The Surfside Inn was just across the street, and Nancy decided to go there first, to shower and change. Then she’d return to the beach and talk to the police. But after she got the key from the desk and let herself into the room, Nancy realized she was too tired to take a shower. She was so wiped out, she was actually staggering. Her eyes were playing tricks on her, too. Instead of two single beds, she saw four, then two, then four again. Stumbling across the room, she bumped into the cot that Bess used, fell onto it, and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
• • •
“Look at this!” a voice was saying. “There’s a body on my cot!”
Nancy burrowed her face deeper into the crook of her elbow. “Go away,” she mumbled.
Another voice said, “Look, she didn’t even bother to change. How’s that for lazy?”
“Please,” Nancy groaned, “not so loud.” She yawned and tried to slip back into sleep, but someone sat down on the cot, making it jiggle back and forth.
“Hey, Nan,” Bess said, laughing, “I don’t mind if you sleep here, but don’t you think you’d be more comfortable without my makeup kit poking you in the neck?”
Nancy moaned and shook her head, but it was too late—she was awake. She opened one eye and peered up through her tangled hair. Bess and George were staring down at her, looking extremely amused. “What’s happening?” she asked.
“Why don’t you tell us?” George suggested.
“Yeah,” Bess said, grinning. “We thought we had a wild night, but it looks like yours was wilder. Couldn’t even bother to take off your clothes before you fell asleep, huh?”
“Wild night?” Nancy croaked. Her throat was bone dry, and her tongue felt too big for her mouth. Swallowing, she pushed herself up on her elbows and turned onto her back. “It was wild, all right.”
When Bess and George saw how scratched and bruised she was, their teasing grins disappeared and their mouths dropped open.
“Nan, what happened to you?” Bess cried in horror.
“That must have been some battle,” George said. “Are you okay?”
“I will be, once I shower and eat and drink about a gallon of water.” Nancy sat up slowly and rubbed her neck. “You’re right, George,” she remarked, “it was some battle.”
“Well, tell us!” Bess demanded.
George went to the vending machine in the hall and brought back a soda and a package of peanut butter crackers. Nancy ate first, then told them everything that had happened the night before.
“We heard about Ricardo when we got in,” Bess told her. “That’s all anybody’s talking about on the beach.”
“It looks like he wasn’t a bad guy after all,” George said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he was an illegal himself.”
Hmm, thought Nancy. Just like Maria.
“Yeah,” Bess said, “the police tried to check up on him and found out he’d been working with a fake green card ever since he reached Florida. And it seems that a lot of people around here knew about it.”
George nodded. “One of the other lifeguards told me that Ricardo tried to help other illegals—you know, get them cards and find them work, stuff like that.”
“So he must have been helping Maria all along,” Nancy said. That explained why he’d smiled when Kim got hit, she thought. It was a smile of anger—he’d been challenged and he was ready to fight. “But why did he have it in for me?” she wondered aloud, remembering the satisfied look on his face when she’d stepped on the man-of-war.
“Why shouldn’t he? He didn’t know who you were,” Bess pointed out. “Kim didn’t know you were coming down, and she probably never even mentioned you. He probably thought you were going to turn him over to the authorities or something.”
“Right,” Nancy agreed. “He didn’t trust anyone.” She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “Boy, I’m really stuck now. I don’t have the vaguest idea what to do next.”
Bess took Nancy’s hand and pulled her off the bed. “Take a shower and then put something in your stomach besides soda and crackers,” she told her. “Once you feel human again, you’ll be able to think.”
Nancy couldn’t help noticing that Bess was back to her old friendly self. Dirk must have made all the right moves, she thought. Then she thought of something else. “Kim!” she cried. “I completely forgot!” She quickly told Bess and George about Kim’s condition while she dialed the hospital room. The line was busy.
Ten minutes and three calls later, it was still busy.
“Look,” George said, “go shower. We’ll keep trying the hospital. Anyway, who knows? Kim might have recovered. She could be running up a long distance phone bill right now.”
“Let’s hope so,” Nancy said, and headed for the shower. Even though the sharp spray stung every cut and scratch, the water felt wonderful, and Nancy thought she might never come out. She was soaping her hair for the second time when Bess walked in.
“Nan?” she called. “I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted about Dirk. I was really mad at him, not at you. I hope you know that.”
“It’s okay,” Nancy called back, over the hiss of the water. Then she poked her head out of the shower curtain and grinned. “I take it you two got together again last night?”
“We sure did!” Bess ran a brush through her hair and laughed. “He’s absolutely incredible!”
“Well, I’m glad somebody had fun,” Nancy joked. “Did you meet Lila Templeton?”
Bess nodded. “She was really nice. She asked why you weren’t there, but I just said something had come up.”
“That’s for sure!” Nancy ducked back in the shower and started rinsing her hair.
“I wouldn’t mind being in Lila’s shoes,” Bess went on with a giggle. “Everybody who works for her is tan, male, and gorgeous! And when they drop the partiers off at the island, she gets to take off in that boat with ten beautiful men!”
Nancy laughed and poured some conditioner on her hair. “Sounds great!”
“It is,” Bess agreed, “but I’m starting to feel a little guilty.”
“Guilty? What for?”
“Well, I mean, there we were, cruising along in the Rosita, having a terrific time, while you were tied to that piling, fighting for your life, and—”
“The what?” Nancy turned the water off and stuck her head out again. “What did you say?”
“I said I was feeling a little guilty about having such a good time when—”
“I heard that part,” Nancy interrupted. “You said you were cruising along in the . . . the what?”
“The boat,” Bess said, looking confused. “Lila Templeton’s boat—the Rosita.”
Chapter
Eleven
I MISSED IT!” Nancy said. “I completely missed it!” She stepped into her new yellow drawstring shorts, pulled on a stretchy, yellow-striped tank top, and reached for the blow-dryer. “Kim said, ‘The . . . it was . . . Rosita.’ I kept thinking she meant a girl, and all the time she meant a boat!”
“You really think Lila Templeton brings people in illegally?” Bess asked.
“I think she does more than that,” Nancy said over the whine of the blow-dryer. “I think she brings them in, takes their money, and then ships them off to her family’s orange groves to work for nothing.”
“Cheap labor,” George remarked.
“The cheapest,” Nancy agreed. “No wonder she’s got so much money. No wonder the Rosita is just a big water toy to her. Except it isn’t really a toy,” she added. “It’s a perfect front for what she’s doing.”
“You mean while everybody’s partying on the island,” Bess said, “Lila takes the boat, picks up the immigrants, and hides them somewhere on the boat until she gets back to Fort Lauderdale?”
“Why not?” George asked. “The Rosita’s big enough.”
Nancy turned off the dryer. “I don’t think it’s just Lila, though,” she said. “Remember the guys I told you about—the ‘m
aintenance’ man and the one who dropped off the flowers at the hospital? When I was out on that pier, I thought I’d imagined them. But now I’m positive they were there.”
“You think they work for Lila,” George said.
“Right. It makes sense, doesn’t it?” Nancy asked. “That maintenance guy was as phony as a three-dollar bill; I just didn’t know what he was doing there. But he was probably checking the room to make sure there wasn’t any evidence against Lila. And the florist guy must have been checking to make sure Kim wasn’t spilling the beans.”
“I’ll bet they followed you around last night,” George told her. “And you led them right to Maria and Ricardo.”
Nancy nodded. “Lila’s got a whole fleet of gorgeous men doing her dirty work.” Her feet still sore, she limped over to the cot and, wincing, slipped on a pair of thongs. The sandals she’d worn the night before were lost forever on the beach. “And, Bess,” she said, “remember what happened when you first introduced me to Dirk?”
“How could I forget? He practically tripped over his own feet to stand next to you.” Bess rolled her eyes and shook her head. “The minute he met you, it was like I didn’t exist.”
“Not the minute he met me,” Nancy reminded her. “It was the minute I started talking about Kim.”
“That’s right,” George said. “He said he was ‘sort of a mystery nut’ and he’d like to help you.”
Bess shook her head again. “What a line!”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t using that line because he was interested in me,” Nancy said. “The only one he was interested in was Kim, and that’s because—”
“Because he works for Lila Templeton,” Bess finished with a groan. “How come I always fall for the wrong guy?” she asked, plopping down on one of the beds. “This time I really, really thought I’d found somebody special, and he turns out to be a creep, the creep!”
Nancy couldn’t help laughing. “Don’t feel too bad, Bess. I fell for him, too.” Grinning, she told them about the broken pole on her windsurfing sail. “I mean I really fell for him!”
“Well, now that we’ve got it all figured out,” George said, “what are we going to do about it?”
“Good question,” Bess remarked. “The only one who can prove anything is Maria, and who knows where she is?”
“Kim could prove it,” Nancy said, “if she’s still . . .” Instead of finishing the awful thought, Nancy reached for the phone and dialed Kim’s hospital room. “Now there’s no answer at all,” she reported.
“What could that mean?” Bess asked.
“I don’t know.” Nancy suddenly jumped up and headed for the door. “Come on, let’s get to the hospital and find out.”
• • •
Half an hour later, Nancy, Bess, and George were standing nervously outside the door to Kim’s hospital room. They looked at each other for a moment; then Nancy took a deep breath and pushed it open.
Kim was gone.
The bed was empty and freshly made, ready for a new patient. The only reminders of Kim were two flower arrangements—one was dried and drooping, but the second looked as if it had just been delivered.
Bess’s eyes filled with tears. “We’re too late,” she whispered.
George bit her lip. “I can’t believe she’s—”
“Wait a minute,” Nancy broke in. “This doesn’t have to mean she’s dead. Maybe they moved her to a different room or took her for tests or X rays or something. Come on!”
The three friends dashed out of the room and headed down the hall. As they turned a corner they heard a loud commotion at the nurses’ station.
“I never authorized any such thing!” a voice cried. “How could you possibly think I would?”
It was Kim’s mother, but she didn’t look grief-stricken. She looked furious.
“Mrs. Baylor?” Nancy rushed up to her. “What’s going on?”
“I’d like to know myself!” Mrs. Baylor exclaimed. “I leave my daughter’s room for all of twenty minutes to get a cup of coffee in the cafeteria and what do I find when I come back? An empty bed, that’s what I find. With no daughter in it!”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Baylor,” the nurse said nervously. “But the doctor who signed her out said you wanted her taken back to River Heights as soon as possible.”
“That’s ridiculous! Why would I have her moved at such a crucial time?”
“You mean Kim had gotten even worse?” Nancy asked.
“No, she was getting better! Just a couple of hours ago, she actually woke up,” Mrs. Baylor explained. “She didn’t say anything, of course, she was too weak. But she knew who I was—she smiled at me before she went back to sleep. The doctors said it would be just a matter of days before she’d be back on her feet.” She turned to the nurse again. “They also told me it was very important to keep her quiet and calm,” she said accusingly. “It would be the most ridiculous thing in the world for me to take her back to River Heights right now!”
The nurse started to say something, but Mrs. Baylor didn’t give her a chance. “I’m going to see your supervisor right this minute,” she told her. “And you’d better hope she has some answers for me! If she doesn’t, heads are going to roll around here!” Without a backward glance, Mrs. Baylor strode to the elevator and furiously punched the button.
When she was gone, the red-faced nurse puffed out about a gallon of air. “This is definitely not my day,” she complained. “I’m new here and all I did was follow a doctor’s orders, and now my job’s on the line!”
Nancy barely heard her. “If we’d just gotten here an hour ago, this whole thing would never have happened,” she muttered.
“What are you talking about?” Bess asked.
“Those flowers,” Nancy said, pacing back and forth in front of the desk.
“What flowers?”
“In Kim’s room, remember? One of the bouquets was drooping and the other was fresh. I’ll bet you a brand-new string bikini that they were both sent by the same person.”
“Lila?” George asked.
“Lila.” Nancy stopped pacing and shook her head. “Lila Templeton has been one step ahead of me ever since I got here. That tan hunk who works for her probably delivered those flowers so he could find out what shape Kim was in. When he realized she was recovering, he called Lila. That’s why the phone was busy. And Lila decided that Kim better disappear.”
Nancy thought for a moment, then suddenly turned to the nurse. “That doctor,” she said, “the one who signed Kim Baylor out. Who was he?”
“It wasn’t a he, honey,” the nurse replied. “That doctor was a she, and she had two of the cutest orderlies with her that I ever saw in my life.”
“Lila Templeton,” Nancy said again. “The doctor had blond hair, right?” she asked.
“Blond hair and big green eyes,” the nurse replied. “She was real friendly, smiled a lot.”
“A great bedside manner, huh?” Nancy asked with a wry smile. Without waiting for an answer, she looked at Bess and George. “We’ve got to get going,” she said.
“Where?” Bess wanted to know.
“To the Rosita.”
“You think Lila has Kim on her boat?” George asked.
“Kim and Maria,” Nancy said. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? They’re the only two people who can point a finger at Lila. She knows she has to get rid of them, and the Rosita is a perfect way to do it.”
Bess’s face turned pale under its tan. “You mean she’ll kill them and dump them in the ocean?”
Nancy nodded. “Don’t forget Ricardo,” she said. “Lila Templeton has killed before, and unless we stop her, she’s going to kill again.”
Chapter
Twelve
AT SEVEN-THIRTY that night, the Rosita sat peacefully at the dock, swaying slightly in the breeze. It was a beautiful boat, sleek and trim, but with enough deck space for close to fifty people to dance on. Its rails were strung with brightly colored lights, and from somewhere on board, po
werful speakers blasted rock music into the evening air. It was scheduled to leave at eight o’clock, and already the decks were filling with laughing, joking people, eager to party the night away.
As Nancy, Bess, and George joined a crowd of kids heading for the gangplank, Nancy raised her eyes and scanned the crew on the small upper deck. “I just spotted my friend the maintenance man,” she whispered. “The florist is up there, too.”
“And there’s Dirk the Jerk,” Bess hissed. “Is it my imagination, or does he look nervous?”
Dirk Bowman, wearing white cotton shorts and a muscle-hugging T-shirt, was standing at the rail, his eyes roving over the approaching partiers.
“I’d be nervous too,” George said, “if I had Kim and Maria hidden away in the hold somewhere.”
“Lila probably ordered them all to keep an eye out for me,” Nancy said.
“But she thinks you’re dead,” Bess reminded her.
“She can’t be sure,” Nancy told her. “If she sent one of her goons to check, all he would have found is the sash from my sundress. Until she hears about my body being washed ashore, she can’t take any chances.”
“We’re the ones taking a chance right now,” George remarked. “If Dirk spots the three of us together, he’s going to see right through our ‘disguises.’ ”
Nancy nodded. She wished they really could have disguised themselves, but after all, they had to wear clothes that were right for a party to nowhere. George had on a long striped caftan with a hood that covered her hair and shadowed her face. Bess, whose figure was a dead giveaway, especially to Dirk, had reluctantly decided on a pair of baggy cotton pants, rolled to the knees and topped with an oversized shirt patterned with gaudy palm trees. “I look like a tourist,” she’d complained, tucking her blond hair under a wide-brimmed straw hat.
Nancy was wearing a caftan too, but it didn’t have a hood. She’d wrapped her hair in a bright paisley scarf, like a turban, and put on so much makeup that her face itched and her eyelids felt weighted down. She knew she and her friends looked completely different, but she also knew they had to be careful. “You’re right,” she said to George, “we’d better split up. As soon as the Rosita gets going, we can meet somewhere—how about the bow?—and start looking for Kim and Maria.”