Content Harry Potter Trixie Belden Star Trek: TNG My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
  • Previous
  • Next

Trixie Belden and the Anthrocon Mystery

Chapter 6 - Clear as Mud


"Well, either David’s an extremely good liar, which I have problems with, given his tendency to blush when flustered, or he’s on the side of the angels," Trixie said as they piled into the limousine. "I don’t know what to think of Mr. Mayerle, given his guarded answers. That makes me just a little suspicious." She looked to the people already in the limo. "Mr. Wheeler, Mrs. Wheeler." They all greeted Honey’s parents as they climbed in.

Diana chuckled. "Just a word to the wise, Trix. I happened to talk to Mr. Mayerle a bit, and it turns out that he has top secret clearances due to his job. He works in the aerospace industry."

Trixie thought for a moment, then chuckled. "Darn! So much for accusing him! How dare he have a valid reason for evasive answers!" she finished with a laugh. "Well, there’s one innocent person I can cross off my list of people to accuse."

Brian looked at his sister for a long moment. "You’ve gotten more able to laugh at yourself, Trixie; more self-assured. I think I like the change. I remember when you were fourteen, you’d have exploded if someone suggested that you had accused an innocent person."

"Well, a detective pays attention to patterns. The Modus Operandi, if you will. When history shows a tendency for me to accuse at least one person who has nothing to do with the problem at hand, well, that’s a pattern that needs changing." She smiled, unconsciously mimicking Galadrion’s rueful one. "It’s not a pattern I like, but I’m working on it. If I keep it to the forefront of my mind, I’m less likely to do it."

Jim chuckled. "You’ve obviously been hanging around Mart too long as well, Trix, when you start tossing word like forefront around with even thinking about it."

"Hey, I resemble that remark!" Mart laughed.

Mr. Wheeler looked to Trixie and asked, "What exactly is going on with your investigation?"

"Well, I can’t prove it yet, but I’m almost positive that the accident was no accident, and is connected to his costume that he built. There’s something quite interesting in that thing, and I’ll bet someone wants it. I’d lay all the money I have that David has nothing to do with it, either."

"He seems sweet on you," Di said with a giggle.

"Seems that way to me, too. He is someone I’d like to get to know better, but only as a friend. I’m rather happy with things as they are right now," she replied, reaching over to hold Dan’s hand for a moment. "He’s open, honest - as far as I can tell, at least, and doesn’t react the way most adults do when they discover that I’m interested in detective work." She chuckled. "He also didn’t have any of the reactions that I would have seen if he were a part of this whole thing. Given his pro..." She snorted. "Mart, it is your fault that I was actually about to use the word ‘propensity’. He blushes a lot, and with his shyness, I really doubt that he could blush on cue and lie without showing it. So, he drops off my list." As they pulled into the hospital, she laughed, "Of course, I could officially accuse him, just to get my wrong choice out of the way!" The others joined her laughter.

Once inside and upstairs, the others headed to the lounge while Honey’s parents stepped in to see their daughter. About fifteen minutes later, they came back out of the room, beaming. Impetuously, Mrs. Wheeler walked over to Trixie as she stood and hugged her tightly. "She recognized us! Really knew who we were; not just remembering that we’ve been visiting! Our daughter is back!" She suddenly realized what she had done, and started to pull away. "I...I’m sorry, Trixie...I just..."

Trixie just laughed as Jim exited Honey’s room. "Sorry for what, Mrs. Wheeler? For being so happy that your daughter is back? I’m so happy to hear it that..." She finished her statement by pulling Mrs. Wheeler back into the hug, who looked stunned for a moment, and then returned the embrace shyly.

"You see, Madeleine? I told you these were good people," her husband chuckled fondly. As Jim got closer, he grabbed him and pulled him into his own ecstatically happy hug. Jim was more than a little surprised by this, but Trixie was not surprised to see the dampness of unshed tears as he smilingly returned his adopted father’s embrace.

Trixie’s eyebrows rose as she realized what Mr. Wheeler had said. Looking at Mrs. Wheeler as they released the hug, she asked, "You and your daughter have the same first name? That must get confusing sometimes."

"Not really. It’s a family tradition. Our middle names are the way to tell us all apart. Mine, Elaine, came from my mother’s favorite aunt, whereas our daughter’s came from appeasing his family." She smiled over at Mr. Wheeler, who still had an arm around Jim’s shoulder. "Isn’t that right, Matthew?"

"Can I help it if my mother was named Gertrude?" he laughed.

Trixie mock-shivered. "I understand why she never told me anything past ‘Madeleine G. Wheeler’ now."

The nurse walked into the lounge at that point, and asked, "Are you all visitors for the Wheeler girl?" Upon getting an affirmative, she continued, "Well, you’ll be happy to know that the doctor has upgraded her condition. He’s allowing as many as four of you to go in at one time, as opposed to the normal one or two." She looked at Jim. "I’ll pretend I didn’t see you earlier," she chuckled at him, and then looked at Dan. "And if I know this group, I’ll pretend I don’t see you, either," she smiled. "All we ask is that if she seems in distress, let us know; and try not to tire her, if you can avoid it." The nurse headed back to her station. Dan, Trixie, and her brothers all headed for the room.

Inside, they found a much happier looking Honey sitting in the bed. "Hi guys! I actually know you now!" she said quietly but ecstatically. "Ribs hurt, so too much effort makes them hurt more. How are you guys handling things?"

"Well, other than the disturbing fact that one of our best friends is in the hospital, we’re doing okay," Mart said. "Trixie is working on the Mysterious Costume Mystery in order to cause temporal expiration."

"‘Mysterious Costume Mystery’?" Honey asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Trixie shrugged with a smile. "Something is up with that costume that..." She stopped as she saw Honey shiver. "Sorry. Nothing more about that." She grinned then. "‘Gertrude’? Your mother blabbed to us when we found out you two share the same first name. As my circumloquacious brother would say, ‘Your reticence in informing us of your intermediary appellation became blindingly apparent’." Trixie turned to look at the others, who were staring at her with jaws dropped. Mart’s eyes were wide.

"You’ve consumed my Oxford Unabridged, haven’t you?" he asked in mock horror. "‘Circumloquacious?’ That’s a new one on me, I’ll admit."

"It fits you, though, even if I did have to make it up. You’re extremely talkative, and take forever to get to the point." He scowled at her until they realized that Honey was crying on her hospital bed. "What’s wrong?" Trixie asked in alarm.

"Ow," came the response. "It’s not fair, you doing this to an accident victim with broken ribs. Are you trying to kill me?" she laughed painfully, and was joined by the rest of the Bob-Whites, albeit a little slowly.


Back at the hotel, Di and Trixie headed up to the room they were sharing with Dennis to clean up a little before dinner. Dennis was nowhere to be seen.

"You seem troubled, Trixie," Diana said as Trixie headed into the bathroom.

"I just hate keeping aspects of the case from my partner," came the reply through the door. "Problem is, those aspects are giving her problems right now if they’re mentioned, so I really can’t mention them."

"I think I understand what you mean. It would be like me keeping something important from you or Mart."

"Exactly. But if you had to, you would. It would just bug you like this does me." Trixie exited the bathroom, and Di took it over. Trixie found herself looking at the closet, and opened it to find the outfit Dennis had made still in there. Hmm, let me see if I can figure out why everyone would want this thing, she thought to herself. She began to look at the costume. A few moments later, she found herself wondering if this thing could fly, because the wings appeared to unfold into something huge. I’m glad I didn’t try to really unfold that wing. There’s not enough room in here for it!

She realized quickly that there was an inordinate amount of electronics built into it, and began wondering about the size of the battery that was going to power this suit. The outfit looked like it was made of some stretchy material, but the inside seemed to have flat rivets throughout. No, wait a minute, those look like the leads that Brian showed us; the ones that are on those EKG tabs. What’s he using these for? She continued to look. Where the heck is the battery in this thing? Where does it fit?

She heard a chuckle behind her, stood and spun to see Diana with a smile on her face and her hands on her hips. "What would you have done if I’d been Dennis? You know he’d probably be unhappy with you doing this."

Trixie frowned. "I know, but this is not the Dennis I know and think of as a friend. He can be secretive, but never like this. People can get hurt with his keeping this...situation quiet." Stepping away from the closet and closing it, she continued. "What is it about that costume? I have no idea where the batteries go, and it’s got all those little leads inside it. What are they for?" She chuckled humorlessly. "Is this thing the reason for those vandals hitting his house? Were they trying to get in after it, or were they trying to send him a message? And why am I asking you?" she finished with a laugh, which Diana joined. "Let’s go downstairs and find some food."


As they reached the lobby, they heard Dennis’ voice around one of the columns, coming closer. "Good to see you too, Rava." He rounded the corner, and the emotion so evident in his voice was just subsiding from his face. The girls found themselves startled by the anger there. "Oh, hi!" he chirped at them, all traces of that anger disappearing as if it had never been. "Where are you girls off to?" He hobbled over and kissed them each on the cheek.

They blinked at him for a moment before Trixie found her voice. "We figured it was about time to get something to eat. Any suggestions?"

"Not Denny’s," he laughed back. "It’s not that the food is bad; it’s just that it’s ... well, it’s basically fast food, delivered slow. That’s my impression, at least. The Fridays is good, and there’s a Chili’s a short walk up the street. Anything else, I’ve never been to. Wait, did that last sentence make any sense?"

The other Bob-Whites arrived in time to know they’d missed something, what with Diana giggling at Dennis’ last comment. "Any decisions on food, guys?" Jim asked. "And are you coming with us, Dennis?"

"Sure, why not? I can’t be where I’d like to be, and really want to be elsewhere right now. I vote for Fridays, because they’re within a reasonable walking distance, and they’re not Denny’s."

As they headed across the parking lot, they ran into Evan, Mike, his wife Christine, Fawkesfyre, and his wife Catspaw. Mike looked at the others and asked something the Bob-Whites couldn’t hear, then called out as they got closer, "We’re heading over to Fridays for dinner. Want to join us?"

"We were just headed there ourselves," Trixie replied. After a quick look at the rest of the group, she added, "Why not? Gives us a chance to get to know each other better." They quickly caught up with the group, and after a surprisingly short wait for a table, had placed their dinner orders.

Trixie frowned and looked at Dennis. "If it’s none of my business, tell me so, but what was that business about when you came around the corner? You certainly didn’t sound or look happy."

"Oh, I was getting chewed out by Rava. You haven’t met her yet. She goes by the nom du Con ‘Rava Purr’. I don’t know her real name, to be honest."

"What was she chewing you out for?" Fawkesfyre asked.

"To be honest, Keith, it’s something I agree with her about. I just didn’t like her tone. She heard about the situation I’m in, and was basically informing me, whether she realized she was doing it or not, that I’m a worthless person for not staying at the hospital at Honey’s side." Dennis’ scowl colored his next words. "The two of us just do not get along. I found myself not telling her things because I was damned if I was going to sound like I was making excuses to her."

"We all can be abrasive, Dennis. I do it, you do it, and Rava does it."

"It does seem like she does it more often with me than with anyone else." He shrugged. "Then again, there is the age difference. I’m barely 21. Not to make it sound bad, but she is older than me, and I may be reacting to that. Or it may simply be that we will never be friends."

"Hey, we can’t all get along like long lost brothers. Which reminds me; anyone seen Beau?"

Mike interjected, "Yes. He’s around, but busy at the moment. He’d have been with us otherwise."

Food came, giving a welcome interruption to the direction of conversation. Talk moved to any number of odd things, and settled into a discussion of UFO’s.

"Honey and I actually saw one of the biggest birds we’ve ever seen one night, just a couple months ago," Trixie was saying in response to Keith asking if she’d ever seen anything. "It was a full moon, and apparently, this tremendous bird crossed in front of the moon. The thing was huge! Of course, it was gone by the time any of the guys got outside, so they proceeded to make fun of us." She turned. "Are you okay, Dennis?"

He finally managed to swallow the small mouthful he had been attempting to inhale. "Pasta in stomach good," he coughed. "Pasta in lungs bad." He coughed some more before he could finally say, "So I wasn’t the only one to see that thing? I thought it was a pterodactyl flying overhead!"

Something in his tone set off an alarm in Trixie’s head. Again, there’s something he’s not saying. Does he know what that thing was? Verbally, though, she smiled and said, "Nice to know somebody backs up the story Honey and I told you boys," laughing at the end to take the sting out of it.

"Mea culpa!" Mart said. "You have to admit that it was a pretty strange story, though, Trixie."

"I forgive you, Mart. After all, I was right!’ she laughed.

"Such largesse," he said melodramatically, drawing chuckles from around the table. Turning to Dennis, he asked, "So, Dennis, will you be able to wear that costume of yours around your cast?"

"I’m certainly going to try. Trixie and Di are going to be the first people outside myself and..." He stopped with a scowl. "Well, they’ll be the first to know why the costume is so special. Everyone else finds out Saturday after the masquerade." Trixie raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. Dinner finished without any further attempts by anyone to fire foodstuffs from their nostrils.


Back in the hotel, as they entered the lobby, they saw ‘Fox Mulder’standing against a post, reading a book. Dennis grinned, although it looked a little forced to Trixie. "I’ll be right back - there’s something I want to ask that guy." He hobbled quickly to him. For once she was close enough to hear Dennis say to ‘Fox’, "I’ll have to give it to you on Sunday - tonight’s right out, and Saturday’s gonna be too damned busy." A nod was his response.

Dennis walked over and said, "He’s waiting for someone. I’ll have to ask him tomorrow or Sunday, when we both have more time." The girls simply nodded.

Up in the room, as soon as the door closed, Trixie said, "Okay. I know something is up, Dennis. What is going on with this suit, and does it have anything to do with ‘Fox’ downstairs?"

He looked at her for a long moment. "Those two things are connected, but not connected at the same time. Believe me when I say that I want to explain what’s going on with this thing, but I can’t. And won’t. If you knew too much, and talked to the wrong people, then your lives would probably be forfeit."

Trixie crossed her arms in front under her breasts and gave a look that crossed angry with "Yeah right". Even Diana was looking annoyed at him. "Do you actually expect me to believe you when you say something like that?"

"You’re going to ask questions until I tell you, or you ask the wrong person, aren’t you? What am I saying, you’re Trixie, and your best friend was almost killed. Of course you are." He sighed, almost melodramatically. "I will tell you just enough, but not the entire thing. I can even prove part of it to you."

His next actions surprised the girls, and embarrassed them slightly as well. Dennis closed the window and stripped to his underwear. Opening the closet, he pulled out the costume and began putting it on, carefully over the cast. When it was completely on except for the head, he smiled. "Now for the fun part." On went the head, and after a click, the girls noticed that the body of the suit had a faint shimmer that it didn’t before. A closer look told them that the feathers were lit. "Fiber optics are fun, aren’t they?" Dennis said.

The girls looked up and noticed that as Dennis continued to speak, the mouth of the costume moved as well. "Holy cow!" Trixie exclaimed. More quietly she added, "That mouth movement looks real! If I didn’t know better, I’d assume you were a real ... umm ... whatever you are."

"Draco-phoenix," he chuckled. High quality speakers made his voice sound almost proper, as if he were speaking, and not filtering through speakers. He moved his arms slightly. "You should see this thing when I have the other set of wings on it." The snort of laughter made them jump. "I forgot - you and Honey already have."

"That was you?!" Trixie squeaked. "That thing can fly?"

"Well, really, it’s glide more than anything else, but I have a launcher in my back yard. I’m working on methods of powering the flight, but at the moment they make this thing too bulky." He reached up and clicked whatever it was that allowed the head to disengage, and the feathers stopped shimmering. "Best these wings would do right now would be to hopefully slow you enough to not kill yourself falling off a tall building. And look damned impressive."

"Where did you hide the battery?" Trixie asked. "When I was looking at...oops..." She had the grace to blush as she realized that she’d just admitted to snooping.

He snorted. "I thought as much. Only a real electronics and techno-wizard is going to solve that one, though, to answer your question." With a wide grin, he bowed. "You’re looking at the battery. It’s designed to power the lights for the fiber optics off the human body. Heat and other much fainter emissions of the human body. Most people don’t realize that the human body has it’s own electromagnetic field. The suit works mostly off heat, but it can deal with the interaction of the human electromagnetic field’s interaction with other fields. Sounds like Star Trek technology, but it’s real. I just figured out how to pull more power than previous people have."

"And that technology is what whoever is after you wants, right?"

"Pretty much," he smiled, and began removing the suit. Back down to his underwear, he tossed on a pair of shorts and grinned. "Sorry if I embarrassed you girls, but I didn’t go as far as you can with this thing. There are leads everywhere, so the more skin contact, the more power for the suit. None of us really wanted that."

The girls looked blank for a moment, and suddenly Trixie blushed to her hair. Diana followed her a moment behind. He chuckled. "Sorry. Well, I want to get dressed and go down to see if I can find a couple of the other furs...I mean people that I’d like to see. You going to stay here, or bounce about yourselves?"

"I think I’ll look around," Trixie said.

"I’ll go find Mart," Diana answered with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Why don’t you ladies do that whilst I get dressed again?" he grinned at them. Trixie noted that it was back - he was joking with them as always, but there wasn’t the feeling behind it anymore. It’s as if it were an old habit that he either can’t break or doesn’t know about. Or doesn’t care to change.

As the girls reached the elevators, Trixie suddenly got an indignant look on her face. "Hey, he never answered my question!"id="Layer 1">


Beatrix "Trixie" Belden, Mart Belden, Brian Belden, Dan Mangan, Diana Lynch, Mr. and Mrs. Lynch, Matthew and Madeleine E. Wheeler, Mr. and Mrs. Belden, and Madeleine G. Wheeler copyright Random House

David "Galadrion" Adrian, Shirh Khan (Kaye), Clint "Concolor" McInnes, Evan "Cateagle" Mayerle, Mike "Old Gray Raccoon" Regan, Dorothy "Catspaw" McComb, Keith "FawkesFyre" McComb, MeJeep are used with permission, and are copyright and trademark their parents.

Any others not so mentioned are copyright 2003-2004 Keith E. McComb

Any resemblence to other people, living or dead, or situations is purely coincidental, and no harm is intended.


 Chapter 5 Chapter 7

  • Previous
  • Next