The Mandie Collection (19 page)

Jenny, the cook, had come to finish up breakfast, and everyone was sitting in the dining room when there was a loud knock on the front door. Liza went hurrying to answer it and came back shortly to usher the Woodards into the dining room.

Mandie looked up from her plate in surprise. As everyone was exchanging greetings, she had eyes for Joe only. And he came directly to the table where she sat.

“Hello, I'm glad you're here already,” Joe told her.

Mandie pushed back her chair and rose. “Oh, Joe, what a nice surprise,” she said, feeling a little shy. Joe Woodard seemed to have grown a foot since she last saw him at Christmas, and he looked so much more mature, and good-looking, too, Mandie silently noted.

Everyone was talking at once as Elizabeth Shaw saw to seating her new guests. Joe, of course, ended up next to Mandie, and Mandie
suddenly lost her appetite for some strange reason. She sat there with her finger in the handle of her coffee cup and tried to think of something to say.

Joe, on the other hand, was full of conversation and began talking instead of eating, which was very unusual for him.

“My father needs to check on patients in this area, and we plan to stay the whole two weeks here,” he told Mandie. “We'll be going home at the end of next week just in time for me to get my things and get on my way back to college.”

“Celia and her mother and her aunt are coming this weekend,” Mandie told him without looking straight into his brown eyes.

“That will be nice seeing Celia again,” Joe said, turning to take a bite of food from his plate. “And I suppose you've already found a mystery to solve while you're home.”

That broke the tension, and Mandie quickly looked at him and said, “Oh, Joe, there's this old house down at the creek just over Uncle John's property line that someone is staying in and nobody knows who it is.”

Mandie explained about the light and the fact that no one had seen anyone down there. Also, that John Shaw had forbidden her to go down there alone and Liza was going to be too busy.

“So you came at the exact right time,” Mandie told him, sipping her coffee.

“Oh, Mandie, can't we ever do anything but chase mysteries?” Joe said, reaching to hold her hand.

Mandie quickly pulled her hand away and picked up her fork. “But there are always mysteries everywhere I go,” she said and turned away.

“And if there aren't any, you sure can find one,” Joe teased, grinning as he leaned to look into her face.

“Well . . . anyhow,” Mandie stuttered. “Are you interested in helping me find out what is going on at that old house or not?”

“It's like this,” Joe replied. “If I want to see you, I suppose I'll have to follow you around on this mystery.”

So Joe followed her down to look at that old house after breakfast was over. The sky was still cloudy and threatening to drop its rain
down on them. A chilly wind was blowing, and Mandie was glad she had worn her cloak.

When they came within sight of the old house, Mandie put her hand out to stop Joe. “Let's not go any closer, because whoever is in there will definitely see us, but if we stay here behind the trunks of those trees, maybe they won't spot us and will come outside,” she explained. “The ground is too wet to sit down.”

Stepping off the pathway, Mandie went to lean against a huge tree trunk, and Joe followed.

Joe, still looking down at the house, asked, “Do you mean someone is living in that old barn? Looks like it's ready to fall in.”

“I know, but there has been a light in there several times, according to Uncle John, and Liza and I saw it last night,” Mandie replied.

“But this is daytime,” Joe said. “Do you think they'd have a light on in the daytime?”

“I imagine so because all the shutters are closed that I can see, and that would make it dark inside,” Mandie said. She continued watching the house and moved slightly away from Joe around the tree trunk.

Joe moved a little closer and said, “It's really hard to see the whole house from this spot. Maybe we should move on down the hill a little. What do you think?”

Mandie moved slightly backward as she replied, “I'm afraid whoever it is in there might see us and then they'd never come out.”

“But we could go through the bushes over there for a long distance yet without coming out into the open,” Joe said, pointing to the thick growth down the hill on each side of the pathway.

“Well, I suppose we could,” Mandie reluctantly agreed. She realized there were no large trees along the hill and that meant she would have to stay closer to Joe behind the bushes to keep from being seen.

“Here, I'll go first and hold back the branches for you to get through,” Joe said, stepping down the hill.

“Just don't go too fast. This is a steep hill,” Mandie cautioned him as she followed.

Joe offered her his hand, but Mandie ignored it and held on to the
bushes instead as she stepped down. Now and then she glanced in the direction of the house, which she could see as she moved between bushes. There was still no sign of anyone down there.

When they came to the last of the bushes, Mandie stopped and whispered, for fear of being heard by anyone who might be in the house now that they were so close, “We'd better stop right here or someone will see us for sure if we step out of the bushes.”

“Right,” Joe agreed and came to stand by her side. Then he added, “Don't you think we ought to just go down there and knock on the door?”

“Oh no, that wouldn't ever do,” Mandie quickly replied. “Whoever is inside that house doesn't want anyone to see them, that's for sure.”

“But we might just stand here all day with nothing happening,” Joe argued.

Mandie looked up at him and grinned. “Then we'll just keep on coming back until whoever that is comes outside,” she said.

Joe ran his hand through his unruly brown hair and said, “What a way to spend the holidays.”

“But just think what satisfaction it would be to solve this mystery,” Mandie replied, her blue eyes twinkling as she gazed into his brown ones.

“We do get time off to go back and eat now and then, don't we?” Joe teased.

A strong puff of wind came down the hill right then, and there was a loud banging noise at the old house. Mandie and Joe both quickly straightened up to look down the hill. There was no one in sight.

“Oh, shucks! Must have been the wind banging a shutter or something,” Mandie said in disappointment.

“Maybe the wind will just bang one of them off so we can see inside,” Joe said, teasing her again.

Another stronger gust of wind blew through the bushes. Mandie quickly looked down the hill again. “Shucks, that one didn't even rattle the shutter,” she said.

All of a sudden it began raining. Mandie quickly pulled the hood
of her cloak over her head and turned to go back up the hill. “Guess we'd better get back to the house,” she said.

“Yes,” Joe agreed, following her.

Halfway up the slope Mandie suddenly slipped and Joe caught her. “I believe you'd better let me hold your hand,” he said, grasping her hand tightly.

“Oh, all right, then,” Mandie agreed reluctantly.

They got to the front porch of John Shaw's house and stomped their feet to clean off the water and mud. Mandie shook her cloak and said, “I think I'd like to go dry out by the fire.”

“Good idea,” Joe agreed as he opened the front door for her.

Mandie was surprised to find that no one was in the parlor. Where was everyone, she wondered as she hurriedly left her cloak on the hall tree and went to stand by the blazing fire in the fireplace.

Joe followed her and sat on a stool nearby.

At that moment Liza came into the room. “Jes' checkin' to see how dat fire be comin',” she told them, reaching to put another log on the fire.

“I'll help you,” Joe offered, taking the log and pitching it on the fire.

“Where is everybody, Liza?” Mandie asked.

“Ev'rybody dun gone ev'ry which way, dey has,” Liza replied. “Mistuh John went off in de buggy wid de doctuh man. Den Miz 'Lizbeth gits Abraham to hitch up de rig and he drives huh and Miz Taft and Miz Woodard off someplace or other. Didn't heah dem say where.”

Mandie looked at the girl and smiled. “Are you all caught up with your work, then?” she asked.

“Jes' fo' a few minutes,” Liza replied. “But dat don't make no never mind 'cause it be rainin' out dere and we cain't go down to spy on dat house in de rain, dat's fo' sho'.”

“That's where we've been,” Joe told her. “And we got all wet.”

“Oh well, maybe everyone will come back soon because it is raining,” Mandie said.

“Dey tell Aunt Lou they be back fo' dinner. Twelve noon sharp, Miz 'Lizbeth say,” Liza replied. “Now I got to go set dat table.”

“Liza, if you get caught up and the rain stops, you can go back with us to watch that house later,” Mandie told her.

“I sho' am plannin' on it,” the girl said as she left the room.

Mandie sat down on the other stool by the fireplace and said, “I do wonder where everyone went. It's strange they all left at about the same time.”

“Oh, Mandie, I can explain part of that, I believe,” Joe said, grinning. “Your uncle probably went with my father to make some calls on his patients. Remember I told you he had to call on some of them while he's here?”

Mandie nodded and said, “Yes, but where in the world would our mothers and my grandmother all go together? I didn't hear any of them mention going off anyplace, did you?”

Joe sat back and grinned again. “Always looking for a mystery,” he teased. “And you'll probably find out they merely went to a store, or something like that.”

“Well, anyhow, no one told me they were going off,” Mandie said with a frown.

“But they knew we were down there watching the old house, I'm sure,” Joe replied. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Now, tell me, what have you and Celia been up to at school since I saw y'all?”

Mandie smiled and said, “Nothing much at all, believe it or not. Things got kinda dull after we got in trouble about that dark alley.”

Joe frowned and said seriously, “That could have been an awfully bad experience for you girls.” Then smiling, he added, “That taught you a lesson, I hope.”

“Well, that particular lesson, I suppose, for that particular mystery,” Mandie admitted. Then she smiled and said, “But that didn't change my mind about solving mysteries whenever I run into one. I'll just have to be more careful from now on.”

“I agree with that,” Joe said. “And, Mandie, you know that could be an outlaw, or someone like that, hiding out in that old house.”

“I know. Uncle John has already reminded me of that,” Mandie replied, shifting her long skirts in front of the fire to get the dampness off. “But I'm sure you and I will be able to find out before you leave here. Also, Celia will join us this weekend.”

“Well, I hope we can solve this one and put an end to it so we can enjoy doing something else while we're all here,” Joe said.

“We will,” Mandie promised.

She was already trying to think of ways to find out who was in that old house. She would come up with some solution.

CHAPTER FOUR

MISSING

Mandie moved around in front of the fireplace, still trying to dry her long skirts, as she and Joe discussed the old house and possible occupants. Joe stretched his long legs out to get rid of the dampness from the rain as he sat on the stool.

“You will go back down there with me, won't you, when it stops raining?” Mandie asked with a smile.

“Well, all right, but mind you, there's no telling how long this rain will last,” Joe replied, grinning at her.

Mandie heard the front door open and close and she stepped to the doorway to look out into the hall. Glancing back at Joe, she whispered, “My mother, your mother, and Grandmother have returned.”

“I believe I will go on up to my room and change clothes,” Mrs. Taft was saying as she walked down the hallway.

“Did y'all get wet?” Mandie asked as her mother and Mrs. Woodard started to follow Mrs. Taft.

“A little,” Mrs. Woodard responded, walking toward the staircase.

“I'm glad to see you are not out in the rain, Amanda,” Elizabeth Shaw told her daughter. “I'll be right back to the parlor. Amanda, will you please ask Liza to bring coffee for us?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Mandie replied. Turning back to Joe, she said, “I'll be right back.” And she hurried toward the kitchen.

Mandie found only Aunt Lou there. She was chopping up onions.

“Oh, I can't get too close to you, Aunt Lou, or those onions will get in my eyes, but my mother and Grandmother and Mrs. Woodard just came home, and Mother wanted me to ask Liza to bring coffee to the parlor. They've all gone upstairs to change clothes and will be back down shortly.”

“We sho' will get coffee and some sweet cakes in dere shortly,” the old woman replied, pausing to squint her eyes against the onions. “You don't be knowin' where dat Liza has got to, does you, my chile?”

“Last I saw her, she said she had to set the table for the noon meal,” Mandie said.

“I done checked de dinin' room. Table set but Liza not dere,” Aunt Lou said, chopping more onions.

“Maybe she's upstairs,” Mandie suggested. “I'll go look for her.”

At that moment Jenny, the cook, came in the back door.

“I'll send de coffee by Jenny, my chile. You go see if you kin find Liza and tell huh to git on in heah right now,” Aunt Lou said and, turning to the cook, added, “Miz 'Lizbeth and de ladies, dey be back and be wantin' coffee in de parlor.”

“Yessum, dat I'll take care of,” Jenny replied, going toward the stove.

“I'll let you know if I find Liza,” Mandie promised.