Danny grinned. “One day is better than none!”
“True,” George agreed. “But what do we do after that?”
“Play it by ear,” Danny said with a grin. “We’ll take things as they come. Let’s leave early in the morning. The tide should be just right.”
“Do you think it’s necessary for all of us to go?” Bess asked. “Mrs. Cosgrove promised to show me how to make Lemon Nut Cake. I don’t want to pass up the opportunity to enlarge my knowledge of recipes.”
“If you’d rather cook than be a detective, you’re welcome to stay home,” George said.
Bess could not stand her cousin’s condescending tone. “On second thought, I’ll postpone my culinery education,” she decided.
Bess was relieved, however, when the plans changed abruptly later that evening. The Cosgroves and their guests were seated in the living room, discussing the mystery. The visitors were trying to figure out the connection between the men on Crocodile Island and the two from Connecticut when the telephone rang.
Mr. Cosgrove answered, then said, “Nancy, there’s a long-distance call for you!”
CHAPTER VI
The Impostor
THE caller was Mr. Drew.
“I’ve had a long conversation with Roger Gonzales,” he told Nancy. “He’s eager to see you and has asked that you meet him at twelve o’clock tomorrow at his golf club. Mr. Cosgrove will give you directions. You’re to tell the man at the desk that you’re Miss Boonton.”
Nancy did not reply immediately.
“Is something wrong?” her father asked.
“I don’t know. Dad, have you any idea where Mr. Gonzales called from?”
“No. His house, I suppose. Why?”
“Because I think his phone is being tapped.”
“Why do you say that?”
“His enemies knew all about our arrival,” Nancy said, and told her father about the kidnapping attempt.
“I don’t like this!” he exclaimed. “The case is more dangerous than I expected.”
“One thing is sure,” Nancy said. “Our masquerade is known. When we visited Crocodile Island, someone took our pictures.”
“Great!” her father murmured. “Perhaps you should come home.”
“Oh, no!” Nancy cried out. “Please, Dad, we’ll manage. We have Danny to help us, and even though the crooks know who we are and why we’re here, we’ll figure out something to outsmart them. Besides, I have to keep my date with Mr. Gonzales tomorrow, so I can warn him.”
“True,” her father agreed. “If the Crocodile Ecology people overheard my conversation with Roger today, they’ll probably try to follow you and prevent you from reaching the club. Keep that in mind.”
“I will,” Nancy promised. “Don’t worry. I’ll think of something.”
“All right. And good luck!”
When Nancy told the others about the new developments, they agreed that she should meet Mr. Gonzales the following day.
“I suggest,” Mrs. Cosgrove said, “that when you leave here you go shopping. Then take a cab to the club from a store. This way you won’t be followed.”
“That’s a good idea,” Nancy agreed. The next day Mr. Cosgrove drove her to a department store, where she made a few purchases, then went out a side door and took a taxi. When Nancy arrived at the club, she went to the desk and asked for Mr. Gonzales. “I’m Miss Boonton,” she added.
The clerk looked at her searchingly. “There must be some mistake,” he said slowly. “Miss Boonton is already here.”
“What!” Nancy was stunned by the announcement. So that’s how her enemies had double-crossed her!
She asked the man for a piece of paper and a pencil, and quickly scribbled a note to Mr. Gonzales. Nancy explained the situation and asked if he would come to the lobby. Then she handed the note to the clerk.
“Would you please send this to Mr. Gonzales,” she requested.
The clerk summoned a boy and within a few minutes, Nancy saw a handsome, dark-haired man of about fifty, wearing a white suit, approach the desk. The clerk motioned to the girl.
“This is Mr. Gonzales,” he said.
Nancy nodded, then asked her father’s friend to move a little distance away so they would not be overheard.
“I’m Nancy Drew,” she whispered. “The Miss Boonton you’re entertaining is an impostor.”
Nancy opened her purse and showed Mr. Gonzales her driver’s license. He looked at it, then at her, in amazement.
“How do you do,” he said in a low voice. “I’m dreadfully sorry about this. Do you know who the other girl is?”
“No,” Nancy replied. “Let’s go inside and find out.”
Quickly the two went to the dining room, and Mr. Gonzales led the way toward a table at the window. Suddenly he stopped short. “She’s gone!” he exclaimed. “The other Miss Boonton is gone!”
Nancy was not surprised to hear it. She deduced that when Mr. Gonzales had received the note and gone to the desk, the girl realized that her trick had been discovered and she decided to disappear at once!
“She had a good head start!” the girl detective thought.
Nancy suggested that they give an alarm to the man at the main desk so he could ask the clubhouse guard and various workers on the grounds and golf course to look for the impostor.
Mr. Gonzales went to the headwaiter’s desk and picked up the phone. Nancy heard him tell the story to the man in charge of the club and ask that a search be made for a tall, slender young woman with a lot of blond hair.
“She was wearing a white skirt and blouse, with a red-and-white sleeveless vest,” he said.
The message was passed along at once. Nancy, impatient to find out where the girl had gone, told Mr. Gonzales she wanted to do a little hunting on her own account. He offered to go with her.
“Where do you want to look first?” he asked.
“How about inspecting all the cars parked on the grounds? She might be hiding in one.”
Mr. Gonzales led the way to the far side of the dining room and out a sliding glass door. A caddy came by, and Mr. Gonzales asked him if he had seen the girl. The answer was no, and the search went on. They checked every car in the area. All they found inside them was a sleeping dog in one with an open window, and a large teddy bear in another.
“Of course there’s a third possibility,” Nancy said. “The phony Miss Boonton could have been brought to the club by a friend, who could have waited for her.”
“True,” Mr. Gonzales agreed.
As they turned back to the clubhouse, Nancy stopped a couple who were driving in. She asked if they had seen a girl dressed in white except for a red-and-white vest. “We don’t know whether she was on foot or in a car.”
“No, we didn’t,” the man replied.
“Thank you,” Nancy said, disappointed.
Moments later a sports car came from the opposite direction. Mr. Gonzales asked the driver if he had noticed a girl on the road.
“A blond wearing a red-and-white vest?” the man asked.
“That’s right,” Nancy answered, excited. “Where did you see her?”
“I passed her about a mile down the road. She was riding in a brown car with a man.”
The information was sufficient for Nancy to conclude that the fraudulent Miss Boonton had made a quick getaway. “No use in looking for her any more,” she told Mr. Gonzales.
He nodded. “I owe you a lunch. You must be starved. Let’s return to the dining room.”
After they had ordered salads and iced tea, Nancy and her host talked about the mystery.
“I don’t understand how this could have happened,” he said, puzzled.
“I do,” Nancy said. “Your phone must be tapped. Do you remember where you were when you called my father on various occasions?”
Mr. Gonzales frowned. “The first call I made from home. The second one too—no, wait a minute. I made that one from the club. Yesterday I phoned from home again.”
&nbs
p; Nancy nodded. “That proves my theory,” she said and told him about all that had happened, including the kidnapping attempt.
The man turned pale. “This means that not only am I in great danger, but you are, too!” he said. “I never would have asked you to come here if I had known!”
“Mr. Gonzales,” Nancy said, “I think you have more to worry about than I do. I have two friends with me, and a boy is helping us. We’ll be all right. But you would probably be better off if you left this club as little as possible while we’re working on the case.”
Mr. Gonzales nodded. “I see your point, and I’ll do as you say.”
Nancy changed the subject. “You told my father that you were suspicious of your business partners. Who are they, and exactly what worries you?”
“There are three partners in the Crocodile Ecology Company,” Mr. Gonzales said. “Hal Gimler, George Sacco, and me. Recently, the two active partners were evasive when I asked them about certain matters. I had a feeling they were dodging my questions about what’s going on. I found out they made trips to Mexico numerous times, and I know we have no dealings with that country. I had the feeling that they were trying to deceive me.”
“That’s when you called Dad the first time?” Nancy asked.
“Right. When they realized I suspected them, they asked me to sell my interest in the company to them; and at one point I felt that would be the best thing to do. That was when I called your father the second time and canceled your reservations.”
“But then you changed your mind?”
“Yes, because it turned out that I was not getting any cooperation at all from my partners. I’m glad you’re here, but I don’t like the idea of exposing you to danger.”
“We’re used to that,” Nancy said dryly. “Tell me, have you ever seen a submarine or a periscope near Crocodile Island?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
Nancy told him how she and her friends had spotted a periscope, which had disappeared before they could get a closer look.
Mr. Gonzales frowned. “The company could be shipping out crocodiles and not listing the sales. A submarine would be a splendid way of concealing the transaction.” He went on to say that some older reptiles had disappeared, and when he had inquired about them, his partners had merely said they had escaped.
“I don’t see how they could have, with the fencing there is all around the island,” Nancy commented.
“That’s true,” her companion agreed.
“How much of all this did you tell the other Miss Boonton?” Nancy asked.
“I mentioned that I was suspicious of Hal Gimler and George Sacco because I couldn’t get straight answers out of them. Then you arrived and she took off.”
“You didn’t mention the phone calls to my father?”
“Only the first one.”
By this time Mr. Gonzales and Nancy had finished eating. They left the table and walked to the entrance. The clerk at the desk called a taxi for Nancy. While waiting for it to arrive, she told Mr. Gonzales how much she had enjoyed talking with him.
“Now I’ll work harder to solve your mystery.”
“You’ve made a very good start,” he said, patting her on one shoulder. “From here on I’ll make calls only from the club or a public phone booth.”
Nancy rode off to the Cosgrove home. When she arrived, the couple was alone with Bess.
“George and Danny went out in the borrowed boat,” Bess said. “I thought they’d be back by now.”
“They may have hit low tide,” Mr. Cosgrove said. “Nancy, tell us how your luncheon date was. Did you get to the club all right?”
“I did, only someone else got there before me,” Nancy said, and gave full details about the impostor.
“Incredible!” Mrs. Cosgrove burst out. “Just think of the nerve of that young lady, pretending to be you!”
“I don’t like the whole thing,” Mr. Cosgrove added. “These people are obviously very clever and don’t shy away from anything underhanded.”
“We’ll be careful,” Nancy said.
When Danny and George had not returned two hours later, she began to worry.
“Did they have another encounter with The Whisper?” she wondered.
CHAPTER VII
Sea Detectives
MRS. Cosgrove realized that Nancy was concerned, and tried to cheer her up. “Look, Danny is a very reliable boatman,” she said. “They could have become stuck during low tide. Instead of sitting here and waiting, why don’t we all go to see a friend of mine? She has a little private zoo, which I’m sure you would enjoy.”
“That sounds great,” Nancy said. “But before we leave, do you mind if I phone the Coast Guard and ask if they’ve had a report of an accident?”
“Of course not,” Mrs. Cosgrove said. “Go ahead.”
Nancy learned that no trouble had been reported and felt better.
“I’ll stay here and wait for George and Danny,” Mr. Cosgrove said. “You enjoy yourselves.”
Mrs. Cosgrove drove her guests along the waterfront until they came to a large estate. She pulled in, stopped at the front door, and rang the bell. To her disappointment she was told by the woman who answered that her friend, Mrs. Easton, was away for the day, and so was the animal trainer.
“I’d like to show my visitors from the North your zoo,” Mrs. Cosgrove said. “Is it all right?”
“Yes, indeed,” the woman replied. “Go ahead. You’ll probably meet Eric, our gamekeeper. He’ll show you around.”
The man was not in sight. Mrs. Cosgrove, who had been to the estate many times, drove on. She told the girls a bit about the birds, turtles, and snakes that were in large covered cages.
“That flamingo is gorgeous!” Bess exclaimed, watching the long-legged creature with the pink feathers and dignified-looking head walk daintily across a fenced-in lawn. In the center was a pooL
Mrs. Cosgrove pointed out an enormous turtle and remarked, “They live to a very old age. I’ve heard of some that had dates carved on their backs showing they were a hundred and twenty-five years old!”
In another wire-mesh enclosure were a variety of snakes.
“I’m not going to look at them!” Bess declared. “They give me the creeps.”
Mrs. Cosgrove laughed. “If you lived in Florida, you’d have to get used to snakes. We have all kinds and sizes. Some are beautiful, and all are very graceful.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Bess said and was glad when Mrs. Cosgrove passed the snake pen and stopped the car some distance away. She and the girls got out and walked to a spot directly on the bay. Here there was a large enclosure, part of it extending into the bay.
“A pair of crocodiles,” Mrs. Cosgrove said, resting her elbows on the cement fencing.
As the onlookers watched, one of the reptiles got up and walked into the water. At the same time Nancy spotted a canoe being paddled under the overhanging mangrove trees along the shore. In it were three boys. Without warning, one threw a large piece of coral rock at the reptile. Fortunately it missed.
The move annoyed the crocodile, however. He turned back to join his mate. The boys in the canoe paddled off quickly.
“I’m glad they’re gone,” Nancy said. “I’d hate to see the croc injured.”
Mrs. Cosgrove explained that the creature’s hide was so thick that it was almost impossible to hurt its back. “But if something hits a crocodile in the eyes, it’s very painful.”
Bess asked, “Do these crocs have names?”
Mrs. Cosgrove smiled. “Yes. They’re Lord and Lady Charming.”
Nancy and Bess laughed, and Bess remarked, “They don’t look very charming to me.”
As if he had heard her, the larger of the two crocodiles emitted a low growl, followed by a hiss. He opened his jaws wide.
Bess retreated in a hurry, “W-what’s the matter with him?”
Suddenly several small fish, sucked up through a pipe running into the enclosure from the salt water, wer
e sprayed into the pen. The crocodile forgot it was angry. With lightning speed he ran down into the water and grabbed several fish with his great jaws, then closed them with a resounding crack.
At this moment the canoe with the three boys returned. This time each of them was armed with large pieces of coral rock. They pitched them over the wall of the enclosure directly at the big reptiles. One of the rocks hit Lord Charming on one eye. It was obviously painful, for he began swishing madly in a circle, growling and hissing,
“Get away from here!” Nancy yelled at the boys. “Don’t do that again!” The youngsters, looking scared, quickly paddled out of sight.
The crocodile swished his great tail back and forth so rapidly in the water that it sprayed into the air, soaking the onlookers.
“Eric!” Mrs. Cosgrove called frantically. “Eric, come quickly!”
The gamekeeper, a tall man with a gray beard, ran toward the enclosure and looked at Lord Charming. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“His eye,” Mrs. Cosgrove answered.
“Poor old fellow!” Eric said. “He’s in pain, all right. I hope he won’t lose the sight of that eye. Let me get something to put on it.”
He hurried off and returned with a tube of salve and a pole with a hook on the end of it. Fearlessly he jumped over the cement wall and talked soothingly to the crocodile. “Sorry, old boy,” he said. “Come now, Lord Charming, let me help you.”
Nancy and her friends watched in fascination as Eric flipped the reptile onto his back with the pole, and squirted some of the salve into his injured eye.
All this time Lady Charming had been watching from a distance. When her mate turned over onto his stomach, she hurried forward. Using the pole for support, Eric leaped high over the concrete fence.
The visitors clapped. “You’re marvelous,” Mrs. Cosgrove said.
Eric grinned. “It’s all in a day’s work. Tell me how Lord Charming got hurt.”
Nancy reported that three mean boys had come by in a canoe and hit the crocodile.
Eric scowled. “I can’t stand people, big or little, who take advantage of a defenseless animal!”