Mystery of Crocodile Island Read online

  George said, “Perhaps we should disguise ourselves with wigs and quick-tanning lotions. Bess could become a brunette, I could be a blond, and Nancy a gray-haired old lady.”

  “Thanks.” Nancy laughed. “It would be fun, but the suspects on Crocodile Island have never seen us before. What good would a disguise be?”

  After a few moments’ thought, Bess spoke up. “You’re right, they haven’t seen us. But they evidently know who we are. Do you think it would be safer if we changed our names? We could use pseudonyms when necessary.”

  “What names do you suggest?” George asked.

  Nancy smiled. “Suppose I call myself Anne, and Bess can be Elizabeth, and George—”

  Quickly George interrupted her. “Not Georgia!” she exclaimed.

  Bess laughed. Georgia was her cousin’s real name, but she would never allow anyone to call her by it.

  “I’ll be Jackie,” George declared.

  The girls discussed a last name and finally decided on Boonton, which was Mrs. Marvin’s maiden name.

  Nancy looked at her watch. “I’ll have time to phone Dad and tell him our new names. He can inform Mr. Gonzales.”

  When she returned, George said. “Okay, Anne. Our section of seats has been called to board. Let’s go!”

  Bess grinned. “Oh, Jackie, dear,” she said, “You have such brilliant ideas!”

  The girls entered the giant airliner in a happy mood, and sat down side by side. During the flight they teased one another, using their assumed names. They passed part of the time reading magazines and eating a delicious lunch.

  In the middle of the afternoon they arrived in Miami and went to the baggage-claim area. As they retrieved their suitcases, a young man walked up to them.

  “Pardon me,” he said, “but are you the girls who are visiting the Cosgroves?”

  “That’s right,” George said. “And you?”

  “My name is Steven. They sent me to drive you to their house. We’ll get a porter and have him bring your bags.”

  Steven led them to a beautiful gold-colored car.

  “Does this belong to the Cosgroves?” Nancy asked.

  “No, it’s mine,” he said and opened the doors for them.

  “It’s yummy,” Bess remarked and plopped into the cream-colored, velvety back seat. George climbed in next to her, while Nancy rode in front with Steven.

  On the way the girls admired the sprawling, large homes and the glistening bay. Steven, who was not very talkative, answered their questions merely with a yes or no, so after a while they gave up including him in their conversation.

  He drove over the causeway and through Key Biscayne. At last they came to an area of beautiful homes that occupied large pieces of property. Steven turned into a long driveway and approached an elegant mansion. He stopped at the front door and offered to carry the bags up to the girls’ rooms.

  Nancy rang the bell. The door was opened by a middle-aged couple.

  “You must be Nancy Drew,” the woman said. She was cordial but did not smile. “And these are your friends, Bess and George.”

  Nancy nodded and asked, “And you are Mr. and Mrs. Cosgrove?”

  “Yes,” the man replied. He did not smile either, and the girls felt uncomfortable at the cool welcome.

  The couple silently escorted them to the second floor and showed each visitor to a large and expensively furnished bedroom. Steven followed with their luggage.

  Nancy walked to the picture window at the far end of her room to gaze down into the beautiful garden. Bess and George also looked out their windows. None of them had noticed that their hosts had silently closed the doors to the hall.

  When the three friends tried to get together before joining the Cosgroves downstairs, they found that they had been locked in!

  CHAPTER III

  Escape

  ALTHOUGH Nancy felt a tight knot of alarm in the pit of her stomach, her mind was racing. Obviously she and her friends had been kidnapped, and what made it worse was that the three girls were locked in separate rooms! No chance to plan an escape!

  Before the young sleuth could decide what to do, she heard Bess cry out, “Anne, Jackie, where are you?”

  “Locked in, just like you,” George’s voice came faintly.

  “This is awful!” Bess wailed. “What’ll we do?”

  “Don’t panic,” Nancy advised. “That won’t get us anywhere.”

  The girls realized that if they tried to discuss a plan of action through the walls, their captors would hear them and foil any attempted escape. Each one had to fend for herself!

  While Bess and George began a minute examination of their prisons, Nancy looked through the keyhole. The key was gone, but she was sure the lock on this bedroom door was a common type.

  “That’s a break,” she thought and opened her purse.

  She took out a bobby pin and a nail file. First she inserted the file into the keyhole and held it tight. Next she pushed in the bobby pin. By manipulating first one, then the other, she finally managed to get the door open.

  Silently Nancy stepped into the hallway and listened. She heard the front door slam, and tip-toed to a window just in time to see the sham Cosgroves get into a green sedan and roar out of the driveway.

  Obviously Steven had left too, because his fancy gold-colored car was nowhere in sight. All was quiet, and Nancy was inclined to think they were alone in the house. But she could not be sure.

  Quickly she went to Bess’s door and started to work with her makeshift tools. Bess heard the noise. “Nancy? George?” she called.

  “Shhh!” Nancy whispered. “I’m trying to get you out.”

  Within minutes she had released the lock and entered the room.

  “You’re a doll, Nancy Drew,” Bess cried out, hugging her friend in relief. “Have you any idea where we are? This is a pretty grand-looking place. I can’t imagine that the kind of people who live here would imprison us in their own house!”

  “I can’t either,” Nancy replied. “I have a strong hunch that our captors borrowed this place. By the way, I saw those people leave. But they could come back any minute. Let’s work on George’s door!”

  The girls quickly went to their friend’s room and again Nancy inserted her nail file into the lock. There was no sound from inside the room. Had something happened to George? Finally the bolt snapped and Bess pushed the door open. The room was empty!

  “George!” Nancy called out softly. There was no reply.

  “Oh, dear,” Bess said. “Maybe those people took her out of here!”

  “I doubt it,” Nancy reasoned. “We would have heard the commotion. Besides, we spoke to her just a few minutes ago.” She walked to the window, and a big grin spread over her face.

  “Bess, come here!” she said, pointing to a large maple tree directly in front of her. A long branch extended almost to the window. Climbing down the last two feet of the trunk was George!

  “Hi!” Nancy called softly.

  George looked up and chuckled. “I’m an escapee!”

  Nancy smiled as Bess reached her side and heaved a sigh of relief. George continued her descent. “Bess, do you want to come down the way I did? Or use the stairs? And how did you two get loose?” she queried.

  Bess made a face, then smiled. “Nancy is a great lock picker.”

  “Shh!” Nancy warned. “We don’t know for sure that everyone’s gone. Somebody could have been left to guard us!”

  “So what do we do next?” Bess asked.

  “I think you and I can risk tiptoeing through the house,” Nancy replied. “Quick! Grab your bag. I’ll get George’s and mine. We’ll meet her outside.”

  She motioned to the girl below to wait for them and the two quickly got their luggage. They hurried down the stairs, trying to move as noiselessly as possible. They opened the front door and slipped outside. George was waiting for them.

  “I don’t think we should take the road,” Nancy said. “The kidnappers could come back. Let�
�s walk through the backyard and see if we can get help at one of those houses in the distance.”

  The girls had not gone far when they realized that the ground beyond the garden was marshy. The mud ruined their shoes and spattered their dresses, but the three friends hurried on until they were out of range of the house.

  Bess stopped and put down her bag. “My arm is killing me,” she said. “Can’t we rest a minute?”

  Nancy looked back. The house behind them seemed deserted. “I guess we’re safe enough,” she decided, so she and George dropped their heavy suitcases.

  “Boy, what an experience!” George said. “Our kidnappers must have overheard Mr. Gonzales’s call to your father, Nancy, when he asked for help.”

  Nancy nodded. “And the second call, when Mr. Gonzales canceled our reservations must have been made from another phone,” she said thoughtfully, “otherwise they wouldn’t have sent Steven to the airport to get us.”

  “Who do you think our kidnappers are?” Bess asked.

  “They must be connected with the Crocodile Ecology Company,” Nancy replied.

  “I wonder if they own that house.” George said.

  “I doubt it. They wouldn’t be foolish enough to imprison us in their own home. If we got away, it would be too easy to trace them.”

  Bess giggled. “They were foolish to leave us alone.”

  “I think we should hurry on,” George said. “If they come back and find we’re gone, they’re bound to look for us.”

  The girls picked up their bags and trudged through the swamp until they reached the house they had seen ahead of them. As they went up to the front porch, Bess looked down at her dress and shoes. “We’re absolute sights,” she said. “What will the people think when they see us?”

  “That we’re swamp ducks,” George quipped.

  The girls rang the bell. There was no answer. Nancy knocked, but no one seemed to be home.

  “What are we going to do?” Bess asked, worried. “We can’t go on like this! And there’s not another house in sight!”

  They left their suitcases on the porch and walked around to the back. Luckily, there was a wall telephone on a rear patio. Nancy called the operator and asked to speak to the police department. When a sergeant answered, she explained the girls’ predicament and asked if someone could come and help them.

  “Right away, miss,” he replied, and within ten minutes a squad car pulled up with two officers in it.

  One jumped out and walked up to them. “You say you were kidnapped and escaped?” he said.

  “That’s right,” Nancy told him and explained exactly what had happened. “We’re on our way to visit Mr. and Mrs. Henry Cosgrove, but we don’t know how to find the place.”

  “I’ll order a cab for you,” the officer said, and asked his companion to make the call. “I know the Cosgroves,” he continued. “It’s a long ride from here.”

  He took a notebook from his pocket and wrote down the circumstances of the kidnapping. First he requested the names and addresses of the girls. This time Nancy gave him the correct ones. She described Steven, the young man who had met them at the airport, as well as the couple who had locked them into the bedrooms.

  “We’ll get to work on the case at once,” the officer promised.

  He walked to the squad car and picked up his radio phone. First he asked that a taxi be sent out, then gave a full report on the case. When he returned to the girls, he said, “A cab will be here in a few minutes. Is this your first visit to Key Biscayne?”

  When the three nodded yes, he shook his head. “I’m sorry your introduction to our town was so disastrous. Believe me, you’ll find that Key Biscayne is a mighty nice area. Well, I hope you’ll have an enjoyable time while you’re here.”

  In a few minutes a taxi pulled up in front of the house. The driver looked at the girls curiously.

  Bess explained they had walked through the swamp after coming from the wrong direction to the Cosgroves’ home. She gave the correct address and they set off.

  Unlike the couple who tried to kidnap them, Helen and Henry Cosgrove were delightful. Nancy quickly explained why they were so unkempt.

  “What a dreadful experience!” Mrs. Cosgrove exclaimed. “We must report it to the police at once!”

  “I’ve already done that,” Nancy said, and told the whole story.

  Mr. Cosgrove said, “I got to the airport late because our car wouldn’t start. When I arrived, you had already gone. I thought you might have taken a taxi and come back home. We started to worry when you didn’t arrive. I even called your home in River Heights, but no one was there.”

  “Good,” Nancy said with a chuckle. “Dad and Hannah didn’t have a chance to become alarmed.”

  At this point a sixteen-year-old boy with red hair and twinkling eyes walked in and was introduced to the girls as Danny Cosgrove. He looked at their dirty shoes and clothes and said, “I guess you got here the hard way. What happened?”

  Nancy told him and he responded, “Your dad said you would be here to solve a mystery and there might be some danger connected with it. You sure made a good start!”

  The girls laughed, then asked to be excused to change their clothes. Mrs. Cosgrove led them to two bedrooms. “Who wants to share the big one?” she asked.

  Bess and George said they would, so Nancy took the smaller room.

  During dinner Nancy explained more about the mystery, but asked the Cosgroves to keep it a secret. “We decided to use fake names to avoid detection by any suspects,” Nancy said. “But now I’m not so sure it’s worth it.”

  Mrs. Cosgrove spoke. “I’d try it if I were you. Even if part of this group you’re about to investigate knows who you are, not everyone connected with the Crocodile Ecology Company has seen you. By using fictitious names, you can probably fool them.”

  “What are your new names?” Danny asked.

  “I’m Anne,” said Nancy.

  “And I’m Elizabeth,” Bess replied.

  George grinned. “I’m Jackie.”

  Nancy’s first bit of detective work was to call the police early next morning. She inquired about the house where they had been imprisoned and was told that the owners were away on vacation.

  The girls’ kidnappers had broken in and “borrowed” the premises for their scheme. The police managed to track down Steven, who told them the couple had approached him in a supermarket and asked him if he would like to earn some money. They needed someone to pick up three visitors from the airport and bring them to their house.

  “Steven agreed and assured us he knew nothing about a kidnapping,” the officer concluded. “We’re inclined to believe his story, but we’ll keep an eye on him.”

  After Nancy had put down the phone, Mr. Cosgrove asked the girls if they would like Danny to take them to Crocodile Island in the family’s motorized skiff.

  “It’s high tide now and a good time to go,” he said. “I wish you luck in your sleuthing,” he added, smiling.

  “Thank you very much,” Nancy said. “Do you think we’ll have a chance to go on the island?”

  “Sometimes they do allow visitors,” Mr. Cosgrove explained. “On certain days of the week, but I don’t know about today. You’ll have to see.”

  The four walked to the marina where the boat was kept.

  “How do you like the name I gave it?” Danny asked.

  The girls laughed when they saw what was painted on the side of the skiff.

  “Pirate!” George exclaimed. “Even if you hadn’t told me, I’d have known a boy picked it.”

  “Do you go after all the treasure that’s supposed to be buried on these islands?” Bess asked him.

  “I sure do,” Danny replied. “The trouble is, some of the small keys floated away in hurricanes and any treasure on them is lost forever.”

  “What a shame!” George teased. “And here we came all the way to Florida, thinking we could dig up a million doubloons!”

  The young people laughed, then
stepped aboard the skiff. Four swivel chairs were bolted to the deck, and Danny explained that this made it easy for fishermen to turn in all directions. Then he pointed to the large outboard motor in the rear of the craft. “It weighs two hundred and fifty pounds and is raised and lowered hydraulically.”

  “Why do you have to raise it?” Bess asked.

  “When you get caught in low tide, you literally have to jump along over the sand dunes at a very fast clip. If you don’t, you’re apt to get stuck.”

  Danny settled himself behind the wheel and started the boat. As they rode along, he pointed out the shoreline of Key Biscayne with its high-rise condominiums and many-storied hotels. But soon they left the area and one little island after another came into view.

  “All of these were built up by coral formations and mangrove trees,” Danny explained. “I’ll show you some trees along the edge. The way they grow is fascinating.”

  He pulled up to a small key and stopped the boat. The narrow mangrove trunks rose some fifteen feet into the air, then started to bend over. Their branches were heavy with leaves, which in turn hung down into the water. Being thick and close together, they were a natural catchall for whatever floated by, and together they formed a solid shoreline.

  “Over there,” said Danny, pointing, “is a place where the water is a little deeper. We can glide in between two of the wide-spreading trees and you can get a better look.”

  He raised the outboard motor somewhat, moved the skiff forward, then headed among the mangroves. It was a strange sight. Roots twisted and turned. Among them and beyond the shoreline lay fragments of weathered coral rock.

  Suddenly there was a grinding sound under the skiff, which stopped so abruptly it almost threw the girls into the water!

  CHAPTER IV

  Crocodile Farm

  “WHAT did we hit?” Bess cried out. “Oh, I hope it didn’t ram a hole in the skiff!”

  “I doubt it,” Danny replied. From the deck he picked up a long pole with a pronged hook on the end. Leaning over the side, he poked around under the boat and raised an enormous pile of matted mangrove roots and leaves. With a chuckle, he swung it into the skiff.