Read Online Mystery in Arizona by Julie Campbell - Free Book Online

being a flop, Di. You and Trixie have had plenty of experience doing household chores. But don’t forget that my mother never made a bed or washed a dish or dusted a table in her life. What little I learned about such chores was at camp and boarding school. I’m really no good at all.”
    The Indian girl turned slightly to smile at Honey. “I, too, learned what I know about housekeeping in boarding school … here in Tucson. My home on thereservation is not like this. My ancestors were great chiefs so we live in a hogan as they did. Like the Orlandos we feel that it is important to live up to the letter of old customs.”
    Honey smiled back at her. “Uncle Monty said that your father was a famous silversmith. You must have some truly beautiful jewelry, Rosita. Will you let us see some of it this evening?”
    Rosita shook her head, rather sadly, Trixie thought. “Your uncle is mistaken. I have no jewelry.”
    It was all Trixie could do to keep from crying out, “Why? What happened to it? You must have been wearing it this morning when you applied for the job here, otherwise Uncle Monty wouldn’t have mentioned it.”
    Was there some mystery connected with Rosita? Was it just a coincidence that she had arrived, badly in need of a job, so soon after the Orlandos’ departure?
    Before she could stop herself, Trixie blurted, “Why did you leave school in the middle of your senior year, Rosita?”
    Honey kicked Trixie under the table and said tactfully, “Will you teach me what you learned in school about housekeeping, Rosita? I know how to dust and make beds but—”
    “That’s all you need to know,” the Indian girl replied. One slim hand moved restlessly up and down her bare arm and Trixie could almost see the bracelets which should have been there but weren’t. “You are sure, Honey, that your parents will not object when they learn that you are working here as a maid?”

    “Of course not,” Honey told her, laughing. “Why should they?”
    Rosita’s dark eyebrows shot up. “My parents would object very much; that is why I cannot let them know why I am here. They only know that I am here as the guest of Maria for the holidays.”
    “Oh,” Trixie said, “then you’ll go back to school when the vacation is over?”
    “No.” Rosita’s voice was very sorrowful now. “That I cannot do.” She jumped up, her small brown hands clenched to her sides. “If the Orlandos come back I do not know what I shall do or where I shall go.” And she slipped away through the swinging doors into the kitchen.
    The three girls stared at one another in amazement. “Well,” Trixie said, “at least one mystery is cleared up. She couldn’t get a job at just any ranch. She had to go someplace where her parents will think she is a guest.”
    “But why?” Di and Honey asked in one voice.
    “Because she’s run away from school,” Trixie toldthem. “Or maybe she was expelled or flunked all her subjects.”
    “Something like that must be the answer,” Honey agreed. “But it’s hard to believe.”
    “I
don’t
believe it,” Di said flatly.
    Trixie shrugged. “She told us herself that her parents don’t know that she’s working here. Unless she’s done something wrong, why should she keep it a secret?”
    “I can’t answer that question,” Di admitted, “but nobody as sweet and pretty as Rosita is could have done anything really wrong. Maybe she left school because she got sick and tired of studying. Goodness knows, you and I feel like that about school most of the time, Trix.”
    “Don’t mention the word,” Trixie moaned. “Not in connection with me, I mean. Between our chores and the assignments Jim and Brian are going to give me, I don’t suppose I’ll ever get a chance to do any riding.”
    Mart chose that moment to deposit his tray on the girls’ table. There were two platters on it and they were heaped high with delicious-smelling food.
    “Eat while the eating’s good,” he advised them.