Miss Ryks broke free and tried to run. Using the wheelchair as a surprise weapon, Trixie pushed it as fast as she could into the path of the escaping gang leader. Hampered by the trailing skirt and tripped up by the wheelchair, the former invalid was overcome when Sergeant Molinson helped the struggling boys.
Trixie did the one thing that she had wanted to do from the minute she saw Miss Ryks’s two-headed act in room 214—she snatched the blue white wig from Miss Ryks’s head. As Trixie had suspected, that action revealed not the brassy hair of the nephew, Dick Ryks. It revealed the bald head of the man who had pushed the wheelchair down Glen Road and bought the rope at the sporting goods store!
Finding himself totally unmasked, the comic from the country club took off the tight high collar, and Miss Ryks, room 214, Glen Road Inn, disappeared forever.
The sergeant rubbed his forehead. “I don’t believe it, Detective Belden! This character had me fooled.”
“I'll take that as a compliment to my acting ability,” the actor snarled.
“You are good, you know,” Trixie said. “It’s just too bad you didn’t stay on the stage where you belong.” Bobby had seen the quick exit of the wheelchair parade and now appeared at the porte cochère. Soberly he stared at the captured man. “I knew he wasn’t a frog hunter,” Bobby said. “Frogs can't breathe in a moneybag.”
“But guns can,” Trixie told Sergeant Molinson. “Mart doesn’t know it, but he’s also carrying around Mrs. Boyer’s diamonds.”
“Which I am more than glad to relinquish,” Mart declared, handing the large purse to the sergeant.
When Jim explained about the stolen wedding gifts, Sergeant Molinson called Regan.
“Pretty smart,” the policeman told the actor, “keeping me busy while your gang worked.”
“Miss Ryks” smirked.
When Regan arrived, he said, “There’s a truck parked down by the clubhouse. Obviously the gang’s waiting for the boss. I’ll call Tom and have him head them off by turning a car across the road. Up here, we’ll use this taxi. Simple.”
Taken by surprise, Dan’s old street gang was captured with little difficulty. The truck was driven back to the French doors of the alcove, and willing hands replaced the wedding gifts on the display tables. The missing guard was found bound and gagged in a closet.
Few wedding guests knew of the action in the porte cochère, and by the time family groups began drifting back to their cars, Tom was on hand to help with smiling courtesy. A short while later, he drove Mr. and Mrs. Hans Vorwald, on their way to a new life in Amsterdam, away from Manor House and onto Glen Road.
Good-bye! Good luck!” The Bob-Whites shouted and waved, unabashed by the tears dampening their cheeks.
“Thank you! Bless you!” Hans and Juliana called back to them.
Trixie turned at once to clutch Honey’s arm. “We have to find Hallie and Dan! The gang members aren’t going to tell where they hid them. They’ll want to bargain with that information for their own advantage! We can be sure of that!”
“Are we sure Miss Ryks hid them?” Di asked.
Trixie nodded. “Miss Ryks, the wheelchair, the robberies—there’s no way to talk about one without the others, so I’m sure! Oliver Tolliver needed a quick way to disappear from the country club after Dan found that note in the fireplace. When he caught a ride with the Teed driver, he must have meant only to hide the wheelchair and collect a reward, but then he saw the chance to rent the chair from Ella Kline and turn himself into a sick old woman—a clever disguise. To keep in touch with the gang, though, he had to be two people. He couldn’t move around freely in a wheelchair.”
“And he pulled the scrawny kid through the window whenever he needed a messenger,” Honey reminded her.
“Right,” Trixie agreed. “He reported a burglary attempt, then made sure that the police suspected Dan.” Brian interrupted. “That should prove Dan isn’t working with the gang. They wouldn’t make a scapegoat of one of their own members.”
“That’s right,” Jim said. “Dan must have caught them in the game preserve, and they had to find some way to keep him quiet.”
Mart spoke so earnestly that, for once, he forgot to
use long words. “We know how the gang lived. Bobby fed them. And we know their contact was Dick Ryks. What else do we know about that nephew character? He didn’t get around much in Sleepyside.”
“Well,” Honey said slowly, “Ella Kline lives at the inn, and her key disappeared when Dick Ryks put a check in her purse.”
“That’s itl” Trixie shrieked. “The desk clerk said Dick Ryks was visiting someone up on the third floor! That’s where Hallie and Dan must be—locked in Ella Kline’s room! The police didn’t go there while investigating the diamond robbery because they knew Ella was here at Manor House!”
“Let’s go!” Jim shouted.
Within minutes, Jim, Brian, Mart, Di, Honey, and Trixie, still dressed in wedding finery, clustered around the desk clerk at Glen Road Inn. “We need to get into Ella Kline’s room,” Trixie demanded. When the man started to protest, Trixie shouted, “It’s a matter of life and death! Hurry!”
The clerk gave in, fished out a key, and led the way to the third floor. He muttered the whole time about whether it was ethical to open an absent guest’s door. “Twice in one day! I could get fired.”
When the door to Ella’s room swung open, two pairs of dark eyes stared out, first showing apprehension, then joy.
“Hallie!” Trixie cried. She ran to a rocking chair where her cousin sat, a gag in her mouth and her hands tied behind her back.
Jim, Brian, and Mart rushed to cut the ropes that spread-eagled Dan flat on his back on the bed. He, too, was gagged, as well as groggy and weak from lack of exercise and not enough food.
“Your poor, poor wrists,” Trixie moaned when she set Hallie free.
“You should see Dan’s!” doctor-to-be Brian said angrily.
The incredulous desk clerk watched the scene from the doorway.
“Oh, Dan!” Trixie cried. “We’ve hunted, and worried, and thought, and hunted again!”
As he sat up and dangled his long legs over the edge of the bed, Dan said weakly, “Thanks. H-Have you g-got something for a dry mouth?” He tried to smile. Silently Honey brought a glass of water from the bathroom, and Di held it while Dan sipped. After a while, he was able to say, Tm fine. They untied me once or twice a day.”
“Why didn’t you make a break for it?” Mart asked. “Would you have wanted Bobby tied up here in my place?” Dan asked. “That’s what they threatened, and I couldn’t stand to have that happen.”
“Hallie, how did you get caught?” Di asked.
Hallie turned from Ella’s dresser. “My mom has the smarts, but she didn’t tell me that empty hotel rooms aren’t always empty! The minute I unlocked that door, the scrawny kid—can you believe it?—that little runt grabbed me, stuck a gag in my mouth, and tied me to the rocking chair.” Hallie stood her tallest to express her amazement that such a thing could have happened to her.
“He heard you coming, Hallie,” Dan said comfortingly. “I couldn’t warn you. I tried, but he made sure that my gag was tight.”
“See?” Hallie told the sober Bob-Whites. “I told you Dan’s an okay kid.”
“And so are you, Hallie Belden,” Honey said warmly.
Brian and Jim helped Dan down the stairs, and Mart walked with Hallie, in case her knees got wobbly. “My feet went to sleep,” she explained. She patted the pocket of her shorts. “Anyway, I got what I came for—Ella’s crutch tips.”
“She has a wheelchair now,” Di told her happily. When they reached the desk, Trixie said, “Please, may I make a telephone call? And we do want to thank you for helping us.”
Little lady, I had no idea—” The clerk rubbed his head, picked up his crossword puzzle book, and put it down again. “Well, I just had no idea what was going on.”
“Plenty!” Trixie said briskly. “You’ll read all about it in the Sleepyside Sun!”
<
br /> Having been notified that Dan was safe, Regan and Mr. Maypenny couldn’t wait to see him, and they met the Bob-White station wagon on Glen Road, near the Lynch mailbox.
Both Regan and Mr. Maypenny jumped from the Wheeler car, followed by Matthew Wheeler and Peter and Bobby Belden. All the Bob-Whites exploded from the station wagon.
Peter Belden hurried to touch his niece’s thin face to make sure she was no mirage. Bobby wavered between Dan and Hallie, then went to investigate the mailbox. “There’s no mail today,” he announced.
Weak though he was, Dan met his uncle and the old gamekeeper in the middle of the road, glad to feel the comfort and strength in their hands and arms. He looked at the flower in Mr. Maypenny’s buttonhole and asked wistfully, “The wedding’s over? Did Juliana get her ring back?”
He turned to Regan. Tm sorry, Uncle Bill! I had to take the ring to keep those creeps from stealing it. The boss has a thing about diamonds. That night at the farm, Reddy let me know that he was somewhere near. When I had the chance to take the ring, I slid it off Juliana’s finger. I couldn’t stand to see her cry, but I couldn’t let anybody know what was going on till I tried to round up that gang and keep them from ruining the wedding.
“I planned to hide the ring and a note in Jim’s saddlebag, but Tom needed help with Jupiter just then, and I stuffed the ring in your desk. I was on my way back to get it when I saw one of the gang hanging around. I took off after him and chased him all the way to the inn. He got into the building through a window. I figured out that he was in room two-fourteen and watched it from the hallway inside. When that Dick Ryks came out, I followed him up to the third floor. He jumped me, and—you know how that turned out. I’ve learned that I’d better stick to working on the game preserve. I’m not very good as a detective!”
“Leave that job to the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency!” Jim advised proudly.
“Don’t forget the Bob-Whites and Hallie,” Honey chimed in.
Hallie’s berry-black eyes warmed with affection. “You’re a bunch of okay kids. You’ve got the smarts!”
“No, Hallie, that’s not quite right.” Trixie did her best imitation of a drawl and linked arms with her new friend. “You’re an okay kid yourself!”
“Oh, jeeps,” Hallie chuckled.
“That’s gleeps!” the Bob-Whites chorused.
The Suitcase Mix-Up • 1
What Did Bobby See? • 2
Off-Key Whistle ● 3
Where’s Di’s Invitation? • 4
A Distorting Phone Call • 5
Scooped • 6
Ashes From a Bonfire • 7
Bare Cupboards • 8
The Ring • 9
The Footprint • 10
A Frog Hunter ● 11
Teed’s and Wheels • 12
The Truth Seeker • 13
A Wedding and a Wheelchair • 14
Table of Contents
The Suitcase Mix-Up • 1
What Did Bobby See? • 2
Off-Key Whistle ● 3
Where’s Di’s Invitation? • 4
A Distorting Phone Call • 5
Scooped • 6
Ashes From a Bonfire • 7
Bare Cupboards • 8
The Ring • 9
The Footprint • 10
A Frog Hunter ● 11
Teed’s and Wheels • 12
The Truth Seeker • 13
A Wedding and a Wheelchair • 14
The Mystery of the Uninvited Ghost Page 15
