Chapter 7:

Goldilocks

"But Honey, you can't!" Trixie gasped, sitting her upset friend down at the table. "You and I are a team. We have to figure out who cut Papa LeBlanc's alligator lines!"

"Oh, Trixie, can't we leave that to the sheriff?" Honey wailed. "Can't you see I'm petrified? I'm just certain that if I'm not bitten by a Cottonmouth snake or a Brown Recluse spider, then an alligator, or worse, a Rougarou, will eat me."

Trixie grunted and went to get two strawberry sodas out of the refrigerator. Handing Honey one of the cold cans, she then popped the tab on her own. "First off, Honey, there is no such thing as Rougarou," she insisted, taking a seat. "And as far as the alligators go, as Hallie's Mom has already told you, as long as you don't provoke them, they'll leave you alone. We just have to be careful and keep our eyes peeled."

"But what about all the snakes and insects?" Honey argued after taking a sip of her drink. "Snakes are hard to see in the underbrush. And even with repellent, it's impossible to avoid every bug. "

Trixie laughed, trying to downplay the honest-to-goodness dangers. "So what about them?" she said. "We have black widows and copperheads all over the place back at home, don't we? You aren't afraid to go traipsing through the game preserve, Honey. Why, we do it all the time."

"Maybe so," Honey admitted, weakening a tad. "But it's more than that, Trixie. Everyone around here seems half-crazy. Your cousin included. I'm beginning to understand why you want a voodoo doll. Hallie should never have thrown that egg at Mrs. Foret. And until today, I thought you were imagining things when you said she likes to spy on you. Hallie didn't behave like that in Idaho. What do you think has gotten into her?"

Trixie took a big slug of her drink. The cool sweet liquid tasted mighty good going down. "I don't know," she said with a shrug, "but Hallie's always been a tough bird to figure, Honey. The minute you think you've got her pegged? Whammo, she does something unexpected. Granted, that means you have to watch your back. But for the most part, I think she's pretty harmless."

"But what about the rest of the cuckoos around here?" Honey countered.

Trixie let out a chuckle. "I'd say they are more entertaining than they are dangerous," she returned.

Only Miss Belden's friend disagreed. "I wouldn't count on that, Trixie," she said. "And I'm afraid my mind is made up. I'm going home, and I think you ought to come with me."

"Oh, but Honey, I can't! Trixie cried, nearly knocking over her pop can. "I may not be overly fond of Hallie, but she's my cousin. And I promised Daddy I'd help her and her family. Besides, what would Jim say? You know he's always telling us that blood is thicker than water?"

Honey grew quiet and nursed her soda. Her adopted brother did believe that nothing was more important than family. But Jim also maintained that all of the Bob-Whites were brothers and sisters. If true? It would mean Hallie was Honey's cousin too.

"Oh, very well," a resigned Miss Wheeler sighed. "I'll stay. For now, anyway. But should a Rougarou bite me, and I turn into one, Trixie? I'm warning you. You better lock your door. Because you can be sure, I'll be out for revenge."

Trixie giggled. Her friend sounded serious. But as Hallie came barging in, with her toothbrush in hand, crying, "Miss me?!" Honey began laughing, and the Sleepyside Miss Belden grinned. If Hallie only knew.

As it turned out, the girls needn't have cut their visit with Aunt Renee short. After getting Hallie situated, they still had an hour before they were to report to the outdoor kitchen. And Trixie suggested they use the time to make the cottage feel more like home-sweet-home.

The two Sleepyside girls still needed to unpack their bags. So lugging their suitcases up the steep captain's ladder to the loft, Trixie and Honey began unloading their clothing into a small dresser placed under a window overlooking the Bayou.

In the meantime, Hallie, who had stayed downstairs, was growing restless waiting for the pair. She'd already done all the unpacking she intended to do and called out that she was going to go check on her mother.

After hearing the front door click shut, Trixie then listened as her cousin's flip-flops slapped against the teen's large feet as she leisurely made her way down the gravel path which led to the laundry room. Sound did indeed travel along the water. And yet, Hallie's footsteps had a hollowness to them, which made the atmosphere seem even quieter. Almost as if the noise was emanating from a different dimension.

Honey had opened the window. The loft was exceedingly warm and stuffy. And heat rose. The unit did contain a window air conditioner, but it was on the main level and provided little relief upstairs. And Trixie wondered if Hallie had chosen to sleep on the hide-a-bed, knowing the living room would be less smothering.

"Do you think the temperature will drop once the sun goes down?" she asked Honey absentmindedly. Trixie had been hot all day and debated, again, whether she should slip into something cooler.

"If you feel like changing, I'd go ahead," the pretty girl returned as she slid her empty suite case under the bed nearest the railing. "Everyone else is dressed casually. And you don't want to spatter your new outfit in the kitchen, Trixie. I doubt Aunt Liz has aprons we can borrow. Besides, as Di and I keep telling you, you look nice no matter what you wear."

Trixie, receiving the answer she'd hoped to hear, reached for a simple white tee and her favorite pair of faded dungarees from out of their nesting place in the dresser. There were reasons Honey was her best friend. Thank goodness she'd been able to talk her timid companion out of going home. Trixie would be lost without her.

Now freshly attired, Miss Belden felt like a new woman. Gone was the miserable, bemoaning youth who'd stepped off the plane in Louisiana. In her place had emerged Trixie Belden, teenage sleuth and girl-adventurer. The new-and-improved Trixie was eager to take on anything the wilds threw at her! And her first quest?

Covering up the deer head mounted above the fireplace in the living room.

"Shall we draw straws to see whose jacket we use?" she asked Honey as the girls made their way down the ladder from the loft.

The mounted six-prong buck head, like the one in the office with the all-seeing eyes, had given Trixie the willies from the moment she'd entered the cabin. Somehow it seemed different than those in her Uncle Andrew's lodge in the Ozarks. Daddy's brother's getaway had been filled with taxidermy animals when the Bob-Whites had stayed there. But those hadn't bothered his niece?

Nor had the ones in Mr. Wheeler's trophy room back at Manor House. In fact, when Jim had shown them to Trixie, she'd found the bagged spoils of his adopted father's hunts rather fascinating. Honey, of course, had refused to go into the room with the pair. And at the time, Trixie hadn't really hadn't understood Miss Wheeler's reasons. The stuffed heads had seemed no more than inanimate objects to Trixie. Like exotic decorations or fancy knickknacks.

But the heads here at Anglers' Landing were somehow different. When Trixie looked at them, she saw the ghosts of animals that had once run free. They were not lifeless tokens. Rather chilly reminders that humans were predators too. Yes, indeed, these heads were different.

Or was it Trixie who was suddenly different?

Deciding that neither girl's jacket should be used as a shroud, the shuddering young lady covered the poor creature's remains with an afghan from off the couch.

"Sorry about that," Trixie said.

At four-thirty, a light blue sedan pulled up under the carport next to the office and blew its horn. Glancing out the cottage window, Trixie watched as a middle-aged woman stepped out of the car, and Hallie and her mother rushed to greet her.

"That must be Aunt Liz," Trixie told Honey, lacing up her leather hikers. "Hallie said her aunt would give a toot when she was ready for us."

As Honey turned off the light above the kitchenette's sink, she nervously asked her friend, "How does she look?"

Trixie tried hard not to laugh. With short ash-brown hair and rosy apple cheeks, Aunt Liz could have been anyone's mother. "I'd say refreshingly normal," she replied. "But as all good detectives know Honey, looks can be deceiving. There could be another psychopath hiding under that angelic mask."

After taking a quick peek out the window for herself, Honey giggled. "Oh, I agree," she returned gaily. "Aunt Liz does seem to have an unstable twinkle in her eye. Maybe she's the one who cut Papa LeBlanc's alligator lines?"

"Only one way to find out," Trixie chuckled, opening the door. "Let's go grill the suspect."

Aunt Liz, it turned out, was simply as sweet as pie, just as Hallie had said she'd be. Upon meeting Trixie and Honey, the cheerful woman immediately adopted the pair as daughters. And the Sleepyside girls felt honored. Aunt Liz reminded the young ladies a lot of Moms. True, she was heavier than Trixie's mother, but Aunt Liz was just as pretty and down to earth.

It was certainly impossible to imagine Hallie's aunt as an alligator thief. And Trixie laughed as Honey whispered in her ear that she thought it was safe to cross their new "mom" off their list of suspects. But as Aunt Liz moved to pop the trunk of her car so the young ladies could help unload the groceries, Trixie whispered back, not to be in such a rush. "There could be a gator carcass in there, Honey." she teased.

Only with the compartment stuffed beyond capacity with bags of onions, new potatoes, corn cobettes, and more, there wasn't room for a teensy-weensy lizard, let alone a ten-foot alligator! Why, there were enough provisions in the tailgate to feed an army!

"Gleeps, Aunt Liz!" Trixie cried, "All this food isn't just for tonight, is it?!"

Hallie's aunt grinned as she started handing off bags. "Oh, yes," she laughed, "and I doubt there will be many leftovers, Trixie. Tonight we're having a special celebration. Lucas is very grateful for your help, as are the Richards. Hallie's Papa tells me the boys will be helping to fill their tags too. He's invited Mr. and Mrs. Richard to join us so everyone can get better acquainted."

"Are these the same Richards who have the alligator farm?" Honey asked with surprise. "You mean they not only raise alligators but hunt them too?"

"That's correct, Honey," Aunt Renee replied for Liz. "Richard Richard got involved in farming due to his love of the sport."

Trixie shook her head. "Well, I guess that does make some sense," she admitted. "It's kind of like your father stocking the lake, so he and the boys can fish, Honey."

As Honey took the mesh bag of lemons that Mrs. LeBlanc passed her, she agreed and added that the party sounded like a lot of fun. "So what are we having?" she went on to inquire, puzzled by the citrus fruit.

"A good ol' finger-lickin' Crawfish Boil!" Hallie exclaimed as Aunt Liz shut the trunk. "Bernie's supplyin' the crawfish. He and Beau make most of their dough fishin' 'em. Beau says this year's haul was better than normal. He was able to save up enough money to buy his very own boat! Beau needs one 'cause he's got twenty of his own alligator tags to fill, on top of helpin' Papa with his. Papa says that's a mighty lot of tags for a young buck. Beau won the tags in the lottery. He turned seventeen in January. This was the first year he was old enough to enter."

Trixie and Honey exchanged glances as the three girls followed Aunt Liz and Aunt Renee out from under the carport and into the bright sunlight. No matter the topic of conversation, it seemed Hallie always brought it back to Beau Benoit. And this made her cousin mighty unhappy.

"Did Dan tell you he's started running?" Trixie casually asked the tall girl as they walked toward the outdoor kitchen. "He says he wants to be in top shape when it comes time to enter the police academy. He's up to three miles a day." Trixie was hoping to build up the young man in her cousin's blackberry eyes. Dan aspired to be a policeman one day.

"Dan's also been doing a lot of push-ups to get ready," Honey chipped in. "In fact, he challenged Jim to a contest last week, and when Dan won, I was afraid Jim was going to toss him in the lake," she added with a twitter. "Dan did forty push-ups in one minute! Isn't that amazing, Hallie?!"

Hallie didn't seem overly impressed by the young man's feat. However, her cousin certainly was. This was the first Trixie had heard of Dan and Jim's friendly competition.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, nearly dropping her armful. "That's really something, Honey. Spider was telling me that Dan's becoming quite the marksman too. Spider's been coaching him down at the shooting range. He says Dan's a natural when it comes to handling a firearm." Spider Webster was Sleepyside's chief police officer and a good friend of the Bob-Whites.

Reaching their destination, Hallie dumped her load in front of the sink. "Maybe Beau can give Dan a few pointers while he's here," she said. "Papa thinks Beau's the best shot in the whole state. Beau entered Louisiana's junior rifle completion last year and won a gold badge!"

Trixie let out a futile sigh and added her bags to Hallie's pile. "Why am I not surprised?" she mumbled.

Then, as Aunts Renee and Liz were heading back to the car for a second load, a string of pick-ups passed through the front gate.

"Beau's home!" Hallie cried excitedly, grabbing her cousin and her friend each by the arm. "All ya all have gotta meet him. You're really gonna love him, Cuz! Just you wait and see!"

Trixie planted her feet. "But what about helping with the groceries?" she argued. There were still coolers with drinks and whatnot waiting in the backseat of Aunt Liz's car.

"Ah, Mom and Aunt Liz can handle the rest," Hallie returned, dragging the protesting girls off toward the boathouse. "This'll only take a sec. They won't even know we're gone."

Honey gave Trixie a helpless look, and the New York Miss Belden passed on a frown to her Idaho counterpart. The girls were now standing in front of a souped-up red pickup. And as Mr. Beau Benoit lifted his sun visor and swung out of the driver's seat, Hallie commandeered the tired-looking young man.

"Miss me, Beau?" she asked as the boy laughed, and Cap came around from the other side of the truck.

"Heavens, Hallie," her brother said. "With the day we've had? You've been the last thing on our minds."

Instantly miffed, Hallie threw her hands to her hips. "I don't believe I was askin' you, Birdbrain," she huffed.

Beau smirked. "Yeah, Pony-Boy," he said, "The lady wasn't talkin' to the likes of you." Beau then gave Hallie a wink. "Sure, I missed you, Sugar-Pops," he chuckled.

Trixie snorted as her female cousin gave Cap an "I told you so" sneer. "Sugar-Pops?" she whispered to Honey, "Have you ever heard such a ridiculous nickname?" Trixie could see where Beau had gotten Pony-Boy. Cap did have a ponytail. But Hallie's sounded like one of those sweet breakfast cereals Bobby ate.

But as Hallie tried to coax Honey forward, in order to introduce the shying girl to the Cajun sweet-talker, Trixie noticed Jim helping Papa LeBlanc unhitch his boat.

Glad to see the young man back and safe and sound, Trixie was preparing to give Jim a whistle and wave when Hallie gave her cousin a shove from behind. Bumping into the idol of the Idaho girl's eye, Trixie grinned awkwardly. Beau may have been grubby from being out on the water all day, but he was still mighty good-looking. So much so that Trixie felt strangely uncomfortable around the boy.

"Cuz, Beau. Beau, Cuz," Hallie said as the young man's face lit up with a huge smile.

"Pleasure to meet you," Trixie uttered clumsily, holding out her hand.

Taking it, but not before wiping his own hand on the seat of his jeans, the broad-shouldered boy insisted the pleasure was his. "When Pony-Boy and Hal told me you were some famous detective, I must admit I laughed," he told the reddening girl. "I pictured some homely chick in a rumpled trench coat smokin' on a cigar. But ooo-doggies!" Beau added with a big exclamation. "Where have you been all my life, Goldilocks?!"