That night, Trixie and Jim sat in the candlelight of the Italian restaurant in White Plains. She had slipped into a blue dress with spaghetti straps which went down to her knees. Her outfit complimented Jim in his black suit with white shirt and burgundy tie.

Jim reached across the table and squeezed her left hand. “I’m glad we’re here tonight.”

She smiled at Jim. “So am I.”

“I’m not sure if I said it, but you look beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you.” Trixie looked down at the table.

Music began to play. “Trixie, would you care to dance?”

She looked at Jim. “I would like that.”

Jim helped her out of her seat and they moved to the dance floor. Jim held her right hand in his left and wrapped his right arm around her waist. Her left arm rested on Jim’s shoulder. As they moved to the slow music, Trixie looked up at Jim.

He does look handsome, she thought. When I’m with him, my heart seems to beat double time. Now that we’re together, I don’t see us ever being apart.

Jim looked at her with a smile. He leaned in close and gave her a kiss. As he pulled back, he said, “I love you, Trixie.”

“I love you, too.” They kissed again.

When the song ended, they made their way back to the table just as the waiter was arriving with their meals.

“Well, well. We meet again,” a voice said toward the end of their meal.

Trixie looked up from Jim and saw Aristotle standing beside their table. The other man continued, following the waiter.

“Hello,” she said.

“I see you found your friend’s hotel room,” Aristotle said.

“Oh, this wasn’t the friend I was going to see,” she said quickly. “The friend was out at the festival and I missed her.”

Aristotle looked at Jim. “I’m sorry. We haven’t been formally introduced. I’m Aristotle Stanois.”

Jim got to his feet. “James Frayne.”

“As in the Frayne Academy out on Glen Road?”

“Actually, it’s Ten Acres Academy.”

“It’s not a public school, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” Jim said. “The school is for disadvantaged boys.”

“That’s interesting.” Aristotle looked at Trixie. “I didn’t catch your name the other day.”

“Trixie Belden.”

“It’s nice to finally be introduced. Well, we didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner. Goodnight.”

“Night,” Jim said. As Aristotle walked away, Jim sat down and looked at her. “Trixie?”

She knew they were going to have a serious conversation. “Jim, please. Let’s not talk about this here.”

“Fine. But we will talk about it before I take you home.”

“That’s fine.”

After dessert, Jim and Trixie exited the restaurant. Instead of heading home right away, they walked through the park. Jim took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. Trixie knew what was coming.

“So,” Jim began.

“So,” Trixie said hoping he wouldn’t ask.

“What’s going on?” She could tell he was trying not to worry. “How did you meet that guy?”

“I ran into him last night at Glen Road Inn.”

Jim stopped walking and looked at her. “What were you doing there?”

Trixie looked into Jim’s green eyes. She could see he wasn’t happy with her. She took her hand from Jim’s and wrapped her arms around herself. She knew he would keep pushing until she told him. She started explaining what happened starting with the conversation she overheard while in the fun house and including up to her visit to Glen Road Inn the previous evening.

When she finished, she avoided looking at Jim. She turned and made her way toward the fountain in the middle of the park. She knew Jim hated it when people kept secrets from him.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Jim finally asked.

“I was doing my job.”

“So, your job now entails eavesdropping on conversations and making a mystery out of it?”

“Jim.” She turned to face him. “I got some information and followed through. What am I supposed to do? Sit on the information and let bad things happen?”

“When you work with someone, you let them know what you’re doing. You don’t go off on your own. Geez, Trixie, you should have learned that by now.”

Trixie whirled around to look at Jim. “I gave Molinson the paper I found on the floor at the bank.”

“And what did he do with it?” Trixie remained quiet. “Probably nothing, Trixie.”

She had enough of this. She knew there was no way for them to be more than just friends even though they admitted their love for one another.

“Jim, forget it.”

“What?”

“This isn’t going to work. We can’t do this.” She started to walk back toward the restaurant.

“Where are you going?” Jim called out after her.

“Home.”

Trixie kept going. She was going to the restaurant and call a taxi to take her home. She forced herself not to cry. She loved Jim more than anything else in her life besides her detective work. And that was something she knew Jim would never let her do without voicing concern.

This is the best of both of us, she thought. We would end up driving each other crazy and away from each other. I love him so much that I don’t see any other solution.

Trixie reached the street and started crossing without looking.

Suddenly, she heard a car engine. She turned as two headlights shined on her. The car was heading right toward her. She was going to get hit.

Chapter 11