The Mystery off Old Telegraph Road

over.”
    “Thanks, Honey,” Di said, sitting down at the worktable. “First of all, the trip to the dentist was just dreadful. I had a cavity that felt as though it went clear through to the top of my head, so I was already pretty upset when I left the dentist’s office. I was thinking about how good it would feel to take my time and have a nice, calm ride home.”
    “But what happened?” Trixie repeated, bursting with impatience.
    “When I got out to my bike, I discovered that both tires were slashed—that’s what happened!” Di wailed. “My brand-new bike!”
    “They were both flat, you mean. You probably forgot to put the caps back on the valves, and—”
    “No, Trixie, they were slashed! Absolutely cut to ribbons! I just stood there, with my face still numb from the Novocain, staring at my brand-new bike with those totally ruined tires, and I thought, "Why would somebody do a thing like this to me?’ It was just awful!”
    “Vandals!” Trixie muttered. “Things like that never used to happen in Sleepyside.”
    “How did you get home, Di?” Honey asked. “Did you have to call your parents to come and get you?”
    “No,” Di said. “That’s the only lucky part about the whole thing. I had finally decided that that’s what I’d have to do, and I knew they’d be upset, because they hadn’t really wanted me to ride my bike to town today, anyway.
    “But just as I was looking in my purse for a dime to make the call, Ben Riker drove up and asked me if I needed a ride. I told him what had happened, and he loaded my bike into his car—that is, Mr. Wheeler’s car, which he was driving—and took me home.
    “Wasn’t that a lucky coincidence?” Di concluded with relief.
    “I wonder,” Honey said quietly.
    Trixie and Di both turned to her in surprise. “Why, Honey, it was certainly lucky for me Di protested. “Otherwise, I don’t know how—”
    “I wasn’t wondering if it was lucky, Di,” Honey said. “I was wondering if it was a coincidence.” As both girls stared at her blankly, Honey moaned, “Oh, don’t you see? What if those friends of Ben’s were the ones who slashed your tires? That’s just the sort of stupid prank that they might think was fun. What if Ben went along with it, then had second thoughts—or maybe felt bad because he knew it was Di’s bike—and came back with his car, waited down the block until he saw Di walk out of the dentist’s office, then drove up and offered her a ride, pretending that he knew nothing about what had happened?”
    “I see what you mean,” Trixie mused.
    “Oh, Honey, don’t be silly,” Di protested. “Ben wouldn’t do a thing like that. I’m sure it was pure coincidence, just as Nick Roberts said.”
    “Nick Roberts? What does he have to do with this?” Trixie asked sharply.
    “Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that,” Di said. “Nick was standing next to the bike rack when I came out of the dentist’s office. He said he’d been walking past on his way home and noticed the slashed tires. He was standing there wondering who the bike belonged to when I walked up.”
    “I guess that takes the suspicion away from Ben,” Trixie said. She told Di about seeing Nick rip up the bikeathon poster. “For some reason— and I’m sure I don’t know why—Nick Roberts hates the whole idea of the bikeathon, Di. I’m positive that Nick knew perfectly well who that bike belonged to. He has to know that you’re one of the leaders of the bikeathon. Whatever strange reasons made him rip up that poster made him slash the tires on your bike. I’m sure of it. You probably almost caught him at it when you came out of the dentist’s office.”
    “It makes sense,” Honey admitted. “That is, it makes sense if you can call two senseless acts making sense. I just wish I were as certain as you are that your theory lets Ben off the hook. Ben and his friends were making fun of the bikeathon the other day at the sign-up, remember? They could be out to stop the bikeathon, too.”
    “Well, I don’t think either one of your theories makes sense,” Di Lynch announced. “I think you’re both being silly, trying to come up with explanations that don’t explain anything. Ben Riker and Nick Roberts may both act strange sometimes, but I don’t think that either one of them would deliberately do something as awful as slashing my tires. That poster that Nick ripped up was only a piece of paper, after all—not something as expensive as bike