The Pet Show Mystery

were bright with standing tears, and her cheeks were crimson.
    We aren’t going to be able to stay out here very long, Trixie thought. This idea is too risky to be worth getting sick over.
    Just then, the girls heard footsteps on the sidewalk. Trixie drew farther back into the alley, to be sure that her shadow couldn’t be seen on the walk. Then, carefully, she edged forward again until she could see around the corner of the building.
    What she saw made her gasp.
    “What is it?” Honey whispered.
    “Somebody’s standing right in front of the phone pole, reading the poster,” Trixie said.
    “Is it Paul Gale?” Honey asked.
    “I can’t tell. All I can see is his back. He’s reaching toward the poster. He’s—”
    The ripping noise told Honey all she needed to know. “He tore it down, didn’t he?”
    Trixie nodded excitedly. “He did! He—uhoh. Honey, duck back. He’s heading this way!”
    Honey scrambled backward, pressing against the wall of the building. Trixie moved back next to her.
    The two girls waited in silence as the footsteps drew near. Trixie found herself holding her breath.
    Then they felt a sudden gloom as a shadow fell across the little alley where they were standing. The man was coming closer....
    Poster still in hand, the man was soon standing right in front of the alley, staring at Trixie and Honey, blocking their way out.



9 * The End of a Suspect

    “I BELIEVE this belongs to you,” the man said, holding the poster out to Trixie and Honey.
    Trixie recognized the nice man from Sleepyside Mall. There seemed to be an amused twinkle in his eyes. “I put it on the telephone pole,” she told him. Instinctively, she knew she had nothing to fear from him, but the fear she’d felt before she recognized him still hadn’t completely gone away.
    “Would you mind telling me why?” he asked. He continued to hold the poster out to the girls. With its bright yellow paper and bold black lettering, it seemed to demand an explanation.
    “We’re trying to get people to come to the pet show,” Honey said bravely. “The posters are good publicity.”
    “Do you specifically need to have Paul Gale in attendance?” the man said in a sarcastic but gentle voice.
    Trixie felt a momentary whirl of confusion. How would she explain her suspicious behavior? Then she thought reasonably, I don’t have to explain—at least, not until this man does. After all, he’s been behaving as strangely as we have!
    Lifting her chin in a show of confidence she didn’t really feel, Trixie asked, “Could you get Paul Gale to come to the show? You seem to be pretty close to him—after all, being parked across the street is pretty close....”
    The man’s eyes darkened in a look that could have been either fear or anger. For a moment, Trixie felt another surge of nervousness. Here I am, trapped between two buildings by a man whose name I don’t even know, and I’m telling him he’s been acting suspiciously. Dumb, Trixie, really dumb.
    But the man’s agitated look was quickly replaced by the calm mildness that Trixie had seen before and instinctively trusted. “You’re very observant,” he said.
    “I—” Trixie started to say that Honey had been the one to notice the occupant of the parked car. But she realized that she might be letting her friend in for danger, not praise. “I saw your car over there once, yesterday afternoon,” she concluded lamely.
    “Mmmm.” The man quickly changed the subject. “It certainly is cold out here,” he said. “You two girls must be nearly frozen.”
    “We are,” Honey admitted.
    “There’s a nice little cafe around the corner,” the man said. “Why don’t the three of us go over there and have something warm to drink while we continue our little chat.” Trixie took a closer look at him. There can’t he any danger in drinking hot chocolate with him, she thought.
    Just as she was about to voice her agreement, Honey spoke up. “I’ll have hot chocolate with four marshmallows.”
    The man laughed his low, hearty laugh. Trixie once again felt assured that she had nothing to fear from him. “Off we go, then,” he said, standing back from the alley and gesturing the two girls out ahead of him. “By the way,” he said, with a tip of his hat, “my name is David Llewelyn.”
    Trixie and Honey introduced themselves, then tucked their hands into their pockets and their chins into their collars for the walk to the cafe.
    The silence lingered for a few