The Mystery of the Millionaire

Without waiting for an answer, Trixie rushed on. “You can do the same thing now. I mean, you can use the car for collateral and lend Laura the money!”
    “Oh, Mr. Lytell, it’s a perfectly perfect solution!” Honey said. “The car is worth six times the amount of the loan. You’d be perfectly safe, and Laura could call a detective today!”
    “I don’t know,” Mr. Lytell said suspiciously.
    “I don’t know, either,” Laura said. “Of course, the sooner I can get the money for a detective, the better my chances will be of finding my father. And I shouldn’t worry about borrowing, because my father is such a generous man. He’ll pay Mr. Lytell back immediately, and add a large reward, I’m sure. It’s just that.... Well, that car means a lot to me. It’s valuable, of course, but it m-may be a last gift from my father.” Her voice trembled a little. “To turn the keys over to a stranger....”
    “Are you saying I’m not to be trusted, young lady?” Mr. Lytell asked indignantly. “Why, my word is as good as gold. I’ll write the agreement up, all legal-like. Then you can take one copy, and I’ll keep the other. The car will be safe right here until I get my money back.”
    Laura sighed and sank back down in the chair. “All right,” she said. “I really have no other choice, do I?”
    The girls watched as Mr. Lytell rolled two pieces of paper, with carbon paper between, into his ancient typewriter. Muttering to himself, he typed out an agreement: He would lend Laura two thousand dollars and keep the car until his money was returned.
    He rolled the paper out of the typewriter and signed on the blank he’d left above his typed name. Laura did the same, and then Trixie and Honey, feeling very important, signed as witnesses.
    Mr. Lytell reread the contract carefully, then handed the carbon copy to Laura Ramsey. He painstakingly placed his copy in the top drawer of his desk, rose, and walked through a door into what Trixie had assumed was a closet, but which she now realized was another small room.
    Faint metallic sounds came from the room. Then Mr. Lytell came back. He handed a sheaf of bills to Laura Ramsey. “Two thousand dollars,” he said. “Count it, please.”
    Trixie’s jaw dropped open. She turned and looked at Honey, whose hazel eyes were perfect circles.
    Only Laura Ramsey seemed unsurprised by the huge amount of cash. Of course, Trixie thought, after she had seen her father pay twelve thousand dollars in cash for her car, two thousand probably didn’t seem like very much.
    Laura dutifully counted the money, then opened her handbag and put the bills inside. She took out the keys to her car and handed them to Mr. Lytell. “Here you are,” she said. “I can mail you the title to it from the city.”
    “Thank you,” he said politely. “I’ll just drive the car around to the back and leave it there.” Then he peered at Honey and Trixie over his glasses. “And I’ll thank you girls—and you, too, Miss Ramsey—not to tell anyone what just went on here. Otherwise, I’ll be an easy target for anyone around who wants to beg, borrow, or steal money. Not that there’s anything left to beg, borrow, or steal since I took that two thousand out of the safe.”
    Trixie thought she detected a note of cunning in the way Mr. Lytell added the last sentence. It made Trixie wonder if he was telling the truth, but she nodded her agreement to the promise, as did Honey and Laura.
    Again Laura stood up. “I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble someone for a ride to town, so that I can catch a bus for New York City. I hate to have to face everyone, but I certainly can’t afford a hotel.”
    “Why don’t you stay with us?” Honey asked. “We have plenty of room, and I think you ought to stay here, near where we found the last trace of your father.”
    “That would be asking too much,” Laura said.
    “No, it wouldn’t,” Honey assured her. “I’ll call Miss Trask right now and ask if you can stay with us. We’ll just tell her that your car is stuck here, and you have no place to go till you can get it back. She’s really nice about not asking a lot of questions.”
    Forgetting to ask for permission, Honey reached right across Mr. Lytell for the phone. When she hung up, she turned triumphantly to Laura. “It’s all set, and Jim will be here to pick us up in a couple of minutes.”
    “You really are too kind. After not feeling that I could trust anyone for the past few months,