After lunch and Regan's departure, the three Bob-Whites decided to get some homework done while they waited for their friends to return. Trixie was done with her History assignment and halfway through her math when the clubhouse door opened to admit Brian, Jim, and Mart, well before their expected arrival time.

Dan put down his book and stared in surprise. "Was the fair canceled? We were supposed to have been gone all day!"

Brian explained, "We got there, but Mart and Jim were already suspicious about you deciding not to come, and also about the state of my favorite driving hand. I pulled the car over at a gas station and we talked it out."

Mart scoffed, "You mean you came clean. We decided we'd still do the fair, but only because Jim was having some kind of Last Frontiersman Standing moment and wanted the bragging rights associated with attending an optional college fair immediately after being hit by a car."

Jim sighed ruefully, "Touche, Mart."

Honey frowned. "So you went, but left early? Why?"

Jim's face was red and he sat down on the sofa next to Dan. "Because I felt like a pile of boiled crap. My head was pounding, everything hurt, I couldn't even remember what I said to some of the college representatives I talked to, and so I admitted defeat and we came crawling home, and was this sofa always this comfortable, or am I just really tired?"

Dan stood and shed the blanket, which he passed to Jim. "It really is that comfortable, especially when you feel rough. I napped in here after my brush with van Kassel today. You should stretch out for the meeting. You've earned it, Last Frontiersman Standing!"

Jim shook his head. "Okay, Dan. You were there. Brian punched van Kassel? And why did he even go after you in the first place? I'm the one who told the coach what I saw! And why does it look suspiciously like the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency has been hard at work?"

Smiling sweetly, Trixie asked, "Whatever gave you that impression?"

He pointed toward the scrap of posterboard that bore a list of names, clues, and lines connecting them. "Your murderboard, Detective Belden? I'd recognize that unrecognizable handwriting anywhere!"

Trixie had entirely forgotten about the notes she and Honey had started before Dan had even come to the clubhouse. It did look a little bit like a murderboard, and she laughed. "Okay, your point is valid. Get comfortable, you guys. Di should be here any moment and I don't want to tell the same story twice."

As if on cue, the clubhouse door opened to admit Diana Lynch, fresh from a shopping trip in New York City with her mother, aunt, and some cousins. Diana wore a pair of wide-legged, high-waisted gray trousers, a fitted lavender cardigan, and stylish boots with a practical block heel. She looked like a movie star, and all of her friends gazed at her admiringly.

Trixie blurted out, "Di! You look gorgeous! Is that from your shopping trip?"

The dark-haired girl blushed. "Yes. My aunt got my mom to back off a little bit and let me pick some things out for myself. I was trying to go for the look the actress had in that adventure film we saw at the Cameo a few months ago? Where she ended trekking through the jungle with that very handsome fellow?"

Trixie remembered the film well. The handsome fellow had reminded her a lot of Jim, with his knowledge about staying alive in the wilderness and his determination to do the right thing and put an end to the illegal logging of the trees. The female lead had been a journalist or something, a city girl whose article shed light on the situation. She couldn't remember the actress' wardrobe, but she was sure Di had nailed it.

She flashed Di a smile. "We sure are glad you're here! Have we got a convoluted mess of a tale to tell!"

Diana settled on a chair beside Mart, whose eyes were still a little bit glazed by Di's grown up and polished attire.

"I'm assuming some of it has to do with Jim nearly being hit by a car last night? My mother talked to both Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Belden and told me what happened, and that you were okay," She eyed Jim critically. "But you don't look well to me at all. And you boys dragged him to a college fair like this?"

Dan raised a hand as if he were volunteering in class to answer a question. "I didn't. And that's where our story begins, right Trix?"

Mart added, "If anyone was dragging anyone along, it would be Captain Frontiersman over there," he pointed to Jim, who waved tiredly back in agreement.

"All right then, Di - remember earlier this year when that big basketball player from Sunnyside leveled Jim out on the court?" Trixie began.

"Yes, of course! I was horribly sick later that night and got to miss out on the unluckiest day of your lives the next day!"

Trixie groaned at the memory. "You were safer at home, even if you were spending your time over the toilet."

"I almost died," Dan added helpfully. "Twice. Once when I cracked my head, and again riding in a car with Uncle Bill."

After a few more false starts, Brian called the room to order. "Have any of you ever heard the phrase that something is as difficult as herding cats? Well, this is starting to feel like a herd of cats. Jim, you go first. Then Dan, then me, then Trixie and Honey can fill in any details the rest of us are unaware of or have missed. Fair?"

The rest of the Bob-Whites agreed, and began telling Diana their stories. Jim started with the letter from Juliana and Hans and the invitation, and the fact that he wanted to see them, but not live there. When Dan told about how van Kassel had attacked him and Brian had come to the rescue, Brian got red-faced, flustered, and unconsciously rubbed his right hand. He relayed how seeing the same bully harm two of his best friends and expect to get away with it made him so mad he had to act. Trixie pulled out her "murderboard" and explained the running theory that there was a connection between the old Crimper sedan with its new tires, and the car that ran Jim into the ditch. Then, Honey added in that Dan had biked all the way from the school in the cold, and Brian's eyes widened in concern.

"It's cold out there! You said you were going to call Regan to come and get you!" Brian gave his good shoulder a pat. "And you were hurt. Did you at least get some antiseptic on it?"

Dan rolled his eyes at Brian, but it was obvious he was touched by his concern. "The other Dr. Belden took care of me. I haven't left the clubhouse since I biked in! These two even brought me lunch and let me pass out on the sofa for awhile. By the way, my uncle knows all of this. He was going to call van Kassel's parents or talk to Stratton, but I talked him into holding off for now. And, if I have to suffer, all of you have to suffer. We have to use the buddy system if we run around after dark, and I'll need an escort back to Mr. Maypenny's."

"It's not a bad idea," Mart mused. "As the only male BWG to have not interacted violently with this fellow, I would prefer not to find myself forced into a fight I don't want or getting ambushed. And I certainly don't want to think about him threatening the girls!"

Diana had been quiet, waiting for her friends to finish, and when there was a lull in the conversation, she said, "Well, I know that Alan van Kassel is old Mrs. Crimper's grandson. He might have full access to his grandmother's car. I used to know him when we were in elementary school. My mother and Mrs. van Kassel were friends when they were young women. I believe her maiden name was Delia Crimper. So, if she's getting a divorce and moving home, she's moving back in with her mother. Her brother and his wife run the store, and I would imagine that she and Alan will be staying with her mother. It's really too bad - Alan was a very sweet boy when we were small. He even brought me a strangled fistfull of purple irises once. He kind of threw it at me, shouted that they "matched me," and ran."

"I remember that!" Trixie shouted. "You pressed the flowers in your math book and told me they were your first flowers from a boy! I think we were what, in third grade?"

Di nodded. "Yes, probably. If I remember correctly, you snorted and said you'd rather a boy give you a snail, and I said you couldn't very well press a snail, now could you? Oh, jeepers, Trix! We were such silly little girls back then!"

Sometimes, Trixie almost forgot that she and Diana had been such good friends when they were young, before Diana's family had become wealthy and she had cut herself off from the other students. If Honey and Jim hadn't happened when they had, Trixie would have had a lot more time to wonder and worry about why Diana had ended their friendship so abruptly. I wonder if Di would even like me at all now if Honey wasn't there to act as a buffer, or if Mart wasn't around to flirt with? She forced her mind not to think about it, but it always hurt when she remembered that Di had been her friend first.

" - so I have an idea," Diana was saying when Trixie was able to snap herself back into the conversation. "Since Alan and I are acquainted from so long ago and our mothers were friends, why don't I use my acting skills to figure out what his story is? It can't hurt to ask a few questions and see if he's hiding something, right? And, he's not likely to be mean to me. After all, he did give me purple irises in the third grade!"

"I don't like it," Mart declared. "As a plan, I feel it's risky at best."

Diana shot him a glare. "Well, if he and his mother are back in Sleepyside, it's nearly certain we'll end up together at some point if our mothers decide to rekindle their friendship. And not using that opportunity to find out more is just dumb, if you ask me!"

Surprised at Diana's vehemence, Trixie agreed. "It would be dumb not to use an opportunity like that. If he does or says anything scary, you have to get out of the situation and come to us, though. And you are the best actor of all of us, Di. Apparently," she made a face at Dan. "My trying face looks too much like trying!"

"Of course," Diana replied. "I knew you'd see things my way, Trixie!"

"Although," Mart interjected. "I would submit the hypothesis that my almost-twin is always a bit trying, would you agree, Brian?"

There was a bit more discussion among the Bob-Whites before a soft snore from the general direction of the sofa caused them to fall silent. Jim had fallen asleep.

Brian chuckled. "Poor little fellow, he's all tuckered out."

"It's exhausting being faster, better, and stronger than the rest of us," Mart joked. "Seriously, if I were him, I would have stayed in bed and let my family feel sorry for me all day instead of going to the college fair!"

Dan had just opened his mouth to say something when Jim, through closed eyes, grumbled, "Shut it, Mangan. It's bad enough these two can't let a sleeping Jim lie."

Honey added innocently, "But you never lie, Jim."

"Are you going to tell her to 'shut it' too, James? How did you even know I was about to say something? Your eyes are closed!" Dan protested.

"He could sense a disturbance in the forest," Trixie added.

"Also I've met him?"

Dan shrugged. "Okay, fair."

With a sigh, Jim opened his eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position. "You wound me, Trix. I thought you were better than this, making fun of a guy who knows he made the wrong choice in getting out of bed this morning!"

She shrugged. "I wanted to give you an encouraging pat, but I can't remember which pieces of you are hurt."

Brian took pity on his friend and offered him a hand. "It's all of him. What do you say we get you home and comfortable? If you still want to study later, I can come to your place instead of you dragging your carcass down to the farm. You're in no shape to be pounced on by Reddy and Bobby."

"Lead the way, Doc. I'm ready to admit defeat and - face plant in my sheets."

Diana's forehead creased with concern, and she whispered, "Just how hard did he hit his head? I think he was trying to make a poem!"

Still easing himself back into his coat, Jim said, "Not hard enough that it hurt my hearing? I thought it was a pretty good poem."

"Speaking of heading home, I guess I should head back to Mr. Maypenny's. I think Uncle Bill's already talked to him, but I should probably -"

Dan stopped at the sound of a very familiar motor, getting closer and closer. "Oh, well. I guess it's too late! He's gone and driven up here to pick me up!"

Mr Maypenny's car was old and strange, in the same way of those old timey pictures you could get at the fair, or a picture of an old science lab with unfamiliar equipment. It made Brian's jalopy look positively modern, and Trixie was fascinated with it. However, when the kindly old gentleman stepped out of the car, wearing the hat Regan had referred to as his, "old man Sherlock Holmes hat," she had to work to suppress a giggle.

"Daniel! There you are, my boy! I've just had a chat with your uncle, and thought you might appreciate a ride home. It's cold, and you're without your jacket. You have a backup at home, right?"

Dan nodded. "Yeah, it's just not my BWG jacket."

Honey smiled. "You just get me that old jacket and I'll make it brand new, okay? If I can't fix it, I'll just redo the whole back panel!"

He smiled gratefully. "Thanks!"

At the sight of the rest of the Bob Whites, the old gamekeeper asked, "I don't suppose any of you would be interested in some Hunter's Stew? I have a pot of it simmering at home."

At the invitation, Diana's face lit up. "Yes for me! I've only ever had it once, and it was delicious!"

Trixie watched Jim, warring internally with himself, his love of Hunter's Stew and the companionship of his friends battling against his aching head and exhaustion. Brian and Honey saw it too.

"Jim, let Brian drive you home, and I'll bring back some stew for you, how's that? You're half dead on your feet." Honey gathered up her brother's papers, stuffed them into his bag, and passed the bag to Brian.

He hesitated for a moment, then agreed. "You're right. I'm done for for the night, I think. Have fun, and definitely bring me some stew, Honey. It's basically heaven on a spoon!"

She mock-saluted him. "Aye-aye, Captain Frontiersman!"

Mart chortled, and Jim sighed. "Thanks, man. For that."