After one of Moms' delicious breakfasts the next morning, Trixie, Mart, and Brian said goodbye to Bobby and headed back up the hill to Manor House. Miss Trask and Honey greeted them on the front porch steps.
"Please give Tom and Celia our love," Trixie said, giving both of them a quick hug.
"Of course, Trixie," Ms. Trask said. She looked as serene as always, though Trixie noticed her eyes seemed a bit tired. Her steady, professional air was reassuring to Trixie.
"I'll call from the hospital to let you know when to expect us back," Brian offered. "Shall I drive today?"
"I'm happy to do it," Ms. Trask answered. "Trixie and Mart, Jim and Diana are waiting for you inside." She lowered her voice. "I understand Jim told you all about the disturbing letters we received recently."
"He sure did," Mart replied. "Were you able to find all three letters?"
Ms. Trask nodded. "I usually go through all the correspondence and throw it out weekly, but something made me save the earlier letters. As I'm sure Jim told you, we get a lot of unusual mail, but I guess it was the local postmarks that made me hang on to those."
"Do you have any idea who could have sent them, Ms. Trask?" Trixie asked.
Ms. Trask shook her head. "I don't, and I must say I'm not convinced that you all should be involved. I suggested that we take the matter to the police, but Mr. Wheeler wasn't sure there we should involve them at this point."
"Respectfully, Ms. Trask, I have to disagree about us being involved," Brian said seriously. "Since the last letter mentioned my name, this concerns me too. I'm still waiting to hear if I'm accepted into the Hudson College accelerated pre-med program, but they told all the applicants we'd hear back by the end of June. That's just next week. If someone made a false accusation against Jim and me and it didn't get cleared up by then…"
"Brian could miss his chance," Trixie interrupted. "Maybe there's not enough evidence to the police involved yet, but we can't just sit around and do nothing."
Ms. Trask smiled. "No, I don't suppose you can, can you? I guess I should know better by now. But the three of us had better get going, Honey and Brian. Visiting hours only last until 11."
"Stay for lunch if you can," Honey called as they got into the car. "We should be back by then and we can discuss it all together."
Trixie and Mart waved as they drove off before heading inside. They found Jim and Diana with Mr. Wheeler in his study.
"Well now, the Bob Whites are flying early this morning, aren't they?" commented Mr. Wheeler. "I bet you two would like to have a look at these." He slid three envelopes over to Trixie and Mart. "Ms. Trask and Jim told us about them this morning, since there wasn't time with all that was going on last night to discuss it. Ms. Trask found them and brought them down right after breakfast."
"Go ahead, Trixie," Jim said. "We all had a chance to look earlier."
Carefully, Trixie examined all three letters. Each envelope was exactly the same – a white, business-sized envelope with a red stripe along the bottom edge. Trixie noted the Sleepyside postmark stamped on each, just as Jim had said. The Manor House address was typed on all three envelopes in all capital letters.
"No return address, natch," Mart muttered. He flipped all three envelopes over to reveal they had been taped shut with slender strips of brown packing tape.
Ms. Trask always used a slender silver letter opener to open the Wheeler's mail, so it was easy for Trixie to slip the letters out of the envelopes. Each letter was a single piece of folded white typing paper. The messages were typed in all capital letters.
The first was simple and to the point:
WE KNOW JIM'S SECRET. PAY US $50,000 OR WE TELL ALL. INSTRUCTIONS WILL FOLLOW.
Trixie frowned. "Well, not a lot to go on there," she sighed. "It's weird, but no real details."
Mr. Wheeler nodded. "Yes, I understand why Ms. Trask put that one away without mentioning it at first. Unfortunately, we get letters like that from time to time – people trying to scare us and thinking we won't miss the money."
"We do too," Diana said. "Harrison just throws them out most of the time."
"Comes with the territory," Mr. Wheeler said. "Usually there's nothing to them."
The second letter was more confrontational:
CHEATERS NEVER PROSPER. GIVE US WHAT WE ASKED FOR OR WE TELL THE DEAN EVERYTHING.
"That ups the ante a little," Mart said.
"Right," Jim agreed, "since it mentions cheating and the dean for the first time. It gives us a clue where they're going with this."
Trixie felt strange as she unfolded the third letter, knowing that this was the one that implicated Brian. It read:
JIM WHEELER AND BRIAN BELDEN CHEATED ON THEIR FINAL PROJECT AND WE HAVE PROOF. IF YOU DON'T WANT HUDSON COLLEGE TO FIND OUT PUT $50,000 IN UNMARKED BILLS IN A SEALED MANILA ENVELOPE. DRAW A STAR ON THE FRONT IN RED MARKER. LEAVE IT IN THE BOOK RETURN BOX BY THE SLEEPYSIDE LIBRARY AFTER CLOSING TIME NEXT FRIDAY. NO POLICE.
"Next Friday!" Trixie exclaimed. "So, since yesterday was Friday, we just have a week to figure this out!"
Soberly, Jim flipped the envelope back over. "Think again, Trixie. Check the postmark."
To her horror, Trixie realized that the envelope was marked June 20, the previous Monday.
"Oh no," Trixie said, turning pale. "You mean…"
"That's right," Jim said grimly. "The drop was supposed to be done by last night."
"But you just got the letter yesterday!" Trixie exploded. "That's not fair!"
"I don't think blackmailers are really concerned with fairness," Mart said drily. He tried to speak casually, but Trixie noticed that he looked a little pale under his tan too.
"Listen kids, try not to get too worked up," Mr. Wheeler said reassuringly. "These letters are unpleasant, but there's probably nothing to them. There's no reason to worry about it because the threats were empty to begin with."
Trixie relaxed a little. "I guess you're right. We know, of course, that Jim and Brian didn't cheat."
"So the blackmailer was just trying to trick you," Diana chimed in. "Like how that horrible fake Uncle Monty tried to trick Daddy into paying him a lot of money. These nasty people just make up stories and see how much they can get away with."
"I still have a bad feeling about all of it," Jim said uncertainly. "It gave me a real shock when I noticed the postmark this morning and I realized it was too late to catch them."
"Catch them?" Diana asked.
Jim nodded. "Sure. I was all set to do a fake drop and hide out to watch the library and see who came by to get the envelope. But it's too late now."
"Surely they would have come during the night to pick it up," Trixie agreed, "so fewer people would be likely to see them."
"Yes, and the letter said to drop it off after closing time, so the box would have been empty then. By now the envelope would be squashed by people returning books," Mart said.
"Of course, that's right!" Diana exclaimed. "I sometimes take the twins to the Saturday morning story time, Mart, and there are always at least a dozen kids there, all of them returning their story books from the past week in the drop box."
"So, no hope now in trying to figure out who it was that way," Jim said, shrugging.
The Bob Whites all exchanged looks. Had they missed their mystery before it even started this time?
Mr. Wheeler noticed all their glum faces. "I for one am glad that we didn't know about this letter in time. I'm not very happy with the idea of you all conducting a late-night stakeout at the library," Mr. Wheeler frowned and checked his watch. "I've got a few things I need to get done here in the home office before lunch today. Why don't you all try to stop worrying about this and enjoy yourselves? Brian and Honey should be back soon with Ms. Trask. It's summertime, after all. Go take a ride."
"You're right, Dad," Jim said. "We do need to help out with the horses. Dan is down there now with Reagan and I told them we would be by later."
"Get some fresh air. This will all be fine, you'll see. I'm hoping Honey, Brian, and Ms. Trask bring back good news about Tom, too," Mr. Wheeler said, escorting the Bob Whites out of his office.
The four of them headed out the front porch and down toward the stables. As they walked, Trixie noticed that Jim still looked worried. She grabbed his arm and they slowed down a bit, letting Mart and Diana go on ahead.
"You're worried, aren't you?" Trixie asked.
Jim nodded. "I know Dad sounded like he wasn't, but I think he is too. He talked to me privately this morning when Honey and Diana were getting ready. He asked if there was anything I needed to tell him, no judgment."
Trixie winced. She knew from the day they met that Jim hated, more than anything, to be accused of lying. Even if Mr. Wheeler had been very understanding about it, that must have been an awkward conversation.
"Oh, Jim," Trixie sighed, "I'm sorry. But I know he was just trying to look out for you."
"I know," Jim said. He grimaced. "The Wheelers have always had a lot of confidence in me, and I'm grateful. How could I not be? They basically took me in, almost no questions asked, just because Honey asked them to. But they've really only known me for a couple of years when you get right down to it."
Trixie stopped, forcing Jim to stop with her. "Jim, maybe it has only been a couple of years, but everyone at your house and in the Bob Whites trusts you. Completely. I mean, think of how many times you've saved my life at this point! Honey's, too."
Jim looked at her sadly. "But isn't that part of the problem, Trix? There have been plenty of times I let us all get in over our heads. Maybe my judgment isn't as good as I think it is." He kicked uselessly at the sidewalk.
Trixie bit her lip. It seemed like there was nothing she could say to cheer up her friend.
Just then, they caught sight of the Wheeler car turning in to the Manor House driveway. Honey and Brian jumped out of the car as soon as Ms. Trask parked and made a beeline for Trixie and Jim.
"Tom's awake!" Honey exclaimed breathlessly.
Jim finally perked up when he heard this. "That's great news! How is he doing?"
"He's pretty banged up," Brian said, "but mostly just sore today. He sure is lucky to not have broken any bones."
"Did he remember anything about the accident?" Trixie asked eagerly.
"Yes," Honey answered. "Trixie, he swears he wasn't drinking. Celia begged us to help him clear his name."
Trixie squared her shoulders. "I hope you told her we would do it."
"Of course I did," Honey replied.
"That's that, then," Jim said, standing up straighter. "Come on, Bob Whites. We've got work to do."