CHAPTER XVI The Missing Children
“Rama!” Peter exclaimed with satisfaction. “Now we’re getting somewhere,Angel. If we can just make sure this is not the ‘green doll’ that wasstolen from Mrs. Riker—”
“I’m almost sure it isn’t,” Judy exclaimed. “When Penny was talkingabout it, she kept referring to the dolly as ‘she,’ and this little idolis the figure of a young man. Besides, Peter,” she added excitedly,“when I was trying to think of the name of the Destroyer, Penny said thename was Sita. Then she said, ‘Oh, no, that was the name of the—’ andher mother made her be quiet. Oh dear,” she finished mournfully, “wefound Rama and lost Sita, and they should always be together.”
“Perhaps they will be, Angel, soon,” Peter promised mysteriously.
Judy eyed him curiously. “Don’t answer this if it’s confidentialinformation,” she began carefully, “but I’m just dying to know why itmakes a difference whether this green doll is the one Helen Riker had,or not.”
“I can’t answer your question specifically, Angel,” Peter said slowly.“But I can tell you one thing, because it will be released to the paperstomorrow anyway. There may not have been a robbery at all.”
“Peter!” Judy stared. “What do you mean? The art treasures are gone,aren’t they?”
“They were,” Peter said. “But we learned today that the Montrose Movingand Storage Company received an order to move the stuff to theirwarehouse on Thursday evening. The order is supposed to have come fromPaul Riker. My theory is that the old man saw the forest fire spreadingin the direction of his house, and wanted to save his treasures.However, the insurance people take a different view. They point out thatalthough the house did burn down, the forest fire was not the cause. Infact, the burned area around the site of the Riker mansion was whatstopped the spread of the forest fire in that direction. They think Mr.Riker wanted to ‘have his cake and eat it too,’ as the saying goes.”
“Peter!” Judy’s eyes were snapping with excitement. “Do you mean to tellme all those things have been sitting in a warehouse while everyone hasbeen trying to catch the robbers? But you yourself said only thisevening that you are on the trail of a number of green dolls. Oh,” shegasped, as the thought struck her, “that must mean the jade collectionisn’t—”
She stopped suddenly as Peter put a gentle hand over her mouth.
“I wouldn’t have been able to answer your next question, Angel,” hesaid, laughing at her startled expression, “so let’s change thesubject.”
“All right, Peter,” Judy laughed too, “at least we have one real robberyleft—those men who held up Helen Riker. Peter, they must have been themoving men! Honey recognized one of them.”
“There’s undoubtedly some connection, and we’ll investigate it,” Petersaid. “But I don’t think it’s quite as simple as it sounds.”
“You mean, there’s Helen Riker herself? I told her I was afraid I’dcaught the victim instead of the robbers. And do you know what she said,Peter? She said, ‘You may have caught them both.’ But she couldn’t beinvolved in a robbery that didn’t happen.”
“If that was a piece of stolen jade she was carrying around with her,she’s going to have a hard time proving her innocence,” declared Peter.
“Somehow, I can’t believe she’s really guilty,” Judy murmured.
“Perhaps not,” Peter said, “but we both know she’s holding somethingback. And if her husband was this millionaire’s nephew, why was shedriving a fifteen-year-old car hardly fit for the road?”
“Horace told you about the car, didn’t he?”
“Yes, and I mean to have a look at it. There’s still a lot we don’tknow.”
“And a lot I’m too sleepy to think about. There was one more thing Iwanted to tell you.”
“Good night, maybe?” Peter laughed. “I’m ready to turn in myself as soonas I run downstairs and make a couple of telephone calls.”
“At this hour?”
Peter laughed. “I won’t wake anybody up. I’ll put out Blackberry andlock up. By then you may have thought of it.”
He returned a few minutes later. Judy was still awake. She said a littledrowsily, “I know what it was. I wanted to tell you how she describedher uncle’s house, the quiet and everything, almost as if she used tolive there, but how could that be? Paul Riker was her husband’s uncle,not hers.”
“You knew my grandparents when I was a little boy,” Peter reminded her.
“That’s true. She must have lived near them. But there are no otherhouses near by except the caretaker’s cottage. Could she have been thecaretaker’s little girl?”
“Why don’t you ask her?” Peter suggested.
Judy said she would first thing in the morning. But morning brought newproblems. Mrs. Riker woke everybody up screaming that the children weremissing.
“I found a doll in Penny’s bed,” she wailed. “It was put there as awarning—”
“It was put there as a surprise,” Judy told her. “I tiptoed in and putit there myself. It’s my old doll, Buttercup, and there’s nothingmysterious about her. The children were all right then.”
“They aren’t now. This is too much!” Helen Riker cried, becominghysterical. “If those robbers entered the house during the night andstole them, I’ll never forgive myself. Maybe they think I lied to themwhen I said I didn’t know where Uncle Paul kept his jade collection.They may think if they hold the children they can force me to tell—”
“Wait a minute!” Peter stopped her. “Before you jump to any suchconclusions, tell me when you last saw the children.”
“Why, when I put them to bed.”
Peter made a quick investigation, and reported that no one had enteredthe children’s room except Judy and himself.
“What about their clothes?” he asked. “Are any of them missing?”
“They must be wearing their snow suits,” their mother began.
“And why not, on a nice snowy morning?” asked Peter. “It looks to me asif they just got up early and ran out to play.”
But Helen Riker still wouldn’t believe they hadn’t met with somedisaster.
“If they’ve decided to track those robbers down by themselves,” shewailed, “some real harm may come to them.”
“I’ll see that it doesn’t,” promised Peter.
Judy made three phone calls. Then she and Peter put on coats and bootsand began an exploration of the neighborhood. The new snow helped, andthey soon discovered that Penny and Paul had left a path from the houseto the barn and then across the shortcut to the North Hollow road.
Judy’s friend and nearest neighbor, Holly Potter, reported that she hadseen the children a half hour or so earlier. They were on their waytoward the new housing development, she thought.
“Muriel’s house is on the corner. They could have been on their waythere,” she added as Judy hurried off with Peter.
“I called Ricky and Muriel and Anne before we came out. They hadn’t seenthem,” she called back.
“That leaves Wally, doesn’t it?” asked Peter. “Did you think of callinghim? That’s where they were planning to have this magic show, wasn’tit?”
“Of course. Why didn’t I think of it? That’s where they naturally wouldgo. Let’s go back to the house and telephone.”
“I’ll get the car out and drive over and pick them up if you like,”Peter offered.
“All right, and in the meantime I’ll get breakfast started,” Judydecided. “What do you fancy this morning?”
“Pancakes would do very nicely. I’ve worked up quite an appetite.”
“Pancakes it is!”
They returned to the house hand in hand and enjoying the crisp morningair. Overnight it had changed from fall to winter. As Peter drove offalong the snowy road Judy waved to him and then turned to Mrs. Riker.
“He’ll find them. Don’t worry. Let’s go inside and have a nice hotbreakfast ready for them when they do come back.�
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Church bells were ringing, reminding them that it was Sunday morning.For Judy and Peter this was never a day for sleeping. Usually they droveto Farringdon and attended church with Judy’s parents and Peter’sgrandparents. Horace never missed a Sunday.
“Honey will be there, too. And Lois and Lorraine and all the other girlsI knew in high school,” thought Judy.
But when she suggested church to Mrs. Riker the young woman protestedthat she didn’t want to meet people.
“Not here,” she said. “Not yet.”
What did she mean? Judy had suggested the little white church in DryBrook Hollow, as it was already too late to drive to Farringdon, and thechildren had not yet returned.
“We might look for them in Sunday school if Peter isn’t back by teno’clock.”
Judy felt sure some of the neighborhood children might have invitedthem. She didn’t know why, but she just couldn’t share Mrs. Riker’sanxiety, although she could sympathize with her. The pancake batter wasready. Ten o’clock came and still no children. Mrs. Riker was the firstone to suggest walking over to the Sunday school.
They arrived just as all the children were singing:
“_Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest-home. All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin._”
“It’s Thanksgiving Sunday!” Judy whispered.
But Mrs. Riker was looking into the faces of the children and findingnothing to be thankful for. Her own were not there.
The Trail of the Green Doll Page 17
