The Mystery on Cobbett's Island

back at this moment with the jacket, and, seeing Trixie, he burst out laughing. “I’d never believe it, Trixie; you should be an actress.”
    “She’ll end up being the world’s greatest female sleuth, or I miss my guess,” said Brian.
    “She’s really one already,” added Jim admiringly. “Come on, away to work, Sherlock Holmes. You all get into the car, and I’ll dash up and change into Mart’s jeans,” he said as he ran up the stairs, pulling on Tom’s jacket as he went.
    Everyone was laughing and joking as they piled into the station wagon and headed for Pebble Beach. Tom said he knew where it was because he and Celia had gone there swimming on their day off. He parked the car in a dark spot off the road, some distance from the roadhouse. A blue neon sign proclaimed to the world that this was, indeed, Jimmy’s Place. Cars were parked in front of the brightly lighted building, and they could hear the blare of the jukebox and the raucous laughter of what apparently was a good-sized crowd.
    Jim and Trixie got out of the station wagon and headed down the road. “Jeepers, Jim,” she said nervously, “I don’t know if this was such a brilliant idea or not. I’ve never been in a place like this in my life, and I-”
    Jim took firm hold of her hand and said, “Don’t worry, Trix; I’ll bet there’s more noise than danger in there. We’ll look in the window first, and then we’ll plan our attack.”
    Trixie felt ashamed of her momentary panic and was glad that none of the others had heard her remark, but she knew that Jim understood how she felt. She said in a low voice, “Gee, Jim, I’m awfully glad it was you they picked to come tonight. Thanks for calming me down.” For an answer, Jim gave her hand a squeeze.
    They strolled up to the front of Jimmy’s Place and tried to look as casual as possible. They saw a couple come out and start up the road in the opposite direction. Through the window, they could make out a crowd around a jukebox. Others were leaning against the bar in the rear or sitting in the high-backed booths that occupied one side of the smoke-filled room.
    “Come on, Trix,” said Jim, pulling her toward the door. “Chin up.”
    “Hey, not so fast,” Trixie whispered as she pressed her face closer to the window. “See that bunch of boys over there in the first booth? I’ve got a hunch that if there’s dirty work going on around here, they’d know about it. They’re the same type as those characters in the motorboat. In fact, they may be the same ones.”
    “Okay, Trixie,” Jim answered. “Let’s go on in and head for that empty booth right behind them, before anyone beats us to it. We won’t be conspicuous there, and we can at least get the lay of the land.”
    They took a last look down the road to the car to reassure themselves, then pushed their way inside. They sat down opposite each other in the booth. Jim realized they would have to order something if they didn’t want to attract attention, although neither of them relished the idea of eating here. He asked for a ham sandwich and a soft drink for each of them.
    While they were waiting for their order, they glanced around to see if any of the crowd were the ones they were looking for and realized that practically any of the boys in the place might be the ones Trixie had seen in the yellow speedboat. She ruefully conceded that she didn’t have as clear a picture as she had at first thought.
    “Why do I always act so impulsively?” she moaned. “I was sure I’d know those two, and now I couldn’t be more puzzled. It must be awful when you have to try to identify someone in a police lineup. I’ll bet there are loads of mistakes made and a lot of people are accused of things they never did.”
    “Don’t worry about that now, Trix. We may not find out anything tonight, but I’m sure that eventually they’ll be caught. You can’t get by with that kind of stuff for very long, you know,” Jim reassured her.
    They were silent for a while, taking occasional tiny bites from the unpalatable sandwiches and listening to the flow of talk around them. All of a sudden Trixie put her finger to her lips and motioned over her shoulder at the booth behind her. She put her head close to the back of the booth, listening intently. Jim wasn’t able to hear anything except the general din around him, so he just sat perfectly still. Finally Trixie leaned over the table and whispered, “Let’s get out of here, Jim.