(#60) The Greek Symbol Mystery (10 page)

“No, that he found Nancy. ”

The girls glanced down the row of tables, noticing one man seated alone. A napkin was tied around his neck and he was dipping a small chunk of lobster into melted butter.

“That must be the one who sent the note,” Nancy concluded. “He looks familiar, but I can’t place him exactly.”

“Let’s talk to him,” Helen suggested. The two stood up and walked to the stranger’s table.

“Mr. Vatis?” Nancy asked.

He laid down his fork and smiled. “I’m not Mr. Vatis, Miss Drew. I’m not related to him, and I’m glad of it.” He gestured for them to sit down in the empty chairs at his table, introducing himself as Peter Scourles.

“Why are you glad you’re not related?” Nancy asked.

“I did not approve of the way he handled estates for people. Your father is an attorney, is he not?”

Nancy nodded, perplexed that he knew so much about her.

“Well, then he would understand what I mean,” the man replied. “As a matter of fact, the government of Greece was about to investigate Vatis.”

“For what reason?” Helen inquired.

“He disappeared with many important papers.”

“Where did he go?” Nancy questioned.

“I don’t know, but I think he may be hiding on Corfu. I recall he liked to vacation there and mentioned some hotel with a wonderful view of the sea. Unfortunately, I don’t know its name.”

Nancy glowed with excitement. Maybe she and her friends could fly to Corfu!

“Mr. Scourles,” she said, “who told you about me and my father?”

“I heard of you when I lived in your country and more recently, while I worked for Vatis & Vatis. It was there I learned that Carson Drew represented a member of the Nicholas family in the United States. When Vatis left, I was hired by the law firm who took over his office. You came in the other day to ask for Mr. Vatis. I was standing by the reception desk and heard you introduce yourself.”

“Why didn’t you speak to me then?” Nancy asked.

Scourles shrugged. “I was in a rush and didn’t think of Corfu. It occurred to me later.”

Nancy and Helen thanked the man and went back to tell the others what they had found out. Bess and George were thrilled. “Let’s go to Corfu tomorrow,” George urged.

“I hope to,” Nancy replied. “You’ll go, too, won’t you?” She was looking at Helen and Mrs. Thompson.

“We’d love to,” Helen said, “but we think we ought to see the Papadapoulos family.”

They discussed plans for the next day, pausing only to order a sumptuous lunch of seafood and Greek salad. The salt air had increased everyone’s appetite, so they added fruit for dessert. Soon the afternoon disappeared as quickly as the fleet of small boats anchored in the quay. The Americans returned to their hotel.

“There’s a travel agency in the lobby,” Nancy said as they stepped inside.

Yawning sleepily, Mrs. Thompson excused herself to go to her room. The others followed Nancy into a small office decorated with attractive posters of Greece.

“There’s a wonderful hotel in Corfu. It’s called the Cyclades,” the agent told the foursome. “Reasonable, too.”

“Does it have a great view of the ocean?” George asked.

“From the top floors, yes. From the lower floors, no. The hotel is in the heart of the business district. ”

“Hmm,” Nancy murmured, then asked to see a brochure.

“If you are looking for a magnificent view,” the young woman continued, “these would be better.” She pointed to several listings in the booklet.

“How about this one—the Hotel Kephalonia?” Bess suggested. “It looks gorgeous.”

Nancy and George agreed wholeheartedly that it did.

Helen sighed. “If only I could go with you,” she said, but she could not be dissuaded from making the trip with Mrs. Thompson to see the Papadapoulos family.

The next day, the girl detectives caught a late morning flight to Kérkyra. It took little more than an hour from Athens.

“I see a taxi,” George said, after claiming her baggage. “Meet you out front.”

“Okay,” Nancy replied. When she and Bess collected their bags, they darted after her.

Aside from the parking lot that stretched against a clearing bordered by brush and trees, the landscape was uninteresting. But as the girls’ driver weaved into the colorful shopping district, Bess oohed and aahed over the stores.

“No wonder Vatis loves to come here,” she said.

Now the car climbed steadily past villas nestled in a hillside, taking the fork that led to a promontory.

“There it is!” Nancy exclaimed when a gleaming white building came into view.

The driver pulled to a halt at the entrance. Since he spoke fairly fluent English, Nancy asked if they might call him for further work.

“Of course,” he said and gave his telephone number.

After the girls registered at the desk, Nancy inquired whether Vatis was staying there, too. The clerk merely shook his head.

“Guess we have to make a few phone calls,” she told her companions when they were settled in their room. She pulled out the travel brochure and one by one began dialing local numbers. On her third try, Nancy was successful. “Vatis is staying at the Queens Palace!” she announced in delight.

“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.