The Black Widow Read online

  There was no way they could lock the door again once they were outside, but Nancy couldn’t worry about that. She grabbed Ned’s hand, and they raced up the nearest companionway.

  “I just want to get one last look at Mrs. da Silva’s cabin,” she explained. “Maybe it’ll tell me something. I get the feeling Ribeiro’s doing the same thing we are. If we don’t figure out da Silva’s secret soon, he’ll beat us to it.”

  But it was Ned who found it. He’d been feeling around on the upper shelves of the closet, when suddenly Nancy heard him utter a soft exclamation. He turned around, holding a rectangular velvet box in his hands. Nestled in the silk lining was a blaze of gems.

  “We found it!” Ned crowed. He drew out a long strand of emeralds in an antique setting and held it up to sparkle in the light.

  Nancy grabbed Ned’s arm. She’d seen that necklace before! “No, we didn’t,” she said in a taut voice. “But we may have found Mrs. da Silva. Ned, those are her jewels! She’d never have left them behind. Something must have happened to her!”

  “Could Ribeiro have killed her?” Ned asked, his voice grim.

  Nancy shook her head, her mind racing. “Possible, but I doubt it. She’s more useful alive, until he finds the emeralds. No, I think he must be holding her prisoner—and I bet she’s somewhere aboard this ship!”

  “We’ll have to search the whole ship.” Ned strode to the door. “Her life’s at stake.”

  Nancy leapt after him. “Ned, that’s it! You’re a genius! It’s got to be.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “Life! What’s the one place on this ship where no one ever goes, except in emergencies? The lifeboats! Follow me!”

  Taking the forward companionways so they wouldn’t run into Ribeiro, Nancy and Ned dashed down to the Lifeboat Deck. Nancy ran to the railing and scanned the rows of davits. “That one,” she said, pointing to a boat that was winched slightly lower than the others.

  Together, they raised the lifeboat to the deck. Nancy cleated it into place while Ned rolled back the canvas. She heard him draw in his breath.

  “Nancy,” he said, “I think we’re too late.”

  Chapter

  Twelve

  OH, NO! WE can’t be!” Nancy sprang to Ned’s side and peered into the lifeboat.

  Nina da Silva lay in the bottom of the boat, still and pale as a wax statue. Nancy bit her lip, then reached in and gently pressed a fingertip into the hollow at the base of Nina’s throat.

  After a moment she looked up at Ned. “She is alive—I can feel her pulse. But it’s irregular. And she’s so cold! She must be heavily sedated. We’ve got to get her to a doctor somehow.”

  “At least she’s alive,” Ned said, relief evident in his voice. “What are we waiting for?”

  Nancy stared. “Do you know how we’re going to get Mrs. da Silva down the gangplank in broad daylight, especially in her condition?”

  “We don’t have to.” Ned made a sweeping gesture toward the lifeboat. “Your chariot awaits, m’lady. Step in.”

  Nancy gaped. “Ned, have you gone—oh, I get it!” She laughed out loud, then clapped a guilty hand over her mouth and stepped quickly into the boat. “Brilliant, Nickerson!” she whispered.

  “Call me Houdini.” Grinning, Ned climbed in after her. Then he took the hand-operated winch from the boat’s locker and attached it to the ropes. As he cranked the handle, the boat sank to the water. Within moments they were afloat.

  Nancy and Ned then turned their attention to Nina. “We’ll just have to row as close as possible to our hotel in the lifeboat,” Ned said. “Then all we have to do is get her onshore, and we’re home free.”

  “The people on the beach are going to be pretty surprised when we come cruising by in a lifeboat,” Nancy said.

  “We’ll just tell them we were up the creek without a paddle. Any idea how to say that in Portuguese?”

  Nancy giggled in spite of her concern. He really was wonderful. “I’m beginning to see why I love you, Ned,” she said, a smile curving her lips.

  “I know—I’m wonderful. Don’t worry, I’ll expect payment later. A steak dinner and a walk on the beach should fit the bill,” Ned joked.

  “Oh, you! Keep quiet and row.”

  • • •

  When Ned and Nancy half supported, half dragged Nina into the Drews’ suite, Carson jumped from his chair, a frown of concern creasing his face.

  “Nina!” He rushed to help with Nina. “What are you doing here? Nancy, what’s happened?”

  “It’s a long story, Dad.” Now that she was back in the suite, Nancy suddenly felt bone weary. “Let’s get Mrs. da Silva to bed, and then Ned and I’ll bring you up to date.”

  For the next two hours, they discussed the case while Nina slept. Then they ordered a pot of strong Brazilian coffee from room service, and Nancy went into the bedroom and gently woke Nina. Finally, it was time to talk.

  The woman was still unsteady on her feet, but she sat upright on the brocade sofa in the suite’s living room. Perched on the ottoman facing her, Nancy leaned forward. “So,” she said, “where should we start?”

  Nina cleared her throat and looked significantly at Ned, wanting him to leave.

  Ned was instantly on his feet. “Think I’ll go buy a map of Rio,” he said, with a let’s-humor-her look at Nancy. “I don’t want to get lost.” He left the suite.

  “I suppose I’d better go back to the very beginning,” Nina murmured. She stared down at her hands, curled around a steaming cup of coffee, and heaved a deep sigh.

  “Hector—my husband—was a good-hearted man,” Nina began. “Too good-hearted, one might say. He just didn’t seem able to make the hard decisions that businessmen must.

  “Hector was once a part owner of the Sea Queen Cruise Line. But things went sour for him. He made some foolish investments, so he sold his share in the business. It almost broke his heart. Hector loved the cruise line. He even accepted the job of general manager aboard the Emerald Queen, just so he wouldn’t lose contact with his friends and the business.

  “Unfortunately, the money we got from the sale soon vanished—Hector had such bad luck in the stock market!

  “And that, I think, is when Hector got this—this offer.” Nina bent her head over her coffee cup again, her shoulders hunched. Nancy shot a quick look at her father. He was watching Nina, his jaw set as though he were afraid of what he might hear.

  “Please go on,” Nancy said softly.

  “Someone told Hector he had access to a cargo of emeralds,” Nina continued in a rush. “It was the perfect setup. Hector would hardly have to do anything. This person would steal the emeralds, and Hector, in his capacity as general manager, would hide them aboard the Emerald Queen and make sure they got through customs.”

  “This person you’re referring to is Antonio Ribeiro, isn’t it?” Nancy asked.

  Nina nodded. “Hector never actually told me who his accomplice was, but I knew it had to be Ribeiro. They got to be great friends right around then.” She shuddered. “At the time, I didn’t understand why.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “Ribeiro would arrange to sell the gems in Miami, and the two of them would split the profits.”

  “But then Hector got nervous,” Nancy said. “He probably worried that Ribeiro would try to sell the jewels before it was safe. He decided to change the emeralds’ hiding place. And then, when he knew he was dying, he thought they might get lost forever. So he sent Ribeiro a letter, saying that you had the map of the new location.”

  Nina da Silva nodded. “Hector wasn’t the sort of man who would betray a friend, no matter what else he might have done.”

  “Then why did Ribeiro say that Hector was a double-crosser?” Nancy asked.

  “He’d slander anyone,” said Nina scornfully.

  “At any rate, your husband died—suddenly—and no one knew where the emeralds were hidden. Am I right?”

  “Yes. . . . Believe me,” Nina sudden
ly burst out, looking at Carson for the first time, “I did try to stop Hector. We needed the money, but I didn’t want to get it that way!”

  Carson closed his eyes. “I’m not condemning you, Nina,” he said quietly.

  Nina withdrew for a moment, then turned to Nancy.

  “Hector told me about a drawing he had made of the emeralds’ location. He was very proud of it—he kept saying that the black widow was the key, but that his ‘partner’ and I would have to figure it out together. He made it for us, he said. I didn’t think about it until I was going through some old papers of his about six months ago.” She paused, her eyes lowered.

  “You found the drawing of the spider—and you remembered what he had said,” Nancy said.

  Nina nodded.

  “And?” Nancy prompted.

  Nina swallowed hard. “And,” she echoed, “I decided to find the emeralds for myself. I booked myself on the cruise. But I had no idea where to begin. So when I met you, Nancy, and heard about your—abilities—I realized that I might be able to use you to decipher the drawing for me.”

  “You slipped it under my door, with a phony note written to make me think it was just a joke puzzle. You figured that I’d work out the code and then tell my dad all about it—and he, of course, would tell you.”

  Tears welled up in Nina’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to Carson.

  Carson rose and strode to the window, where he stood with his back to Nina. “Go on,” he said in a tight voice. “I’d like to hear the rest of this.”

  Nancy felt awful for her dad, but there was nothing she could do or say to help him.

  “I was going to tell you everything,” Nina moaned. “But Tony Ribeiro wouldn’t let me be. I finally told him that I had passed the drawing on to you, but still he kept hounding me. That day when you came to offer me your help—I had decided I needed someone to trust. I couldn’t keep up the lies, the evasions. But before I got the chance to speak to either of you, I was attacked.”

  Nancy stood up and began to pace. “Mrs. da Silva, that’s the one thing I don’t understand. Why attack you? Why put you out of the way? He had the drawing from my cabin, so he knew as much, if not more than you—”

  Nancy broke off. Nina was staring at her, bewildered.

  “Did I say Ribeiro attacked me? Oh, no, I’m sorry to have misled you. It wasn’t he.”

  “What?” Nancy was stunned.

  Nina shrugged. “Whoever it was put out my cabin lights, but I could tell—even in the dark—that it was someone much smaller than Ribeiro.”

  “Of course!” Now that Nancy thought about it, her own attacker couldn’t have been Ribeiro, either. He hadn’t been much bigger than Nancy herself! Her mind racing, she whirled toward Ned, who had just slipped quietly back in. “How could I have missed it?” she asked.

  Ned stared back. “Missed what?”

  “The obvious. Ribeiro isn’t the only one we’re up against. He’s got an accomplice!”

  Chapter

  Thirteen

  BUT WHO? NANCY thought hard about the person who had held the knife to her throat. It had definitely been a man—she could tell that much in the dark.

  What about the masked motorcyclist? The cyclist could have been tall or short, male or female—she just couldn’t tell.

  “Dad,” Nancy said, “think about who went ashore with us at Paranagua. What about Lynn Ashley? Melissa Jordan said she disappeared a couple of minutes after we all split up.”

  “Nancy,” replied Carson Drew reasonably, “I think a lot of shopkeepers in Paranagua will be willing to vouch for her whereabouts. I just don’t see her as a hoodlum.”

  Nancy was pacing the room, deep in thought. She looked up at Ned, her father, and Nina.

  “Don’t you all see, something’s not adding up here!” she exclaimed urgently. “Whoever this accomplice is, he or she doesn’t stop at murder. Look at the rigged switch in my cabin. So why take all this trouble to kidnap Mrs. da Silva and hide her, when they could just as easily have dumped her in the ocean?”

  She turned to Nina. “Mrs. da Silva, there must be something else they need, some clue to where the jewels are. Something you have!”

  Nina looked bewildered. “I can’t imagine what.”

  Nancy sighed. “Neither can I. But let’s take a look at that spider code. Can you help me remember it?”

  Together, Nancy and Nina reconstructed the picture of the spider with the tiny letters at each of the eight legs.

  When they had finished, Nancy said, “Now, think. Do the letters suggest anything to you?”

  Nina looked at the drawing. “Nothing,” she said glumly.

  “What if we try attaching numbers to each letter?” suggested Ned.

  They set to work, using every combination of letters and numbers they could think of. But they remained stumped.

  Nina sighed. “Oh, Nancy,” she said wearily, “I’ve felt for a long time that the answer was right in front of me if I could only see it.”

  Nancy felt a spark in her mind. She leapt out of her chair. “You did! That’s it! It’s right in front of you—and everyone else on the ship!”

  “Now wait a minute—slow down,” said Carson Drew. “What do you mean?”

  “Dad, it’s the oldest trick in the book!” Nancy’s blue eyes sparkled. “How would you hide a fortune in gems from hundreds of passengers who roam freely over a ship?”

  “You mean the emeralds are out in the open where everyone can see them?” Ned asked.

  “Yes!” Nancy could barely contain her glee. “I’ll bet you my whole tape collection they’re in the ballroom chandelier, the one with eight spokes, made of green ‘crystal’!”

  She turned to Nina again. “And you are the key. Look again at the letters on the spider’s legs.” She held up the drawing and pointed. “See? A, W, N, P, I, Y, N, and F. That’s clockwise. But if you go the other way”—she traced her finger counterclockwise—“there’s your name: N-I-N-A, spaced out to every other letter. That must indicate the location of the emeralds.”

  “Well,” said Carson Drew, “it seems we’ve finally got a case to take to the Rio police.”

  “No,” said Nancy. “That’s exactly what we don’t have. We need material evidence. We don’t have much time; we sail at dawn. The police will take too long.

  “And I want to get them, not just the jewels. Remember, they’ve tried to kill me three times, and I’m starting to take it personally!”

  “I’m with Nancy, Mr. Drew,” said Ned. “We can’t wait.”

  Nancy felt a surge of relief and affection for Ned. Much as he sometimes disagreed with her methods, he always came through.

  She got to her feet. “It’s a little after seven now—it’ll be dark in a half hour or so. I think we should go back on board then.

  “Let’s leave now, Ned, and walk to the docks. We can pick up something to eat on the way—I’m starving!” Nancy’s stomach rumbled, and she blushed. Ned laughed.

  Nancy went into her room and grabbed a black sweatshirt to wear over her bright T-shirt. She made sure her penlight was in her jeans pocket. “Okay, let’s roll,” she called.

  Carson Drew walked them down to the lobby. “John’s expecting the three of us to join him for dinner at the restaurant on top of Sugarloaf later.” He chuckled hollowly. “Won’t he be surprised when I show up with Nina instead?”

  “Dad—” Nancy put her hand on her father’s arm. “I’m really sorry it turned out this way.”

  Carson straightened his shoulders. “Ah, well,” he said, walking away.

  “Cheer up, Nancy,” said Ned softly behind her. “You did the only thing you could under the circumstances. Besides, wouldn’t it be a lot worse if your father found this out after they got really close?”

  “I know,” said Nancy sadly.

  Ned put his arm around Nancy’s shoulders. “Come on. They’ll work it out themselves. Now let’s get some food—we’ve got work to do!”

  Fifteen mi
nutes later, moving through the gaudily dressed crowds that filled the streets of Rio, Nancy did feel better. They had picked up Brazilian beef kebabs from a street vendor, and now her attention was mostly occupied with holding onto her kebab with one hand and Ned with the other. She didn’t want to lose either in the mob.

  And it was a mob. Nancy had never seen anything like it. Drumbeats filled the air with a frenzied tattoo, and the whole city seemed to be dancing to its rhythm.

  Already many in the crowd were dressed in costume for the night’s Carnival festivities. As the evening darkened into night, torches appeared as if from nowhere, casting an eerie glow in the sequined and feathered processions.

  They arrived at the docks. Nancy looked up at the bulk of the Emerald Queen looming above them. “I feel like we’re going on a commando raid,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  Ned didn’t laugh. “Just be careful, Drew,” he said and hugged her. They climbed the rope ladder single file.

  Keeping close to the shadows, Nancy led Ned up the five short companionways. They stopped in front of the darkened ballroom. Nancy pushed one of the heavy glass double doors slowly open.

  She played her penlight on the ceiling of the huge room. “That’s where the emeralds are,” she whispered.

  “Nancy, how are we going to reach that chandelier? It must be sixteen feet in the air!” Ned gasped as it became clear what Nancy meant.

  Leaving Ned in the shadows, Nancy went to the tables at the edge of the dance floor. After dragging one out to a position directly under the giant chandelier, she placed a tall bar stool on top of it and centered it carefully. She secured it with two chairs to keep it from toppling over. Then she climbed her homemade ladder.

  Nancy knew that every other spoke of the chandelier contained emeralds instead of crystal, but she had no way of knowing where the sequence started. The hundreds of dangling green teardrops looked exactly alike. Da Silva must have planned this very carefully.

  But wait. The emeralds would be much harder than the crystal—Nancy remembered that much from geology. She pulled out her nail file—how useful it had turned out to be!—and gently scratched at one of the pear-shaped stones with the file’s tip.