Read Online The Mystery of the Blinking Eye by Julie Campbell - Free Book Online Page B

here, Trixie.”
    “Looks to me like Honey and I have work here for our detective agency.”
    “Looks to me like we’ll never get anything to eat,” Mart said with a twinkle in his eye. “And you know how I feel about food.”
    “Yes, you will, too, Mart Belden,” Trixie said indignantly. “We’ve brought all kinds of good things to fix for dinner. We stopped at those stores on Fiftieth Street—”
    “And we’re all going to pitch in and help,” Brian said. He walked into the kitchen and began unloading the individual items from the grocery bag.
    “You just sit down and rest, Miss Trask. We’ll have everything on the table in a jiffy,” Trixie said. “You’ll be our guest.”
    “That will be very nice. I can’t sit still, though. I’m too nervous.” Then Miss Trask brightened. “I’ll straighten up your room.”
    “You will?” Trixie exclaimed. “You darling, darling Miss Trask! I hate to straighten up anything. I’ll make a special portion of beef stroganoff just for you.”
    Miss Trask’s eyebrows went up; then her face relaxed in a smile. “I’ll like that, Trixie. Beef stroganoff, indeed!”

Wrong Number • 8

    TRIXIE GAVE JIM and Brian lettuce to wash, tomatoes to peel, and green onions to cut up for the salad.
    “The only thing I could cook would have so much garlic in it that we’d be run out of the apartment,” Dan said with a smile. “Anything I can do, Trixie?”
    “You and Ned can run around the corner to that little store and get some colas,” Trixie said. “We’ll want some later in the evening, and there isn’t a single bottle here.”
    “Bring some popcorn, too,” Honey added and gave Dan the housekeeping purse. “Maybe some extra butter, too. We may want popcorn after dinner.”
    “You don’t have much confidence in my cooking, do you?” Trixie said, laughing. “To be real truthful,
    I’m curious to see what I’ll turn out myself.”
    “If you need a chicken sewed up, I can do that,” Barbara said.
    “I’m pretty good with a needle, too,” Honey said, “but just suppose Barbara and I set the table. I’m sure we can handle that.”
    “I’ll help Trixie,” Diana said. “I know how to make Chinese fried rice.”
    “That would be keen!” Mart said. “Now who would like to sample my mashed potatoes avec fines herbes?”
    “ You made that up!” Diana said.
    “I did not! I ate potatoes with herbs one time at that French restaurant where we were the other evening. I asked the chef what was in them. I’ll bet my potatoes will taste every bit as good as his!”
    “Ooo-la-la!” Dan said and pretended to twirl a moustache. “Don’t shoot, Mart. I’m on my way.”
    An hour later, the apartment was filled with delicious fragrances. The aroma of crisped beef blended with that of half a dozen herbs and spices. Trixie had flour on her nose, apron, and hands, but she smiled triumphantly. “My beef stroganoff is perfect!” she declared.
    “Stop tasting it, then,” Mart said, smiling. “There won’t be any left.”
    “Oh, yes, there will be,” Trixie sang. “I made the recipe that was supposed to be used for sixteen. I just hope you like it. You’ll have it again tomorrow.”
    She was wrong. There wasn’t a bit left of the delicious sliced brown beef smothered in sour cream, spices, onions, and tomatoes. Served with Diana’s delicious fried rice, it was perfect. Mart, too, surprised the girls by the way he cooked potatoes to the right fluffiness, put them through a ricer, and produced his French version of mashed potatoes.
    “What did you put in them?” Barbara asked as she reached for the dish and helped herself a second time.
    “Grated cheese,” Mart ticked off on his fingers, “sour cream, nutmeg, mace, thyme, chives, and lemon juice. Then,” he added dramatically, “just a taste of sesame seed, dill, and rosemary.”
    “I never heard of any of those things, except cheese,” Dan said, “but the tout ensemble — c'est