The Black Widow Read online

  He adjusted Nancy’s blanket and stretched out in his armchair. Nancy was too tired to protest.

  Her body aching, she finally fell asleep.

  • • •

  Nancy had to admit, the world did look a lot better in daylight, after a good breakfast. She reached hungrily for a second piece of toast.

  She told Carson her suspicions about Antonio Ribeiro. At first Carson wanted to go straight to Captain Brant, but Nancy pointed out that without any solid evidence, there was nothing they could do. “We need to see what he’ll do next,” she argued. “He will slip up sometime.”

  “You’re right, of course,” Carson grumbled. “But I’m not happy about it.”

  “Cheer up, Dad. It’s a beautiful day,” Nancy said with an affectionate grin.

  Just then, Captain Brant came over to greet them.

  “Captain Brant, how’s Randy doing?” Nancy asked quietly.

  “Stable, but he’s not feeling too well. We’ll be transferring him to the naval hospital once we get to Rio,” replied the captain. “What’s your next move?”

  “Well,” said Nancy carefully, “I do have one question. Did Antonio Ribeiro go ashore at Paranagua yesterday?”

  “Why, no.” The captain looked surprised. “He was working on the Rio requisition orders with me almost all day. Why do you ask?”

  Nancy sighed inwardly. So Ribeiro couldn’t have been riding the motorcycle in Paranagua after all. “Oh, just checking everyone’s whereabouts.”

  She said goodbye and wandered out to the observation deck, where she could just make out Sugarloaf, the cone-shaped mountain that stood high above the Rio de Janeiro harbor.

  Just then a scene at the other end of the deck caught Nancy’s attention. Antonio Ribeiro was standing with Lynn Ashley, deep in conversation.

  Trying to appear nonchalant, Nancy edged closer to the pair. Since there weren’t many other passengers on deck, it wasn’t easy to get close enough to hear what they were saying.

  Ribeiro and Lynn weren’t noticing much around them. Lynn was shaking her head vigorously, and Ribeiro appeared to be angry.

  Just as Nancy was almost in range, someone called her name. “Nancy, we’ve been dying to talk to you!”

  Nancy turned to Matt and Melissa Jordan, who looked well rested and fresh in their matching white jogging outfits. Out of the corner of her eye, Nancy saw Ribeiro staring at them with shock. He said something to Lynn and strode away.

  Nancy stifled her annoyance and tried to be polite. “So, you two, we’ll be landing in Rio in a couple of hours. Are you excited?”

  “We are excited, but thought we’d play some killer badminton to pass the time. Care to join us?” Matt asked, in the longest sentence Nancy had heard him utter.

  Nancy looked sidelong at Lynn. She was standing and staring out at the ocean with her habitual pout. Nancy didn’t see any point in hanging around.

  “Sure,” she said. Anything to pass the time until we get to Rio and I can do something, she added to herself. She was especially anxious to get to a telephone so she could call Ann Granger.

  • • •

  At noon Nancy and Carson joined the other passengers on the Main Deck, watching the Rio harbor draw closer. It was a beautiful sight.

  Shimmering in the midday sun was a glass wall of tall luxury hotels, overlooking a broad stretch of white sand. Behind the hotels, a forest of high-rises and tenement buildings sloped up a gentle incline to the real forest—the jungle, just visible in the hazy distance.

  Dominating the scene was Sugarloaf Mountain at the city’s northern end. A narrow spit of land connected it to the mainland. Nancy could barely make out the two tiny cable cars that were the only way of getting to and from the mountaintop.

  As they pulled into the cruiser’s berth, Nancy strained her eyes, trying to spot Ned in the waiting crowd. Her attention was caught by two crew members nearby.

  “Rio at Carnival!” said one. “What a night this is going to be. I can hear the drums already.”

  His mate sounded skeptical. “I don’t see how we can enjoy ourselves, knowing we have to be back at dawn.”

  “Yeah,” replied the first, “but Captain Brant is a good guy, giving the whole crew shore leave on a night like tonight.”

  At that moment Nancy caught sight of Ned. He was standing right at the end of the pier, his brown hair shining in the sun. Nancy’s heart did its usual flip-flop at the sight of his handsome face and broad shoulders.

  She was the first passenger down the gangplank. Smiling, she twirled into Ned’s arms. “Hello, stranger,” she said softly.

  Ned pretended to look shocked. “Do I know you, miss?”

  “Oh, Ned!” Nancy kissed him hard. “Boy, have I missed you.”

  “All that partying and you still thought of me?” Ned teased gently, as he held her in a bear hug. His warm brown eyes showed how glad he really was to see her.

  He shook hands with Carson. Then, grabbing the heaviest suitcase, he led Nancy and Carson to the minibus for the Imperial Hotel on Copacabana Beach, where they would complete their vacation. The cruise ended in Rio.

  “Wait till you see this town!” Ned said to Nancy. “People are dancing in the streets—no one can tell me Carnival only happens after dark!”

  After Carson checked them all into the luxurious hotel suite, Nancy changed into a bright yellow cotton T-shirt, black jeans, and espadrilles and met Ned on the terrace. She wasn’t looking forward to telling him she had a new case—she knew he wouldn’t be thrilled.

  • • •

  Iced fruit drinks had already arrived when Nancy joined him. “Ned,” she began a little nervously, “this isn’t exactly going to be one big party.”

  Ned’s grin vanished. “Nancy—you’re not on a case!”

  “Don’t be annoyed, Ned,” Nancy pleaded. “There’s something really strange happening on the Emerald Queen, and I’ve got to find out what it is. Just hear me out.”

  Nancy quickly outlined the case and the events of the previous three days. “And last night was no joke,” she concluded. “Someone means business, and I’m in the way. Which means I must be getting close to some answers!”

  “Nancy, I know I’m going to sound like a broken record, but—don’t you think this is a matter for the police?” Ned frowned as he looked into Nancy’s eyes.

  “But what would I tell them?” Nancy gave Ned a pleading stare. “I can’t just walk into the Rio police headquarters and tell them someone is playing practical jokes with deadly spiders, or that someone fiddled with my light switch.”

  “I don’t see why not,” Ned said.

  “I’ve got to get some hard evidence to give them, or they’ll think I’m just a teenager with an overactive imagination. And Captain Brant’s reputation may be on the line, too.”

  Ned looked resigned. “Okay, supersleuth, I might have expected this. So, what do we do now?”

  Nancy took a last sip of her strawberry colada and stood up. “First, I’ve got to call Ann Granger at the Record.”

  Ann sounded very pleased with herself when Nancy finally got through.

  “Nancy, the whole Sea Queen Cruise Line is wrapped in mystery. Did you ever hear about that South American emerald heist a couple of years ago? The one that happened right there in Rio? . . . Well, Hector da Silva, the owner of the Sea Queen line, was about to be indicted for his supposed involvement in that case when he died. And no one has ever found the loot!”

  Nancy’s heart pounded with excitement. Da Silva and Ribeiro . . . an unsolved emerald heist . . . a doublecross. . . . At last she began to have an idea what this case was about!

  Ann was still talking. Nancy interrupted her friend. “What did they have on da Silva? Was anyone else involved?”

  “Well,” said Ann, “I checked the line’s personnel records—don’t ask me how, because I’m not revealing my source. The hotel manager was named Antonio—hold on, I’ve got it right here—” Papers rustled.

  Nancy did
n’t need to hear the rest. She knew the name would be Ribeiro. “Great stuff, Ann!”

  “Do any of these other names ring a bell?” Ann reeled off a few more names. “Avrel, Hinkley, Lopez, Masters, Wolfe—”

  “Wolfe! Is that Randy Wolfe?”

  “You got it,” said Ann. “Randall Wolfe, seaman second class. He quit the Emerald Queen about a month before da Silva’s death.”

  “Really! Thanks, Ann.” So Randy had served on the Emerald Queen before! He probably knew a lot more about Ribeiro than he had told her at first. No wonder Ribeiro wanted him out of the way. Well, Randy Wolfe had some explaining to do.

  “Ann, I’ve got to go. Remind me to buy you a deluxe pizza when I get back!”

  Nancy hung up the phone. Randy first. She dialed the hospital. After some trouble, she was put through to a supervisor who spoke English.

  “Wolfe?” the man’s voice replied in answer to her question. “I’m sorry, miss, but we have no American by that name here.”

  “What?” Nancy was stunned. “Are you sure?”

  “Quite sure, miss.” The voice sounded annoyed.

  Nancy thanked him and hung up. She turned to Ned, alarmed.

  “Ned, Randy Wolfe is not in the hospital, which is where he’s supposed to be. Do you think something could have happened to him?”

  Ned shrugged. “Maybe he discharged himself. It doesn’t sound as if he was seriously hurt.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Shaking off an uneasy feeling, Nancy went up to her room and changed into sneakers. When she came back down to the lobby, she told Ned, “I hope Randy can take care of himself. Right now we’ve got to return to the ship.”

  Nancy started walking briskly toward the door. “I know now what Ribeiro is after—and it looks as if he’s just about to find it!”

  Chapter

  Eleven

  WAIT A MINUTE, Nancy!” Ned finally caught up with Nancy at the lobby doors. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. “What’s going on? Why are we rushing out to the ship?”

  Nancy grabbed his hand and pulled him along the beach, picking her way between clusters of sunbathers.

  “Ned, I promise I’ll explain everything to you as soon as we’re on our way to the Emerald Queen,” she said breathlessly, hauling him toward a minibus stand. “All you need to know right now is that there’s a cache of stolen jewels somewhere aboard that ship, and we’ve got to find it before the bad guy does!”

  “Oh, okay, Drew. No problem.” Ned grinned at her as they ran. “I can see you’ve got it under control. Why should I even worry?”

  Nancy grinned back. “You’ve got to admit, life with me is never dull. Oh, hurry, there’s the bus!”

  “Hey, how do you know this one will take us where we want to go?” Ned asked as the doors slid shut behind them.

  Nancy looked sideways at her boyfriend. “I don’t exactly know,” she admitted with a guilty shrug. “Call it an educated guess.”

  Ned heaved a deep sigh. “I’m in love with a lunatic,” he complained to the ceiling.

  Ned and Nancy took seats near the back of the vehicle. Nancy peered out the window at Sugarloaf, which loomed on the right as they whizzed up the avenue toward Rio’s city center.

  “See?” she chided Ned. “We’re going in the right direction. You should trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

  “Trust you.” Ned groaned. “You get into more trouble than anyone I know, Nancy Drew. All right, so tell me what this is all about.” He folded his arms and tried to look gloomy. “I just want to know what we’re getting into.”

  “Ann Granger’s information filled in a lot of gaps for me,” Nancy began. She told Ned about the emerald thefts and Mr. da Silva’s indictment.

  “So I put that together with what I already knew. One: Antonio Ribeiro was trying to extort some kind of map from Mrs. da Silva. Two: the da Silvas had had serious money problems. Three: Ribeiro and Mr. da Silva had had some correspondence about a map. And then I realized that da Silva must have collaborated with Ribeiro.

  “He and Ribeiro together stole this cargo of emeralds somehow and hid it aboard the Emerald Queen!”

  “Wait a minute—you’ve lost me,” Ned said. “First of all, what makes you think the emeralds are still there? Why didn’t da Silva or Ribeiro collect them?”

  “Da Silva didn’t retrieve them right away, because he was suspected of having stolen them. Then he died before the inquiry was over. And Ribeiro couldn’t get them, because he didn’t know where they were! Da Silva double-crossed him!”

  Ned gave a long whistle. “That would certainly explain why he wasn’t overly fond of Mrs. da Silva. But where exactly does she fit in? What were you saying about a map?”

  Nancy reached over and ruffled Ned’s hair. “I’ll make a detective of you yet, Nickerson,” she teased. “You’re asking all the right questions.

  “Before he died, da Silva made a map, showing the location of the emeralds. He gave it to his wife so that she’d be able to find them and cash in on them.”

  “Now, hold on, Nancy,” Ned interrupted. “How do you know she hasn’t already found them? She could be in Miami living it up!”

  “Because she didn’t have all the clues!” Nancy replied. “Da Silva wasn’t a total crook. He wanted Ribeiro to get his cut. He just wanted to make sure his wife got her share when Ribeiro finally dug them out of their hiding place! He wrote to Ribeiro, telling him that Nina had the key to the emeralds’ hiding place. That’s the letter I found in Ribeiro’s desk.

  “But the idea backfired. When Nina came on this cruise, hoping to find the emeralds for herself, Ribeiro tried to intimidate her into giving him the map.”

  “But she wouldn’t,” Ned prompted.

  “She couldn’t,” Nancy corrected him. “She couldn’t—because she’d already passed the map on to me!”

  Doubt shadowed Ned’s eyes. “You mean the drawing of the spider? Is that the ‘map’?”

  “It has to be. At first I thought it was the blueprint of the ship that Ribeiro was after, but then I realized that if it had been anything that simple, Mrs. da Silva would have figured it out and retrieved the emeralds long ago. No, I think that da Silva somehow coded his hiding place in that bizarre drawing, and Mrs. da Silva slipped it under my door. She knew I was a detective. Maybe she hoped that somehow I’d realize what it was and decipher it for her. Or maybe she just lost her nerve and decided to try and hide it from Ribeiro.

  “Anyway, I couldn’t figure out what the drawing was supposed to mean. I’m hoping Ribeiro hasn’t solved it yet.”

  “So now we have to find the emeralds and get them off the ship before he does.” Ned shook his head. “Tall order, Nancy.”

  Nancy nodded. “Don’t I know it.” Suddenly she straightened in her seat. “We’re here, Ned.”

  The two teenagers got off the bus and walked along the pier to the cruise ship’s docking berth. There wasn’t much activity, compared to the morning’s bustle. Nancy kept a careful eye out as they walked up the gangplank to the deserted Main Deck. “I’m sure there must be some crew members left on board,” she said quietly to Ned.

  “Where to?” Ned whispered.

  “Upstairs—the Amethyst Deck. Ribeiro’s cabin.”

  “Do you have a credit card?” Nancy whispered to Ned at Ribeiro’s door. Ned nodded and handed her a thin plastic card.

  “Last time I broke in,” Nancy said, smiling as she maneuvered the card between the doorjamb and the tongue of the lock, “all I had was a nail file. These doors are too easy to open, if you ask me.” She released the lock and turned the doorknob. “Keep your fingers crossed.”

  Ribeiro’s room was disappointing—they found nothing except business papers. He must have decided to carry his personal papers with him.

  Next they tried Randy’s room. Maybe, Nancy thought, she’d come across something that would tell her what Randy’s part in all this was.

  Nancy’s pulse quickened as she opened th
e top drawer of Randy’s desk. In the back, half hidden under a pile of canceled checks, was a bundle of letters. She started to read the top one.

  “Dearest Randy,” it began, “how can I ever thank you for making this cruise the best ever for me? . . .” Nancy quickly skimmed the next few letters. All of them seemed to be from old girlfriends.

  There was little of interest in Randy’s room. “How about trying sick bay?” Ned suggested. “We may be able to learn where they sent him, if he can’t be found at the naval hospital.”

  “Good idea.” Nancy nodded. “Let’s go.”

  It was eerie to walk through the deserted corridors. The only sounds were the distant thrum of the ship’s engines and their own sneakers softly thudding. Nancy led the way to sick bay, which was aft on the Amethyst Deck. Luckily, there was no one on duty.

  But they encountered a snag—the medical logbooks were in a cabinet secured by a combination lock that Nancy couldn’t crack.

  “Let me try,” Ned suggested. He crouched by the lock and cracked his knuckles. In spite of her frustration, Nancy couldn’t help but smile.

  She got to her feet. “Good luck, Houdini.” Looking around the room, she noticed a crumpled white dinner jacket hanging over a chair. She picked it up and examined it. It still had Randy’s assistant cruise director nameplate pinned to it. There was a sticky black smear by one of the pockets. It must be curare, from the dart that Randy was shot with.

  Nancy frowned. Why did that seem strange?

  Just then she heard men’s voices in the hall outside. Someone was coming! Quick as a flash, she sprang to the door and locked it.

  The voices moved closer, and then Nancy saw the doorknob jiggle. She cast a frantic glance at Ned, who was frozen by the locked cabinet.

  “Sorry, sir, I don’t have my keys with me,” one of the voices said. Nancy closed her eyes in relief. Then the other man spoke.

  “Never mind. I’ll get mine.” The cold tone sent a shiver up Nancy’s spine. As both pairs of footsteps moved off, she turned to Ned.

  “We’ve got to get out of here. That was Ribeiro!” she whispered. Ned’s eyes widened, and he nodded.