"What is it, Trixie?" Miss Trask asked, startled at the crowd of youngsters now gathered around her and Regan at the front of the Wheeler house.
"We should sit down for this," Honey said, shooting her best friend a look, "it will probably take a while."
Once the group was seated restlessly around the couches in the family room, Jim said, "Bobby, do you want to go play with Patch? He's outside with Reddy."
"Okay," the youngest Belden said with a shaky voice, trudging off to go find Jim's spaniel.
"Okay, spill it Trixie," Honey said with a ferocity that surprised everyone.
"Yeah," Dan said. "Dr. Ferris and Sergeant Molinson will be here soon, and nobody knows what the hell is going on."
"Sergeant Molinson and Dr. Ferris?" Miss Trask said, sounding worried.
"What's going on, guys?" Regan said seriously.
"Yeah, we get home and all we hear is that we should meet you here and you've call the police," Brian said, looking incredulously at Trixie, Honey, Dan and Jim. "Explain."
"Ask Trixie," Honey said, traces of bitterness in her voice. "I have no idea."
Trixie took a deep breath before starting, not knowing how to start. "I think our parents were poisoned."
A round of uproar erupted throughout the room.
"What?" Brian said, being the only clear voice heard through the sound.
When they all started looking at her for an explanation, she sighed.
"You all know that they were asleep for a while this morning," she began.
"Yeah, because they all had hangovers!" Mart exclaimed.
"That's what I thought at first too," she started, trying to explain herself. "But—"
"No 'buts' Trixie, this is getting too far," Brian said, looking hardly at Trixie. "If you think that Moms and Dad were poisoned then—"
"Just let her speak," Jim said tiredly, looking down at his lap.
Brian looked surprisingly at his friend. "Do you really think that our parents were poisoned?"
"Well maybe if you'd let her speak you'd find out!" Jim snapped back.
"Guys!" Regan called. "Just let her continue and you can argue about it later." He shook his head, waving a hand for Trixie to continue.
She looked at Jim and Brian uncertainly before gulping. "Yeah, Brian, I think they were poisoned, and I have proof." When she received no response, she continued. "I was worried about it ever since before lunch, especially when I went to check on Moms and Dad." She took a breath before continuing. "When I went in, I smelt something."
"Something?" Honey asked, looking curiously at her friend.
"It was really faint, but it still hit me when I opened the door." She took a breath. "Cyanide."
Jim sat up. "Did it smell just like cyanide or was it like the stuff we smelt in the game preserve?"
Trixie hesitated. "I'm not sure," she said, trying to think. "When I went in at first, I thought I was imagining things."
"At first?" Miss Trask asked.
"When we came back and they were still asleep, I started to get suspicious."
Jim stood up. "When you opened the Lynch's car door, you were smelling it, weren't you?"
Trixie nodded.
"And you smelt the cyanide," Honey said, understanding evident in her voice.
Trixie nodded once more. "I checked Mr. Lynch's pulse," she said, seeing the distraught expression on Di's face. "He still had a steady pulse, and I assume the others are the same."
Miss Trask stood up and Regan did the same. She took a shaky breath. "I don't know what is going on or who is responsible, but things are starting to get serious."
Just as she said it, they heard a car pull up on the gravel outside and the bark of the dogs.
"I think Dr. Ferris and Sergeant Molinson are here," Dan said, getting up with the rest of the group and heading out the door to meet the newcomers and deliver the news.