The Mystery of the Ghostly Galeon by Campbell Julie

Author:Campbell, Julie [Campbell, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

A Fruitless Search • 10

MISS TRASK’S FACE was white as she rose slowly to her feet. “I simply don’t understand it,” she exclaimed. “The money should be here.”

“I guess it still would be if we hadn’t had that attempted robbery last month,” Weasel remarked.

Trixie drew in her breath sharply. “What attempted robbery?”

“I told you we’d had troubles,” Weasel said. “This one started late one night when everyone had gone to bed. The boss’s bedroom is directly over this room, and around two o’clock in the morning, he thought he heard someone moving around down here.”

“Who was it?” Brian asked.

Weasel rasped a thoughtful thumb across the stubble of his beard. “He never did find out,” he said. “By the time he got down here, whoever it was had gone. But there had been a prowler, because when he looked in here, he found that someone had tried to jimmy open the safe. You can still see the scratch marks on the door. If the fool had just thought to try the handle, he could have saved himself lots of trouble.”

“Did my brother call the police?” Miss Trask asked sharply.

“Nope,” Weasel replied. “I told him that he should, but no one ever listens to me. He questioned the staff, o’ course, but”—he shrugged— “it coulda been one of the guests, too. And he couldn’t very well say much to them, could he?“

“So what did he do then?” Trixie asked.

Weasel shrugged again. “He didn’t do anything. He said nothing was taken, so there was no point in making a fuss. But after that, he was more careful. Don’t worry; he’s probably got his cash stashed somewhere else by now.” He moved toward the door. “Do you want me to keep looking for him? We probably won’t get too many more for dinner tonight, anyway.”

Miss Trask nodded, but she looked worried as Weasel left the room.

“I never know whether we ought to believe the stories he tells,” Jim remarked.

“All the same,” Brian said, “the attempted robbery story sounds genuine enough. It’s his looks that make us distrust him.”

“Maybe,” Di said slowly, “it wouldn’t hurt if we all searched for your brother, Miss Trask. I’m sure he’s okay, but it’s strange that no one can find him.”

Trixie noticed that Di was careful not to voice the thought now at the forefront of their minds: What if something had gone wrong with Mr. Trask’s disappearing trick? He could be lying hurt somewhere.

Or maybe, Trixie thought, he’s stuck at the bottom of a shaft, the way I was.

She couldn’t help shivering when she thought again about the story of the ghostly galleon. It appeared only when disaster was about to strike the Trasks, Weasel Willis had told them.

A cold hand seemed to clutch at the pit of her stomach. “Di’s right,” she said. “We all ought to search. And we mustn’t give up till we find him.”

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