The Secret of the Unseen Treasure by Julie Campbell Read Free Book Online

couldn’t offer any help. What do you think I should have said?” He waited a moment for Trixie to answer. “Well?”
    Trixie reddened. “I thought maybe Mrs. Elliot saw something, but she—”
    “You’re circling again. Get to the point.” Trixie took a deep breath. “We made a list of people who had their checks stolen. It looks like yours was the last one taken, because the other checks delivered on Glen Road past here were received. We found the stolen checks today in the Wheelers’ lake.”
    Hartman nodded. “Go on. Why did you come here?”
    “The thief must have been scared away from what he was doing,” Trixie said. “Somebody must have seen him. Why else would he try to get rid of the checks?”
    Hartman smiled grimly. “So,” he said, “since my check was apparently the last one stolen, you thought that I might have seen the thief.”
    Trixie nodded.
    “And,” Hartman went on, “that if I had seen him, I deliberately avoided saying so to the police.”
    Trixie nodded again. “I’m sorry, sir.”
    “None of that,” Hartman said brusquely. “When you’re following a lead, you’ve got to follow it with no apologies.”
    Trixie stared at him.
    He laughed. “I’m an ex-cop. I’d still be on the Albany police force if they didn’t have mandatory retirement rules.” He turned to Brian. “Come here a minute, young man. I want to show you something.”
    Puzzled, Brian got out of his chair and walked toward Hartman. Suddenly, in a blur of motion, Hartman was out of his own chair and holding Brian in an armlock from behind. “Squirm out of it, boy,” Hartman urged. “Remember, I’m an old man.”
    Brian tried to free himself, first halfheartedly, then in earnest. He could not get loose.
    Hartman released him and patted Brian’s back. “I’m also an ex-judo instructor,” he said with a grin. “If I’d seen the thief, I’d have turned him over to Molinson... with a broken arm.”
    Brian nodded vigorously, gingerly rubbing his shoulder.
    “I’m usually waiting at the mailbox for the mailman when the checks are delivered,” Hartman said. “But that day, I was getting too many laughs watching something on TV with my bride.” He regarded Trixie. “Why are you so interested in checks stolen from old people?” Trixie explained how she and Honey hoped to be detectives someday. She also told about the arson attempt. “We thought that it was a warning, because Mrs. Elliot had seen the thief.”
    Hartman nodded.
    “But Mrs. Elliot couldn’t have seen him,” Trixie went on. “She was in White Plains that day. So was Max.”
    “And,” Brian added, “nobody farther up Glen Road saw him. No checks were stolen there.” Trixie scratched her head. “Now it looks like there’s no connection at all between the stolen checks and the arson attempt. But why else would anybody do such a terrible thing to Mrs. Elliot?”
    Hartman was deep in thought. “If Sam Elliot were still alive, then I’d think—” He stopped as Trixie leaned forward to hear what he was going to say.
    “No,” Hartman said. “Ethel Elliot is a good neighbor and a good friend. Her husband’s dead, so there’s no sense in bringing his name into this. You forget that I even mentioned it. Understand?”
    “But—” Trixie began.
    “Forget it,” Hartman said. It was final.

Discovery • 5

    JUNE LED THE WAY into July. But the clues that Trixie and Honey had hoped to pursue led nowhere. There was no answer to the question of why the checks had been stolen and then thrown away. There was no solution to the arson attempt. Mr. Hartman’s comment about Sam Elliot nagged at Trixie’s mind, but there was no answer for that, either.
    To make things more frustrating, Trixie was grounded—not as punishment, but because Jim and Brian were away as counselors at a boys’ camp. That left the Bob-Whites without a driver, since Dan, who had just got his driver’s license, was usually too busy helping Mr. Maypenny.
    Trixie