Chapter Sixteen
This story is rated blue star and suitable for all ages.
Trixie frowned at her reflection. “I don’t know,” she said. “I like it better than the really frilly chiffon one, but I’m not sure.”
“The chiffon one wasn’t that frilly, and it actually wasn’t chiffon either,” Honey corrected with a laugh. “It just had slight ruffles on the sleeves.”
“Whatever. Honestly, Honey, I agree with Brian. Just pick something out for me and I’ll wear it. You have good taste.”
“You Beldens,” Honey said with a sniff, but she smiled and Trixie knew that her friend was happy to be asked to choose for them. Honey crossed over to another rack and examined several more shirts carefully.
“Let’s try this one,” she suggested, selecting a cotton/linen blend and handing it to Trixie.
A couple of minutes later Trixie was back in front of the mirror. “You know this one’s not bad,” she said, noting the way the shirt fitted and flattered her young figure. The collar and cuffs were lightly embroidered in black, adding a touch of interest to the plain garment.
“So, what do you think?” Honey smiled over her friend’s shoulder at her reflection.
“We’ll take it,” she said, pulling out her purse with a sigh. She could think of better things to do with her hard-earned money.
Honey shook her head. “Your mom gave me money before we left this morning when Mart told her what we were doing. She said she still has a right to dress her extremely pretty daughter.”
“Must be talking about someone else,” Trixie said as she headed back into the changing room.
“You have to stop making jokes when people pay you compliments,” Honey admonished. “You happen to be a very attractive young lady.”
Trixie laughed. “Okay, I won’t argue with you. Not this time anyway.”
Pleased with their purchase the two left the store and hurried over to the Arts Centre.
Naturally, as it was a work-day, there was a lot more activity in the centre. Men milled about, and the young people were anxious not to interfere with them.
“I don’t think we should all hang around,” Mart said as he dodged a wide plank being moved from one ladder to another.
“We’re probably violating several health and safety regulations just being here,” Brian agreed as he led the way into the auditorium.
Luckily for the Bob-Whites, most of the crew were now in the foyer, and there was only one person still working at the back of the theatre.
“It seems okay in here,” Dan observed as they filed in.
“Yes, we should be fine,” Jim said. “Dan, Liam Wynd should be here any minute. He’s going to do our lights and sound on the night. Can you stick with him in the booth?”
“Sure,” Dan nodded. “Should I go and wait for him out front?”
“That would be great,” Jim said. “Now, I need you guys to time out the benefit, for the acts we’ve seen so far.”
“What do you mean?” Di asked puzzled.
“I have a stop watch,” Jim explained, “and I have a list of the times for each of the acts we’ve seen so far. I want you to come onto the stage as if you were the performers, stay there for the prescribed time and then exit the stage. Trix, you’ll have to cover for both of us and run through our intros, and then the next act will enter.”
“Sounds logical,” Brian said.
“Sounds complicated to me.” Honey’s eyes widened.
Jim grinned. “Well, it should give us a rough idea of the overall time things will take, and also show us how easy it is to get on and off the stage with people waiting in the wings, that kind of thing.”
“That’s very smart.” Honey gave her brother an admiring smile.
“We need to do something to work up an appetite for whatever’s in that huge picnic basket you stowed in the trunk this morning.” Jim smiled at her.
Mart’s eyes lit up. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could stand a snack right now.”
“Yeah, but you’d eat in your sleep if it wasn’t likely to make you choke to death,” Trixie quipped.
“No-one’s having anything to eat until I say so,” Honey said, so definitely that they all turned and stared at her.
“Aye aye, Captain,” Mart said, backing away with his hands up.
“Sorry,” Honey said, “I just want to make sure we have enough for later when we’re really hungry.”
“And as you’re the one who organised it, I say that’s totally reasonable,” Brian said.
“I don’t know how you could eat anyway,” Di said, turning to Mart with a flip of her black hair. “You had two of your mother’s muffins right before we left. Did you skip breakfast?”
Trixie snorted. “Did the sun rise in the north this morning?”
“I hate to interrupt this food fight of sorts, but can we make a start?” Jim raised his red brows, and his friends scurried onto the stage.
Jim proved to be a hard taskmaster. The Bob-Whites moved on and off the stage, ran through timed mock performances, and Trixie did her best to link it altogether. In the control booth Liam, a young man from Jim and Brian’s class, soon had the lights and sound working perfectly. From time to time, Jim stopped the watch and checked on the ease of their exits and entrances.
“Isn’t he marvellous?” Trixie said to Honey while they waited in the wings.
Honey nodded. “He could easily plan and direct an entire production.”
“I wouldn’t have even thought to do this,” Trixie said. “And it will save so much time when we have official run-through on Saturday morning.” She leaned closer to her friend. “What’s the deal with the food?” she hissed. “Since when did you get so controlling?”
Honey shushed her. “I’ll explain later.”
It was a tired but satisfied group that sank down into seats some time later.
“I’m exhausted,” Mart complained.
“Trix and I will run down and pick up the food,” Honey said, jumping to her feet.
Trixie, who was slumped in nearby seat looked ready to beg off, but something in the expression on her friend’s face made her struggle to her feet instead. As they dashed out of the auditorium she reached for Honey’s arm, eyebrows raised questioningly.
“Are we really going to get the food?” she demanded.
“Of course we are,” Honey said sweetly. “All of it, including the dozen or so extra sandwiches, chicken legs and cakes I had cook pack.”
A frown started to form on Trixie’s face and then transformed into a wide smile.
“Honey Wheeler, that’s brilliant.”
Honey smiled again. “Well, you know what they say, Trix, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Let’s just hope it’s the way to get him talking too.”
“We’d better take this into the Bob-Whites first,” Honey said as they made their way back upstairs from the dressing room. “Otherwise Mart will come looking for us.”
“That’s for sure,” Trixie agreed with a grin. “But hang on to the extra food or it will disappear into his big fat mouth.”
Honey laughed. “He’s not that bad, Trix, he kind of plays up the whole food thing and you know it. And all of the Bob-Whites have healthy appetites.”
“Even you,” Trixie acknowledged with a chuckle.
The two came through onto the stage and deposited the basket on a table.
“Lunch,” Mart shouted joyfully and jumped up onto the stage. The others followed at a more leisurely pace with Dan helping Di.
“I guess you know where Mart’s chivalry ends, Di,” Brian said, shaking his head at his brother.
Mart spun around and faced them, flushing guiltily. “Sorry, I’m a growing boy.”
“You said it,” Trixie snickered.
They all helped themselves to some food and sat down nearby.
“Are we expecting company, Sis?” Jim asked, narrowing his green eyes.
“Oh,” Honey said, her face the picture of innocence. “I just thought it might be nice to offer the workmen a little something.”
“Did you?” Brian said dryly.
“That was a really sweet idea,” Trixie smiled and scrambled to her feet. “I’ll help you, and we can go out now.”
“Hey, I am nowhere near finished,” Mart said, jumping up and reaching a hand toward the basket.
Trixie rolled her eyes, but Honey smiled at him and unpacked a considerable amount of the food onto the table.
“Fine,” Mart said mollified.
“Leave something for us,” Trixie added.
The two girls picked up the basket, and Jim leaned over from his position on the floor and tapped Trixie lightly on the ankle. “Remember what we said.”
The men were indeed grateful for Honey’s basket of goodies and, as each one selected something, the young girl made polite conversation with them. Trixie asked occasional questions but mainly listened intently to the voices of those around her. Their three friends from the other day were particularly chatty, and this seemed to make their co-workers even more friendly.
Food really does help loosen people up, Trixie thought, filing the notion away for future reference. If anyone found her actions odd as she trailed from one person to the next, tilting her head towards them and listening intently as they spoke, they didn’t show it. Honey did her best to elicit as much chatter as possible, and Trixie grinned when she realised her friend was framing her questions in a way designed to try and get them to use at least some of the words or phrases she had reported hearing.
This mainly resulted in a series of puzzled stares, but Trixie was proud of Honey for trying. Mart stuck his head through the door while they were talking.
“Trix, Dad said he’d given you copies of the original plans. Where are they? The guys want to take a look.”
“I’ll show you when we come back,” she said.
“Why should we wait until then?” Mart demanded, a look of suspicion crossing his freckled face.
“In the black folder that’s with my clipboard,” Trixie returned with a frown, opting for the lesser of two evils. Her brother nodded and withdrew.
Finally, as they were making second rounds with cake and cookies, Trixie turned to a tall thin man a little younger than her parents. “Well, we should get back to it, we don’t want to...” she trailed off and looked at him expectantly.
Her stared back at her his brow wrinkling, “Get in the way,” he finished when he realised she was just going to keep standing there.
“Yeah, we really wouldn’t want to do that.” Trixie reached over to where Honey was standing and grabbed her hand. “Come on, we should get going. Bye, everyone.”
Juggling the now almost empty basket on one hip and pulling Honey along behind her Trixie hurried into the auditorium.
They slammed the door behind them, and Trixie dropped the basket onto the floor.
“That’s him, the loud one. I’m sure of it,” she cried excitedly.
“What?” Honey’s hazel eyes were huge. “Are you positive?”
“Pretty much.” Trixie almost danced up and down. She turned from her friend toward the stage and her smile froze on her face.
There was no sign of the other Bob-Whites. “How do you like that?” she demanded, “all that stuff about staying close by in case we get into trouble, wait until I get a hold of Brian.”
“And what precisely are you going to do to me?”
Trixie turned again to find her oldest brother standing just behind her and Jim a few feet away from him.
“We’ve got something to tell you,” she said, her expression smug.
Brian had insisted Trixie wait until all the Bob-Whites were back in the auditorium before she told her story. With Honey’s help, she filled them in on her discovery and was only a little disappointed when no one was all that impressed.
“I think it was a really clever way to find the person you overheard,” Brian admitted, “but…”
“But what?” Trixie asked, trying not to sound impatient.
“But what does that really mean?” Jim said gently. “I agree you girls have done well tracking him down and the food ploy was a smart move, but all that leaves us with is a painter who probably didn’t want an annoying bunch of kids under his feet while he worked.”
“Lots of times adults do see teenagers as troublemakers,” Mart said. “And let’s face it, Trixie and Honey have a bit of a reputation in this town.”
“Not as troublemakers,” Honey said, looking uncertainly from one Bob-White to the next.
“Of course not.” Brian patted her arm. “What Mart means is that people might have heard that the two of you…” he hesitated.
“Get involved in community projects,” Jim finished.
“And involvement can lead to—” Brian continued before Trixie cut him off.
“Oh, save it, Honey and I get it. We do interfere sometimes, but only when we think it matters.”
“And you’re usually right,” Di added loyally. “So it’s worth keeping an eye on this man then, isn’t it?”
This earned grateful smiles from both Trixie and Honey.
“I agree,” Dan added. “Maybe he is just a disgruntled worker, maybe not, but if he doesn’t want us around there may be something more to it.”
“Thanks, Dan, you too, Di,” Trixie said.
“And we could mention it to Mr. Saunders, too,” Brian added.
Trixie shook her head. “I don’t want to do that. Not until we have proof of something.”
Honey smiled at her friend. “At least we’ve found one of them. We know who to keep an eye on."
“From a distance,” Trixie added. “Now we just need to find out his name and then—” she stopped mid sentence as Jim and Brian fixed the two girls with pointed stares.
“We’ll be super careful,” Honey said swiftly.
"You'd better be," Jim said. "Even if we don't share your take on this whole robbery thing, we don't want you putting yourselves in difficult situations—we like you too much."
"Why don't you share 'our take'?" Trixie asked, not entirely mollified by the like you comment.
"Well," Jim answered. "If your theory is correct and the robbers are back, and on the crew, why haven't they collected the loot and moved on?"
"And why would the loot be here, anyway? Logic dictates the robber who got away took it with him, or her, not to be sexist," Brian added.
Trixie and Honey exchanged glances, but neither spoke.
"Oh, I don't know," Mart said suddenly. "I've taken a quick look at the newspaper articles from the time and had a chat with Dad. The whole thing was kind of chaotic. They all wore masks and didn't stay together. The alarm did go off, meaning they had to hurry. I can buy one of them panicking and stashing some of the loot."
His sister caught his eye and nodded, and Honey shot him a grateful smile.
"That's sort of what we're thinking," Trixie confirmed.
Honey nodded. "Especially if one of them wasn't an experienced criminal and extra nervous, which I would have been if I'd been robbing a bank."
"A very likely scenario," Brian observed with a grin.
"Or, if one of them was already there," Trixie said slowly.
"Already there?" Dan repeated with a lift of his brows.
"You mean like an inside man?" Honey breathed.
"Or a customer already in the bank that day," Trixie continued. "Someone who could have given them the go ahead to come in."
"Someone who would have been on the security camera." Honey's eyes were like saucers.
"You don't think that's a little fanciful?" Brian asked.
"I think it makes lots of sense," Di countered.
"Well, some sense, anyway," Mart said.
"Don't you think the police might have checked the security camera footage?" Brian queried.
"Maybe they didn't know what they were looking for." Trixie's blue eyes narrowed. "And we're not saying that's what happened, just that it's possible. And those men I heard did not want us around, and now we know who one of them is. It's worth checking into."
"Check carefully," Brian warned.
Seeing Trixie was looking increasingly irritated, Jim turned to his sister and changed the subject. “How on earth did you explain that ridiculous amount of food away?”
Honey shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t even try, I just asked, as nicely as I could, if cook would mind putting in a few extra bits and pieces. She said I could have anything I want, and that at least she felt like she was earning her salary for once.” She frowned, as she said the last, and looked up at her brother.
“Do you suppose we offend her by eating at the Beldens all the time? I’d hate to do that.”
They all laughed, but Jim gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “I’m pretty sure she was joking around with you.”
“I know I’d like to get paid regardless of how hard I had to work,” Mart said.
“You don’t mean that.” Di poked him playfully, and he smiled back at her.
“These plans are terrific,” Brian said after a moment. “Dad said he told Mr. Saunders about your idea for displaying them on the Benefit night. Apparently he’s having the originals framed. That was good thinking, Trix.”
Trixie nodded. “Did you have a good look at them?”
The boys and Di all nodded.
“They seem really different to the ones Mr. Saunders showed Dad of the new theatre,” Brian added.
“I think it would be fascinating to lay the current plans over the old ones, just to see the differences,” Jim said.
Trixie and Honey smiled ruefully at one another, and Trixie bent her head closer to her friend’s. “Okay, I’ll ask Dad if we can see the current plans as well. Maybe, just maybe, the boys do come in handy occasionally.”
BSM:MAIN NEXT
Thanks to Dana for working her way through this story. I have added some bits so there are bound to be errors-all mine. And thanks to my readers for sticking with me. Trixie Belden et al remain the property of Random House. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
“The chiffon one wasn’t that frilly, and it actually wasn’t chiffon either,” Honey corrected with a laugh. “It just had slight ruffles on the sleeves.”
“Whatever. Honestly, Honey, I agree with Brian. Just pick something out for me and I’ll wear it. You have good taste.”
“You Beldens,” Honey said with a sniff, but she smiled and Trixie knew that her friend was happy to be asked to choose for them. Honey crossed over to another rack and examined several more shirts carefully.
“Let’s try this one,” she suggested, selecting a cotton/linen blend and handing it to Trixie.
A couple of minutes later Trixie was back in front of the mirror. “You know this one’s not bad,” she said, noting the way the shirt fitted and flattered her young figure. The collar and cuffs were lightly embroidered in black, adding a touch of interest to the plain garment.
“So, what do you think?” Honey smiled over her friend’s shoulder at her reflection.
“We’ll take it,” she said, pulling out her purse with a sigh. She could think of better things to do with her hard-earned money.
Honey shook her head. “Your mom gave me money before we left this morning when Mart told her what we were doing. She said she still has a right to dress her extremely pretty daughter.”
“Must be talking about someone else,” Trixie said as she headed back into the changing room.
“You have to stop making jokes when people pay you compliments,” Honey admonished. “You happen to be a very attractive young lady.”
Trixie laughed. “Okay, I won’t argue with you. Not this time anyway.”
Pleased with their purchase the two left the store and hurried over to the Arts Centre.
Naturally, as it was a work-day, there was a lot more activity in the centre. Men milled about, and the young people were anxious not to interfere with them.
“I don’t think we should all hang around,” Mart said as he dodged a wide plank being moved from one ladder to another.
“We’re probably violating several health and safety regulations just being here,” Brian agreed as he led the way into the auditorium.
Luckily for the Bob-Whites, most of the crew were now in the foyer, and there was only one person still working at the back of the theatre.
“It seems okay in here,” Dan observed as they filed in.
“Yes, we should be fine,” Jim said. “Dan, Liam Wynd should be here any minute. He’s going to do our lights and sound on the night. Can you stick with him in the booth?”
“Sure,” Dan nodded. “Should I go and wait for him out front?”
“That would be great,” Jim said. “Now, I need you guys to time out the benefit, for the acts we’ve seen so far.”
“What do you mean?” Di asked puzzled.
“I have a stop watch,” Jim explained, “and I have a list of the times for each of the acts we’ve seen so far. I want you to come onto the stage as if you were the performers, stay there for the prescribed time and then exit the stage. Trix, you’ll have to cover for both of us and run through our intros, and then the next act will enter.”
“Sounds logical,” Brian said.
“Sounds complicated to me.” Honey’s eyes widened.
Jim grinned. “Well, it should give us a rough idea of the overall time things will take, and also show us how easy it is to get on and off the stage with people waiting in the wings, that kind of thing.”
“That’s very smart.” Honey gave her brother an admiring smile.
“We need to do something to work up an appetite for whatever’s in that huge picnic basket you stowed in the trunk this morning.” Jim smiled at her.
Mart’s eyes lit up. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could stand a snack right now.”
“Yeah, but you’d eat in your sleep if it wasn’t likely to make you choke to death,” Trixie quipped.
“No-one’s having anything to eat until I say so,” Honey said, so definitely that they all turned and stared at her.
“Aye aye, Captain,” Mart said, backing away with his hands up.
“Sorry,” Honey said, “I just want to make sure we have enough for later when we’re really hungry.”
“And as you’re the one who organised it, I say that’s totally reasonable,” Brian said.
“I don’t know how you could eat anyway,” Di said, turning to Mart with a flip of her black hair. “You had two of your mother’s muffins right before we left. Did you skip breakfast?”
Trixie snorted. “Did the sun rise in the north this morning?”
“I hate to interrupt this food fight of sorts, but can we make a start?” Jim raised his red brows, and his friends scurried onto the stage.
Jim proved to be a hard taskmaster. The Bob-Whites moved on and off the stage, ran through timed mock performances, and Trixie did her best to link it altogether. In the control booth Liam, a young man from Jim and Brian’s class, soon had the lights and sound working perfectly. From time to time, Jim stopped the watch and checked on the ease of their exits and entrances.
“Isn’t he marvellous?” Trixie said to Honey while they waited in the wings.
Honey nodded. “He could easily plan and direct an entire production.”
“I wouldn’t have even thought to do this,” Trixie said. “And it will save so much time when we have official run-through on Saturday morning.” She leaned closer to her friend. “What’s the deal with the food?” she hissed. “Since when did you get so controlling?”
Honey shushed her. “I’ll explain later.”
It was a tired but satisfied group that sank down into seats some time later.
“I’m exhausted,” Mart complained.
“Trix and I will run down and pick up the food,” Honey said, jumping to her feet.
Trixie, who was slumped in nearby seat looked ready to beg off, but something in the expression on her friend’s face made her struggle to her feet instead. As they dashed out of the auditorium she reached for Honey’s arm, eyebrows raised questioningly.
“Are we really going to get the food?” she demanded.
“Of course we are,” Honey said sweetly. “All of it, including the dozen or so extra sandwiches, chicken legs and cakes I had cook pack.”
A frown started to form on Trixie’s face and then transformed into a wide smile.
“Honey Wheeler, that’s brilliant.”
Honey smiled again. “Well, you know what they say, Trix, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Let’s just hope it’s the way to get him talking too.”
“We’d better take this into the Bob-Whites first,” Honey said as they made their way back upstairs from the dressing room. “Otherwise Mart will come looking for us.”
“That’s for sure,” Trixie agreed with a grin. “But hang on to the extra food or it will disappear into his big fat mouth.”
Honey laughed. “He’s not that bad, Trix, he kind of plays up the whole food thing and you know it. And all of the Bob-Whites have healthy appetites.”
“Even you,” Trixie acknowledged with a chuckle.
The two came through onto the stage and deposited the basket on a table.
“Lunch,” Mart shouted joyfully and jumped up onto the stage. The others followed at a more leisurely pace with Dan helping Di.
“I guess you know where Mart’s chivalry ends, Di,” Brian said, shaking his head at his brother.
Mart spun around and faced them, flushing guiltily. “Sorry, I’m a growing boy.”
“You said it,” Trixie snickered.
They all helped themselves to some food and sat down nearby.
“Are we expecting company, Sis?” Jim asked, narrowing his green eyes.
“Oh,” Honey said, her face the picture of innocence. “I just thought it might be nice to offer the workmen a little something.”
“Did you?” Brian said dryly.
“That was a really sweet idea,” Trixie smiled and scrambled to her feet. “I’ll help you, and we can go out now.”
“Hey, I am nowhere near finished,” Mart said, jumping up and reaching a hand toward the basket.
Trixie rolled her eyes, but Honey smiled at him and unpacked a considerable amount of the food onto the table.
“Fine,” Mart said mollified.
“Leave something for us,” Trixie added.
The two girls picked up the basket, and Jim leaned over from his position on the floor and tapped Trixie lightly on the ankle. “Remember what we said.”
The men were indeed grateful for Honey’s basket of goodies and, as each one selected something, the young girl made polite conversation with them. Trixie asked occasional questions but mainly listened intently to the voices of those around her. Their three friends from the other day were particularly chatty, and this seemed to make their co-workers even more friendly.
Food really does help loosen people up, Trixie thought, filing the notion away for future reference. If anyone found her actions odd as she trailed from one person to the next, tilting her head towards them and listening intently as they spoke, they didn’t show it. Honey did her best to elicit as much chatter as possible, and Trixie grinned when she realised her friend was framing her questions in a way designed to try and get them to use at least some of the words or phrases she had reported hearing.
This mainly resulted in a series of puzzled stares, but Trixie was proud of Honey for trying. Mart stuck his head through the door while they were talking.
“Trix, Dad said he’d given you copies of the original plans. Where are they? The guys want to take a look.”
“I’ll show you when we come back,” she said.
“Why should we wait until then?” Mart demanded, a look of suspicion crossing his freckled face.
“In the black folder that’s with my clipboard,” Trixie returned with a frown, opting for the lesser of two evils. Her brother nodded and withdrew.
Finally, as they were making second rounds with cake and cookies, Trixie turned to a tall thin man a little younger than her parents. “Well, we should get back to it, we don’t want to...” she trailed off and looked at him expectantly.
Her stared back at her his brow wrinkling, “Get in the way,” he finished when he realised she was just going to keep standing there.
“Yeah, we really wouldn’t want to do that.” Trixie reached over to where Honey was standing and grabbed her hand. “Come on, we should get going. Bye, everyone.”
Juggling the now almost empty basket on one hip and pulling Honey along behind her Trixie hurried into the auditorium.
They slammed the door behind them, and Trixie dropped the basket onto the floor.
“That’s him, the loud one. I’m sure of it,” she cried excitedly.
“What?” Honey’s hazel eyes were huge. “Are you positive?”
“Pretty much.” Trixie almost danced up and down. She turned from her friend toward the stage and her smile froze on her face.
There was no sign of the other Bob-Whites. “How do you like that?” she demanded, “all that stuff about staying close by in case we get into trouble, wait until I get a hold of Brian.”
“And what precisely are you going to do to me?”
Trixie turned again to find her oldest brother standing just behind her and Jim a few feet away from him.
“We’ve got something to tell you,” she said, her expression smug.
Brian had insisted Trixie wait until all the Bob-Whites were back in the auditorium before she told her story. With Honey’s help, she filled them in on her discovery and was only a little disappointed when no one was all that impressed.
“I think it was a really clever way to find the person you overheard,” Brian admitted, “but…”
“But what?” Trixie asked, trying not to sound impatient.
“But what does that really mean?” Jim said gently. “I agree you girls have done well tracking him down and the food ploy was a smart move, but all that leaves us with is a painter who probably didn’t want an annoying bunch of kids under his feet while he worked.”
“Lots of times adults do see teenagers as troublemakers,” Mart said. “And let’s face it, Trixie and Honey have a bit of a reputation in this town.”
“Not as troublemakers,” Honey said, looking uncertainly from one Bob-White to the next.
“Of course not.” Brian patted her arm. “What Mart means is that people might have heard that the two of you…” he hesitated.
“Get involved in community projects,” Jim finished.
“And involvement can lead to—” Brian continued before Trixie cut him off.
“Oh, save it, Honey and I get it. We do interfere sometimes, but only when we think it matters.”
“And you’re usually right,” Di added loyally. “So it’s worth keeping an eye on this man then, isn’t it?”
This earned grateful smiles from both Trixie and Honey.
“I agree,” Dan added. “Maybe he is just a disgruntled worker, maybe not, but if he doesn’t want us around there may be something more to it.”
“Thanks, Dan, you too, Di,” Trixie said.
“And we could mention it to Mr. Saunders, too,” Brian added.
Trixie shook her head. “I don’t want to do that. Not until we have proof of something.”
Honey smiled at her friend. “At least we’ve found one of them. We know who to keep an eye on."
“From a distance,” Trixie added. “Now we just need to find out his name and then—” she stopped mid sentence as Jim and Brian fixed the two girls with pointed stares.
“We’ll be super careful,” Honey said swiftly.
"You'd better be," Jim said. "Even if we don't share your take on this whole robbery thing, we don't want you putting yourselves in difficult situations—we like you too much."
"Why don't you share 'our take'?" Trixie asked, not entirely mollified by the like you comment.
"Well," Jim answered. "If your theory is correct and the robbers are back, and on the crew, why haven't they collected the loot and moved on?"
"And why would the loot be here, anyway? Logic dictates the robber who got away took it with him, or her, not to be sexist," Brian added.
Trixie and Honey exchanged glances, but neither spoke.
"Oh, I don't know," Mart said suddenly. "I've taken a quick look at the newspaper articles from the time and had a chat with Dad. The whole thing was kind of chaotic. They all wore masks and didn't stay together. The alarm did go off, meaning they had to hurry. I can buy one of them panicking and stashing some of the loot."
His sister caught his eye and nodded, and Honey shot him a grateful smile.
"That's sort of what we're thinking," Trixie confirmed.
Honey nodded. "Especially if one of them wasn't an experienced criminal and extra nervous, which I would have been if I'd been robbing a bank."
"A very likely scenario," Brian observed with a grin.
"Or, if one of them was already there," Trixie said slowly.
"Already there?" Dan repeated with a lift of his brows.
"You mean like an inside man?" Honey breathed.
"Or a customer already in the bank that day," Trixie continued. "Someone who could have given them the go ahead to come in."
"Someone who would have been on the security camera." Honey's eyes were like saucers.
"You don't think that's a little fanciful?" Brian asked.
"I think it makes lots of sense," Di countered.
"Well, some sense, anyway," Mart said.
"Don't you think the police might have checked the security camera footage?" Brian queried.
"Maybe they didn't know what they were looking for." Trixie's blue eyes narrowed. "And we're not saying that's what happened, just that it's possible. And those men I heard did not want us around, and now we know who one of them is. It's worth checking into."
"Check carefully," Brian warned.
Seeing Trixie was looking increasingly irritated, Jim turned to his sister and changed the subject. “How on earth did you explain that ridiculous amount of food away?”
Honey shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t even try, I just asked, as nicely as I could, if cook would mind putting in a few extra bits and pieces. She said I could have anything I want, and that at least she felt like she was earning her salary for once.” She frowned, as she said the last, and looked up at her brother.
“Do you suppose we offend her by eating at the Beldens all the time? I’d hate to do that.”
They all laughed, but Jim gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “I’m pretty sure she was joking around with you.”
“I know I’d like to get paid regardless of how hard I had to work,” Mart said.
“You don’t mean that.” Di poked him playfully, and he smiled back at her.
“These plans are terrific,” Brian said after a moment. “Dad said he told Mr. Saunders about your idea for displaying them on the Benefit night. Apparently he’s having the originals framed. That was good thinking, Trix.”
Trixie nodded. “Did you have a good look at them?”
The boys and Di all nodded.
“They seem really different to the ones Mr. Saunders showed Dad of the new theatre,” Brian added.
“I think it would be fascinating to lay the current plans over the old ones, just to see the differences,” Jim said.
Trixie and Honey smiled ruefully at one another, and Trixie bent her head closer to her friend’s. “Okay, I’ll ask Dad if we can see the current plans as well. Maybe, just maybe, the boys do come in handy occasionally.”
BSM:MAIN NEXT
Thanks to Dana for working her way through this story. I have added some bits so there are bound to be errors-all mine. And thanks to my readers for sticking with me. Trixie Belden et al remain the property of Random House. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
