The Third Girl Detective

by Margaret Sutton

  “Oh,” cried Judy, “I’ll bet the boys have come home. I wonder what made them come back before the week was out.”

  “Something awful must have happened to one of them,” Marjorie gasped as they began to run as fast as they could.

  Sure enough, the station wagon was parked in front of the Lodge and the boys were tumbling out of it.

  “They certainly don’t look as though anything awful had happened to them,” Judy panted.

  “Hi, everybody,” Jimmy was shouting to the crowd that had gathered on the porch. When the girls reached the steps they heard him say quietly to Penny and Phil:

  “Say, how about calling a meeting of the Board of Directors right away?”

  “We can’t, Jimmy,” Penny said. “Everyone is busy.”

  “Well, then,” he said. “A meeting of the Allens in the office. I’ve got something in my pocket which I think the rest of the family ought to know about as soon as possible.”

  Penny could tell from the sober expression on Jimmy’s tanned face that this was not a joke. She beckoned to Phil and Marjorie and led the way into the office.

  “On second thought,” Jimmy said as he followed her, “let’s get Peter in on this. I’d like to hear his opinion of the whole thing. Besides,” he added in a low teasing voice, “he’s practically family anyway.”

  Penny’s cheeks flamed. “Jimmy,” she said, mildly scolding, “you never can be serious for more than five minutes at a time.”

  “I’m pretty darn serious now,” Jimmy said. When they had all gathered around the desk, he closed the door and produced the scrap of paper which Brook had found in the old coat.

  After one swift glance, Penny said, “Why, Peter, the handwriting looks just like the one on the fragment Marjorie found. Where on earth did you find it, Jimmy?”

  Jimmy explained and Penny frowned as she listened. “Brook had no business taking that envelope out of a coat he found,” she said.

  Peter chuckled. “Maybe he didn’t have any right to take it, Penny, but in my opinion it was put where it was so that no boy could resist the temptation.”

  Penny thought for a minute. Again she read the blurred words, more carefully this time.

  We’ll meet a the las and look for the tre I’m sure it’s buried old shed nea has long run

  Then she pulled out of her desk drawer the fragment Marjorie had found in the green bottle. The two pieces fit together as perfectly as a jigsaw puzzle. Now they could all read the complete page:

  We’ll meet at the Log cabin the last week in August and look for the treasure again. I’m sure it’s buried near the old shed near a well that has long run dry.

  “Oh, oh,” Jimmy moaned. “That means more digging. I guess we didn’t dig deep enough.”

  “But what about the map?” Marjorie demanded. “It showed that treasure was buried behind the Donahues’ cabin.”

  “None of it makes any sense,” Peter said calmly. “And you kids may as well accept the fact right now that the map and the two fragments aren’t clues. They’re obviously red herrings, deliberately planted to keep us busy looking for buried treasure.”

  “I don’t get it,” Jimmy said frankly.

  “It’s this way,” Phil explained. “Peter, Penny and I figure that there is something valuable hidden around here. Somebody who obviously isn’t honest knows where it is. He wants to keep us from finding it.”

  “Oh golly,” Marjorie broke in, “wait until I tell Judy about this. We’ll spend the rest of the summer going over the whole place with a fine-tooth comb.”

  “Oh, no, you won’t,” Penny said, laughing. “I have a better idea, and one that won’t drive our guests out of their minds.”

  Peter stared at her in amazement. “Have you been keeping secrets from me?” he asked, pretending that his feelings were hurt.

  “Oh, no,” Penny told him hastily. “The idea just came to me this minute. Actually, the words, ‘last week in August’ gave it to me.” Her cheeks flushed with excitement, she went on. “One morning last week when I was out in the kitchen discussing menus with Ann Mary, she suggested that we give a masquerade party. There are plenty of grand costumes in the old trunks for all of the ladies, and you men can rig up outfits from old curtains and stuff in our boxes.”

  “A swell idea,” Jimmy said. “But what’s it got to do with finding hidden treasure?”

  Penny smiled at him patiently. “If you’d only let me finish! Ann Mary and I decided that the last Friday in August would be a good time for the party. Most of the guests will be leaving early in September, so it would be sort of a last fling.”

  Jimmy began to sing, “After the ball is o-ver. After the guests have gone.”

  “Stop interrupting,” Marjorie said, glaring at him. “Let Penny finish.”

  “Well,” Penny went on, “we planned the party just for ourselves and our guests. But now I think we should issue a blanket invitation to all the merchants in town. It will be our way of expressing our appreciation of the way they cooperated with us all summer. Now,” she finished, “you can all guess the rest.”

  “Not me,” Marjorie said, rapidly blinking her blue eyes.

  Jimmy clutched his dark hair wildly. “I follow you as closely as though you’d had a million-mile head start.”

  Peter was staring at Penny with frank admiration. “You are smart,” he said. “Don’t you see?” he asked Jimmy and Marjorie. “Our Mr. X, or our Messrs. X, for there may be more than one, will certainly be among those present at the masquerade. With everyone coming masked and in costume, he wouldn’t miss the chance. He’ll come out sure that he can get whatever he’s after and depart before the unmasking.”

  “Holy cow,” Jimmy exploded. “Penny is smart. Instead of our wearing ourselves out looking for hidden treasure, he’ll lead us right to it.”

  Marjorie gave her sister an impulsive hug. “It’s the grandest idea anyone ever invented,” she cried.

  “And,” Jimmy put in, suddenly remembering the main reason why they had persuaded Pat to cut the camping trip short, “I’m pretty sure there’s only one Mr. X.”

  “Don’t be a dope,” Marjorie said. “I’m sure there are two. One of them put the bottle where he was sure Judy and I would find it while we were looking for shells. And the other put the coat where you boys couldn’t miss it.”

  Jimmy shrugged. “Maybe so, but the same Mr. X who left his footprint under the floor of the shed planted the coat.”

  “Yipes,” Peter moaned. “What’s all this about a footprint under the shed? I thought it was a garage filled with cars.”

  “It is now,” Penny explained with a chuckle. “Before we converted it, someone ripped up part of the floor and left a footprint in the dirt.”

  “That’s right,” Jimmy said. “And he also left footprints in a clearing back where Brook found the coat. Footprints,” he finished triumphantly, “with rubber heels made by the same manufacturer.”

  “Why, Jimmy Allen,” Marjorie gasped admiringly, “you’re so smart you ought to get a job with the FBI.”

  But Penny laughed. “Now all the red herrings fit together like the pieces of this paper. Don’t you see, Jimmy? Mr. X deliberately left that footprint in the shed in plain view so I might believe that he had had something to do with my accident. Right, Peter?”

  “Right,” Peter said. “As soon as Mr. X heard you had fallen down the well, he wrote the letter which you received the next day. Then that evening he sneaked out to plant evidence which he hoped would back up his threat.”

  “Oh, gosh,” Jimmy said disconsolately. “We’re right back where we started. But at least we can be pretty sure that there’s only one Mr. X.”

  “We can’t be sure of anything,” Phil said soberly. “Except that whoever it is really does mean business. The very fact that one of them jumped on Mal that night when we chased him aw
ay proves that. An ordinary night prowler would have tried to sneak away without being seen.”

  “Well,” Marjorie said cheerfully, “we mean business now, too. And we’re sure to catch him the night of the masquerade when he comes here to get the treasure.”

  “Wa—ait a minute,” Phil said cautiously. “What’s to prevent Mr. X from getting by with his scheme? We can’t be everywhere at once in a place as big as this, especially when so many people will be milling around.”

  “And,” Peter added, “how will we know whom to keep an eye on?” He smiled at Penny. “You planned, of course, to have police detectives here in costume, too.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Penny admitted. “I thought it would be more fun if we set a trap and caught Mr. or Messrs. X ourselves.”

  “What sort of a trap?” Phil asked, frowning.

  “I don’t know exactly,” Penny admitted. “But I think it ought to have something to do with the secret room. For one thing, Ann Mary and I planned that just before the unmasking we might spring it on our guests as a surprise. None of them except Adra has any idea where it is.”

  Marjorie felt very uncomfortable at that moment. She opened her mouth to confess that she had showed it to Judy, but decided against interrupting Penny until she had finished.

  “When we open the door,” Penny went on, “those who want to go down into the room will have to take turns, because it’s too small to hold them all at the same time. I thought that if anyone had been acting suspiciously before that, we might be able to lure him down alone and then we could quickly press the button and lock him in.” She added, turning to Peter, “Then you can call in the police.”

  He shook his head worriedly. “You are not going to be the one to lure him down into the room alone.”

  “Of course not,” Jimmy said quickly. “I will.”

  “No, you won’t,” Phil told him emphatically. “The man may be armed and I’m the only one who has a pistol license. I’ll go down with him and one of you can close the door. If he’s really been acting suspiciously, I’ll suggest that he unmask. If he’s the man we want, he’ll refuse. Then I’ll produce my gun and keep him there while I knock on the door. That will be the signal that our scheme worked.”

  “I don’t like the idea of your being locked down there with him,” Penny objected.

  “It’s the only answer,” Phil insisted. “Once he has any idea that we suspect him, he may make a wild dash for safety, and that would frighten some of our guests very badly. Besides, he might escape. With all those people wandering in and out of the Lodge, I wouldn’t dare use my gun.” He turned to Peter. “What do you think of the plan?”

  “It’s okay except for one thing,” Peter said. “What if Mr. X doesn’t do anything to make us suspect him? Up until the unmasking we won’t have any way of knowing whether he is one of the village merchants or not. And by that time he will certainly have disappeared.”

  “Oh, he’s bound to do something to make him stand out from the others,” Marjorie put in. “And he’ll probably be very careless because he won’t have any idea that we plan to catch him in a trap.”

  “That’s true,” Peter admitted.

  “Sometimes,” Jimmy said with a teasing grin, “the gal makes sense.”

  Phil stood up. “If we’re all agreed, I may as well go down to the village now and spread the word about the party.”

  “And I,” said Penny, rising, too, “had better go through the stuff in the storage room and see what we have. I thought it might be fun to decorate the secret room so it’ll look good and scary.”

  “I’ll help,” Marjorie said. “I know where there’s one of those old paper skeletons that we used to hang up on Hallowe’en.” She slipped her arm through Penny’s. “Oh, isn’t it going to be fun? Even if we don’t catch Mr. X, the masquerade will be the best event of the whole summer.”

  “I hope so,” Penny said. “And I hope we do catch him. Even if he’s just a crank and isn’t after anything valuable, he’s annoyed us enough. It’s time we put a stop to it.”

  She glanced back over her shoulder at Peter who was still sitting at the desk.

  “Oh, dear,” she thought reading the anxious expression on his face. “He still thinks we ought to get help from the police.” She shivered involuntarily. “Maybe before the party is over we’ll be sorry we didn’t follow his advice.”

  CHAPTER 12

  SETTING THE TRAP

  The next two weeks were busy ones for everyone connected with the Lodge. From morning to night there was a terrific amount of hustling and bustling around the house, inside and out. Everyone was loaning something or borrowing something to wear at the last big party of the season.

  Brook, Alf and Jimmy, all amateur but experienced electricians, extended wires from the house to the trees so that the lawn would be bright with lanterns.

  “Just in case there’s no moon,” Phil said.

  “If it rains, I’ll die,” Marjorie said nervously.

  She and Judy were helping the boys, and Judy insisted upon knowing what each one planned to wear.

  “We’re all going as cowboys,” Jimmy called down from the fork of a tall tree.

  “How original of you,” Marjorie said sarcastically. “And it shows how lazy you are too. All you have to do is stuff the legs of your jeans in boots, tie bandannas around your necks, and borrow toy guns and holsters from kids in the village.”

  “So what?” Alf demanded. “With masks on nobody will recognize us, not even you two.”

  “We wouldn’t even try,” Judy informed him airily. “There’ll probably be so many cowboys here that night it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

  “I hope Mr. X wears something more original,” Marjorie said without thinking.

  “Who?” Judy demanded.

  “Er—nobody,” Marjorie said hastily. The Allens, at Peter’s suggestion, had decided not to share their secret with any of the other guests.

  “If too many people know that we’re planning to set a trap,” he had said, “it won’t be long before Mr. X knows too.”

  To change the subject Marjorie said to Brook: “Phil and Penny wrote to New York and they heard today that I can get into that small boarding school I told you about. It’s up on the Hudson. Golly, I hate to think of going away from here.”

  “I know how you feel,” Brook said sympathetically. “But just the same I’m glad you’re going to a school that isn’t very far from mine. When we have dances, you’ll come as my guest, won’t you?”

  Marjorie blushed. She did like Brook, and it would be fun to go to school dances with him, but she wished he hadn’t asked her when Jimmy was around. Jimmy thought it was fun to tease Judy Powell, but Marjorie knew that he thought girls were a nuisance. He also thought that boys who asked girls to parties were dopes. She waited tensely for the caustic remark she knew was coming.

  To her surprise, Jimmy said nothing. He climbed down from the fork of the tree and gave her a look which said plainer than words:

  “Watch your step, stupid. You almost let the cat out of the bag.”

  And then Marjorie realized to her dismay that all of the others were staring at her curiously. Every one of them had heard her blurt out: “I hope Mr. X wears something more original.” They were overcome with curiosity but they were all too polite to ask any more questions.

  Hastily Marjorie said, “Aren’t you all starving? I’ll go ask Ann Mary if I can’t fix some lemonade and raid the cooky jar.”

  She was off without waiting for their replies, but Judy raced after her. Marjorie’s heart sank. As soon as they were out of earshot of the boys, Judy’s curiosity would get the better of her good manners. She would demand an explanation of Marjorie’s unfortunate remark.

  Then Marjorie had an idea. “You know,” she said casually, “I’ll bet a lot of people come to the p
arty disguised as the ghost who’s supposed to haunt the Lodge. I think of him as Mr. X and he wears a long gray beard. It would be hard to see through that disguise. I mean, a long flowing white robe, a wig and a mask with a long gray beard.”

  Judy looked disappointed but Marjorie knew that her curiosity was satisfied. “It would be a perfect disguise,” Judy said. “And much more original than a cowboy outfit.”

  Back in the Lodge they found all the other guests busy making final decisions about their costumes. The ladies had all enjoyed going through the trunks, spending one entire day rummaging, to the great delight of the younger fry. Some of the people had gone into town to get extra things for their costumes from the local stores. They reported that the townspeople, too, were all excited about the party and that a great many of them were planning to come.

  At last it was the day of the big event, and to Marjorie’s delight the sun shone brightly in an almost cloudless sky.

  Penny had decided to wear the old wedding dress from the trunk. It was beautiful even though it had yellowed with age. Adra was wearing a green silk dress with matching slippers from the same old trunk. Penny and Marjorie helped each other fix their costumes, and Marjorie suggested to Penny that she should wear the veil that went with the dress and thus really look like a bride.

  “Because, Sis,” Marjorie said unashamedly, “you are going to be a bride pretty soon. You might as well start getting used to the idea.”

  Penny’s cheeks flamed. Then she suddenly threw her arms around Marjorie. “Oh, honey, if only I could be sure. There’s no sense in my trying to hide from you that I love Peter. But how can I be sure that he loves me?”

  Marjorie sniffed. “Penny, you idiot! It’s written all over his face whenever he looks at you. And when you’re not around he mopes, except when he’s shooting daggers with his eyes at Charles Curtis.”

  Penny couldn’t help smiling. Then she frowned. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll be a bride very soon. Peter may love me, but neither of us has enough money to start in housekeeping. Maybe,” she added wistfully, “that’s why Peter doesn’t tell me now that he loves me.”