The Mystery of the Castaway Children

sparkled, “Oh, yes!” Suddenly she took notice of the strangers in her home. She said, “Sit down, won’t you? Who...? I mean, I’m Eileen Dodge, and this is my husband, David, and this is my son, Robert, and...”
    She stopped her rushing words and cried, “Where’s Davy?” She held her baby so closely that Trixie could see the knotted muscles in her arms. Her voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “Where is Davy?”
    For the second time that night, Trixie saw a side of the hardheaded policeman she hadn’t known existed. He stepped forward to pat the woman’s shoulders, as if he were comforting a child. “Ssh, ssh, Mrs. Dodge. Ssh, ssh.” In a short while, the sergeant’s calm voice had soothed the mother, and he said, “Now, listen to me while I explain what’s happened.”
    Eileen Dodge drew in her breath and stopped crying, but she did not loosen her hold on the baby. Automatically, she took the warm bottle Honey brought from the kitchen and began his feeding.
    “These are my young, uh, friends, Trixie Belden and Honey Wheeler. They both live a couple of miles from Sleepyside, on Glen Road. Your baby was abandoned at Trixie’s house during Wednesday’s storm. As I understand it, your children disappeared Saturday. Is that right?”
    “About noon Saturday,” David Dodge said. The sergeant nodded. “We haven’t figured out yet where they were in that period between Saturday noon and Wednesday night. We still don’t know where Davy is... but, well, here’s Robert, all safe and sound. Now we can direct all our efforts toward finding Davy.”
    The Dodge couple’s reaction to this explanation was bewildering, to say the least.
    Eileen cried, “No!” and hugged the baby so tightly that he squeaked.
    David patted his wife’s back with one hand and rubbed his own head with the other, evidently trying to make up his mind about something. Didn’t they want Davy?
    The sergeant frowned at the odd behavior. “What’s going on here?” he demanded harshly. “Look—” David Dodge began.
    “No!” his wife interrupted. “David, the note says don’t call the police!”
    “I know, but...”
    “What note?” the sergeant barked.
    “No!” Eileen cried again.
    “I have to tell him, honey,” David pleaded. “It’s our only chance to get Davy back!” He left the room abruptly and returned with two sheets of paper. He gave one to the sergeant and explained, “As you can see, this one is from Davy.” Sergeant Molinson held the paper in such a way that Trixie and Honey could read along with him.
    “Dere Mom and Dad,” said the note, “I am running away and I am not never coming back. I won’t let you sell at this point, he had tried to spell Dodgy and had apparently given up— “D. and me. I luv you, Davy.”
    “What does he mean, sell?” Sergeant Molinson inquired.
    “I wish I knew,” David answered wearily. “That’s been giving me nightmares. We didn’t find the note till after the auction. We’ve been out of our minds with worry. We’ve searched, night and day, but things have been so up for grabs around here that—well, we wouldn’t recognize a clue if it jumped up and bit us.”
    The fact that the sergeant was treating her as an equal gave Trixie the courage to say, “I should think you’d have noticed the baby was gone. Who was taking care of him?”
    Eileen moaned. “Please don’t blame me. I can’t stand any more! I blame myself. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat....” She rocked with Dodgy and started crying again.
    David rubbed the back of his wife’s tense neck while he answered Trixie’s question. “Eileen had given Dodgy his morning feeding. A neighbor girl was supposed to watch him while he took his nap in the shade of the house, out of the way of the auction traffic. She didn’t report a problem, so Eileen went right ahead showing furniture and stuff inside the house while the auctioneers worked in the barn. She didn’t notice how late it was getting. Besides, the girl often gave Dodgy his bottle. We trusted her.” David’s voice broke.
    “What was her story?” the sergeant asked, his face expressionless.
    “She had a boyfriend who was in the crowd. She wanted to let him know she was here. She said she was gone ‘just a minute,’ but when she came back, Dodgy was gone. She figured Eileen had taken him into the house, so she felt free to join the crowd. She thought somebody would call her if she was needed. Nobody did, so she went