The Mystery of the Queen's Necklace

but the others headed out to the Maroon Saloon, which was conveniently pointed toward town. Mart got in beside Miss Trask in the front, and Trixie and Honey climbed into the backseat. Miss Trask turned the key in the ignition.
    The motor gave no response.
    “I don’t understand,” said Miss Trask. “It’s been running like a charm all week.” She got out, lifted the hood, and peered around in the engine.
    Trixie would have been racing around the grounds, trying to find another car, but she knew as well as anyone that there were very few machines that fazed the versatile manager of the Wheeler estate.
    Ten minutes later, the Maroon Saloon was purring again.
    “A disconnected wire,” Miss Trask said as she steered the car out of the driveway.
    Trixie leaned forward. “Do you think it was sabotage?”
    “Wires normally don’t disconnect themselves,” Miss Trask replied shortly.
    Honey looked miserable, and even Trixie couldn’t bring herself to accuse McDuff aloud. Everyone was silent while Miss Trask drove the car over the old stone bridge and into the parking lot of the bus station. The last morning bus for Glasgow was revving up for departure, and a few late passengers scurried aboard as Trixie and Mart jumped out of the car.
    It occurred to Trixie that she had absolutely no idea of what she was going to say to McDuff when they caught him, but she brushed the thought away. I'll think of something, she assured herself.
    Ignoring the bus driver’s demand for tickets, the two Beldens hopped on board and began making their way through the narrow aisle of the bus. Passengers were still stowing their luggage in the compartments overhead, and it seemed to take forever for Trixie and Mart to reach the rear of the bus. They saw no sign of their former guide.
    “How could I be so stupid?” Trixie cried. “He’s conned us again!”
    “He must have never had any intention of taking this bus,” agreed Mart.
    “Or of going to Scotland,” Trixie said. “But now I know where he is going! Come on, Mart!
    “If we hurry,” she told Miss Trask as she and Mart scrambled back into the Maroon Saloon, “we can still get to the castle before the gate opens.”
    “The castle?" Everyone except Trixie was bewildered, and Trixie’s mile-a-minute explanation wasn’t that helpful. Fortunately, Miss Trask took one look at Trixie’s face and set off for Warwick.
    “Now, suppose you start from the beginning,” Miss Trask said once the car was speeding past old brick farmhouses and flocks of woolly sheep.
    Trixie took a deep breath. “You see, it had to be McDuff who stole Honey’s necklace,” she began. “He’s the only one besides the Harts and their housekeeper who was there this morning. Mr. Hart is not exactly my favorite person, but I can’t imagine Anne’s father being a thief. He doesn’t even want to take people’s money for staying in his house—he’s too proud. And it couldn’t have been Gray Cap this time, because he was locked up in the castle.”
    Miss Trask pressed her lips into a thin line and kept her eyes on the road. “Your logic leaves much to be desired,” she said. “If Mr. McDuff is the culprit, why are we going to Warwick Castle? Won’t he be heading straight for London, where he can disappear?” Trixie shook her head violently. “He has to go to the castle first.”
    “But why?” Honey persisted. “You don’t think he’d have the nerve to try to steal the queen’s portrait, too, do you?”
    “No, no, no!” Trixie’s curls bounced with every word. “Remember, Honey, I told you this morning that more than one person is involved in this case?” Honey nodded, and Trixie went on. “McDuff was in Oxford, for example, when the Rose Room was ransacked, but we know Gray Cap was in Stratford that day! And I haven’t told this to anyone yet because I knew you would think I was crazy, but I heard voices on the battlements when I followed McDuff up the tower after we saw Gray Cap go in there. McDuff must have been telling the pickpocket to lie low till he could get the necklace when he checked out at Hartfield House this morning. Don’t you see? They’re in cahoots!”
    “But you didn’t actually see them talking to each other, did you?” Mart asked. “Did you ever see Gray Cap up there on the parapet?”
    “No, but McDuff wouldn’t let me look around. He practically forced me down the stairs—”
    “But how would Mr. McDuff get the necklace?” Honey interrupted.