Missing:

The House:

Trixie woke slowly, her head pounding as if she had been knocked out sometime after she was grabbed. Someone was wiping her face with a wet washcloth & she jerked away from the hand. A soothing voice stopped her short.

"Shh…it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

"W…where am I?"

"The House; I don't know where it's located, only that it ain't anywhere near the city."

"W…who are you?"

"You can call me Charlie, it's short for Charlotte. Can you sit up?"

"I…I think so."

With little effort, Trixie was sitting up against the wall. When she looked around, she noticed that she was in a bedroom, no bigger than her own at home. When she started to think of home and how she might never see her family or friends again, tears sprang to her eyes. Obviously, Charlie saw them & spoke up.

"Oh don't cry, please. I promise nothing will happen to you. If you cry, he'll come in and start hitting. What's your name?"

"Trixie…Trixie Belden."

"It's nice to meet you, Trixie. This is my sister Heather. She's asleep at the moment but when she wakes up, she'll be your best friend."

"How old are you Charlie?"

"I turned sixteen on Monday. That's why we were in the city. I had been good and he decided to reward me with a trip to the city, to the Twin Towers cause I had never seen them before.'
"What do you mean by 'you had been good'?"

"He took us too. Only probably not the same way he took you."

"Oh, so when my family and friends find me, they can rescue you and Heather at the same time."

"We won't be found, Trixie. He'd have made sure of that. Now, you should try and get some sleep. You can sleep with Heather. I need to get up and make him some food. Stay in the room and don't make a sound and listen to Heather when she wakes up. I'll be back soon."

With that, Charlie left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her…

The Police Get Involved:

It wasn't long before the Bed & Breakfast was swarming with cops. The Bob-White's, especially Brian & Mart were quite upset, having lost not only a sister but also a dear friend. Mr & Mrs. Belden had been called immediately and they were coming up with the help of Tom. Bobby was staying with Celia & Miss Trask who had given orders to Tom not to come back without any further news of the investigation. Tom had nodded his agreement.

When Tom & The Belden matriarchs showed up, everyone could tell that Mrs. Belden had been crying and that Mr. Belden was furious. The family and friends stayed together and though they looked all over New York for Trixie the remainder of Spring Break, they could find no sign of her & were forced to go back to Sleepyside empty-handed Sunday afternoon.

No one was happy about not finding Trixie…

Back to School:

The Bob-Whites returned to school the next Monday after Spring Break ended, sullen and not interested in their school work at all. During lunch, classmates noticed that one member of the Belden clan was vehemently missing and it was Tad Webster who asked the question.

"Hey, Mart, Honey. Where's Trixie at? It's not like her to miss school like this."

"You might want to sit down for this Tad." Mart said.

"Why, what's going on? What happened?" Tad asked as he sat down with the Bob-Whites. It seemed like the whole cafeteria was trying to hear what was about to be said cause it got quiet all of a sudden.

"We Bob-Whites went into New York City for Spring Break with Mr. & Mrs. Wheeler cause they said they'd take us to see the Twin Towers and it sounded like a swell vacation." Dan started.

"It was going fine and we were having a fun time until Trixie thought she saw an old classmate." Honey said.

"And we told her to forget it, that we didn't want any mysteries to solve this vacation. So we forgot about it for the next four days until we were all doing some homework in our rooms on the fourth night. Trixie and Honey shared a room with Brian & Jim in the adjoining room. Anyways, Honey went to ask Jim a question and wasn't out of the room more than two minutes when someone snuck into the room via the patio and kidnapped Trixie. We've been trying to finds her ever since."

"When did she go missing exactly? The date I mean?" Ta asked as Jim and Brian came up with some food.

"Thursday night, why?" Jim asked.

"Cause that's when Adam Fowler came to the station and asked Sgt. Mollinson to reopen the cold case involving his two kidnapped sisters. He said he thought he saw his sister Charlotte in the city while he was running errands."

"Hey, I remember that case. Charlotte & Heather, who were six & two at the time, were playing in the front yard together when they had been grabbed. Their mom & dad, after hearing the screams, came out to see what had happened and were shot in the head trying to get the kids back. Adam had been away at Basic Camp, doing his Army Training. The little girls were never seen again and no bodies were ever found." Brian finished.

"Oh, that's why Trixie thought she recognized the girl. Trixie must have seen a picture of her in a class photo. She'd be sixteen now." Mart said.

"So that means she and Brian were in the same grade." Diana said.

"So, if Trixie was grabbed by the same person who took Charlotte and Heather, there's a good chance that she's still alive." Jim said.

"Hang on; I don't think Sgt. Mollinson and my brother would like it if you guys got involved in this case, even if it might lead you to Trixie. But I will tell Spider that Trixie saw Charlotte last Monday before she was taken. That could be why she was taken in the first place." Tad said.

"Tad's got a point. Besides, Moms and dad aren't letting us out of their sight except to go to school & exercise the horses. We don't need to have them worried about us as well. We're going to let the police handle this mystery and NOT get involved, even if it pains us to set this one out." Brian finished.

"Agreed."

The group got up and headed in different directions. It wouldn't be long before the whole of Sleepyside knew that Trixie had been kidnapped.

Are the two cases connected? And will Trixie be rescued in time?...

Missing Poster:

Name: Beatrix 'Trixie' Belden

Hair: Strawberry Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 135lbs.

Last Seen: March 16th

If you've seen this girl, please call police at the number provided…

More to come in next chapter…

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