The Mystery on the Mississippi

little harder to imagine Honey doing it.”
    “Where Trixie goes, I go, too,” Honey said. “The Belden-Wheeler Agency will probably have lots of cases in outer space.”
    “That may be so,” Brian told her. “Tonight I think it’s a good idea for you to stay home. Trixie almost drowned at dawn, and we had quite a day at Hannibal and in the cloudburst on the way home.”
    “I’m no baby,” Trixie insisted. “I’m not a bit tired. We’ll clean up a little and get something to eat in the restaurant. Then Honey and I will go to the exhibit, too. Who knows? We may pick up something terribly important there.”

    The Bob-Whites piled out of the car and went into the motel. As they passed the desk, a clerk gave Jim several messages that had accumulated during the day.
    “Most of them are from Dad,” Jim said. “I guess he’s been trying to find out if we were back home and if we want to go to the exhibit. All the notes say is for me to call him.”
    “We were going to do that, anyway,” Trixie said. “We have to report what happened today. If he thinks it’s important, he’ll pass it on to the police, I guess. He’d be sure to do it if we could tell him about the paper Lem found. I wish our agency could do more to help on this case. It really is our case, and now the authorities have taken over, and we don’t even know what’s happening. Are you going to call your father, Jim?”
    “Right now. Let’s call him from my room. I may need the rest of you to fill me in on some of the facts.” While Jim talked, the Bob-Whites crowded around the telephone.
    “Yes, Dad.... No, Dad.... Yes, I think so.... No, I’m telling you about it just as it happened.... I can’t tell you just why Trixie thinks Jackson’s Island is hooked up with Lontard. She’s certain of it, though.”
    The Bob-Whites could hear Mr. Wheeler laughing heartily.
    “I might say the rest of us are pretty certain of it too, Dad. We’re pretty sure of one thing: It was Lontard on that county road.... Mercedes, yes. Well, Trixie wanted to go back and investigate.”
    The Bob-Whites kept quiet as Jim told the story. They seemed on edge as he went over the details.
    “We didn't let her go back to the old house. We knew you wouldn’t want her to do it.... Yes, she was all worked up about that crazy map of the river that had the sketches on it. She’s sure that the old man with the beard was St. Peter—the old man on the map. The sign we saw said ‘St. Peter.’ It was right near the old house.... Yes, Dad, here she is.”
    Trixie took the telephone. As she talked, her face clouded and reddened; then her mouth sagged. “I’m not tired. I’m just as rested as anybody could be. I rested in the car coming back. Yes, Mr. Wheeler. I see, Mr. Wheeler. Well, I guess I’ll have to, then.” When Trixie relinquished the receiver, she was provoked. “You could have told him, Jim, that I’m all right. Now I can’t go with all of you to the exhibit. I know I should be there. You’d think I was an old woman of sixty and had to go to bed with some sassafras tea or whatever it is they give old ladies. I wish my father could be here.” She stamped her feet angrily. “He’d let me go.”
    “I don’t think he would,” Honey told her. “My dad lets us do just as much as yours does. You know that, Trixie.”
    “Yeah,” Mart said, “and if Dad did weaken and let you go, Moms would veto it pretty quickly.”
    “I suppose you’re both right. I’m sorry I spoke as I did. I hate to pass up the exhibit. I wish I could go.” Honey put her arm around Trixie. “I’m not going if you don’t go. It isn’t that important to me. We can pick up a magazine at the coffee shop. We can watch television, too, while the boys are off at the exhibit.” The girls walked slowly to their room.
    “You don’t have to stay here because of me, Honey. I don’t want you to do that. If you want to go, please do.”
    “I don’t want to go. We can write up an account of everything that’s happened so far on this case. That can be useful to the government agents in following up the case after we go back to Sleepyside.” Trixie opened the door to their room. “I wish we didn’t have to give up the case and turn it over to the authorities.”
    “The telephone’s ringing. You answer it, Trixie. It’s probably the boys calling to tell us to hurry over to the coffee shop.”
    “Shhhh!” Trixie held up a warning finger. “It’s the government