The Pet Show Mystery

dealers! Only the knowledge of David Llewelyn’s need for secrecy made her bite her tongue.
    “We’re always interested in doing something worthwhile.” Honey’s voice was overly sweet. “I’m sure you’ll realize that more and more as time goes on.”
    Oh, wonderful, wonderful Honey, Trixie thought. She’s taking out her anger on Paul Gale, and he doesn’t even know it.
    Indeed, Paul Gale didn’t have a clue that Honey was being sarcastic. “I’m sure I will,” he said with a smile. His heavy beard hid most of his face, so that the smile was really only a baring of teeth.
    Like a hungry animal, Trixie thought.
    Paul Gale launched immediately into roughly the same lecture his assistant had given the day before. The girls listened to it with jaws clenched. Trixie grew angrier and angrier at every claim of good works she heard Paul Gale make. Honey’s tones grew sweeter and more admiring as she, too, became more irritated.
    Finally the girls were able to disentangle themselves and head for the door. Outside, Trixie muttered a low growl and marched away from the building at a brisk pace.
    “You were supposed to make Paul Gale angry,” David Llewelyn said as he appeared from nowhere and fell in step beside the girls. “You weren’t supposed to get angry yourself.”
    Trixie laughed in embarrassment. “I did, though. I got absolutely furious. I’m even angrier that nothing got accomplished in there.”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” David Llewelyn said as he reached out and unclipped the microphone from Trixie’s collar. “After six months of trailing Paul Gale, I was getting discouraged. Hearing that smooth pitch of his made me angry, too—angry enough to tail him for another six months, if necessary.”
    “I hope it won’t be,” Trixie said. “If there’s anything more we can do to help, just let me know.”
    “Thank you,” David Llewelyn said. “But you’d better spend your time thinking about your own mystery.”



11 * Computerized Confrontation

    AS IT TURNED OUT, however, Trixie had very little time for thought that evening. She was just taking off her coat when Bobby ran to her. He wasn’t crying, but his eyes were puffy and red-rimmed.
    Trixie gave her younger brother a hug. “No sign of Reddy?” she asked softly.
    The question was all it took to make Bobby start crying again. “N-no Reddy,” he wailed. “Moms and me looked and looked this afternoon. She said you guys would help me look tonight. But Mart’s gotta work on his computer, and Brian’s gotta run an errand for Daddy. So would you help me look? Please?”
    “Of course I will,” Trixie told him without hesitation.
    The two Beldens searched the grounds around Crabapple Farm until their feet were numb with cold. They shouted until their voices were hoarse. But there was still no sign of Reddy. Finally, concerned about the effect of the cold on Bobby, Trixie persuaded the unhappy six-year-old to go back inside.
    “Brian and I will go out again after dinner,” Trixie promised.
    Dinner that night was a gloomy affair, very different from the usual noisy, enthusiastic occasion that the Beldens all enjoyed. Bobby only played with his food. Mart, usually the most talkative in the family, hardly said a word. He arrived at the table at the very last minute, quickly downed two helpings of roast beef and mashed potatoes, and asked to be excused to go back to his borrowed computer.
    After dinner, Trixie helped her mother with the dishes while Brian went back outside to look for Reddy. Then Trixie joined her brother and the two of them made another round of the Belden property, calling Reddy’s name. There was no sign of the dog.
    When Trixie and Brian came inside and admitted their defeat, Bobby’s eyes once again filled with tears. “Come on,” Trixie said, putting her arm around his shoulders and leading him upstairs. “I’ll wash those tears off your face, and then I’ll tell you all the stories I’ve heard about dogs who have been lost for days and weeks and months, even, and have found their way home.”
    “Really?” Bobby asked. “Is that true?”
    “It’s truly true,” Trixie told him. I just hope it turns out to be true for Reddy, she thought.
    Trixie didn’t have to try to remember very many happy endings, however. The brisk exercise Bobby had put in during the day soon had him drifting off to sleep. Trixie kissed his cheek, which was ruddy and chapped from the cold air, and tiptoed out of his