The Mystery of the Missing Heiress

‘Don’t keep track of me every minute. I can take care of myself.’ Now look at you. Juliana is somewhere going about her business, and Janie probably forgot it was Candy Striper day and went off into the woods. Sometimes she takes a sandwich and stays for hours. She loves the woods as much as we do, who were born right here.
    “Just go ahead to the hospital, girls. From what Trixie said, too, Jim, Juliana left in a huff last night and probably wants to be left alone. I’m sure she’s anxious for some word from Holland, so she can finish her business here and be off to join her friends.”
    “Okay, I guess you’re right,” Jim said sheepishly. “We aren’t too consistent, are we? If you were in a thing about Trixie not showing up someplace, we’d think you were the prize worrywart. Okay, come on, kids.”

    It was after five o’clock when the girls came back from the hospital. They found Mrs. Belden really disturbed.
    “Janie hasn’t shown up yet,” she said. “I should have paid more attention to your concern about her when she wasn’t here to go to the hospital with you, Trixie.”
    “Was Bobby with her? She always takes him.”
    “Bobby wasn’t with her.” Mrs. Beldens strained voice showed her anxiety. “He’s spending the day with Terry and Larry Lynch.”
    At the sound of Bobby’s name, Reddy barked sharply, startling Trixie. “Then he isn’t with her, either.” Trixie put her hand on the setter’s red head. “Jim?” she said, looking expectantly at Honey’s brother.
    “Where are Brian and Mart?” he asked abruptly.
    “I sent them off to the woods to look for Janie. I couldn’t wait any longer. They just left. They haven’t been gone long, and if you want to catch them, Jim, I think you can.”
    ‘TU go, too,” Trixie said quickly. “I’ll get a flashlight.”
    “Me, too,” Honey added. “There are other flashlights in the station wagon. I’ll get them.”
    “Hurry,” Mrs. Belden said. “If you’re going, go now and at least catch up with Jim. It’s better if you are with one of the boys.”
    “Keep Reddy here, please, Moms,” Trixie called back to her mother. “We’d only have to spend half our time rounding him up.”
    Near Mr. Maypenny’s house, the trio caught up with Brian and Mart. They were talking with Dan.
    “I know the place she most always goes,” Dan told them. “There’s a stump there, and the grass is all tramped down. I’ve seen Janie sitting there reading a book. Follow me.”
    They set off on the well-worn trail, but when they reached the stump, there was no Janie.
    A paperback book of Robert Frost’s poems was there, though, opened and turned facedown. Janie’s wristwatch was there, too, turned faceup.
    “Honey,” said Trixie shakily, “Janie had been watching the time! She had intended to be back to go to the hospital with us!” One of the poems was marked. As Trixie read the last line, “And miles to go before I sleep,” fear tightened its fingers around her heart.
    Just past the place where Janie had rested, the trail narrowed and circled, leading to the top, high above the river. Shafts of pinkish light from the lowering sun outlined the tall, rough trunks of rugged pines. Their rustling green needles in the eerie quiet sent chills up Trixie’s spine.
    Nobody spoke a word. Dan led the way, and Brian, Mart, Trixie, Honey, and Jim followed.
    From time to time one of them broke the silence to call out sharply, “Janie! Janie! Janie!”
    “She may have lost her way,” Dan said, whispering as one does when fearful and worried. “You go that way, Mart, you and Brian and Honey. Hunt for her back farther in the woods. Keep calling! We’ll go this way, Jim and Trixie and I. Farther along, the two paths come together.”
    “Aren’t they liable to get lost themselves?” Trixie asked as they separated.
    “They can’t,” Dan said. “They’ll see the signs.” The signs! At a sudden realization, Trixie’s heart almost stopped beating. There aren’t any signs anywhere!
    Dan and Jim had spurted ahead.
    “Dan!” Trixie screamed. “Jim!” The boys stopped. “The warning signs! They aren’t here!” Trixie cried. “Janie couldn’t have seen them. She wouldn’t have known that the ground breaks away at the edge of the cliff. And you won’t be any good to anyone if you go diving over the cliff.”
    “She’s right,” Dan said. “Beyond here that layer of earth is so thin that we’d just go down, head over