Read Online The Mystery of the Castaway Children by Julie Campbell - Free Book Online

a thing like that.”
    The sergeant paced about the room, evidently thinking deeply. The Dodges, Trixie, and Honey watched him silently. The baby slept on his mother’s lap. Trixie could hear the ticktock of that upstairs clock.
    Eileen smiled slightly, noticing that Trixie was listening to the clock. “We didn’t sell the clock,” she said. “It’s been in our family for generations, and Davy likes it. He says it puts him to sleep at night and keeps him company if he happens to wake up.”
    Trixie tried to return Eileen’s smile, but it died before it reached her lips. Where was Davy tonight? No place where an antique clock chimed, she could bet on that.
    David looked at Trixie. “Tell us about Dodgy.”
    Again Trixie repeated the story of the discovery of the baby in the doghouse, and of the care he had received since then. “He has bruises we can’t account for,” she said.
    “Bruises!” Hastily Eileen Dodge lifted the gown to examine the tiny body. The sounds she made showed both her outrage and her deep concern. “I don’t understand this. Dodgy has never even had a rash!”
    “Were there any clues to show how he got to the doghouse?” David asked.
    “I found a horseshoe nearby,” Trixie told him.
    “Could have ridden Wicky?” Eileen asked her husband.
    “ ?” Honey repeated.
    “That’s Davy. We re such a nicknaming family,” Eileen explained. “ is for David Dodge, Junior. Dodgy is for Robert, because we started out calling him the new Dodge. had a pony named Wicky, short for Wickcliff. I thought Wicky was sold at the auction, but might have got his hands on him first.”
    “Putting a baby in a doghouse sounds like something a child Davy’s age might do,” David Dodge mused.
    “I agree with you,” Sergeant Molinson said, stopping his pacing to stand beside Trixie’s chair. “But how does that fit in with the second note?”
    “I think—” Both Trixie and Honey began to speak at the same time.
    Trixie often spoke from impulse, while Honey was more apt to reason. With Sergeant Molinson actually allowing them to work with him, even just for the evening, they really ought to make the best impression. “You go first,” urged Trixie.
    Honey’s pretty face flushed with earnestness. “I think, for the safety of both children, we can’t ignore the possibility that the note is genuine. I—I don’t know why a ransom note would be sent after Davy had run away, but it does tell me that someone is watching this house. Somebody knows the boys are missing and—”
    “—and that person wants to take advantage of it. Is that what you’re saying?” the sergeant asked sharply.
    Honey’s skin was not as thick as Trixie’s. It obviously rattled her to be spoken to in that tone of voice, but she stood her ground bravely. “Yes, sir. I’m wondering what will happen to Davy when they discover that the baby has been found and returned home.”
    “And,” Trixie added quickly, “what if they decide to snatch Dodgy when they see he’s back here?”
    “What’ll we do?” Eileen Dodge gasped. Frantically her eyes darted from the baby to her husband, then to the sergeant, Trixie, and Honey.
    Again the sergeant paced, and again Trixie could hear the clock, as well as the hum of the refrigerator and a sound that might have been an electric fan in a bedroom. Trixie had the kind of mind that was receptive to what her five senses told her, and she had the ability to place bits and pieces of information into mental pigeonholes for further reference. Mart said she would never be a poet, but who cared? She was going to be a full-fledged detective one day! Now that she was technically doing police work, that day seemed to move into some middle ground between the future and the present.
    “We could take the baby back home with us,” Trixie suggested finally.
    The sergeant looked skeptical, then glanced at his wristwatch. The strain of his long day was beginning to show on his face. “I can’t think