The Mystery of the Midnight Marauder

morning, when I was with Brian, we were looking for Reddy.”
    Honey frowned. “Yes, you told me.”
    “And I found a piece of material caught on a bush,” Trixie continued excitedly.
    “You told me that, too.”
    “But what I didn’t tell you,” Trixie said, “is that it looked like a piece of old shirt—a red shirt. Lester told us the Midnight Marauder was wearing a red shirt when he robbed the trailer.”
    Honey gasped. “Do you think the vandal tore his shirt when he was on his way to hide the meat he stole from Wimpy’s?”
    Trixie nodded. “I think we could go and take another look at it. I just left it where it was, you know. Maybe it’ll give us a clue to the Marauder’s identity—and maybe we’ll find something else,“
    “Like footprints?” Honey said.
    Trixie was already on her way to the door. “Like anything,” she declared, “anything at all! After all, let’s face it, Honey. This situation is getting desperate!”

A Fresh Suspect ● 14

    TRIXIE WAS SO EXCITED at the thought of finding a fresh clue that she didn’t want to stop for anything, not even to eat a late breakfast.
    “I’m just not hungry,” she told Honey as they raced to pull on their Bob-White jackets.
    Honey frowned. “I do think you should stop to eat something, Trix,” she said.
    “We haven’t got time,” Trixie announced over her shoulder, hurrying across the verandah and down the front steps. “Maybe the police have already found out what the Marauder was wearing on the night of the burglaries. Maybe they’ve even found that scrap of material. Oh, please hurry, Honey. We may be too late!”
    “Are we going to take the horses again?” Honey asked, panting with the effort of keeping up with her friend.
    Trixie stopped so suddenly that Honey almost bumped into her. “Gleeps!” Trixie said, running a thoughtful hand through her curls. “I hadn’t thought how we were going to get there. If we take the horses, we’ll have to listen to a lecture from Regan. He’ll say the ground is muddy. The horses may slip and fall. We’ll have to promise to clean everything when we get back—”
    The same thought occurred to both girls at the same time. “Let’s take our bikes,” they said together and then laughed.
    While Honey retraced her steps up the hill, Trixie rushed to drag her bicycle from the Beldens’ garage.
    One glance assured her that Crabapple Farm had suffered no damage from the night’s storm. It also told her that her parents and youngest brother had still not returned, and neither had Brian and Mart. The old farmhouse had an empty, deserted look to it. It made Trixie long to dash inside, yelling at the top of her lungs, “Don’t worry, house. We’ll all be back soon.”
    But of course, she didn’t. In the next moment, she had forgotten the impulse completely as she pedaled furiously along the Beldens’ graveled driveway to meet Honey.
    Soon the two girls were speeding along Glen Road, passing Mr. Lytell’s store almost before they knew it. They caught a quick glimpse of the storekeeper standing in the doorway and waved to him briefly. But they didn’t stop, though they could feel him staring after them as if wondering where they were going in such a hurry.
    Trixie’s eyes were fixed on the road ahead.
    “Will you remember the exact place where you saw that piece of red shirt?” Honey asked, breathing hard.
    “I’ll never forget it,” Trixie replied. “Everyone thought it was Reddy, you see. I wanted to believe he really might be somewhere close by. So Brian and I made a thorough search all around the area.”
    “Are we nearly there?” Honey asked.
    Trixie nodded. “Yes, but I’ve just thought of something else.” She frowned. “Suppose that piece of shirt isn’t there anymore. Suppose it was blown away in the storm. It could even have got buried under leaves and dirt. I don’t remember what I did with it. I could have simply dropped it on the ground— Oh, why didn’t I put it in my pocket when I had the chance?”
    “But you didn’t know what was going to happen, Trixie,” Honey declared loyally. “You didn’t even realize yesterday morning that there was any such person as the Midnight Mar—” She stopped speaking abruptly.
    When Trixie turned her head to find out why, she saw that Honey’s eyes were staring straight ahead and had widened in horror. Trixie soon discovered the reason.
    Without warning, another bicycle rider had shot out from a side trail