The Mystery of the Uninvited Ghost

had to look at that Dick Ryks all the time.”

A Frog Hunter ● 11

    THE THREE BELDEN BOYS were sitting on the porch, saying nothing, doing nothing, when Trixie and Hallie arrived home. “Were waiting for Jim,” Brian explained.
    “But I thought you were with him,” said Trixie. “Didn’t you have supper with Mr. Maypenny?” She chose her words carefully because Mart was sending messages behind Bobby’s back. Evidently Bobby didn’t know that they’d been hunting for Dan.
    Brian nodded and said, “I called Honey. She says that her parents haven’t come home.”
    “And Sergeant Molinson didn’t show up?” Hallie asked casually.
    “She didn’t mention him.”
    “Mrs. Wheeler must not have called him.” Hallie turned to Trixie. “Is that good or bad?”
    “Who knows? Who knows anything till we talk to Dan?” Trixie asked, ignoring Mart’s signals.
    “I talked to a man in the woods,” Bobby said unexpectedly.
    “Today?” Trixie demanded.
    Bobby’s sense of timing was not good. For him days came and days passed. “He was riding Jim's bike in the woods, and he had to stop quick or he’d have hit me. He said he was sorry he scared me.”
    “That’s all he said?” Mart asked.
    “That’s talking,” Bobby said with great dignity.
    At that moment, Jim drove up the lane. Carrying a heavy flashlight, he walked to the porch. “You fellows feel like a hike?”
    Bobby looked at the boots on Jim’s feet and the jacket slung over a shoulder. “Are you going for a frog hunt?”
    “Not exactly,” Jim said cautiously. All eyes turned toward Bobby. One never knew what he had in mind.
    “Well, neither was the man I saw. He said he was, but he didn’t even know the way to the lake.” Lately Bobby had learned to weigh his words. He explained carefully, “He did have a bag. No net, just a bag.”
    “When?”
    “Where?”
    “Who?”
    Hallie’s drawl climaxed the chorus. “Reckon there’s no sense in asking why. I know the answer. He wasn’t hunting frogs.” Her words and tone were kept light, but there was an undercurrent of tension in her voice.
    Trixie and Hallie sat on the steps and watched the boys’ flashlights bob through the dark woods like giant fireflies. “I wish...” Trixie sighed.
    “You know we can’t go,” Hallie reminded her.
    “Well, I certainly can’t sleep till I know what’s happened,” Trixie retorted.
    After giving permission for Trixie and Hallie to wait up for the boys, Mr. and Mrs. Belden went upstairs with Bobby. After a while, they turned off the lights that had made a big checkerboard design on the grass, and the lawn was dark. Reddy left his favorite grass nest and stretched his silky chin across Trixie’s bare knees. She scratched his ears.
    “I’ve been thinking,” Trixie said soberly, “of all the things that Dan’s been saying, like warning Juliana to take care of her ring, and wishing he could have prevented the Lynch robbery, and saying the ring hadn’t been returned yet. It sounds like he did take that ring. If Mart, or Brian, or Jim took a valuable ring, they wouldn’t know what to do with it, but Dan would. He lived by his wits on the streets of New York City.”
    “He has a good job and friends,” Hallie pleaded. “What would cause him to slide backward?”
    “I hope he didn’t,” Trixie said. “Trouble is, I can’t tell my brain to shut up, and it keeps running facts through my computer. It says he could have taken the ring, but it doesn’t tell me why.”
    “The footprint we found says that somebody else could have,” Hallie reminded her cousin.
    Trixie twisted her fingers together in a nervous tangle. “About Dan—sometimes we think we have a good reason for doing a wrong thing. Dan’s as stubbornly loyal as Regan. It runs in their family.” Trixie threw up her hands in helpless confusion. “When I think I’m on the right track, Bobby’s frog hunter gets in the way. Dan may be out there in the woods with him.”
    “But he isn’t a frog hunter,” Hallie said soberly. Both girls stared at the night shadows.
    To pass time, Trixie and Hallie went to the kitchen and baked oatmeal cookies. The last pan was hot from the oven when the three boys returned—tired, sleepy, and hungry. They hadn’t found Dan, and Mr. Maypenny hadn’t heard from him.
    Trixie poured milk and passed around the cookies. Brian took one but hesitated before biting into it. “As far as Mr. Maypenny knows, Dan hasn’t eaten all