The Mystery of the Millionaire

away,” Honey said. “Is there anything else?”
    The detective thought for a moment. “Well, I want all of you to be alert for any strangers in town. There’s a chance that someone is holding Ramsey somewhere near here, and if that’s the case, they’ll need to come into town for supplies, food, things like that. If you spot anyone, let me know. It would also help if you could give me a map of this area, pointing out any places where someone might be holding a captive—abandoned buildings, caves, places like that.”
    “Oh!” Laura Ramsey’s gasp drew everyone’s attention.
    “I’m not saying that’s likely,” McGraw said gruffly, “but it’s a possibility. I have to check out every angle right now, if only to throw out the wrong ones.”
    “I—I understand,” Laura said bravely.
    The detective stood up and picked up his suit coat. He hooked one finger under the collar and flung the coat over his shoulder. “I’ll be in touch,” he said. Then he turned and left.
    “Very businesslike,” Mr. Lytell said, giving the detective his highest praise. “Too expensive, though. Guess I’ll be going.” The storekeeper nodded at the others and left the room.
    Laura Ramsey stood up. “I think I’ll go to my room for a while,” she said.
    Jim nodded his understanding, and Honey asked her if she wanted anything. Laura shook her head and left the room quickly. Jim followed her out the door.
    “Let’s go to my room and start working on our assignments right away,” Honey said.
    Trixie nodded. “I hope we do a better job with them than we did of finding the wallet,” she said unhappily.
    “There were a lot of things we didn’t think of,” Honey admitted. “But at least we found it—and found it soon after it was lost. I’m sure that’s a big help right there, Trix.”
    “That’s true,” Trixie said, brightening. She stood up. “Let’s get to work.”
    Honey took two legal pads of lined, yellow paper and two pencils from the drawer of the desk in the library. She and Trixie went upstairs, and she handed Trixie one pad and pencil and kept the others. “Let’s do the depositions first,” she said. “I think we should each do ours separately, then compare them to see if we missed anything.”
    “All right,” Trixie agreed. She sat down on one of the twin beds in Honey’s room. She wrinkled her forehead and chewed on the eraser end of the pencil for a moment, wondering where to begin. “Begin at the beginning,” she muttered to herself finally, and she started to write.
    After a couple of paragraphs, she hesitated. “Do you think it’s all right to put in the part about Mr. Lytell’s loan? It’s supposed to be a secret.”
    Honey looked up and frowned. “I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, it is supposed to be a secret, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep the secret, once the case goes to court. Still, if we write it down now, Mr. McGraw will know the secret as soon as he reads the depositions.”
    “Let’s just leave it out for now,” Trixie said. “After all, it didn’t have anything to do with the mystery. Besides, the reason Mr. McGraw asked us to write everything down now was so that we wouldn’t forget anything. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way I felt when Mr. Lytell came out of that back room holding two thousand dollars in cash!”
    “Oh, Trixie, I won’t, either,” Honey said breathlessly. “Would you ever have imagined, in your wildest dreams, that Mr. Lytell would have that much cash?”
    “I wouldn’t have before yesterday noon,” she said. She repeated to Honey the rumors her mother had told her.
    “Mr. Lytell!” Honey exclaimed disbelievingly. “You don’t think he has as much money as my father or Mr. Lynch, do you?”
    Trixie thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe Moms heard those rumors before you came to Sleepyside. Mr. Lynch hasn’t always been rich, either. Still, if Mr. Lytell had two thousand dollars in cash stashed in the back room of his store, imagine how much more he must have in the bank!”
    “He might not have anything in the bank,” Honey said.
    “Do you mean you believed him when he said he had nothing left to beg, borrow, or steal?” Trixie asked.
    “No-o-o,” Honey told her hesitantly. “But remember how Miss Trask’s brother kept his every cent hidden behind that pirate picture? All Mr. Lytell’s money might be in that back room.”
    “It’s a possibility,” Trixie