The boys looked at each other very glumly. “The whole thing is like a crazy jigsaw puzzle,” muttered Paul.
“Telling me!” mumbled Ken. “It has already given me a headache. The thing worries me so, I can’t sleep nights.”
The boys laughed at the manner in which Ken said it. “You have to sleep,” remarked Jack. “Otherwise how are we going to solve this jigsaw puzzle of a mystery?”
The boys sat around and brooded. Three minds with one thought—how to solve the mystery; how all the details fitted into the general picture. They were so silent and lost in thought that they were not at all aware of Ken’s little sister Betty approaching and regarding them with surprise. She stood rooted in one spot and stared at her brother and his two friends. Finally she couldn’t bear it any longer. She opened her mouth wide and cried suddenly, “Boo!” The boys jumped as though they were shot. Reassured again, they smiled heaving sighs of relief. “Mother says you should come to dinner,” she said.
“Dinner!” exclaimed Ken. “Is it time for dinner already?”
All three simultaneously looked at their watches. “My, how time flies,” mumbled Jack. “Twelve-thirty already.”
Mrs. Armstrong came to the porch and called, “Betty!”
“I’m right here, Mother,” cried the child. And she ran to the porch.
“Did you find Ken?”
“He is at the garage. And Jack and Paul too.”