The Secret of the Sand Castle (17 page)

were on the other side. Aggie’s grandfather, whom she was meeting for the first time, watched beside her in the hospital. A color television set was brought in so all the patients could watch.

“There’s Judy!” Aggie exclaimed, spotting her in the studio audience when she waved.

She knew now that it was Judy, and not Roxy, who had visited her when she was imprisoned on the boat. She had never seen her cousin Flo until she saw her on television. Her grandfather pointed her out.

“I want to meet her. I want to meet that darling little girl, too!” she exclaimed when little Judy appeared on the screen. She sang two lines of the birthday song all by herself, and there was a closeup of her when Irene brought in the huge birthday cake.

Aggie was thrilled.

“I want to meet everyone who was there!” she announced when the show was over.

“Well, they’re all coming here to the hospital to meet you!” her grandfather told her.

Judy and Peter had it all arranged. Later the whole crowd from the studio came in. Aggie’s cast was covered with autographs from celebrities, including Dale and Irene. Little Judy had learned how to write a J and Judy finished the autograph for her. An autograph book was brought out so that Aggie would have a more permanent keepsake.

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“You’ll see us again,” her new friends told Aggie as they left. “We’re going to have a big reunion at the Sand Castle next summer.”

“Will it be a family reunion?” asked Aggie. “Mr.

Brand told me he went ashore to round up all my relatives and I did look forward to meeting them at the Sand Castle.”

“He had no intention of taking you there, Aggie,” Peter told her. “He and his friend, Mrs. Hatch, had hatched a plan so that they could take possession of the Sand Castle, buried money, hidden jewels, and all. But the ‘spook’ they hired to frighten the relatives away turned the tables on them and dug up the money himself. He would have found the jewels, too, eventually, but Judy outsmarted him.”

“I’ll always think of him as the woman in black, not Captain Ottwell,” Judy added.

“I guess I’ll always think of him as a kind man even if he is a criminal, because he did pull me out of the water,” Aggie said.

Judy and Peter exchanged glances. It was best, they decided, not to tell Aggie that there were enough charges against her “kind man” to keep him in prison for the rest of his life. It was going to be harder to prove the charges against the lawyer and Mrs. Hatch as they had been careful to operate within the law.

There would also be an investigation of the plane 185

crash and the death of the young pilot although Peter said he was convinced it had been an accident.

“You’re lucky to be alive, Aggie,” he told her.

“I know. If Judy hadn’t found me I never would have met Cousin Flo or any of my other relatives, would I? When will I meet the rest of them?”

“Soon,” Judy promised.

She would have to visit Roxy herself as she could never write a letter long enough to tell her all that had happened. Besides, she had one of the little velvet-lined cases filled with jewels for the Zoller children. Hazel Barton had insisted on giving her another for herself. But first Aggie had been allowed to choose. She was now wearing the beautiful jewel-studded locket she had chosen.

“You’ll be living with your grandfather and your aunt Hazel not far from where I live,” Judy continued making plans for her. “I expect to visit you often and you must come to visit me.”

“I will. You’ll show me your cat, won’t you?” Aggie asked.

“Yes, and when your leg gets well I’ll let you ride my horse, Ginger . . .”

Judy’s voice trailed off. She was thinking of Blackberry and the reckless driver who had nearly hit him. “You knew who he was and didn’t want me around so you’d be free to trail him, wasn’t that the reason, Peter?” she asked. “He did look a lot like 186

you. Was it a mask?”

“No,” he replied, “just a slight resemblance, but it was enough so that I’ve been asked to take his place.”

“When?” asked Judy, unaware that THE STRANGE

LIKENESS would plunge her into her next mystery.

Then she remembered that she had promised Horace that she would bring home a newspaper story.

Would he consider the story she was bringing too unbelievable to print?

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