The Red Trailer Mystery (5 page)

“Hello,” Honey called. “Can we do anything for you?”

He wheeled, stared at them for a minute as though trying to make up his mind about something, then came closer.

“Did you see my little girl?” he asked in a queer, low voice. “The one with the black braids?”

“Yes,” Honey and Trixie said together. “She brought back the puppy just before lunch.”

The man nodded. “We haven’t seen her since then. Did you notice where she went?”

“Through the woods,” Trixie said, pointing. “We wondered why she went off in the opposite direction from where you were parked.”

The man’s shoulders slumped. “Then she meant what she said,” he sighed, more to himself than to them. “I didn’t think she’d do it.” His face was expressionless, but he let out a groan of despair as he turned and
walked slowly back to the
Robin
. He climbed into the driver’s seat, said something to his wife which they couldn’t hear, and drove away down the road.

Honey and Trixie stared at each other in amazement. “He’s gone off and left her wandering around in the woods,” she gasped. “Oh, Trixie, what’ll we do?”

“We can’t do anything,” Trixie said. “We’d never find her in those thick woods, especially since it looks as though she doesn’t want to be found!”

Miss Trask called to them from the tow car. “All aboard, you two! We must get started if we want to reach Autoville before dark.”

Trixie and Honey climbed aboard the
Swan
and Honey stretched out on the davenport. Trixie clambered up to her bunk.

“You watch from your window,” Trixie said. “And I’ll watch from mine. Maybe we’ll pass Joeanne on the road. If she’s run away from her family she may have hidden beside the main highway until she saw the
Robin
go past. It would be easier walking on the road than through the woods.”

“But we don’t know which direction she’ll take,” Honey said sadly. “If she goes south we’ll never find her.”

“Well, she was going north when we saw her last,” Trixie pointed out.

“Why do you suppose she ran away, if she did?” Honey wondered out loud.

“The only reason I can think of,” Trixie said after thinking for a minute, “is that her father must be so cruel to her she couldn’t bear it any longer.”

“I don’t think he is cruel,” Honey broke in. “He didn’t look mean when he asked us if we’d seen her back at the lake. He looked—well, sort of beaten. I felt sorry for him.”

“Well, I didn’t,” Trixie said briskly. “He had no business driving off and leaving an eleven-year-old girl.”

“I know,” Honey argued, “but if Joeanne ran away there was nothing else for him to do. You said yourself nobody could find her in those woods.”

“He could notify the police,” Trixie said. “That’s what our family would do if we ran away and they couldn’t wait for us to come back.”

“Maybe he did,” Honey said. “Maybe he stopped at the next town.” She looked relieved at the thought. “The state troopers are probably combing the woods for Joeanne right now.”

“I wish I thought so,” Trixie said. “They’re so wonderful they’d find her right away. But somehow I have a feeling that shaggy-haired man doesn’t want to have anything to do with the police. There’s something
mysterious going on inside that trailer. I’m going to keep watching out the window for Joeanne.”

But she didn’t. The swim and the big lunch made her so sleepy she couldn’t keep her eyes open. When she woke up, they had stopped at the entrance to a large trailer park and Honey was rubbing her eyes and yawning.

“Oh, dear,” she sighed ruefully. “We both fell asleep. Here we are at Autoville.”

After Miss Trask had made arrangements with the proprietor for space and use of water and electrical connections, she drove the
Swan
down past a long line of parked trailers to the stand she had rented. Trixie and Honey jumped out, followed by the dogs.

“Why, this is a regular resort,” Trixie said, staring around her. Every stand had a tiny, flower-bordered lawn of its own, and in the middle of the landscaped park was an enormous swimming pool.

“That’s right,” Honey said. “Some people live here all the year round. They have oil burners and everything in their trailers.”

A uniformed attendant backed the
Swan
into its section of the auto village, and after giving Miss Trask a receipt, drove the tow car off to a parking lot.

“The tow cars,” Miss Trask explained, “are parked so you can sit in them and watch the outdoor movies.
And just beyond that area is the riding academy where you girls can rent horses.”

“This is going to be fun,” Trixie began excitedly and then stopped as a state trooper on a motorcycle appeared at the entrance to Autoville. “Honey,” she finished in a gasp. “You were right! He’s looking for Joeanne.”

After talking to the proprietor, the trooper walked slowly along the road that encircled the park and swimming pool, stopping at each trailer to ask questions. When he arrived at the
Swan
, he said to Miss Trask, “We’re searching for a stolen trailer, lady. If you happened to notice a large red one on the road anywhere, it would be a big help. Here are the license numbers.”

Miss Trask frowned as he handed her a slip of paper. “I’m not good at remembering numbers,” she said.

Trixie, appalled at the thought that Joeanne’s family was riding around in a stolen trailer, suddenly felt sorry for the shaggy-haired man. There must be some mistake, she decided. If he had stolen the
Robin
he wouldn’t have parked in public camps where he could easily be traced. And people who steal trailers don’t go riding around in the open, taking their children with them.

“But,” Miss Trask continued to the trooper, “we did see a big red trailer at the picnic grounds about twenty miles north of Poughkeepsie.”

“There are lots of red trailers in the world,” Trixie said quickly.

“And the one we saw couldn’t have been stolen,” Honey added. “The man who was driving the tow car had all his family with him.”

The trooper shrugged. “Well, I guess that wasn’t the one then. This is the fourth trailer theft reported in the last couple of weeks. And in each case we’ve found the trailer abandoned on a side road a short time after it was stolen.”

“How peculiar,” Miss Trask said. “Why should anybody steal something and then abandon it?”

The trooper frowned. “Not so peculiar as you might think. Whoever steals these trailers—and we suspect a gang—strips the interiors of everything valuable before he abandons them. People are awfully careless with trailers,” he went on. “They’re so big and so easily recognized, the owners feel confident nobody would try to steal them any more than a thief would try to steal a house. You’d be surprised how many people leave their keys in the tow car and go off for hours. All the thief has to do is drive into some isolated spot, transfer the trailer
equipment to his truck and drive away again.” He shrugged in disgust. “The guy who owned the red trailer we’re looking for now, left it hitched up, all ready to go, in his garage and left town for a week. He came back sooner than he had planned and now he’s yelling, ‘Help, help!’ to us.”

“He certainly invited trouble,” Miss Trask agreed. “And I’ll be very careful driving back with the
Swan
. Why, the fixtures in it must have cost several thousand dollars!”

“That’s right,” the trooper said. “The last one we found abandoned was minus a radio, an electric dishwasher, stove and refrigerator, all brand new. There’s a smart gang back of these robberies. They haven’t attempted to sell any of the loot yet. We figure they’ll wait till the excitement dies down, then they’ll load up a truck and try to dispose of the stuff in some other state.” He tipped his cap and moved on to the next trailer. “Got to keep on with the routine questioning,” he said over his shoulder, “but I haven’t much hope of finding the
Robin
until after the nest has been robbed.”

Miss Trask apparently had not heard him, but Honey and Trixie stared at each other. The
Robin!
Could there be two red trailers with that name?

“Well, girls,” Miss Trask said, glancing at her wrist watch, “it’s getting late. Let’s have dinner in the
restaurant. You can start housekeeping in earnest tomorrow.”

They strolled around the park to the big cafeteria which was really more of a clubhouse with a recreation room, library, and dance hall. Music was blaring from an electric record player and couples were dancing indoors and out on the wide screened porch. But Trixie hardly saw or heard anything. All she could think of was that the shaggy-haired man had stolen the
Robin
after all. And that meant he wouldn’t dare notify the police that Joeanne had run away. Where was the thin little girl now?

Trixie shuddered. It was growing dark, and she must be all alone in the woods, hungry and frightened. Hardly realizing what she was doing, Trixie stacked dishes on her tray and followed Miss Trask and Honey to a table. But before she could reach the table, a waiter with a huge tray of stacked soiled dishes cut directly in front of her. Trixie tried to turn, but people in line behind her had crowded too close, and the waiter’s tray crashed right into Trixie’s.

Trixie winced as hot spaghetti skidded along her bare arms, and then the stack of soiled dishes toppled to the cement floor with a deafening crash. Somebody near Trixie screamed and a man behind one of the counters yelled, “For Pete’s sake, Jeff, that’s the second
time this week. You’re as good as fired.”

The waiter scowled and turned on Trixie, spluttering with rage. “It was all your fault. You weren’t watching where you were going. You’ll have to pay for the damage, you stupid little fool!”

Trixie gulped guiltily. She
had
been lost in thought, but the waiter certainly had no business cutting right in front of her. “I’m sorry,” she began but both Miss Trask and the manager had hurried to the scene.

“All right, Jeff, all right, clean up this mess,” the manager said briskly.

“We’ll be glad to pay for the damage,” Miss Trask told him.

“It wasn’t the girl’s fault at all,” a man behind Trixie put in. “That waiter is a clumsy oaf.”

Jeff’s face reddened and he shook one fist threateningly as he shouted, “The customer’s always right, but I’m not going to pay for this wreckage. You can’t make me.”

Miss Trask slipped a bill from her purse but the manager waved it away. “That’s very kind of you, miss,” he said, “but I happened to see the whole thing and the young lady was not in the least to blame.” He added in an undertone to Jeff, “When you’ve cleaned up this mess come into my office. I’ve had about all the complaints I can take about you.”

Jeff darted a malicious glance at Trixie, but set to work obeying the manager’s orders. Later when things had quieted down, he passed close behind her chair on his way to the office. “I’ll get back at you for this,” he hissed. “Just wait and see.”

Trixie flushed, and Honey said quickly, “Don’t pay any attention to him.”

“But I can’t help feeling guilty,” Trixie said. “I’m not sure it wasn’t partly my fault. I think I’d feel better if the manager let me pay for some of that broken china.”

“Very well,” Miss Trask said. “Go and speak to him after dinner, but let’s eat now while things are hot.”

When she had finished her pie and ice cream, Trixie pushed back her chair. “You don’t need to wait for me. I’ll meet you back at the
Swan
.”

“I’ll come with you,” Honey offered, and the two girls left the cafeteria together. They hurried across the lobby to the offices in the back. Trixie knocked on the door marked
Manager
, and it was opened by the manager himself.

“I’d like to pay—” Trixie began, but he interrupted her with a smile and an apology.

“That man Jeff has a quick temper, but he is very much ashamed of himself. I’m sorry there was such an unpleasant scene. It won’t happen again, I assure you.”

He bowed the girls out of the room and closed the door before Trixie could protest. “Well, that’s that,” she told Honey. “But I don’t think Jeff is the least bit ashamed of himself. He’s as mad at me as he can be.”

They walked out of a side door to the veranda and waited for a minute to let their eyes get accustomed to the darkness before starting down the steps. From the shadows under the trees on the lawn came the sound of angry whispering, “You fool! Watch your step or you’ll get fired.”

“I tell you it wasn’t my fault,” someone whined defensively. “And I’m getting sick of toting dirty dishes all day long. Why don’t we swap jobs?”

Trixie clutched Honey’s arm. They had both recognized the whining voice. It was Jeff’s!

“Swap jobs,” the other voice whispered derisively. “You haven’t got the skill to do my work. You’re too clumsy and you know it.” A man moved out of the shadows and across the lawn. As he passed through the patch of light in front of the cafeteria Trixie saw that he was about the same height and weight as Joeanne’s father and had a crop of thick bushy hair. Then he disappeared into the shadows again. In a minute Jeff came out from under the trees and hurried through the back door of the restaurant.

Trixie and Honey went slowly down the steps and around the park. “It gets more and more mysterious every minute,” Trixie said. “Do you think the man Jeff was talking to is Joeanne’s father?”

“It certainly looked like him,” Honey said. “And what do you suppose they were talking about?”

“It didn’t make any sense to me,” Trixie admitted. “I’m all mixed up and so worried about that poor little girl all alone in the woods I can’t think straight.”

“Neither can I,” Honey agreed. “The only good part of it is that while we’re looking for Jim we can look for her at the same time.”

“That’s true,” Trixie said, cheering up a little. “Oh, Honey, we’ve just got to find them both!”

The next morning after breakfast Miss Trask spread out her map and marked the trails they should take to Pine Hollow Camp.

“You can’t possibly get lost,” she told them. “At least not for long. All the bridle paths, you see, come out sooner or later onto one of the main highways. And those routes converge at a point about a mile north of here. The worst that can happen to you is that you may keep riding in circles.”