“That would have been my second choice after this hotel,” George said as Nancy hung up and placed a call to the taxi driver.
“I don’t want to waste another minute,” the young detective said eagerly.
“But the beach looks so inviting,” Bess replied.
“We can take a dip later,” Nancy pointed out. “Don’t tell me you want to miss out on all the fun!”
“Me? Never!”
When they reached the Queens Palace, they learned that Vatis was staying in one of the cottages near the main building. They drove to it. Nancy requested their driver wait for them, then the girls walked to the lawyer’s cottage.
“Doesn’t look as if anyone’s home,” George remarked as Nancy knocked on the door.
They peered through half-drawn Venetian blinds. Seeing no one, they circled to the back entrance. A band of wet footprints led up from the beach.
“He must’ve gone swimming, changed, and left,” Nancy concluded. “We’ll have to come back later. ”
“I’d rather face him in daylight,” Bess objected.
“He’s not going to hurt you,” George said assuringly. “Besides, there are three of us against one of him!”
Even so, when they returned that evening, Bess continued to feel uneasy. Before their driver finished asking if he should wait for them, she said yes.
“But please park the car up the road out of sight,” Nancy added.
George offered to post herself near the road while Nancy and Bess looked through the window of Vatis’s cottage. Inside, the light was on and a man moved about nervously. He was of medium height, dark-haired, and wore horn-rimmed glasses. Presently, he took something out of a suitcase, then lifted the telephone receiver. For an instant, the girls caught sight of an object in his hand.
“It looks like a gold cuff bracelet,” Nancy whispered to Bess.
“Apparently he’s trying to sell it,” Bess replied, overhearing a snatch of conversation which was spoken in English.
“That’s right,” the man said. “This bracelet was dug up in 1876.”
In the pause that followed, Nancy whispered again to Bess. “1876! That’s the year the famous archeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered the gold death mask!”
“The bracelet was probably stolen from the same museum in Athens!” Bess gasped.
A muffled scream and the sound of dragging feet interrupted Nancy’s reply. She and Bess swiveled around fast. George was gone!
15
Corfu Snafu
“Where’s George?” Bess gasped.
“I don’t know,” Nancy whispered, completely mystified.
Several yards away, an engine purred, then roared off quickly. Leaving their post in front of Vatis’s cottage, Nancy and Bess raced up the road toward their taxi and leaped in.
“Follow that car, please,” Nancy implored the driver, and pointed to the pair of taillights that were fast disappearing down the hill. “Our friend has been kidnapped!
Instantly, the man turned his cab around and lurched forward, rumbling over the rough road and trying hard to catch up to the other car.
“Faster! Faster!” Bess pleaded.
“I’m going to break the springs under my car,” the driver yelled over the racing engine.
Ahead of them, the fleeing vehicle swerved onto another road and cut off two cars ready to make the same turn.
“Oh!” Bess gasped fearfully, as the taxi driver pressed hard on the gas pedal, speeding past the car in front of him. “We’re going to get creamed!” She shut her eyes tight.
Nancy, on the other hand, kept calm. “He’s heading toward that cliff,” she said. “Can you overtake him?”
“This taxi is not a racing car, but I’ll try,” the man replied as the winding road dissolved in a sharp curve. The cab quickly lost momentum, and Nancy sank back against the seat in disappointment.
Bess, however, sat forward. “Where’d it go?” she asked, staring into the darkness.
“It got away,” the driver replied. “Shall I turn back?”
“Let’s go a little farther,” Nancy urged.
The man grumbled but complied. Suddenly, the glow of his headlights fastened on a figure stumbling out of a ditch.
“It’s George!” Bess cried, causing the driver to stop. She threw open the rear door of the cab and jumped out, along with Nancy.
“Are you all right?” Nancy asked the girl who staggered dizzily toward them.
“Fine. I’m fine,” George said, but her eyes looked glazed. “I fell, that’s all.”
Bess and Nancy helped her into the taxi. They stared at the slight bruise along her cheekbone.
“Did he hit you?” her cousin questioned.
“No. He motioned for me to get out, but didn’t stop fully. I stumbled and rolled into the ditch.”
Nancy removed a tissue from her purse and blotted particles of dirt off George’s face. “Who was he?” the girl detective asked.
“I have no idea. He was wearing a stocking mask. He said something in Greek, but I didn’t understand it. The voice was a little familiar, but—”
“Do you want to go to the hospital?” the driver interrupted.
George shook her head and Nancy said no. “But are you sure?” she asked her friend.
“Positive. Let’s go back to the cottage.”
To the girls’ dismay, Vatis had apparently left. Was George’s abduction merely a ruse to lure Nancy and Bess away from the Queens Palace? They went to the main building and inquired if the man had checked out.
“Yes, he did, but he will be back in a few weeks,” the clerk replied.
Instantly, Nancy telephoned the local airport. It was probable, she thought, that Vatis planned to take a night flight back to Athens en route to some other exotic destination.
“What did you find out?” Bess asked when Nancy rejoined her and George.
“The last two planes just left. One for Athens and the other for Cairo.”
“In other words, we’re stuck in Corfu for the night,” George said.
“It’s probably just as well, for your sake,” Nancy said. “You need to rest.”
“We all do,” Bess concurred, blinking her eyes sleepily.
Nancy had reserved seats on the first flight out of Corfu to Athens the next morning and, after breakfast, the trio took one last look at the tranquil sea.
“Too bad we have to leave so soon,” George remarked.
“It’ll be a long time before we come back, I’m sure,” Bess sighed. She stepped out onto the velvet green lawn that swept toward the pool and gazed longingly at the beach below.
Nancy followed her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. Her eyes traced the short strip of sand along the water that lapped peacefully against it.
“Hey, look!” Nancy exclaimed suddenly.
Two men had come into view on the rocky precipice at the far end.
“They seem to be arguing,” Bess remarked. “I’m pretty sure one of them is Vatis!”
“But who’s the other man?” George asked. “My kidnapper?”
“Bess, you call the police,” Nancy instructed.
She and George, meanwhile, hurried down to the beach and ran toward the precipice. The second man, whose back was to the girls, stormed away, disappearing quickly below the rocky ledge.
“Too bad we never saw his face,” George said.
Nancy nodded. “But I want to talk to Vatis. Let’s hurry before he leaves, too!”
Vatis seemed unaware of their presence. He stared, almost dazedly, into the gentle, deep water.
“Mr. Vatis?” Nancy addressed him.
“What do you want?” he barked, jerking around in fright.
“I’ve been looking for you,” the girl detective said. “Or, rather, my father has been.”
“Who are you?” the lawyer asked sharply.
“I’m Nancy Drew.”
The sound of the name fell on him like a steel hammer. He gritted his teeth. “Leave me alone
.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Nancy said. “Why did you pretend to check out of the Queens Palace Hotel last night?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vatis blazed back.
He lunged at Nancy, grabbing her by the arms. She dug her fingers into his wrists to keep from crashing against the jagged stone.
“Let her go!” George demanded.
Vatis shoved Nancy back against her friend and leaped past them.
“Stop!” Nancy cried, ready to tear after him.
To her surprise, something glittery fell out of the man’s pocket, tripping her off balance. It was the cuff bracelet he had tried to sell over the telephone. Quickly she snatched it up and looked inside. Stamped on the bracelet was the mysterious Greek symbol!
16
A Capture
Without wasting another moment, Nancy and George bolted over the craggy rocks to the beach on the far side.
“Vatis is getting away!” George exclaimed as Nancy sprinted ahead, clenching the cuff bracelet tightly in her fist.
“We’ll catch you—you won’t—” the young sleuth shouted haltingly as the man jumped into a small motorboat and sped away.
“What a shame!” George declared, emptying sand from one shoe.
“C’mon!” Nancy cried out and ran back toward the hotel.
By now, Bess was standing on the grassy overhang in full view of her friends. “The police are coming!” she called.
“Did you tell them to go to Vatis’s cottage?” Nancy yelled up to her.
“No. Should I have?”
“Yes, and quick!” George replied.
As Bess hurried back into the hotel, Nancy and George leaped up the flight of stone steps that connected the beach with the pool area. Breathing heavily by now, they darted through the dining room and caught up with Bess at the lobby telephone.
“Let’s go!” Nancy said, after Bess hung up. She took the girl’s hand to hurry her along.
“Where are we going?”
“To the Queens Palace.”
“But we don’t have a car,” Bess countered.
Parked outside, however, was their taxi driver. He greeted them pleasantly.
“All set to leave?” he asked, smiling.
“We can’t go to the airport yet,” George said. “We’re after someone.” She jumped into the back seat with her friends.
“Oh, no, not again!” The man groaned.
Nancy’s lips parted into a smile. “I’m afraid so. Can you take us back to the cottage at the Queens Palace Hotel?”
The driver nodded reluctantly. He pulled onto the road, gaining speed at a moderate rate. “After that race last night, this car will never last through the summer,” he sighed.
“We can’t help it if there’s a crook loose in Corfu,” Bess said.
“You should leave him to the police to catch,” the man replied.
After they passed the sign for the Queens Palace Hotel, a police car came into view. The taxi driver released his foot from the gas pedal, allowing the car to slow down.
“They’re here already,” Bess observed.
“Thank goodness,” the driver mumbled in relief.
The girls stepped out quickly. Nancy skirted the police car to talk with one of the officers.
“What’s happening?” she asked him.
“You keep back from the house,” he ordered. “The man has locked himself inside. He may become violent.”
Nancy produced the cuff bracelet and showed the strange marking inside. The young sleuth explained that she and her friends had overheard Vatis describe its value to someone apparently interested in buying it.
“And you say it was stolen from the archeological museum in Athens?” the policeman questioned.
“That’s what I suspect.”
A second officer, meanwhile, was shouting in Greek through the cottage door. He ordered Vatis to open it, but the man refused. Through the partially drawn blinds, the policeman watched Vatis frantically empty his pockets.
“It’s gone! It’s gone!” he grumbled to himself. “Those girls must have it!”
He lit a match, dropping it into a metal wastebasket filled with papers. Seeing smoke drift under the door, Nancy ran forward.
“He’ll suffocate,” she said as the police officer pulled her back. His colleague, meanwhile, smashed the window with a wooden club, tore down the blinds, and climbed inside.
Smoke billowed out and Vatis coughed as he gasped for air. While one policeman snapped handcuffs on him, the other one doused the fire. It had destroyed most of the papers. As the trio emerged from the cottage, Vatis glared at Nancy.
“Give me that bracelet,” he growled. “It’s mine. It was payment for legal services.”
“From whom? Constantine Nicholas?” Nancy replied with equal confidence. “You were blackmailing him, weren’t you?”
The man’s eyes did not shift from hers as she went on. “You knew Constantine was mixed up with art smugglers and when he couldn’t pay you for your work, you accepted this bracelet instead.”
“Except,” Bess added, “Constantine didn’t know that Vatis was stealing the inheritance from him and Helen.”
“Precisely,” Nancy said.
Despite the accusations, the man did not seem bothered. He gave a self-satisfied grin.
“I will get the smartest lawyers in Greece to defend me. They will prove my innocence,” he boasted.
The policemen, in the meantime, took custody of the stolen bracelet. “Someone else will be sent to investigate the cottage thoroughly,” one officer said as they went off with their prisoner.
“We ought to check this place right now,” Nancy said.
“But we won’t be able to remove anything,” George reminded her.
“No need to,” Nancy put in. She took a small camera from her shoulder bag. “I was planning to take pictures before we left the hotel.”
The young detectives went quickly to the wastebasket and examined the burnt papers. There were several readable fragments which Nancy photographed. Her camera automatically produced small color prints.
“We can have these enlarged later,” she said, sticking them in her purse. “Right now, let’s try to catch our flight to Athens.”
The girls rode back to their hotel, asking their driver to wait for them. “We’ll be out in a sec—” Bess said as they dashed inside.
The travelers reappeared with their luggage in less than fifteen minutes.
“Do you always rush everywhere you go?” the man asked, breaking into a laugh.
“Not always,” Nancy said with a smile. “This really has been a most unusual two days.”
In spite of the unexpected delays that morning, they reached the airport with time to spare.
“I don’t believe it,” Bess kept saying on the plane.
“What don’t you believe?” George asked.
“That we solved part of the mystery. ”
Her remark prompted Nancy to pull out the photographs she had taken earlier. She studied them closely but could decipher only certain initials and parts of addresses.
“As soon as we get into Athens,” she said, “I’m going to call Dad. He ought to be in his office now. ”
Even before she unpacked, Nancy placed the call from the hotel. To her delight, it went through with little trouble. She told her father about finding Vatis and the cuff bracelet stamped with the same intriguing symbol used by the art thieves.
“We’ll take the first flight we can get reservations on,” Mr. Drew said.
“We?” Nancy repeated.
“That’s right. I—”
Suddenly the connection was broken.
“Dad? Are you there?” Nancy said. She pressed down on the receiver hook several times but the line was dead. “I wonder who’s coming with him?” she thought, puzzled.
17
Nikos Deposits
“Maybe Hannah is coming with your father,” Bess suggested.
r /> “I doubt it,” her cousin replied. “I think it’s someone from his office.”
“Don’t you have any idea, Nancy?” Bess asked.
The girl shook her head and excused herself to take a shower. Secretly, she hoped the mystery traveler would be Ned.
“I ought to call Helen and Mrs. Thompson,” Nancy said when she reappeared. “George, would you do me a big favor and take these photos to the camera shop on the corner?”
“At your service.”
“Ask them to make enlargements as quickly as possible. ”
George left, and when she returned, her face was beaming. “They’ll be ready tonight,” she announced.
“Wonderful,” Nancy said.
After dinner, the girls picked up the order and joined Helen and Mrs. Thompson in their room. Eagerly, they took turns telling about their visit with Mrs. Papadapoulos and her children.
“She has agreed to sew lots of beautiful things which we will sell in America!” Mrs. Thompson declared happily.
“That’s great!” Bess said while Nancy produced one of the enlarged photographs for Helen to look at.
“Incredible!” the woman exclaimed, staring at it. “This is my uncle’s will!”
“No wonder I couldn’t read it.” Nancy chuckled. “It’s all in Greek!”
Helen Nicholas scanned the picture closely. “Apparently, he owned various companies, not just the shipping line,” she said. “His interests were vast.” She leaned back in her chair, fanning herself with the photograph. “And to think so much of this will now be mine.”
“What do you suppose happened to the holdings other than those of the shipping company?” Bess asked.
“I have no idea. ”
“Perhaps Vatis acquired them somehow,” Nancy suggested, “and sold them.”
“But how?” Mrs. Thompson wanted to know.
“If the lawyer had access to Mr. Nicholas’s papers, he could have forged Constantine’s signature.” Nancy paused, adding, “Tomorrow we’ll try to find out where Lineos Nicholas kept his bank accounts. All right?”