The Clue of the Gold Doubloons Page 4
Heights where almost everyone knows I'm a detective.
Besides, a good investigator suspects everybody.”
“Well, we're not guilty, that's for sure.” George fell
onto her bed. “We were in here all night snoring
happily.”
“Right,” Nancy replied as she stopped at the end of
her bed to take off her jeans. “George, did you notice
the gold coin on the bed in the room that was
burglarized?”
“A coin?” George mumbled, her head buried in her
pillow.
“Yes. Just like the doubloons we're using for props in
the movie.”
George's head popped up. “You're kidding.”
“No.” Sitting on the bed, Nancy pulled off her shirt.
“I wouldn't have thought much about it except I keep
remembering the mysterious person in the cargo area.”
“Do you think there's a connection?” George asked.
“Could be.” Nancy yawned sleepily as she crawled
under the covers.
“Tomorrow we need to tell Daniel and Andrew what
happened,” she continued. “Sooner or later Detective
Weller will figure out where the coin came from.” She
sighed. “I just hope it's later. Until then, I want to do a
little investigating myself. Let's hope that doubloon
had nothing to do with the robbery.”
On Tuesday morning Nancy and George hurried to
the Swift Adventure. Most of the cast and crew were
onboard, eating and talking. Janie had laid out a buffet
breakfast of doughnuts, bagels, fruit, and juice on a
makeshift table on the quarterdeck.
“Looks delicious,” George said as she made a
beeline for a box of doughnuts.
“Save me a glazed,” Nancy called. She needed to
talk to Andrew and Daniel as soon as possible.
The twins were standing by the stern railing, talking
to a man in a dress shirt and tie. “Five hundred
dollars?” Nancy heard Andrew exclaim. “For a couple
of sticks of wood!”
When Nancy drew closer, she saw that they were
standing next to the broken railing where Harold had
fallen overboard.
“Not just sticks of wood, Mr. Wagner,” the man
explained. “They have to be carefully crafted to match
the existing rail.”
“Look, just give me a knife and a chunk of wood and
I'll whittle one myself,” Andrew retorted. He ran his
fingers through his hair, obviously exasperated. And
tired, Nancy thought, noting the dark circles under his
eyes.
The man gave him an annoyed look. “I can tell you
don't value historical accuracy.”
Daniel chuckled. He wore his usual baggy shorts
and shirt. A bright red bandanna was tied around his
head. “That's what I've been telling him all week, Mr.
Perry. He keeps buying props from toy stores and
discount places.”
Perry. Nancy remembered the name. He was the
man from the historical society whom Janie had dealt
with when she'd requested permission to use the ship
for the film.
“I will send you the estimate tomorrow,” Mr. Perry
continued. “It will probably take a week for the job to
get done. Until then, the carpenters will make a
temporary railing. For safety's sake, keep this area off-
limits. When the new railing is finished, I will expect
you to pay the bill promptly. Good day.”
He turned so quickly that he almost bumped into
Nancy. With a terse “Excuse me,” he left.
Andrew's scowling gaze shifted to Nancy. “Good
morning, assistant director.”
“Why was he in such a huff?” Nancy asked.
Daniel laughed. “It must have been Andrew's earlier
comment about wormy old wood.”
“I hope you brought me some good news,” Andrew
said. “So far, this film has been jinxed.”
Nancy wrinkled her nose. “Um, I'm afraid my
news—”
Just then she saw Detective Weller climb the ladder
to the quarterdeck. Had he traced the doubloon to the
Swift Adventure already? Nancy wondered.
“—is not good. I was hoping to tell you before the
police did.”
“The police!” Andrew and Daniel said in unison.
“The man coming onboard is with the Baltimore
police department,” Nancy explained.
The twins turned to see to whom she was referring.
“What's he doing here?” Daniel asked in a low voice.
Nancy opened her mouth to give them a brief
explanation, but Weller was already striding across the
deck, his attention focused on Nancy.
“Why, if it isn't Ms. Drew.” Pulling the pad from his
pocket, he flipped back the pages, then read, “River
Heights. Heard nothing unusual.”
Nancy smiled politely. “That's me.”
“What's going on?” Andrew demanded.
Weller turned his intense gaze on him. “And you
are?”
Andrew and Daniel introduced themselves, then
Andrew repeated his question. Detective Weller
explained about the burglary and finding the gold
doubloon.
“So what?” Andrew propped his hands on his hips.
“Why do you think it came from here?”
“We got an anonymous tip,” Weller explained.
An anonymous tip! “What did the caller say?” Nancy
asked.
“Someone phoned 911 early this morning,” Weller
explained. “They told the operator that the gold
doubloon found in the burglarized room came from
this ship.”
“Wait a minute,” Nancy said to Weller. “Don't you
think that's suspicious? If the coin didn't belong to the
guests, then the burglar must have left it, which meant
he or she called in the tip.”
“Perhaps.” Weller glanced around the ship as if
expecting to spot the robber in the crowd.
“I'm very confused here,” Daniel said. “Will
someone explain to me what's going on?”
Nancy filled in Daniel and Andrew about the last
night's burglaries and the gold doubloon. Then she
turned back to Detective Weller. “Was there a coin in
every room that was burglarized?”
“Good deduction, Ms. Drew.” He held out a piece
of paper. “I have a search warrant. I'd appreciate it if
one of you would show me where the doubloons are
kept and give me a list of people who have access to
them.”
“Officer, uh, Mr., uh, whoever you are,” Andrew
sputtered. “We have a film to shoot. Unless you are
accusing us of—”
“I'll take him,” Nancy cut in before Andrew made
Weller angry. “The box of coins is in one of the cabins
that's being used as a dressing room,” she explained as
she led the detective down the ladder to the main
deck.
A police officer was standing at the top of the
gangplank. Nancy glanced at her watch. The tour
groups started in half an hour. She wondered if the
police were going to keep them from coming onto the
ship.
<
br /> “Ms. Drew.” Detective Weller stopped Nancy
before they went down the steps into steerage. “Don't
you think it's more than a coincidence that you, a
person who obviously knows about the coins, are also a
guest on the floor that was robbed?”
Cocking one brow, Nancy gave him a cool look.
Actually, it was just the kind of question she would
have asked. “Yes,” she replied honestly. “And if you
doubt my innocence, I suggest you call Chief McGinnis
of the River Heights Police Department.”
Weller wrote the name on his pad. “I think I'll do
just that.”
Nancy made her way through the dark passageway
to the dressing room. The box of doubloons was still
stashed under the bed.
Nancy considered telling Weller how she'd almost
caught someone trying to take them, then stopped
herself. If the detective thought she was involved in the
burglaries, he would think she'd made up the story to
cast suspicion on someone else.
It looked more and more as if the mysterious person
in the cargo hold had indeed been after the doubloons,
Nancy thought. She decided to do some investigating
as soon as she had the chance to look around on her
own.
“This room isn't kept locked?” Weller asked.
“No. Only cast and crew are allowed down here,
though,” Nancy said.
Weller exhaled loudly. “Then we'll have to interview
everyone.”
Squatting, he opened the box and took out one of
the coins. “Identical to the one on the bed. Who
purchased them for the film?”
“I believe Daniel Wagner did. Eli Wakefield is in
charge of props, so he might be able to tell you where
they came from.”
“Thank you.” He followed Nancy to the ship's waist,
then excused himself to go to his police car. Nancy
climbed the steps to the quarterdeck. George, Janie,
Selena, Andrew, Daniel, and several other cast and
crew members were huddled in a circle, talking.
Nancy heard Karl Kidd's loud voice bellow, “It was
pirates, all right. Who else would be brazen enough to
rob landlubbers in a posh hotel?”
“Sounds like you want to invite these cunning
cutthroats to join the cast,” Daniel joked.
“Did Weller come to his senses and decide we had
nothing to do with the robbery?” Andrew asked when
Nancy came over.
She grimaced. “Not exactly. In fact, he's probably
requesting more officers so he can interview
everybody.”
Andrew threw his hands up in the air. “That's great.
More delays. Just what I need on top of a five-
hundred-dollar repair bill.”
“Maybe this ship is haunted by the ghost of
Blackbeard,” Janie said in a spooky-sounding voice.
“He's telling us he doesn't want this film made.”
Everyone laughed, except Andrew, who rapped on
his clipboard. “Attention. We're doing a dress rehearsal
of scene three in fifteen minutes. Daniel, Selena, and
George, we need—”
While Andrew was giving instructions, Nancy
slipped away. She wanted to do her investigating
before Weller came back.
Quickly, she headed down the steps into steerage,
then down the ladder into the cargo area. This time she
took a flashlight. If someone had stolen the doubloons,
he or she might have left a clue. If so, Nancy was
determined to find it before the police swarmed over
the ship.
When she reached the cargo area, she carefully
searched behind boxes and bags but found nothing
unusual. Flicking on the flashlight, she went into the
passageway that led from the cargo area into the belly
of the ship.
Nancy shivered. It was dark, damp, and musty. After
taking ten cautious steps, she beamed the light around,
trying to get her bearings.
She was in the top cargo where the pumps were
located. Passing a section of the huge, round mainmast,
she stopped and peered into a dark hole that led to the
ship's hold. Below that was the bilge, the lowest part of
the ship's hull.
Nancy shone the light into the hold. She didn't think
the person fleeing from the cargo area would have
gone below since he or she would have been trapped.
Her guess was the person ran for the hatch in the ship's
bow.
She made her way along another passage until she
came to a ladder in a room filled with wooden barrels
and boxes. Raising the flashlight's beam, she found the
rectangular outline of the bow hatch. When she
climbed the ladder, she was able to push up one of the
doors. Despite what Andrew had said the day before,
no one had come down and locked it.
Nancy was climbing down the ladder when a
movement behind a barrel made her freeze. Heart
thumping, she aimed the light at the barrel,
illuminating a scrap of light-colored fabric.
Nancy stifled a gasp. Someone was hiding behind
the barrel!
5. A Crew of Thieves
Nancy's first thought was to flee up the ladder onto the
main deck. But she checked herself. She had to find
out who was hiding in the hold. The person could be
the key to the burglaries.
“Who's there?” she called in a firm voice. “Come out
with your hands in front of you before I call the
police.”
“Take it easy,” a deep voice said. A second later a
man stepped from behind the barrel, his arms held
away from his sides. “I'm unarmed.”
Frowning, Nancy kept the light directed on the
man's face. He blinked, then turned his head away. He
was dressed casually in a white, short-sleeve shirt and
jeans. His dark hair was wavy, his skin tan. Nancy
figured he was in his mid-twenties. An expensive-
looking camera hung from a strap around his neck.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” she
demanded.
“I'm Joseph Mascelli, a reporter for the Baltimore
City Express,” the man explained. “My press card is
clipped to my shirt pocket.”
Nancy lowered the beam to the photo on the card,
which matched the man's face. “What are you doing
down here?”
“Uh,” Mascelli began. “I'm trying to get a story on
the film.”
Nancy raised one brow. “Good try, but I don't buy
it. You'd be on deck, interviewing Selena Ramirez.”
“I took the wrong ladder?” Mascelli quipped.
“No, and if you don't come up with the right answer,
I'm going to scream, alerting the cops who are
boarding right about now. You'll be charged with
trespassing, since this area is closed off to the public.”
“In that case, I guess I have no choice.” Still
squinting, Mascelli turned his head toward her. “Do
you mind shining that thing somewhere else?”
Nancy tapped her foot. “I'm waiting.”
“Al
l right.” Mascelli dropped his arms by his sides. “I
got an anonymous tip about the burglary at the
Harborside Hotel. Something about pirates and gold
doubloons. I figured it had to be connected with the
film.”
Another anonymous tip! Nancy bit her lip, trying to
figure out who was so eager to throw suspicion on the
movie's cast and crew. When she'd first been alerted to
someone behind the barrel, she thought she might
have caught her mysterious snooper. Obviously,
Mascelli wasn't him—or her.
“Now, how about telling me who you are?” Mascelli
asked.
“The film's assistant director,” Nancy said. “And I
suggest if you have any other questions, you ask for an
interview instead of sneaking around the ship.”
“Good idea.” He pulled a small tape recorder from
his pocket and clicked it on. “So tell me. Ms., uh . . .”
“Drew.”
“Drew. Are the rumors true? Were gold doubloons
left in the burglarized rooms? Are pirates involved in
the thefts at the Harborside Hotel?”
Nancy smiled in mock-innocence. “No comment.
Now, may I escort you off the ship?”
With a snort of annoyance, Mascelli switched the
recorder off. “You really should talk to me. I'll get my
story one way or another.”
“You can ask the director of the film, Andrew
Wagner, for an interview,” she suggested.
Nancy heard the thudding of hard-soled shoes on
the deck above. Stepping away from the ladder, she
gestured to the hatch. “You first.”
Scowling, Mascelli went up the ladder, pushing
open both hatch doors. Bright sunshine poured into
the hold, and when Nancy climbed out, she had to
shade her eyes.
Two uniformed officers had boarded with Detective
Weller. The three men stood talking on the waist,
unaware that Nancy or Mascelli had just ascended
from the hold.
“No one is to leave the ship until everyone has been
interviewed,” Weller said, loudly enough for Nancy to
hear. “We need to check out everyone's alibis, noting
where they were between the hours of midnight and
one in the morning. My hunch is someone in the cast
or crew is our thief. And I want to catch that person
now.”
Raising his camera to his eye, Mascelli snapped
several pictures without the officers knowing. Then,
turning to face Nancy, he gave her a cocky grin. “Well,
Ms. Drew, it looks as if I got my big scoop after all.”