Thursday afternoon

Seventeen-year-old Mart Belden glanced both ways, but did not see the one observing him. He eased himself through the doorway to his bedroom in a furtive manner. He held a small bundle, wrapped in one of his T-shirts and protectively cradled against his body. He had almost reached the top of the stairs when a voice made him jump.

“What’s in the shirt?” his sister demanded.

Mart spun on his heel, almost dropping the bundle.

“Nothing. There’s nothing interesting here. At all. Nothing.”

Trixie looked sceptical. “Then why do you look so guilty?”

He gave a casual shrug and continued in the same direction. “Couldn’t say.”

She made a frustrated sound in her throat. A moment later she called, “I’ll be watching you.”

“Great,” he muttered under his breath, as he went out into the late June sunshine. “That’s exactly what I need right now.”

An hour later, the Bob-Whites gathered at their clubhouse for a meeting. With Brian and Jim away at college, meetings of the whole club were few and far between. This would be the first one since just after Christmas. As a result, excitement was higher than usual. The Beldens, Diana and Dan all arrived within minutes of each other and had soon divided into two groups to chat. Both conversations came to an abrupt halt when Honey burst through the door, her adopted brother following at a slightly more sedate pace.

“You’ll never guess what I just heard!” she exclaimed, her eyes shining with excitement and happiness.

“You’ve been appointed to the school board and you’re abolishing algebra,” Mart pretended to guess.

Honey laughed and shook her head. “Not even close. Do you remember I told you that my father’s secretary’s half-brother’s daughter’s boyfriend has an aunt who lives in a little cottage on a lake upstate?”

“No,” Brian answered, frowning, while several others shook their heads. “When did you say this and in what connection?”

Honey frowned in return. “I didn’t tell you that?”

“You told me that,” Di answered. “And if you didn’t tell Brian or Dan or Trixie, it doesn’t matter, because now you have.”

“That’s true.” Honey considered the matter for a moment. “Though, I was sure that I had told everyone, or, if not everyone, then at least nearly everyone, though, since so many–”

“Well, you’ve told us now,” Trixie interrupted. “What about her?”

“Oh! Well, it’s just that she’s been having some trouble with one of the rooms in her house and she heard from her nephew’s girlfriend’s father that his half-sister’s boss had a daughter and that she – I mean, me; no, actually, I mean I – have some friends that are good with mysteries and so she talked to my father and it turns out that they have some mutual friends, who could vouch for everybody and so we’ve been invited for the weekend to see if we can figure out what’s going on and we can arrive any time from four tomorrow afternoon, if we like.”

“What sort of trouble is she having?” Trixie asked, at the same time as Brian asked, “Where, exactly, does she live?”

Before Honey could answer either of them, Mart had turned to Di and begun discussing the matter and Jim’s attention had been drawn by Dan and his comment on how good it was to know people like Honey. As she looked in confusion from one person to another, Brian took pity on her and called for silence.

“How about if we let Honey explain a little more?” he suggested.

Trixie’s face tinted pink. “Sorry, Honey. I should have done something to keep control of the meeting. Why don’t you start with Brian’s question?”

Honey gave her friend a small smile. “It doesn’t matter and, since I don’t know the answer to either of your questions, it doesn’t really make any difference, does it?”

“You don’t know the answers?” Brian asked, incredulous. “You expect us to make a decision now, concerning our plans for tomorrow, without knowing where we would be going, or what we would do when we got there?”

“It sounds like an adventure,” Dan put in, with enthusiasm. “I’m in.”

“Me too,” Trixie added. “I only wish we could go today.” She turned to her eldest brother. “If you don’t like it, I don’t suppose you need to come with us.”

Diana frowned. “Wouldn’t it be better if we could either all go, or all stay? I thought this was supposed to be our weekend together?”

Honey nodded. “I think so, too.”

“Well, is everyone prepared to follow the majority decision?” Jim asked, looking around the group.

Several people nodded at once. Trixie gave the others a calculating look, which lingered on Mart until he shifted uncomfortably, before giving her assent. At last, Brian reluctantly nodded.

“All in favour?” Jim asked. At once, six hands were raised. “That’s carried. I’ll get some more information from Dad and each household will receive a phone call tonight from either Honey or myself with any more information we can give. Now, on to our other business…”

Friday afternoon

“I think this is the turn coming up on the left.” Brian, as navigator, glanced from the map and written directions he held to the road and back again. “The sign should say, ‘Webb Road’.”

“It does,” Miss Trask, the driver, answered. Slowing, she made the turn onto a narrow gravel road. “Where now?”

“We follow it to the end,” he answered. “Apparently, there is only one house, so we shouldn’t have any trouble.”

Miss Trask nodded and concentrated on missing the many potholes. After a short time, the road crested a rise and the lake was revealed before them. Below and to the right was a cluster of small buildings, with a large, shady tree in their midst. The road meandered up to them, fading into non-existence as they neared. Miss Trask pulled up and Jim, who drove the second car, came to a stop beside them. Everyone began to pile out.

A door opened in the side of one of the buildings and a man emerged, walking straight towards them. He was perhaps twenty-five, slim and rather tall, with dark hair but a fair complexion. He smiled and strode to meet them. Miss Trask positioned herself so that he reached her first.

“You must be the visitors,” he greeted. “Liz had to run a couple of errands, so she asked me to let you in. I’m Adam and your name is…?”

“Trask. Miss Trask.” She shook his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Adam. Let me introduce everyone.” She proceeded to do so and the Bob-Whites all called or nodded greetings.

Adam acknowledged the introductions, then cleared his throat, looking a little uncomfortable. “Well, how about if I show you where everything is?”

“That would be lovely,” Miss Trask answered. “Please, lead the way.”

In a few minutes, they had been shown around part of the property. Miss Trask would be using the guest room. The girls would share a room in the main house. Adam was just leading the way to what he called the studio when another vehicle arrived. An older woman hopped out, gathered up a number of parcels and strode towards them, calling a greeting.

“You want me to take those in the house?” Adam asked. “That way, you can guide the tour.”

The woman smiled and handed everything over with a word of thanks. Beside the young man, she appeared very short indeed and rather stout. She turned to the visitors. “I’m Liz Webb. Thank you so much for coming. It’s been driving me to distraction.”

“It’s our pleasure, Ms Webb,” Trixie answered, coming forward. “We love mysteries.”

“Call me Liz, please.”

Miss Trask began another round of introductions, this time admitting to the existence of her first name. At the end of them, the group went inside to see where the boys would be staying.

“I know it’s not the Hilton,” Liz admitted, “but it’s clean and, in my opinion, adequate. The view makes up for the lack of facilities. I see the way you’re looking at that bathroom, young man. Mark Carstairs bathed here. If it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for you.”

The rest of the group turned to look at Dan, who had been singled out in this way.

“I’m not criticising,” he protested, hands held up. “If anything, it’s better than the bathroom at Maypenny’s – that’s where I live,” he added, by way of explanation for their hostess.

That set the others laughing and Liz at her ease. “Well, in that case, if you’re satisfied with your lodgings, I’ll let you settle in. Dinner will be in about an hour and a half on the deck overlooking the lake. Give me a yell if you need anything else.”

They chorused a jumble of thanks as she slipped back outside.

“Who is Mark Carstairs?” Trixie asked, frowning.

“Oh, that’s my father’s secretary’s half-brother’s daughter’s boyfriend, of course,” Honey answered, at once. “I understand that he comes from quite a well-to-do family, so, of course, he would usually have the best kind of bathroom.”

“And this all makes perfect sense to you,” Dan muttered. “It figures.”

Honey gave him a quizzical look. “What figures?”

“Honey, if you give us another line about your father’s half-brother’s full-blooded adopted aunt by marriage’s cousin, we’re all going to go loopy. You seem to understand all of this, but the rest of us are lost.”

She frowned. “My father doesn’t have a half-brother.”

“That isn’t the point, Honey,” Jim explained gently. “The thing is, it might have been more efficient to describe him as Liz’s nephew.”

Honey gulped. “Yes, you’re probably right, but I think I might have messed that up, too, by adding the extra information about his girlfriend’s father’s half-sister being my father’s secretary.”

Dan covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head.

Friday evening

Dinner had been eaten and the group were relaxing on the deck, enjoying the breeze that blew across the lake. Liz had promised to explain the problem at the conclusion of the meal and by this time Trixie was itching with impatience to know what it was all about.

“I see that look, young lady.” Liz glanced from Trixie to the others. “I suppose you want to hear my tale.”

“Yes, please,” Honey answered. “We’ve been just dying to know what it’s all about and which room it is.”

“It’s one you probably won’t have noticed, yet,” Liz answered.

The Bob-Whites shared confused glances, wondering where this room could possibly be. They had already seen all of the house; the studio consisted of a long, low building with a partition for the bathroom and the only other building was a shed barely bigger than their clubhouse.

Liz smiled a secret smile and beckoned for them to follow her. In the hallway, she opened a closet and retrieved a thin metal bar with a right-angled bend at one end. She inserted the straight end into a notch in the ceiling, where it turned with a distinctive creaking sound, and down came an attic ladder. She flicked a wall switch and the cavity above was lit.

“After you,” she invited Trixie. “I call this the Blue Room. It’s not very big, so maybe we should limit it to two or three of you at a time.”

In a trice, Trixie was racing up the ladder. The others soon followed her, waiting with varying degrees of patience for their turn. When they were able to view it, the Blue Room revealed itself to be an attic room with sloping ceiling and protruding rafters. The ceiling was painted in midnight blue, the walls in the blue of a summer’s sky and even the floor was blue like the water of the lake on a sunny day. It was sparsely furnished with old, wooden furniture, all painted in shades of blue. A set of shelves in the tallest part of the room held a variety of blue vases, blue ornaments and silver jewellery set with lapis lazuli. The most prominent among these items was a stylised figure of a man, which reclined across the uppermost shelf. He was made of blue ceramic with a shiny glaze and took up the entire shelf, which measured somewhere near two feet across.

When they had all seen what they wanted to see, they gathered on the deck once more to hear the tale that was connected to the room.

“It’s well-known around here that I like blue,” Liz explained. “Not wanting to be known as a crazy lady, I don’t indulge it all over the place, but just in that one room. You probably noticed that everything up there is blue, within reason. It’s been like that for years. Recently, though, I’ve been having some trouble with that. I’ll come downstairs to go to bed one night, with everything up there beautiful and blue. The next morning, my lovely man-figure will be covered in something red or green or orange or something. It’s happened at least one night a week for the last six.”

She pulled out a box from under the table and showed the contents. Almost every colour except blue was represented in the array. Some of the items seemed to be old children’s clothes, while others seemed to have been made for the purpose, albeit in a rough fashion.

“It sounds rather like a practical joke,” Brian noted.

“Of course it’s a practical joke,” Liz answered. “What I can’t understand is how it’s done. That’s where you come in. I can’t make head nor tail of it, but obviously I’m too close to it. I need you to find out who’s doing this, how they’re doing it and how to stop them.” There was a twinkle in her eyes as she added, “I may not want to be known as the crazy blue lady, but it’s probably more true than not; I am pretty crazy about keeping my Blue Room blue and those red and yellow things are driving me crazy.”

“Can I take another look up there, please?” Trixie asked, a slight frown on her face.

“Any time you like,” Liz replied. “You saw how I opened it, didn’t you? Just make sure you fold up the stairs again when you finish and that they lock in place.”

With a word of thanks, Trixie went to investigate further. Honey followed along behind her, but the others stayed where they were. When they returned to the group, they were both frowning.

“For the moment, I don’t see how it’s done, either,” Trixie grumbled. “There just doesn’t seem to be any way in, other than the trap-door. You do keep your house locked at night, don’t you, Liz?”

“Naturally. When this started, I began checking everything twice. The house is as secure as I can make it and there’s no sign of forced entry afterwards.” She gave a grimace. “And before you ask, no one else has a key. I had the locks changed to be sure – bought the locks from a locksmith a hundred miles away and installed them myself, so there’s no chance of interference that way. And I put in some good, old-fashioned bolts to rule out lock-picking.”

“Well, I’ll think about it overnight,” Trixie decided. “Maybe in the light of day I’ll have a better idea of what it’s all about.”

Liz nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Well, I’m off to bed, now. Don’t make too much noise, or get up to too much mischief. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

“I might retire to my room as well,” Miss Trask added. “I brought a good book and it’s calling my name. Good night.”

The Bob-Whites chorused a good night to both of them and settled into conversation.

Saturday morning

Trixie was up early, but Liz was already in the kitchen when she passed by. They greeted each other in low voices, so as not to wake the household, but neither stopped to chat. Trixie was intent on making a closer examination of the Blue Room in daylight. This time, as she lowered the ladder, she moved slowly, examining everything as she went.

The first thing she noted was that it seemed to be impossible to lower the ladder without making a noise. She found that she could climb the ladder silently, but as soon as she set foot in the room above, her shoes made a noise on the floor. Next, she examined the walls, finding nothing that she had not already noted the night before. There did not seem much point in examining the ceiling, so she gave it only a cursory glance. The windows were her next target.

The house was situated so that its long side faced the lake. Two dormer windows looked out in that direction. Trixie tried to open each, finding that neither would open far enough for a person to fit through. She then turned to examine the other two windows. These were set in the end walls, with two triangular panes at the top and a square below, in the manner of a child’s drawing of a house. In front of one of these was the set of shelves with the figure of the man on them. Through that window, all that could be seen was the thick foliage of the shade tree which stood between the house and the studio. From the opposite window, another house could be seen in the middle distance. Only a moment’s examination showed that these windows did not open at all.

Frowning, Trixie climbed back down the ladder and returned it to its customary position. She wandered back to the kitchen, finding that some of her friends were now up and about. Mart was leaning against the kitchen counter, waving a spoon as he talked to Liz and occasionally dipping it into the tub of yoghurt he held. Dan sat at the kitchen table, while Liz worked at the stove, frying bacon and eggs.

Trixie glanced from the yoghurt her brother held to the frying pan and back again.

“What?” he asked. “Can’t a guy enjoy a pre-breakfast snack?”

His sister let that one go and instead turned to Liz. “I had a couple of questions.”

As she flipped over the bacon, their hostess nodded for Trixie to continue.

“The ladder is just outside your room, right?”

“It is.” Liz shook the pan and the bacon sizzled more loudly. “When I don’t have guests, I sleep with my door open.”

“Would you hear someone who let the ladder down?” Trixie wondered.

“Definitely. I’m a light sleeper. It doesn’t take much to wake me at all.”

The furrows in Trixie’s brow deepened. “So, footsteps on the floor above would wake you up, too. How are they doing this?”

“Maybe the question should be who is doing this,” Mart suggested, scraping the pot out and licking the spoon clean. “Perhaps it’s Spiderman.”

Trixie rolled her eyes.

Liz smiled. “Well, I’m figuring that I’ll let you see the suspects after breakfast. We’ll take a drive around the neighbourhood and I’ll introduce them all. How does that sound?”

“It sounds great. Thanks, Liz,” Trixie answered, shooting her brother a sour look. “That might help a lot.”

By the time they were all ready, it was mid-morning. Miss Trask elected to stay behind, so Brian and Jim drove a vehicle each. Liz took the passenger seat beside Jim, while Trixie and Honey sat in the back seat. As they drove, Liz gave a running commentary.

“That road down there leads to Adam’s place,” she explained, not long after they had emerged from her own road. “He lives there with his mother – but I don’t suspect her; she walks with a limp and has trouble getting around. And on the other side is my first suspect’s house. I think we’ll be able to run him to earth fairly easily. Take a turn here.”

They entered the nearest town, running along its main street until Liz pointed out a cross street. Jim parked the car where she told him to and they got out. Brian took the next parking space down and the group reconvened at the edge of a small park. Under one of the trees was set a bench, on which sprawled two boys in their late teens, while another lay on the ground. The one on the ground was sniggering into a book, whose cover read ‘Mad Libs’.

“The boy on the left on the bench is my first suspect,” Liz whispered. “His name is Michael. He lives with his father and three much younger siblings just down the road from me and he has a name for trouble. Now, who wants to come with me to talk to him?”

“Me!” Trixie called, while Honey nodded.

The three walked over to the small group, chatting as they did so.

“Morning, boys,” Liz called as they neared. She took a couple of extra steps forwards, leaving Trixie and Honey closer to the street. “I’ve got some clearing work to do on Monday. Any of you interested?”

The boy on the left, Michael, gave a disinterested shrug, but the boy sitting next to him sat up straighter at once.

“I’ll be there at ten,” he offered.

“Thanks. Neither of you others interested?”

The boy on the ground shook his head. “Sorry, Liz. Dad wants me to clean out the shed. I’d rather work at your place, but you know Dad.”

She nodded and smiled. “That’s okay. Michael?”

He shook his head, looking away. “I’m busy.”

“Of course you are,” Liz answered, smiling to herself. “I might mention to your Dad that I have some work going, the next time I see him.”

The boy looked up at her, a wary expression on his face. “I’ll be busy at home. Dad needs the help.”

She nodded. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll see you another time.”

At that, she turned and walked away, moving in an arc towards the street. The rest of the group noticed that they were returning and started heading in their direction so that they would once again meet up.

“So, what did you think?” Liz asked, in a light tone, as they walked.

Trixie considered for a moment. “He’s afraid of you.”

Liz nodded. “Yes, I think so, too. It makes me wonder if he’d have the nerve to carry out the prank – especially since he knows I might tell his father if he got caught. That man has a filthy temper and you never know what will set it off.”

“So, who is suspect number two?” Honey asked, as the rest of the group caught up.

“Come around the corner and I hope we’ll be able to meet her.” Liz gestured in the direction she wanted them to take.

On the corner was the library and down the stairs came a brown-haired woman considerably younger than Liz.

“Bonnie!” Liz called. “I was hoping to catch up with you. I’ve got some house guests this weekend, as you can see, but I particularly wanted to talk to you.”

The two seemed to be on friendly terms, chatting easily about a project on which they were collaborating.

“I’ve got to get moving,” Bonnie said at last. “I really need to pick up some cat food and try to resist the temptation to stop for ice cream on the way home.”

“Good luck with that.” Liz smiled and waved. “I’ll talk to you again in a few days.”

As they continued down the street, Honey frowned and murmured, “She seemed really nice.”

“She is,” Liz answered, looking a little confused.

“Why is it that you suspect her, then?” Trixie asked.

At once, a look of comprehension dawned on Liz’s face. “She’s not my next suspect; I wanted to see her about something else completely. My next suspect is right over here.”

The woman she indicated was closer to her own age, with messy grey hair and a light of mischief in her eyes. She was bustling about the front of a used book store, a cardboard box of books balanced on one hip and the ends of a rainbow-hued scarf trailing into it. The displays that she was filling were all brightly painted and no two the same colour.

“I think I see why you suspect her,” Trixie commented, grinning. “Do you think we need to talk to her?”

Liz shook her head. “I doubt it would help. She never seems to take anything seriously. I thought we might go and take a look at my final suspect. He runs the grocery store; he should be there right now.”

“Okay,” Trixie answered. “I wonder if he sells strawberry pop. I could do with one, it’s so hot.”

They circled back towards the place where they had left the cars, stopping not far short of there to enter a grocery store. Trixie went straight for the drinks cooler, where she started poking around, looking for her beverage of choice.

“I don’t see any,” she muttered. “Maybe I’ll have to choose something else.”

“Maybe you could have made a choice before you opened the door,” a gruff voice grumbled from behind her.

Trixie straightened at once, a can in each hand and a blush rising on her cheeks. “Oh. Sorry.”

Behind her, Mart was smothering laughter, but with supreme effort. He reached past her and snagged a bottle of soda, holding it by its base, with the cap against his forearm. Trixie gave him an odd look, then put back one of the cans she held.

“Choose some drinks, kids, and let’s go,” Liz directed. “My treat.”

“Oh, so you’re the one responsible for this rabble,” the man accused. “I might have known.”

Liz seemed oblivious to the implied insult. She fished some money out of her pocket to pay for the drinks, bid the man a good day and ushered the Bob-Whites outside.

“He’s never liked me,” she explained, as they headed for the cars. “Then again, he doesn’t like most people, so I’m not offended.”

“So, all of the people you’ve pointed out today live close to you?” Trixie asked, as they got back in the car.

“They’re my closest neighbours, other than Adam and his mother,” Liz confirmed. “And, yes, they all know that I have a Blue Room and where it’s located.”

“Even that grouchy man?” Trixie asked, incredulous. “I wouldn’t let anyone like him near my house, if I could help it.”

Liz shrugged. “He doesn’t need to be all that near; his bathroom window lines up with the two end windows of the Blue Room. When the light is on, or if the sun is shining through the dormer windows, he gets a view of the blue, so to speak.”

“I see,” Trixie murmured, frowning. “Well, I think I’m going to have to do some more investigating back at your house. A review of the suspects hasn’t seemed to bring me any further forward.”

Saturday afternoon

After lunch, Liz and Miss Trask settled on the deck to watch the sailboats on the lake. The Bob-Whites joined them there after a further session of fruitless investigation inside the house. While the others watched the boats and commented on their progress, Trixie sat alone, brow furrowed in thought. The conversation flowed around her, unheeded.

“Take a look at the one with the red stripe,” Mart directed, pointing out across the water. “Look at them go.”

“The wind is a bit chancy, I think,” Liz commented. “See the one just behind it? See the way the sail is moving?”

“They’re catching up,” Di put in. “They’re going to overtake red-stripe.”

“And the wind changes.” Liz pointed to the two boats. “Nice tack. Red-stripe is getting away again.”

Di let out a sigh. “I thought the white one was going to lead. This sailing business is trickier than it looks.”

“So is this problem,” Trixie muttered. “It should be so simple that it’s obvious, only it’s not.”

Liz glanced across at Trixie and seemed to come to a decision. “Why don’t you all go down and cool off in the lake? There’s a spot just down there that’s not too bad for swimming. Maybe you’ll think more clearly when you take your mind off it for a little while.”

“That sounds like a good idea to me, Liz.” Jim glanced around at the agreeable expressions on his friends’ faces. “We’ll do that. Come on, gang.”

They all went to get changed, with Trixie trailing along behind, still deep in thought. A few minutes later, the seven were at the water’s edge, dropping their towels and beginning to wade into the water. Trixie stood and stared at nothing in particular, still clutching her towel.

“What’s in your line of sight?” Diana wondered, a teasing note in her voice. She dropped to a whisper that only Honey and Trixie could hear. “Could it possibly be Jim’s treasure trail that she’s staring at?”

Honey burst into giggles, while Trixie flushed red and snapped her head up to stare, instead, at Di.

“No!” she squeaked. “It most definitely was not.”

“Ah, then it was Dan’s.” Di nodded sagely, which sent Honey into another fit of giggles. “I wondered when you might notice that.”

“I didn’t notice anything,” Trixie disagreed. “I didn’t even notice the clues to this mystery and I’m sure I’ve seen them.”

“Don’t try to change the subject,” Di chided.

“Are you girls coming, or are you going to stand there and giggle all day?” Dan called, from chest-deep in the water.

Di looked over to him and sighed. “Show’s over, by the looks. I suppose we might as well join them.”

Later in the afternoon, Trixie began to feel restless. By now, she was certain that she had missed something important, and could not rest until she had taken some action to find it. She was pacing around the yard when she met up with Adam.

“What are you doing here?” she blurted out, before thinking through the implications of the question.

He did not seem at all worried by it. “I just dropped by to fix up one or two things,” he explained. He fished a key out of his pocket and used it to open the shed. “I do odd jobs for Liz; you know, like letting in her visitors and reaching high shelves.”

Trixie smiled and let him get on with it. She walked back to the deck, where most of her friends were sitting, and announced that she was going for a walk. At once, Honey got up to join her. A moment later, Mart decided to go with them as well.

Together, the three walked back towards the main road. A gentle breeze was blowing off the lake, ruffling the long grass at the side of the roughly-constructed road. They turned to the left and continued their journey. Before they had gone very far, a figure appeared, walking at a brisk pace towards them.

“Isn’t that the woman we met outside the library?” Mart asked, his voice tinged with suspicion. “What’s she doing out here?”

“She appears to be walking,” Trixie answered. “What else would she be doing?”

“Maybe she’s laying out the land for another trick on Liz.” Mart frowned. “Just because she’s not on the suspect list doesn’t mean she isn’t the one.”

Trixie stopped short. “You mean, you think she’s spying on Liz? Mart, that’s crazy. The person who’s doing this already knows all they need to know.”

“And?”

She shook her head and began walking once more. “Well, there’s one way to find out.” She raised her voice a little. “Hello, Bonnie. I didn’t know you lived out here.”

“I don’t,” Bonnie answered. “I ate the ice cream, though, so I had to get in some extra walking to make up for it. This will make six miles today.”

“That’s pretty good,” Trixie answered, smiling. To her brother, she whispered, “See? She’s not doing anything wrong.”

“She says she’s not doing anything wrong,” he countered. “We’ll see whether she’s telling the truth.”

Trixie smiled. “I’m going to solve this soon and then you’ll see that you’re wrong. You’ll see that I know what you were up to on Thursday, too, and that I know what you were hiding under that shirt.”

Mart gulped, but did not reply.

Saturday night

Before she went to bed, Trixie checked over the Blue Room once more, ensuring that nothing was out of place. The figure of the man reclined on his shelf, just as usual. Both windows were closed and the latches secured. Satisfied that all was in order, Trixie went down the ladder and then put it away. She met Honey as she turned to leave.

“All okay?” Honey asked.

Trixie nodded. “It all looks fine. I just hope I can remember what it is that’s been bothering me before we leave tomorrow. I’m sure I can solve this, I’m just not sure it will be in time.”

“Let’s sleep on it. Maybe you’ll dream of the answer,” Honey suggested with a smile.

Sunday morning

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when Trixie arose. She had set an alarm in the hope of being the first up and having the maximum time to complete her investigation before they were due to leave. The first stop of her investigation was the Blue Room. She lowered the ladder and raced up.

When she was in a position to see the shelves, she stopped short. The figure of the man was wearing a small child’s knitted sweater in bright red and a matching party hat sat on his head at a jaunty angle. Red streamers hung down from the shelves and across the floor. Turning around, Trixie went back down the ladder just as fast and raced to awaken Honey.

“Get up! You’ve got to see this!” she urged, shaking her friend’s shoulder.

“Unless the house is on fire, I don’t want to know about it,” Honey answered, pulling the pillow over her head.

“Oh!” a voice exclaimed from somewhere nearby.

Trixie let out a cry of dismay and raced back to the ladder. She found Liz looking at it in surprise.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to leave it that way, I just wanted Honey to come and look, only I can’t make her get out of bed,” she explained, all in one breath.

Liz nodded. “I take it there’s been another occurrence, then. You’d better let me take a look.”

Trixie stepped back to let her ascend the ladder, then followed her up. She found Liz contemplating the display with a bemused smile on her face.

“Does this mean anything in particular?” Trixie asked.

Once more, Liz nodded. “Oh, yes. It blows my suspect list to pieces, though.”

Trixie raised a curious eyebrow.

“It’s my birthday today,” Liz admitted. “I don’t usually celebrate, but someone seems to think that I should.”

Sudden insight came to Trixie. “… reaching high shelves,” she muttered. “Adam.”

“I think so,” Liz answered.

“Can I borrow the key to your shed?” Trixie asked. “I think, finally, I know how he’s been doing it.”

Liz nodded and held out her keyring, with one key uppermost. Trixie thanked her and raced down the ladder and out to the shed. When almost there, it occurred to her that she was going to need some help. Turning, she hurried into the studio instead and shook Mart by the shoulder. His eyes popped open and at the sight of her face he sat up.

“What is it?”

“Come and help me,” she asked. “I think I know how he did it, but I need to make sure.”

He nodded, pulled on some shoes and followed her to the shed. She opened the door and the pair went inside. It did not take long for Trixie to find what she was looking for: a tall ladder. Between them, the siblings carried it to the near end of the house. It took some effort to stand it up, as the upper branches of the leafy tree tended to get in the way, but soon they had accomplished this. While Mart held it steady, Trixie climbed.

At the top, she felt carefully around the window frame until she found what she was looking for. While from the inside the window had seemed fixed in place, on the outside it was possible to remove a whole panel and reach inside. Trixie touched the tip of the party hat to be sure and then carefully replaced the glass. Before descending, she shot her brother a triumphant look.

He gave a shrug. “It doesn’t prove that I was wrong, though. You haven’t shown who, only how.”

“Didn’t I mention that part?” she asked, as she reached the ground with a bump. “The culprit is right behind you.”

“Busted,” Adam admitted, grinning.

“I’ll leave the ladder here so you can fix Liz’s window, okay?” Trixie suggested. “I think she’d like it fixed right away – we wouldn’t want this happening again, would we?”

Adam shook his head and indicated that he was going to the shed to get some tools. The Belden siblings turned and started walking towards the stairs to the deck.

“Okay, so I was totally wrong,” Mart admitted.

Trixie nodded. “You were.” She smirked. “You’re no good at the cloak and dagger stuff, either. Did you really think you could keep a secret by sneaking around in that obvious way?”

Mart began to blush. He stopped at the foot of the stairs. “You have a better idea?”

Once more, Trixie nodded. “The next time you don’t want Moms to find the empty soda bottles in your room, carry them out as if you’re doing nothing wrong.”

“How did you know?” he asked, with a weary sigh.

She smiled. “I saw you holding your bottle the same way when that grouchy grocery store man was bothering us.”

Mart nodded and continued into the house. They had news to share.

Sunday afternoon

“This was a really great weekend. I’m really sorry it’s over,” Honey mourned, as she watched Jim load their belongings in the car. “I’m really glad we got to come here, though.”

“It’s nice to help people, even if it turns out they don’t need it,” Trixie agreed, hoisting her own bags into the trunk.

Dan joined the trio, also stowing his bags. “So, are we calling this mystery solved? Or is it a non-event?”

Trixie weighed the two sides of the argument between her palms. “I solved half of it. The other half solved itself.”

“Well, however it happened, it was good to help my father’s secretary’s half-brother’s daughter’s boyfriend’s aunt.” Honey gave him an innocent smile. “I think she enjoyed having us, too.”

“Honey, the phrase you were looking for there was, ‘it was good to help Liz.’” Dan stared down at her sternly.

Trixie slapped his arm. “That’s what she said.”

The End