by GSDana

Originally published at Zap's Trixie FanFic Site July 24, 2000.

Chapter Seven: Complications

Trixie received the third bouquet of flowers the same day that Molinson called to tell her the results of the fingerprinting: once again, no prints.  It was now Tuesday, and Trixie was becoming frustrated at the lack of clues to the intruder’s identity and to the lack of clues as to who was sending the roses with the peculiar notes.

Trixie stared at the bouquet, this time only ten of the roses were white, and two were red.  As Trixie was pondering the significance of the increasing number of red roses each time, Mrs. Belden came into the kitchen.

“Who was at the door, Trixie?”  She asked, stopping short when she saw the flowers sitting on the table.  “Trixie Belden, you are going to report this Captain Molinson immediately!"

Trixie looked up at her mother, trying to reassure her with a plausible explanation, even though she herself knew there wasn’t one.  “It’s probably just Jim, Moms.”

Helen shook her head emphatically.  “No, I hope you don’t get too upset at me, but after the last delivery I point blank asked him if he was sending them—he hasn’t been.”

Trixie’s heart sank.  Deep down, she had known that Jim had not sent them, but at least having that possibility open had allowed her some comfort.

“What does the card say this time?”  Mrs. Belden demanded to know.

Trixie reluctantly handed her mother the card.

The great detective Belden
Can’t figure out who I am
Maybe your great skills
Are really just a sham

Helen gasped as she read it.  “The notes are getting threatening!”

Trixie tried to calm her mother down.  “Mom, this is hardly threatening.  Insulting maybe, but not threatening.”

“Well, they’re certainly not getting friendlier or romantic,” Helen stated unequivocally.  She tried to plead with her daughter.  “Trixie, please report this to Captain Molinson.  I’m really worried about your safety.  I’d like you to try to call the flower shop again.  I’m sure that you won’t get much farther than you did last time, but at least it’s something.”

Trixie nodded, thoughts churning in her mind.  A sudden unknown intruder at Ten Acres and a sudden unknown ‘admirer’ for me, both appearing at the same time.  That’s a fantastic coincidence; what if they’re related?

“Trixie, what is going through that head of yours now?”

“Nothing, Moms.  I’m going to call Captain Molinson and the flower shop now.  I’ll tell you what I find out,” Trixie promised and headed to her bedroom to use her private extension to place the phone calls.

Trixie was glad to find that  Alice  was again working at the flower shop.

After identifying herself again, Trixie launched right into her questions.  “How long is it before you receive the orders from the other shops?”

“It depends.  The orders come in over the computer and I check the computer every couple of hours or so, to see if there have been any new requests,”  Alice answered.

“So by the time you actually see the order, it could already be a couple of hours old?”  Trixie was not happy to hear this bit of information.

“That’s right,”  Alice  confirmed.

“Is there anyway to get the order while the sender is still in the other flower shop?”

“Only if I were to stand at the computer and constantly refresh the monitor.  Even then, by the time I get the order it could be several minutes old and the sender could already be gone.”

“And how long after you get an order are flowers delivered?”

“It depends.  If someone pays for a rush delivery we do our best to get the arrangement to the recipient that same day.  Most orders are delivered the day after we receive them.  There has been a specific request on all three of your orders to be delivered to you the following day,”  Alice  informed her.

Trixie immediately deduced that that meant the sender wanted to ensure some time had passed between the order and her receipt of them.  She tried one last thing.  “  Alice, I’m not certain that these flowers are a good thing.  Is there any way at all to track the sender?”

 Alice sounded sorry.  “No, this person is really covering their tracks.  After your call the other day, I specifically noted which flower shop sent the order this time.  It was yet a different store this time, and all three are very large shops, the three biggest in the city in fact, virtually guaranteeing the purchaser will not be remembered.  He, or she, is using a different one every time and paying cash, making it almost impossible to trace.  I can put an alert out to florists in New York City, but that’s the best I can do.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, I would really appreciate it,” Trixie told the florist.

“No problem,”  Alice  assured her.  “I’ll send a notice out to all of the flower shops in  New York  and its suburbs.  Via our computerized system, it’s no problem at all.  Hopefully, the next florist will be alerted to the problem and detain him.”

Trixie thanked the girl profusely and hung up.  She dreaded the next call.  Although Captain Molinson had finally come to have a grudging respect for her, Trixie Belden was still not on his list of people he enjoyed talking to more than once a day—and she had already used up her quota that day.

She was transferred several times until someone was able to find him.

“Captain Molinson?  It’s Trixie,” she started.

“Already?  Did something else happen after we spoke about the fingerprints this morning?”  Molinson asked in his gruff voice.

“Something happened, but it has nothing to do with the intruder at Jim’s, well, I don’t know it has anything to do with that intruder…” At twenty-two, Trixie still got flustered talking to the abrupt policeman.

“Spit it out!”  He barked.

Trixie took a deep breath and explained to him about the roses, recounting each poem, the information she had received from  Alice, and concluding with her theory that the break-ins at Ten Acres might be somehow related.

When she was finished, she could hear the police chief’s heavy sigh.  “Trixie, you haven’t even been back in town three full weeks and already I’ve got more gray hair!  I’ll talk to a buddy of mine in the NYPD, maybe he can get the florists to remember more information, or view any shop surveillance tapes, if there are any.  I’ll do the best I can in tracking this guy down, but until you are actually threatened, I can’t provide you with police protection.”

Trixie held back a laugh.  Police protection!  “Thanks, Captain.  I wasn’t really asking for a bodyguard, just wanted to let you know that something’s not right here.”

“Well, thanks for letting me in at the beginning this time.  It’s much nicer to get a call explaining the situation then it is to get a call requesting back up because you’re already in too deep!”

Trixie sighed.  Some things would never change—she still had the picture that Nick Roberts had drawn of the then Sergeant Molinson lecturing her after the bike-athon the Bob-Whites had held to raise money for the art department.  To this day, she still felt like that humble fourteen-year-old when she had to listen to Molinson reprimand her.  “Just doing my civic duty, Captain.”

Molinson snorted.  “I’ll look into this, but you keep me informed, okay?”

Trixie promised she would and hung up the phone.  She sat and thought for a minute.  Honey she definitely needed to talk to Honey about this.  And Jim—if the intruder and mysterious flower sender were indeed connected.  And Matt.  She had made a deal with herself about checking Matt out if she received a third set of flowers.  She was still lost in thought when the phone rang.

“Belden residence.”

“Trixie?  Hey, it’s me.”  Trixie smiled when she recognized Scott’s baritone voice.

“Hi Scott.  How are you?”

“Thinking of you and how it’s been way too long since I’ve seen you!  Do you want to catch a bite to eat tonight?”  Scott asked.

“I would love to!  What did you have in mind?”  Trixie jumped at the chance to have a relaxing dinner with Scott.

“Well, I thought we could return to the scene of the crime—C.B. & Pott’s.  Sound good to you?”

“That would be great,” Trixie assured him.

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at Crabapple Farm at seven, okay?”

“I’ll see you at seven, Scott.”

When she hung up with Scott, Trixie didn’t even bother to put the phone in the cradle, she simply pressed the disconnecter and called Honey and then Jim.  Both agreed to meet her at the clubhouse right away.

She went downstairs, reported her conversations to the florist and the police to her mother and then explained that she was enlisting Jim and Honey’s help and would be at the clubhouse.

Jim and Honey were both waiting by the time she entered the old gatehouse.  Her tense face immediately alerted Honey and Jim to the fact that things were more serious than she had let on over the phone.

“What’s wrong?”  Brother and sister asked simultaneously.

Trixie sat down.  “I got more flowers today.  Ten white, two red.  The note is not threatening, but it certainly is insulting.”  She pulled the three cards she had received out of her pocket and placed them on the table for Honey and Jim to read.

Honey looked up at Trixie.  “Any ideas?”

“No,” Trixie moaned.  “Moms thinks it might be someone I put in jail stalking me for revenge.  I suppose it could happen.”

Jim’s face looked stark.  “I know this isn’t your style, but can you take a vacation, get away from here?”

“No, Jim, I’m not going to run away,” Trixie said with determination.

“But if your life is in danger…” Jim raised his voice, and Trixie could tell he was about to start a tirade about her safety—one she didn’t want to hear after already dealing with Molinson that morning.

“Jim, please,” she pleaded.  “No one knows my life is in danger.  The notes aren’t threatening, and it could be just some sick joke.”

“But if it’s not, Trixie, you really could be in danger,” Honey stated in what she hoped was a calm and gentle voice.  She could tell that Trixie was already very frazzled.

Trixie gave a deep sigh.  “I know.  The only thing I can think of…” She broke off, not willing to talk about Matt in front of Jim.

“What, Trix?”  Honey asked.

“Well, maybe Matt?”  Trixie admitted out loud what she had been avoiding thinking since the receipt of the second flowers.

Honey was surprised, she had met Matt quite a few times and he seemed like a nice guy.  He had obviously cared for Trixie.  “You really think it could be Matt?”

“I don’t know,” Trixie sounded very confused and torn.  “I’d hate to think that a guy I trusted, that I was with for a year, could be capable of something like this, but I just don’t know anymore.”

“Why do you think it’s Matt?”  Jim questioned.

“Well, a criminal I put away sending me roses sounds too fantastic to me, no one I know is responsible for this, and an ex-boyfriend seems to be as plausible an explanation as any,” Trixie stated.  “Since I only have two ex-boyfriends, and I think we’ve ruled out you as a sender, Jim, that leaves Matt.”

“Did he ever do or say anything that indicated he might be capable of something like this?”  Jim tried to keep his voice neutral, but he was seething inside at the thought that this guy might have even hinted that he could harm Trixie.

Trixie hesitated.

“What did he do, Trix?”  Jim insisted.

“He didn’t do anything.  The last time I saw him, which was last August, he just said something rather…cryptic,” Trixie disclosed.

“Like what?”  Honey was curious.

So Trixie related the conversation, and discussed her original feeling that Matt was just telling her that he would eventually be proven right.  Trixie felt uncomfortable relating this information to Jim, since it concerned her feelings for him, but she needed his help, so there was no holding back now.  Jim’s face did not give Trixie a clue as to how he felt about the revelation of her feelings toward him.

“Are you going to confront him?”  Jim inquired.

“Well, after the last flowers arrived, I vowed to myself that if I got another delivery, I would take them and march up to his parents’ Manhattan penthouse and demand an explanation,”  Trixie admitted rather shyly, “but I’m not feeling really up to doing that now.”

“Can’t you just call him?”  Honey wanted to know.

“I could, but I thought it would better to see his expression and body language when he saw the flowers,” Trixie explained.

“Makes sense, but what if he is still in D.C.?  You could call down there and rule him out immediately.  Here’s my cell phone.  Call him now,” Honey said as she dug her phone out of her purse.

“Honey,” Trixie started to protest.

“No ifs, ands, or buts about this, Trix.  Call him,” Honey’s voice was gentle but firm.

“Since when did you become a drill sergeant,” Trixie grumbled, but she took the phone and dialed.

Jim noted that she still had his phone number memorized after all of this time.  Knock it off, Frayne, you know Trix was always good with numbers, until it came time to put them into equations, that is.

Trixie reached Matt’s roommate, Josh.  “Hi, Josh, it’s Trixie…yeah, it has been a while…no, I moved back to  New York after graduation…you are? Well, that’s pretty cool.  Listen, is Matt still in D.C.?…He moved back to New York, too?”  Trixie looked at Honey and Jim significantly.  “Did he move back in with his parents?…I see…Thanks, Josh, good luck with your art…You, too. Bye.”

Trixie hung up the phone and handed it back to Honey.  “He took a job with a firm on Wall Street.  He found an apartment, but he can’t move in until the end of August, so he’s staying with his parents right now.”

“Motive and opportunity,” Jim stated.

“We never determined motive, Jim,” Trixie argued.

Jim looked sheepish; he had already gone so far as to proclaim himself judge and jury, trying and convicting Matt of the “crime” already.  But even he knew he was letting his personal feelings toward Matt get in the way.  It just drove him nuts to think about anybody with Trixie that way.  The thought of someone else kissing those luscious lips, running their hands over the soft skin and warm curves of her body…Stop it!  Jim yelled at himself.  He rued the fact that Trixie had never allowed him to truly make her his; she had wanted to wait until she was older, more emotionally ready, and of course he had accepted her decision without question.  But had she let Matt?  The thought haunted him.  You didn’t wait for her, why should she have waited for you?

Jim tore his thoughts away from where they were heading and forced himself to pay attention to what Trixie and Honey were saying.

“So, we’ll go tomorrow to his parents,” Honey decided.

Jim broke in.  “Why not now or later this afternoon?  The sooner the better.”

Both girls looked at him as though he were from outer space.  Uh-oh, what did I miss?  He thought.

“Jim, didn’t you just hear Trixie say she has plans for later?”  Honey asked in a slightly bewildered tone.

“Uh, no, I guess my mind wandered.”  Jim turned to Trixie.  “What plans?”

Honey scolded.  “Jim!  Maybe Trixie wants some privacy.  She doesn’t need to file a flight plan with you.”

Jim was momentarily confused by Honey’s sarcasm.  It was a simple, innocent question; why was she acting like he had given Trixie the third degree, complete with a bright light shining in her eyes?  Suddenly it dawned on him.  Trixie must have a date and that’s why Honey was being so defensive.  He looked at Trixie, watching her cheeks flush as she looked away from him.  Yes, that was it.  Trixie had a date.  Wonderful.

“Sorry, Trix, I wasn’t trying to pry,” he said in a subdued voice.

“You weren’t, Jim, it was an innocent question,” Trixie assured him.

The three sat in an awkward silence until Honey broke it.  “But, in case it’s not Matt, we need to think up some alternate plans.”

Trixie and Jim agreed.  “I didn’t want to do this,” Trixie confessed.  “But we need to start making a list of criminals that the Bob-Whites have locked up and check their status.  Some of them could be getting out on parole right about now.”

Honey pulled a pad of paper and a pen out of her bag.  “Let’s get started,” she said practically.

The three sat and brainstormed, in order, those criminals that they had sent to prison.

“Okay, let’s start with when we met because that’s when things started happening,” Trixie said.

“Well, the first criminal we were involved with was my stepfather,” Jim stated.  “You didn’t put him away then, but you did later when he tried to hurt my cousin Julianna and steal her rightful inheritance.”

Honey wrote Jones at the top of her list in her neat handwriting.  Trixie looked down at the piece of paper.  “It’s a good thing you’re writing it, Honey, or we’d never be able to read it!”

Honey smiled.  “The next case was those two trailer thieves…what were their names?”

“Jeff and Al,” Trixie supplied.  “I don’t remember their last names; we’ll have to look those up in our newspaper clippings in our scrapbooks.”

“And then that phony chauffeur, Dapper Dick.  Boy, Trix, he really had it in for you, he could be a real possibility,” Jim stated.  He knew the extent of Dick’s savageness having been knocked out and tied up by Dick while out on a “driving lesson.”

“Di’s phony uncle was Tilney Britten,” Honey said, writing.  And so it went until the three had made a long list of thieves of all kinds (“Of sheep, jewels, antiques, you name it!” Honey proclaimed), imposters, kidnappers, arsonists, smugglers, gunrunners, counterfeiters, embezzlers, horse race-fixers, and even several criminals who had performed as ghosts or legendary creatures to throw the Bob-Whites off their trail.

Honey looked at the list.  “Oh, whoa, this is a big list, Trix.  How are we ever going to track all of these people down?”

“We’ll give the list to Molinson,” Trixie said briskly.  “He can probably trace everyone in the computer rather quickly.”

“Well, we might as well drive to town and give him this list so that he can get started,” Jim stated.  “I was going to take the younger boys to the lake for a swimming lesson this afternoon.  Let me see if I can get Regan to fill in for me.  He loves kids; I don’t think he’ll mind.”

“Jim, don’t disrupt your schedule for me,” Trixie begged.  “Those boys deserve to spend some time with you, not some fill-in, even if it is Regan.”

“Nonsense, Trix, I manage to spend lots of time with all of the boys.  I really want to do this,” he looked at his watch.  “It’s almost lunchtime.  Let me clear this with Regan and then we can have lunch at Wimpy’s and go talk to Molinson.”

Honey laughed.  “We’re not teenagers any more and we’re still asking Regan for help in getting out of a bind.”

“Some things never change!” Jim said as he was out the clubhouse door.  “I’ll meet you in fifteen minutes at the Manor House.  Can we take your Saturn, Honey?”

“Sure, meet you in the car!”  Honey called to Jim’s retreating back.  He waved to let her know he had heard.

Trixie and Honey locked up the clubhouse and followed the path to the Manor House.  “That was uncomfortable,” Trixie stated.

“Talking to Jim about Matt?”  Honey asked sympathetically.

“Yep.  Admitting that the reason that Matt and I broke up was because he was convinced that I still had feelings for Jim.”

“Well, you already know that Megan broke up with Jim for the same reason.  She knew she fell in the shadow of a certain blonde firecracker with a penchant for mysteries and solving everybody’s problems!”  Honey said with a smile.

“Maybe so, but he never told me that, you did.  It was hard to have to say those words myself.”

“I know it was, but you did and you survived,” Honey reassured her friend.  “And now maybe you can clear the way back to you and Jim.  You guys were great together and I think you can be again.”

“Maybe,” Trixie said non-comittally.  “I kind of want to see where things with Scott go, though.  He’s so handsome and intelligent.  And a great kisser!”  Trixie said with a wicked grin.

“I could tell,” Honey grinned back.  “Do what you feel is best.  I think Scott is a really great guy, but so is Jim, despite his tendency to be over-protective.  That’s not always a bad thing you know!”

Trixie sighed.  “I know, but sometimes I feel like I would have to give up too much of myself to be with Jim.  He wants a wife and a family.  I’m not sure he could handle me being a PI.  The idea seems to excite Scott, though.”

“Well, take it a day at a time, that’s all you can do, Trixie,” Honey repeated what Trixie had already decided.  Great minds think alike, Trixie thought as she looked affectionately at her best friend.

Less than an hour later, Trixie was digging her teeth into a Wimpy burger.  “Gosh, I missed these,” she admitted between bites.

“They are good burgers,” Jim agreed.

The three talked and laughed throughout lunch, but there was a definite undercurrent of tension.  Someone was harassing Trixie, someone was trespassing at Jim’s school, and things were still not completely fixed between Trixie and Jim, but despite these things, the three friends were able to enjoy their lunch at Wimpy’s.  Soon, it was time to head to police headquarters and make their request of Captain Molinson.

When Captain Molinson saw the trio enter his office, he didn’t appear surprised.  “I wondered when you would be down here,” he stated.  “What do you need now?”

Trixie looked at Honey for support, took a deep breath, and explained about the list they had come up with, and the favor they were asking of the Captain and the police department.

“Great,” Molinson said.  “I had already started doing some digging myself into the whereabouts of the criminals that you helped capture in the Sleepyside area, but I didn’t know how to begin to look into those you had captured in other states or other countries.”

“Well, here it is, Captain,” Honey said in her sweetest voice as she handed the paper over to Molinson.  His bushy eyebrows shot up as he looked at it.

“I hadn’t realized the list was this impressive,” he said as he turned the paper over to read the second half on the other side.

“We put the places they were captured at next to the ones that were not in Sleepyside,” Trixie explained.

“Good work.  This shouldn’t take long to run through the computer.  I’ll put one of the rookies on it and make sure I have it to you within the next twenty-four hours.  Do you think any of these are more likely to be harassing you than others?”  Molinson wanted to know.

“That’s what the stars are next to some of the names.  We narrowed it down to my stepfather, Dapper Dick, the Thompsons, Sax Jenner, Oliver Tolliver, Diego Martinez alias Pierre Lontard, and the trio of Blinky, Pedro, and Big Tony, their full names are listed on the paper next to their aliases.  They were the hardest criminals, the ones who lost the most, and really seemed to have it in for Trixie, as well as nasty mean streaks,” Jim explained.

Molinson nodded.  “Well, check with me tomorrow around this time, if I don’t get a hold of you first.”

Trixie promised that she would check back the following day, and the three left his office.  “That went smoother than I expected.  I thought for sure I would get reamed for handing him extra work.”

“He’s not all that hard-hearted, Trix, and he really does care about your safety.  Of course he’s willing to do it,” Honey was always quick to defend other people.

Jim grinned.  “Plus, you heard him say he was going to ‘give it to some rookie.’  It really doesn’t add to his personal burden at all.”

“I guess not,” Trixie agreed.  “I’m just glad that things went smoothly!”

All three were silent during the car ride back to their respective residences.  When Honey dropped Trixie off at Crabapple Farm, she promised to be ready when Trixie picked her up the next morning to take the train to  New York  .

That night as she was getting ready for her date with Scott, Trixie thought to herself, Tomorrow I will have more leads and I will have ruled out several possibilities.  Tomorrow I will be closer than ever to solving this thing.  And maybe that will give us a hint as to who is trespassing at Jim’s.  But that’s tomorrow.  Tonight you have a date with a gorgeous guy, Trixie, so relax and have fun for a change!

Trixie did relax and have fun, not allowing herself to think about the cases she was working on, even when Scott asked her if she was busy solving any mysteries currently.

She shook her head. “No, right now I am having a wonderful date with a cute guy.”  Well, right now that is what I am doing, Trixie rationalized her fib.

Scott looked around the restaurant, looking confused.  “You are?  Where is he?”

Trixie dissolved into laughter.  “I’m looking at him!”

The two continued to joke and laugh through dinner, and Trixie could tell she was really falling for this guy.  At his request, she snuggled up next to him on the drive back to Sleepyside.  Trixie was content.

And when he dropped her off at her house, the kiss he bestowed upon her was just as sweet as their first, but this time with even more passion and urgency.  Scott and Trixie sat in the lane at Crabapple Farm for quite awhile before Trixie broke away.

“I had a wonderful time tonight, Scott,” she smiled.

“Me, too.  How about we do it again Friday night?”  Scott asked.

Trixie nodded happily.

“Okay,  seven o’clock, Friday night,” Scott stated.  “See you then, dearest.”

With one last sweet kiss good-bye, Trixie practically floated into the house and up the stairs.

Ah, romance!

Trixie Belden® is a registered trademark of Random House Books. These pages are not affiliated with Random House Books in any way. These pages are not for profit. Image courtesy of Ian Britton, FreeFoto.com.

Story copyright © GSDana