’ll have to call Dr. Reed, too,” Mr. Wheeler said. “We promised to keep him up to date. Mart, I think you’re a little premature about that ‘loot,’ as you call it. Things don’t move that quickly.”
    Trixie’s sparkling blue eyes saddened. “Things probably won’t move toward that station wagon at all. Those Peruvian police aren’t going to think I’ve done my work when Blinky, Big Tony, and Pedro are still loose. There are the boys with your bags. Come on. Let’s go!”
    The cabs sped quickly out the crowded expressway toward Kennedy International Airport in the borough