The Mystery of the Missing Heiress

always do. That doesn’t mean that I m not shaking all over. Where are we going?” To the garage. We can slip out the back door and over there. We can see the whole yard from that little window on the landing leading to the haymow. Thank goodness for that window. Our garage used to be a barn, remember. If I’m right, and if someone’s prowling around, we can call to Dad and the boys. Let’s go!”
    Trixie took Honey’s hand and led the way in the darkness.
    Down the stairs they stole, out the back door, then, between lightning flashes, into the garage.
    Click! The door slammed.
    “It’s the wind,” Trixie told Honey. “It’s getting stronger.”
    From their post at the window, they saw jagged heat lightning cut across the garden. Thunder muttered after it. A pine at the comer of the garage scratched ominously.
    Honey shivered. Her teeth chattered. “It’s so creepy out here, Trixie. Can’t we—”
    “Sh!” Trixie warned. “Look!” A chill rippled along her spine.
    Across the vegetable garden, near the fence, the shrubbery stirred before their watching eyes— stirred, then parted!
    A dark shape emerged, crouching, creeping, scuttling, running—straight toward the house and Janie’s window!
    “Quick!” Trixie gasped. “Let’s call my dad. Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
    “Help!” Honey echoed. “Help! Help! Help!” Their voices seemed lost in the thunder.
    They rushed down the stairs and pulled at the garage door.
    “It’s locked!” Trixie cried desperately. “Help me pull, Honey!”
    “I am helping! Oh... Trixie... we... can't... get... out!”
    “Yes, we can! The door locked itself. I heard it click when we came in. Oh, Honey, that mans going straight to Janies window! Yell! Yell like you never yelled before! Darn that thunder. Nobody can hear us! Yell! Pound! Pound hard on the door. Push! Lets both push together. Push hard with your shoulders. Push!”
    Wham!
    The door gave way, sending them sprawling. Trixie jumped up, then pulled Honey to her feet, and they ran, shouting, “Help! Help! Help!”
    Halfway to the house, Trixie saw the man turn and look back. Just then a flash of lightning picked out his features. Black, shining hair gleamed. From a crooked, contorted mouth, a hoarse voice snarled, “You!”
    “It’s Jim’s stepfather!” Trixie gasped. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
    Why didn’t someone turn on the lights in the house?
    Why didn’t someone hear their cries?
    Oh, why didn’t someone come to catch that man before he got away?
    Had he drugged everyone? Was... everyone... in... that ... house....
    In her agony, Trixie heard the sound of a starting motor, saw a red taillight disappear down Glen Road, and saw the car swallowed up in tree-shrouded darkness.
    Simultaneously the commotion inside the house became bedlam... a combination of falling furniture, cries of “Where are the lights?” Bobbys shrieks, doors slamming, and rushing feet.
    “Where are you, Trixie?” her father s voice called.
    “Trixie!"” Brian echoed.
    Mart’s and her mother s voices, high with fright, called, “Trixiel”
    “Here!” Trixie and Honey called. “Turn on the garage lightl”
    “The lights are all out, all over the house. What is happening?”
    “He must have cut the wires!”
    “Who? Stop muttering, Trixie, and pull yourself together.” Mr. Belden held his daughter dose to stop her shaking. “There, now, tell me... who cut the wires?”
    “Jim’s stepfather. We saw him. He came here to harm Janie. He was... going... toward... her window! Oh, Daddy!”
    “Harm Janie?Jones? Why?”
    “I don’t know. Daddy, where is Janie?”
    “I’m here, Trixie. Who is Jones?”
    “Thank heaven you’re all right, Janie. Daddy, where’s Reddy?”
    “Here,” Brian said grimly, “not twenty feet from the garage. Asleep... drugged.”
    “Here’s the thing that did it!” Mart cried, from near Janie’s window, holding up a shiny object. “Jim’s stepfather was going to drug Janie. Why?”
    “The sheriff will have to find out,” said Trixie, her voice shaking.

    It was almost daylight before the sheriff arrived. The telephone lines to Crabapple Farm also had been cut, so Mart and Brian ran to Manor House. Soon the whole area was alerted.
    Lights flashed on in houses.
    Jim, Brian, and Mart took off down Glen Road. Their search was in vain, for Jones had been clever. Cut wires had given him a start that would be impossible to overcome.
    Voices, voices everywhere.Trucks and cars