The Mystery of the Millionaire

free hand. “Why, you little snoop!” he snarled menacingly.
    “Hold it right there!” a voice from the shadows interrupted. “You’re surrounded!”
    Trixie felt a momentary thrill of relief. Then she realized that the voice was Jim’s. The police hadn’t yet arrived, and the two criminals were far from being surrounded. But they don't know that, Trixie thought.
    McGraw had loosened his grip on Trixie’s arm as he turned to the voice. Instantly, Trixie wrenched herself free and bent low at the waist to keep her arm out of reach while she pulled her leg back as far as it would go and brought it forward with a powerful jerk.
    Mark McGraw howled when Trixie’s foot connected with his shin. She turned and darted back to the shadows where Jim and Honey were still standing.
    McGraw aimed his gun in their direction momentarily, peering into the gloom for a target.
    Laura Ramsey tugged at his arm. “Let’s just get out of here,” she shrieked.
    Reluctantly, McGraw followed her to the spot behind the building where his car was parked next to hers.
    They got into their cars and started their motors. Both revved the engines as they put the cars in gear. But the cars moved slowly, and the rear ends swerved so that the rear fenders collided.
    Honey jumped up and down and clapped her hands together softly. “I let the air out of their tires!” she whispered excitedly.
    Trixie turned to Honey in astonishment, then clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Now she knew where Honey had disappeared to while she and Jim had been listening at the window.
    The giggle died in her throat as she realized that she still didn’t know what they were going to do next.
    That question, too, was answered as a black and white police car squealed into the driveway of Mr. Lytell’s store.
    Mark McGraw and Laura Ramsey froze in the glare of the police car’s headlights as they were climbing from their cars.
    “Hold it right there!” a familiar voice shouted.
    Two uniformed policemen ran from the car and clapped handcuffs on the con artists.
    “Whew!” Trixie let herself relax for a minute. Then she suddenly scrambled for the back door of the general store. “We almost forgot Mr.
    Lytell,” she shouted.
    Inside, they found the store owner tied and gagged. He was unharmed but sputtering with indignation.

Trixie’s Reward ● 13

    THE NEXT MORNING, when Trixie, Honey, and Jim were ushered into Sergeant Molinson’s office, Trixie walked directly to the sergeant’s desk. She laid a sheaf of papers on the desk top. “That’s my deposition,” she said, trying hard to sound casual. “I think it might come in handy when this case goes to court.”
    Sergeant Molinson looked at Trixie with the surprised expression of someone who thought there could be no surprises left. “How did you know about depositions?” he asked.
    “Mr. McGraw told us all about them,” Trixie said, a smug note in her voice. “Only I don’t suppose his real name is McGraw, is it?”
    “I don’t suppose so,” Sergeant Molinson agreed. “So far, though, our prisoners aren’t telling us their real names—or anything else. The only information we have about them has come from Mr. Anderson, here.”
    Trixie looked in thre direction the sergeant indicated and was astonished to see the young census taker! “You mean you really are Frank Riebe’s detective?” she asked.
    “I’ve never heard of Frank Riebe,” the man told her, “but I am a detective. I was hired by a man who had been the victim of a con job. He wanted me to find the two people who bilked him out of ten thousand dollars.”
    “Ten thousand!” Mr. Lytell had been sitting morosely in a corner of the room, as if he’d lost his last friend. The exclamation had burst from him almost without his knowing it.
    Burt Anderson nodded. “That’s right. They took my client for ten thousand dollars in cash, plus money for clothing and incidentals for the woman. He was too embarrassed to go to the police and admit he’d been suckered. He hired me to find the two cons. Once he had them where the police could seize them, he would have reported the incident, of course,” he added, with a nod in the sergeant’s direction.
    Sergeant Molinson snorted. “He would have reported the incident if he couldn’t get his money back, you mean,” he said.
    Burt Anderson grinned at the sergeant. “Anyway,” he continued explaining to Trixie, “I tracked the two to Sleepyside. I found out