Part I

The pounding of Trixie Belden’s feet through the Wheeler preserve matched the beat of the loud music playing through her headset. Her mass of blond curls was pulled haphazardly into a messy ponytail that bobbed from side to side as she ran.  She held her phone in her right hand, while the headset wires dangled across her blue t-shirt and through her fingers.  On this particular Friday afternoon, Trixie had veered off her regular running course and had taken a new path through the preserve. The bright May sunshine reflected her happiness at the arrival of the weekend.  After running hard for several minutes, Trixie slowed down to a walking pace.  Glancing down in front of her, she wrinkled up her nose when she saw an open bag of trash lying in the long grass at the side of the path.

Who would throw away bag of trash in the preserve? she wondered.  Mr. Maypenny wouldn’t do that and I know that none of the Bob-Whites would do that either.

Trixie paused her running music and leaned down to pick up the bag of trash.  The bag wasn’t tied and it fell open as soon as she picked it up.

“Ewww,” said Trixie aloud.

She peeked inside the bag and saw some candy bar wrappers and empty potato chip bags.

“Whoever you are, you eat like a ten year old,” Trixie said as she closed the bag.  She attempted to tie it up, but a piece of paper was sticking out and kept the bag from closing.  When she tried to shove it back into the bag without actually touching it, she noticed that the paper was covered from top to bottom with letters.  Trixie’s curiosity piqued, and she carefully pulled the paper out to examine it more closely.  It resembled a word search puzzle that was written out on a piece of notebook paper.  The letters were handwritten, lined up neatly in rows and columns but they didn’t seem to spell anything.

Hmmm, this is kind of odd, Trixie thought.  I wonder what this paper is supposed to be. And where did it come from?

Trixie looked around to see if there was any more trash lying among the grass.  Remembering that the old schoolhouse was nearby, Tixie walked toward it, keeping her gaze focused on the ground in search of more debris.  When she reached the schoolhouse, she saw that the door was slightly ajar.  She carefully pushed it open and peered inside the dim room.

“Hello.  Anybody here?  Dan?  Mr. Maypenny?” Trixie called out.

Nobody answered her, so she cautiously entered the old structure, and immediately noticed that some changes had taken place.  The benches that Mr. Maypenny kept positioned against the walls had been pushed haphazardly toward the center of the room.  The feed that was usually stacked neatly on the benches was lying on the floor.  Trixie frowned as she looked around.  She knew that the schoolhouse was used for storage but she was fairly certain that the feed was not kept on the floor. She also knew that both Dan and Mr. Maypenny kept the small building tidy and securely closed up.  Looking around the interior, Trixie didn’t find anything else that was out of place.  She glanced into the wood stove and saw a piece of paper shoved to the back of it.  She pulled the paper out and found it was covered with the same columns and rows of letters as the paper she had found in the preserve.  Trixie thought about what she had discovered that morning.

“Apparently, somebody has been in this schoolhouse and whoever it was, they rearranged it and left it that way,” she muttered to herself.  “And it seems that they wrote out these papers but I can’t figure out if they actually say anything or not.  Gleeps!  Who did this, and when,and why did they do it?  What if it’s somebody who shouldn’t be here?”

Trixie’s mind began to race as she mentally started sorting through various theories of the mystery that she had stumbled upon.  After a final check of the schoolhouse, Trixie closed the door and walked around the outside of the building.  After carefully poking through the weeds that grew up around the old structure, she was disappointed to find nothing else around the back of the old schoolhouse.  She folded the papers and, stashing them in the pocket of her running shorts, she tracked back to the path and finished her run, returning to Crabapple Farm.

When Trixie got home, she grabbed a glass of cold water from the refrigerator and went straight to her room.  After carefully pulling the folded papers out of her shorts’ pocket, she laid them on her desk.  She quickly toed out of her running shoes, yanked her shirt over her head and pulled off her shorts, then tossed them into a heap in the corner of her bedroom.  Trixie shoved her pile of despised schoolbooks to the floor and spread the papers out on her desk, smoothing out the folds and wrinkles with her hands.  Stepping back, she grabbed her water and took a long, quenching swig.  Trixie rummaged through her dresser until she found a comfortable t-shirt and a clean pair of shorts.  She quickly put those on and then returned to her desk and studied the papers.  She tried to find hidden words within the rows and columns.  She tried creating patterns and words by counting spaces, skipping letters, or linking them together backwards.  Nothing produced any readable outcome.

What if these papers aren’t a word search game? she thought.  What if they are actually some sort of secret code?

Trixie paced around the cozy room, her mind excited by the new theory she had created.  Her concentration was interrupted by the sound of her mother’s voice.

“Trixie! Trixie!”

“Yes Moms,” Trixie answered through her closed bedroom door.

“I need you to come set the table and finish the salad.”

“Okay.  Be right down!”

Trixie frowned at the mysterious papers on her desk.  “You and I are not through,” she murmured to them.  Determined to return to the papers after dinner, Trixie folded them up and slid them into her desk drawer.

 

The next day was warm and sunny again.  Trixie finished her morning chores in a hurry and grabbed her running gear, eager to get back to the preserve and search for more clues.  She jumped off the back terrace and headed directly toward the old schoolhouse, following the same course she had run the day before.  Keeping her eyes to the ground as much a she could without tripping herself up, she cast them back and forth in search of more papers.  To her disappointment, she couldn’t find any.  When Trixie got to the schoolhouse, she pushed open the door and, entering the simple room, she found it exactly as she had left it the day before.  She quickly checked out the rest of the schoolhouse before concluding that nobody had been there since her previous visit.

“Hmmm...I guess I won’t find any more clues today,”  Trixie said to the silent room.

With a disappointed shrug, Trixie closed the door, secured it and finished her run.  She knew she had to get back to the farm and get herself cleaned up for a Bob-White meeting that was scheduled for later that morning, and she didn’t want to be late.  She was hoping that if she got to the clubhouse early enough, she might have an opportunity to discuss her new schoolhouse mystery with Honey.  With that goal in mind, Trixie’s feet carried her back through the preserve to Crabapple Farm.

Trixie hurried into the house, grabbed some water and ran up to her room where she quickly stripped off her running clothes.  She changed into a fresh pair of shorts and a bright tank top, then gathered her mop of blond curls into a ponytail, Trixie gave her mirror a quick glance then immediately dismissed the reflected image, not seeing the pretty face and the clear, sparkling blue eyes that others saw.  Stuffing her feet into her Toms shoes, she tore down the stairs.

“Trixie,” Moms called, “don’t forget that you promised Bobby that you would help him clean his room today.”

“Oh Moms, why can’t he clean it himself?” Trixie complained, her hand resting on the knob of the backdoor.

“Trixie, you know very well that he made that huge mess when you were supposed to be keeping an eye on him Thursday afternoon.”

“But Moms, he’s nine years old.  I’m pretty sure he can handle his own room.”

Moms looked at her only daughter, eyebrows raised in discernment.  Trixie shrugged her shoulders.

“Alright Moms.  I have a Bob-White meeting.  I can help him after that,” Trixie promised.

With that pledge in place, Trixie rushed out of the kitchen and ran to the clubhouse.

When Trixie entered the clubhouse, slightly out of breath from running all the way, she found the Bob-Whites sitting around the old table.  Trixie forced herself to smile at the group, disappointed that she wasn’t able to meet privately with Honey before the meeting started.  Diana was sitting very close to Mart and talking with him.  Trixie knew that if she looked under the table, she would see the two holding hands.  Honey was in her usual seat, with papers spread out in front of her.  The only open chair was next to Dan, so Trixie slid into that chair.  She apologized for being late.

“Oh Trix,” Honey chirped.  “You’re not late.  We all got here early, although I really think Mart came early to get a head start on the snack.”

Trixie breathed a sigh of relief.  “Thank goodness.”  That last thing she wanted was to have to pay into the treasury the penalty for being late.

Mart looked up from his whisperings with Diana.  “At the risk of offending our co-president, I suggest we commence this meeting,” he announced.

The four Bob-Whites gave Honey their full attention, and she shared with them that the food pantries in Sleepyside needed to be restocked.  After looking around the table, Honey asked for suggestions on how to do that.  As the others talked, Trixie sat back in her chair, her mind clearly elsewhere.

“Pssst!  Hey, where are you?” Dan whispered in her ear.

Trixie looked up into the familiar dark brown eyes that were now tinged with curiosity.

“Nowhere.  Just listening to you guys,” Trixie lied.

“Yeh, right. I know you better than that,” Dan challenged.

“What could I be up to?  I go to school.  I do my chores....”  Trixie's voice trailed off as she looked at Dan.

“I’m not buying it, Belden.”  Dan continued to watch Trixie closely.

“Fine, can I talk to you later?” asked Trixie, squirming under Dan’s scrutiny.

“Right after the meeting, we can take a walk.”

”Okay,”  Trixie agreed

“Ahem.  Are you two done whispering?” asked Honey.  “Because we need to make some sort of decision so we can start working on this project.”

“That’s right, you two.  We need to made a decision so we can get on to the refreshment facet of this assembly,” added Mart.

Trixie and Dan looked up at the rest of the group.  Both apologized and the meeting continued.

The Bobwhites decided to place big receptacles in various stores throughout Sleepyside.  The receptacles would be painted with summer-themed pictures of families picnicking and barbecuing.  The hope was that the attractive containers would spur citizens to fill them with supplies for the food pantries.  Diana was excited because she was going to be doing all the painting of the family scenes.

After a decision was achieved by the group, Diana reached into the cooler behind her and grabbed a box of chocolate cupcakes and bottles of cold, sweet tea.

“Ahhh yes, now we’re at the most important segment of this Bobwhite function,” said Mart through a mouth full of chocolate icing.  The remaining members rolled their eyes and continued discussing the particulars of their plan.

Later, the clubhouse emptied as the Bobwhites went their separate ways.  Mart chose to escort Diana home. The two left hand-in-hand, Mart pulling the cooler behind him.  Honey, eager to get started on the letters she was planning to send to the local businesses requesting their help, rushed back to the Manor House.  Dan and Trixie stayed behind to tidy up the clubhouse.  They quickly got rid of any garbage and straightened the chairs.  After locking the door, the two began a quiet walk through the preserve.  Trixie led them in the direction of the old schoolhouse.  Dan kept pace with Trixie, saying nothing, but waiting for her to begin.

“Dan, you and Mr. Maypenny use the old schoolhouse for storage, right?” Trixie asked tentatively.

“Trix, you know we do,” answered Dan.

“What do you keep in there?”

“Just some extra bags of feed.  Why?” he asked.

“Well,” Trixie began.  “When I was out running through the preserve yesterday, I found that the schoolhouse door was open.  When I checked it out, it appeared that somebody had been in there.”

“What makes you think somebody had been in there?”

“The bags of feed were on the floor and the benches had been moved around.  I didn’t think you kept the feed on the floor,” Trixie explained.

“No, I don’t,” Dan acknowledged.  “Wait, what made you go into the schoolhouse in the first place, Trix?”  he asked, slightly confused.

Well, I found a bag of trash along the trail,” Trixie hesitated a bit as Dan frowned slightly.

“Go on,” Dan encouraged.

“Well, the bag was near the little path that leads to the schoolhouse.  So I followed the path to see if there was any more trash.  When I got to the schoolhouse, I could see that the door was cracked open a little bit.  So I went in to check it out.”

Dan looked at Trixie sharply.  “Trixie, I don’t like that you went into the schoolhouse by yourself.  Especially knowing that something was off.  Somebody could have been in there.”

“Right, Dan,” Trixie rolled her eyes.  “I called out for you and Mr. Maypenny before I went in. Nobody answered so I was pretty sure that there was nobody inside.”  Trixie’s frustration registered on her face.

“Still...,” he argued.

“Dan, stop it.  I am telling you what I found.  What do you think?  Does it sound like somebody is trespassing in the preserve?”

“I don’t know, Trix.  Don’t jump to conclusions.  I’ll have to check it out.  And I will have to ask Mr. Maypenny if he has seen anything.  But until we know for sure, I think that if you are determined to run through the preserve, you should keep your eyes open.”

Trixie exhaled loudly.

Dan glanced at her, a smirk creeping up on his face, “On the other hand, I could run with you, although you would have to work around my schedule.”

Trixie snorted at the suggestion, “Mangan, I am not getting up at four thirty in the morning so that I can have an escort with me when I run.”

“Yes, but then I wouldn’t have to worry about you running around and stumbling into a mystery or two.”

“Dan,” Trixie sniffed.  “I never stumble into a mystery.  They are simply attracted to me.”

Dan smiled at Trixie, but he was also concerned.  He noticed her guilty expression.

“Was there anything else about the schoolhouse that you haven’t told me yet?” he asked.

Trixie nodded her head.  “I also found some papers that were covered with rows and columns of letter, just letters.  I found one piece of paper along the trail, in the bag of trash.  But I also found one in the old wood stove in the schoolhouse.  At first I thought it was some kind of a word search puzzle, but I couldn’t find any words in the letters.  I have no idea what they mean.  They could even be a top secret code, for all I know.”  Trixie tried to laugh at her own suggestion, but found that she couldn’t.

Dan groaned inwardly.  He could see where Trixie’s mind was going.

“So Dan,  what do you think could be going on in the preserve and in the old schoolhouse?” Trixie asked excitedly.

Dan said nothing as his eyes scanned the wooded area.  He wondered what his friend could have discovered in the preserve.  He was uncomfortable with the fact that that neither he nor Mr. Maypenny had noticed anything amiss.  He started to speak, but Trixie interrupted him.

“Gleeps!  Sorry Dan.  But I need to cut this short.  I promised Moms that I would help Bobby clean his room today.  She let me go to the meeting, but only because I promised to help afterwards.   Although why he can’t do it himself is beyond me.  Brothers! “  Trixie said, throwing her hands up in the air.

The two said their goodbyes with Dan shaking his finger at Trixie and warning her again to be careful.

 

Trixie hurried home with the intent of assisting her brother.  But when she got upstairs, she turned abruptly and went into her room.  She pulled the papers from her desk drawer and studied them.  After a quick perusal of the papers, Trixie concluded that she still couldn’t make any sense of the arrangement of the letters.  She decided that a meeting with Honey was necessary and made plans to visit the Manor House.  Folding the papers, she carefully placed them in the pocket of her shorts.  She ran out of her room and had started down the stairs when she was interrupted by Bobby sticking his head out of his room.

“Hey Trix.  Moms said you have to help me clean my room.   Are we going to do that now?” he asked.

“Oh Bobby,” Trixie stopped on the steps and looked back at her brother.  “I promise we’ll do that this afternoon.  I just have to check something out with Honey.  I’ll be quick.  I swear!”

“Okay, I’m not really in a hurry to clean anyway,”  Bobby shrugged his shoulders as he disappeared back into his room and shut the door.

Trixie ran down the stairs and out the back door.  She jogged up the path to Manor House and jumping onto the front porch, she pounded the brass knocker on the door, which was promptly opened by Celia.

“Hi Celia, Is Honey around?” Trixie asked, smiling at the pretty maid.

“Yes, Trixie.  She is upstairs.  Please come in.”  Celia stepped back and led Trixie into the elegant entry way where Trixie’s feet sunk into the plush rug that covered the shiny floor.  Trixie thanked her and sped up the stairs to Honey’s room.

“Hey, Honey,” Trixie said as she entered her friend’s bedroom.

Honey looked up from the stack of papers she held in her hand.  “Whew!  Am I glad to see you.  I can definitely use a break from these letters I am writing to local businesses.  I am trying to be very persuasive.  Oh Trix, it will be so great if they let us put a food collection box in their establishments.”

“Establishments?” Trixie giggled.  “I can see you spent too much time with Mart today.”

Honey grinned and shrugged.  “Probably.   What’s up?”  she added as she noted her friend’s excited face.

“Okay, so here’s the deal.”  Trixie shared her story of her run through the preserve and how she found the bag of trash, the old schoolhouse door slightly ajar and the papers covered with an array of letters, then she pulled out the pieces of paper and showed them to Honey.  They spread the papers out and leaned down and examined them together.  But Honey had no more luck at deciphering the papers than Trixie had.

“Did you try looking up codes or ciphers on the computer?” Honey asked.

Trixie shook her head.  “Not yet.”

 Honey got up off the bed and went over and flipped on her computer.  The two girls did a search for cipher codes and how to break them but still came up with nothing.  Trixie lay back on Honey’s white eyelet bedspread and dangled her head over the edge of the bed.

“Okay, so I couldn’t figure it out and you and I can’t do it.  Now what should we do?”  Trixie moaned.

“I agree that the paper is mysterious,” Honey said.  “But Trixie, are you seriously telling me that you think there is some stranger wandering around the preserve who left these odd notes behind?  And even worse, may have trespassed into some of the buildings?”

“Yes.  That’s what all this seems to indicate,” said Trixie as she sat up.

“I really need to tell Daddy.  Dan and Mr. Maypenny may need to beef up their patrolling of the preserve.  By the way, Trixie, did you tell Dan about this?”

Trixie nodded and told Honey about her conversation with Dan.  “He’s going to keep his eyes open.  But he hasn’t noticed anything going on.  And now he doesn’t want me running through the preserve alone.”

“I think I agree with him.  And don’t get any ideas Trixie because I am NOT going to be running with you.”

“Why Miss Wheeler, when did you become so difficult?”  Trixie tried to act offended, but instead burst into giggles.  Honey watched as her friend’s face became serious again.

“I’m really stumped, Honey.  Why can’t we figure this out?  What kind of code is this?  Is it even a secret code?  And how did this paper get into the stove in the old schoolhouse?  Oh gleeps, the computer was absolutely no help!”  Trixie threw herself back down onto Honey’s bed.

“Hey, I have an idea.” Honey cried, jumping up.  “Let’s go down to the library.  I’m sure Daddy has a book or two on deciphering codes.  Maybe we can find a clue in one of them.”

Trixie stood up.  “What are we waiting for Honey?  We may be able to solve part of this mystery today.”

The two girls left Honey’s bedroom and hurried downstairs to the Wheeler library.  Honey located a book that explained ciphers and codes.  They settled themselves on the leather couch and eagerly looked through the book.  Although they learned a lot about different types of ciphers, they found nothing that would help them with the papers that Trixie had found.

“That’s that!” Trixie exclaimed as she slammed the book shut.  “I thought for sure that we would find something that would help us.”

Honey nodded, staring at the book in front of her.

“So if we can’t figure out what is written on the papers, maybe we should look into who could have left them in the old schoolhouse,” Honey decided.

“Agreed,” Trixie said.  “But where do we start the search?”

“Well,” said Honey slowly.  “I guess we should talk to the people who are in the preserve the most.”

After further discussion, the girls decided that they should first talk to Regan to find out if he had seen anything unusual while out exercising the horses.

“But,” cautioned Trixie, “we have to be careful what we say.  We don’t want him getting suspicious and limiting our rides in the preserve.”

“Trixie,” admonished Honey.  “You aren’t going to continue to wander around the preserve alone are you?”

“I don’t wander,” Trixie grinned.  “I run and I always have a destination.”

“Not any more.  Not until we solve this mystery,” ordered Honey.

“Then let’s try to solve it today,” said Trixie as the two girls linked arms and headed toward the stable.