The Mystery of the Vanishing Victim

her violet eyes widening at the thought.
    “There’s a better chance of it than there is with a newer car,” Mr. Burnside admitted. “Automotive engineers had a lot of years in which to make improvements between the time they made my old buggy and the time they made your station wagon.“
    “Well, then, I’d better take the station wagon, too,” Di said. “My parents are going out tonight, and I promised I’d look after the twins. They’ll be pretty upset if I wind up stranded in Sleepyside!” Di had not one but two sets of twin brothers and sisters, and baby-sitting for them was the way she earned her Bob-White dues.
    “Now I only have two passengers for the Model A. Does anyone want to switch back?” Brian asked.
    “I will,” Honey said. “You don’t mind, do you, Jim?”
    Her adopted brother shook his head. “I think it was very unselfish of you to volunteer in the first place. But there’s no sense missing out on the fun if you don’t have to.”
    Honey Wheeler beamed at the praise from her older brother. For most of her life she had been a “poor little rich girl,” an only child whose parents were away on business trips so often that she had been convinced that they didn’t love her. All that had changed since the Wheelers had moved to Sleepyside. The friendship that had sprung up immediately between Trixie and Honey had been the start of the change. Finding Jim Frayne, an orphan who had grown up in poverty, and convincing the Wheelers that they should adopt him, had made Honey’s happiness complete. Next to her parents, Trixie and Jim were the two most important people in Honey’s life, and kind words from them were the most valuable things in the world to her.
    Jim patted his sister on the shoulder, waved goodbye to Mr. Burnside and the Bob-Whites who were going home in the Model A, and departed with his passengers.
    Mr. Burnside, Brian, and Mart walked over to the old car and talked briefly about how to start it and keep it running.
    Trixie shifted from one foot to another impatiently. Once again, she had the feeling that she was listening to a foreign language as “carburetor” and “choke” drifted to her through the twilight. The talk of stalling had made her a little bit edgy. She wanted to be home at Crabapple Farm, with the car parked safely in the driveway.
    Finally she heard the engine turn over and begin idling. Brian called to her and Honey, and they climbed into the backseat, which was so high off the ground that Trixie felt as if she were sitting on top of a hill.
    Mart took the front passenger’s seat. The four Bob-Whites waved good-bye to Mr. Burnside, Brian put the car in gear, and they started down the driveway.
    Trixie forgot her nervousness as soon as they were under way. “I feel as though I were riding in a parade,” she said with a giggle. “You know, like the celebrities who sit up on the backs of convertibles and wave to the crowd.” She turned to the side and waved regally at the empty sidewalk.
    Honey, too, began to giggle at Trixie’s pantomime. “It seems to me that the celebrities I’ve seen in parades have been wearing jeweled tiaras and long white gloves. I don’t remember a single one in dungarees and a T-shirt.”
    Trixie dropped her arm and sagged against the backseat in mock despair. “I guess I’m just not the celebrity type,” she sighed.
    “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Honey told her. “We’re pretty famous around Sleepyside already, for solving all those mysteries. When we’re through school and open the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency, we’ll probably get to be even more well known.”
    “That’s right,” Trixie agreed. “Why, they’ll probably ask us to ride in the Sleepyside Junior-Senior High School homecoming parade as the most famous graduates of the school. That’s all the more reason for me to start practicing now.” She turned and waved to the invisible crowds on the other side of the car, while Honey doubled over with laughter.
    A sudden swerve of the car made Trixie drop her pose and turn her attention to the road ahead. The headlights caught the reflection of a man in baggy clothes, walking in the road just ahead of them. The man stopped as he heard their car and turned to look at them. He stared after them as they passed.
    “Fool hitchhikers,” Brian muttered. “He scared the daylights out of me. I didn’t see him until we were almost on top of him.”
    Trixie turned and knelt on the backseat to look