Nancy remembered how Max had peered over her shoulder at the ransom note at Diego’s house.
“No more questions!” MacDonald growled. He moved in front of her and pulled another piece of rope out of his coat pocket. He knelt to tie Nancy’s feet. He wasn’t going to take her with him, she realized. She kicked out, knocking him backward, and ran. Enraged, he scrambled to his feet and tackled her. With her hands tied, Nancy fell hard on the wooden dock, her left shoulder burning with pain.
MacDonald tied her feet together. Then he grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her over to a crate. He picked her up and threw her inside it. Nancy screamed for help as she fell into the coffinlike crate. Maybe Bess would hear her, wherever she was.
“No coins, no Juanita,” MacDonald said, grinning down at her. “And now—no Nancy Drew!”
MacDonald slammed a lid on top of the crate, and Nancy lost sight of the moon and stars. She struggled frantically inside the crate, trying to get free of the rope around her wrists. Then she heard a pounding. MacDonald was nailing down the lid!
Nancy screamed again. She felt the crate tip over and over on the dock and couldn’t stay on her feet. The crate stopped moving for a second, then it toppled over the edge of the dock into the river.
16
Carlos to the Rescue!
The jolt of impact with the water sent shock waves through Nancy’s body. She took a deep breath as the icy water swished through the slats of the crate. It floated for a second, then sank.
Nancy fought down panic. The water felt like a block of icy steel on her chest, weighing her down. She held her breath, her heart beating rapidly.
Nancy touched the small loop of rope in her hand. She had just enough slack to loosen the ropes on her wrists. Nancy worked both of her hands free. She twisted around to untie her feet. But the knots were too tight, and her lungs, desperate for air, were ready to burst.
Nancy pushed with her head at the top of the crate, then turned and kicked it hard with her feet. Nothing happened. She kicked again. The top of the crate splintered.
She tore out enough slats to pull herself through, and swam up, propelling herself toward the surface.
Nancy drew in a deep lungful of air, her chest aching as she coughed. It was impossible to tread water with her feet still tied, so Nancy swam forward, pulling hard with her arms.
When she reached the dock, Nancy hung onto the edge, shivering. In a few minutes her breathing had become normal again. Using all her strength, she hoisted herself out of the water and rolled onto the dock. She lay still for a moment, then sat up and worked on the wet ropes around her ankles.
When her feet were finally free, Nancy stood up, her clothes dripping. She jogged in place to keep warm and scanned the dock area but didn’t see anyone. Where was Bess’s car? And the police? Her eyes fell on a cabin cruiser tied up at the dock. The name on the side was easy to see in the moonlight: Cruisin’ Carla.
In a flash, Nancy remembered what David had said as he lay wounded in Ian’s shop. He’d mentioned Juanita’s name and then said “lady luck.” Maybe that was the name of a boat. Was Juanita hidden on a boat?
Nancy trotted along the dock, looking at the names of the boats. At least three were moored at each dock. Some were small pleasure craft, others were fishing boats. But they all looked dark and deserted.
Then she saw a dim light. Nancy ran toward it and saw a small cabin cruiser rocking gently at dock ten. The cabin window was dimly lit, as if from a flashlight. She looked for the name on the side. It was the Lady Luck!
Nancy leaned over and grabbed the rail on the boat. She pulled it closer and climbed over the rail.
She tiptoed across the deck to the cabin door, opened it carefully, and climbed down the ladder to the cabin. A portable lamp stood on a table, which was flanked by bunks on both sides under the portholes.
A blanket covered something on the nearest bunk. Hardly daring to breathe, Nancy crept forward, hoping it wasn’t Ian MacDonald, lying in wait, ready to spring out at her.
She clutched the edge of the blanket and pulled it off the bunk. Juanita was lying there, her hands and feet bound with rope. Duct tape covered her mouth, and her eyes were wide open.
“Oh, Juanita,” Nancy cried, “are you hurt?” She pulled the tape off Juanita’s mouth, and Juanita screamed. It was a scream of warning, not pain. Someone slammed his fists into Nancy’s shoulders and knocked her to the floor.
Nancy twisted around, ready to fight. Ian MacDonald was grinning down at her. Striking out with her fists and feet, she fought him with all her strength. He grunted when Nancy’s heel connected with his stomach, but he grabbed her foot and tried to flip her.
Nancy hooked his ankle with her other foot and he tripped and fell hard on the empty bunk.
“Carlos to the rescue!”
A black furry body flashed past her, and she heard a deep growl. Buster crashed into MacDonald, knocking him to the floor. He tried to crawl away under the table, but Buster jumped on his back, pinning him flat.
Carlos slid across the cabin floor in his socks and fell on top of Buster. MacDonald groaned. Nancy stood up and helped Carlos to his feet, but Buster stayed with MacDonald, low growls coming from his throat.
“Come back here, Carlos.” It was Bess’s voice—she was outside! But it was George who clattered down the ladder into the cabin first. Bess, the police, and the Treasury agents were right behind her, filling up the small cabin.
George flipped on the overhead light. She grinned at Nancy, then hurried over to Juanita and untied the ropes. Carlos was on the bunk next to Juanita, hugging her. Buster still had MacDonald pinned, and Officer Volpi was trying to get him off.
Bess pushed through the crowd to Nancy. “Oh Nancy—I’m so glad you’re alive!” she said, and hugged her. “After I saw MacDonald drag Diego into the second alley and just leave him, I called you. When you didn’t answer, I drove off for help and found a police officer. We came back, picked up Diego, and drove him to the hospital.”
“Is Grandfather all right?” Juanita asked. By now she was sitting up, massaging her wrists.
Bess waved her hand. “Oh, he’s fine. But he has a bump on his head,” she replied. “But, Nancy, when I got back to the docks, George ran past me, chasing Carlos. Then Carlos yelled out that some bad guy had drowned you!”
“He tried,” Nancy said, “but a little of David’s magic saved my life.” She told them how she’d used David’s rope trick, then asked, “Where’s Max? Did he get away?”
George shook her head. “Agent Simmons and Agent O’Hare got him. But I realized that MacDonald was still at large,” she said, “so I ran back to the docks. That’s when I saw Carlos, and he yelled that you were in trouble.”
Nancy turned to look at Carlos, who was hanging onto his sister as if he’d never let her go. “How did you know I was in trouble, Carlos?” Nancy asked.
“That silly baby-sitter Grandpa hired fell asleep,” Carlos said. “I was looking out the window to see what was going on. I saw the bad guy put you in a big box and kick it in the water!”
Carlos waved his hands. “So I sneaked downstairs and went outside. I looked all over in the dark. Then Buster came and we saw you climb on that boat. So we came to rescue you!”
“I’m so glad you did,” Nancy said. “Is it all right if I give you a hug to thank you?”
“I guess so,” he said. Nancy wrapped him in her arms and squeezed. “You’re a great detective,” she said. Carlos hugged her back, then went over and sat beside his sister.
“Did I save you, too?” he asked.
“You sure did,” Juanita said, hugging him. “With a little help from Nancy.” She smiled at Nancy.
By now Officer Volpi had removed Buster from Ian MacDonald’s chest, and Officer Brody had handcuffed him. The other two officers led him off the boat. Buster went over to Carlos and sat down, panting. Carlos scratched his head.
“Good work, Drew,” Officer Brody said to Nancy. “I’ll
meet you in an hour at the Puentes house. I’ll need statements from all of you.”
• • •
An hour later Diego handed out hot chocolate and doughnuts to his guests. He had a bandage on his head, but he insisted he felt fine and refused to let Juanita get up from the sofa.
“Shouldn’t I go see David at the hospital?” she asked her grandfather.
Diego shook his head vigorously. “No—you rest,” he said. “David has a concussion and lots of bruises, but he’ll be home tomorrow. I told him Nancy found you.”
Nancy had a blanket around her shoulders, and was sitting in Diego’s favorite armchair. Officer Brody took another doughnut. “Max didn’t get too far with those coins,” he said. “Simmons and O’Hare caught up with him and recovered them.” He nodded his head at the Treasury agents, who were sipping their hot chocolate.
“Did he confess?” Nancy asked.
Officer Brody nodded. “He admitted to using the magic shows as a way to get into the basements and pull the security papers off the wires. Then he and MacDonald would come back to break into the houses and search for the gold coins Diego had given away.”
“But why did MacDonald sell that bag of coins in the first place?” asked George.
“I can answer that,” Agent Simmons spoke up. “MacDonald had mixed twelve 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle gold coins into a bag of magic coins to hide them from people like us.”
Nancy nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
“But he accidentally switched this bag with another bag full of fake coins,” Agent O’Hare said, “and sold the one with the Double Eagles to Diego.”
“How did MacDonald get the coins to begin with?” asked Bess.
Agent Simmons set down his mug. “The government has long suspected there was a conspiracy at the Mint all those years ago. Illegal Double Eagles keep popping up now and then. Someone could have stolen the coins before the Gold Order was signed, and then hid them to keep them from being melted down.”
Officer Brody swallowed the last of his doughnut. “When MacDonald realized he’d sold the gold coins to Diego, he recommended Max to Diego as a new assistant. Max had stolen coins for MacDonald in the past,” Officer Brody said.
“But Diego always kept the keys on his belt, and Max didn’t want to arouse Diego’s suspicions by breaking into the trunks in the Magic Shop to look for the coins.” Officer Brody finished his hot chocolate and put the mug down.
“When Max began to help at the magic shows, he realized Diego was giving away coins to children—and some of them could have been Double Eagles. So far all the birthday parties had been in River Estates, which Max knew had Secure Monitoring systems because he used to work for Secure. So he came up with the plan for getting the security codes from the basements during the magic shows.”
“Then Max found out MacDonald had misled him about the value of the coins,” Nancy said. She told Officer Brody and the agents what she had learned from MacDonald when he was tying her hands. “That’s why Max took the bag of coins at the ransom pick-up.”
“I can’t believe he was in the water in a wet suit,” said Bess. “It’s so cold.” She shivered.
Nancy started counting in her head, trying to figure out where each of the valuable coins had ended up. “So Diego gave two Double Eagles to two of the Kiley triplets,” she said. “One went to Stephanie Mowrer, one to Amy Baird, and one to Melissa Larsen. And Carlos had one on him at the skating rink, and Max stole it. That adds up to six coins.”
“And you said there were five Double Eagles left in the bag,” Bess said.
“Then where’s the other Double Eagle?” Agent O’Hare asked.
Nancy thought for a moment. “Jimmy Gardner must still have it,” she said. “Diego had given it to him during his birthday party. But the Gardner house wasn’t robbed because Carlos and Jimmy had removed the paper with the code from the security wires.”
Agent O’Hare whipped out a notebook and wrote down Reese Gardner’s address.
“One thing puzzles me,” Nancy told Officer Brody. “How did Max get the code from the Baird house? There was no birthday party there.”
Officer Brody shrugged. “I guess he found a different way to get into the basement.”
Juanita sat up. “Oh, I remember now. Max stopped by the Bairds one day when I was babysitting. I think it was the day before they were robbed,” she said, wrinkling her brow in concentration. “Yes, it was! He told me his car had broken down and asked to use the phone. He must have sneaked down the basement while I was in the kitchen with the kids.”
“So what will happen to the illegal Double Eagles?” George asked.
“Illegal Double Eagles,” Carlos said. “Hey, it rhymes, sort of.”
“So it does,” said Agent Simmons, and he smiled at Carlos. “After we question MacDonald about where he got them, the illegal Double Eagles will be turned over to a museum. They’ll eventually go on display.”
Dragging a sleepy Buster by the collar, Carlos pushed his way through the crowd of legs to the coffee table in front of the sofa. Carlos cleared his throat and yelled, “Introducing—Carlos the Great!” He picked up the TV remote and clicked on the set, turning the volume to blast. Buster began to bark. Everyone winced and covered their ears, except Diego, who stood up and headed for Carlos.
Carlos calmly clicked the button again on the remote and turned off the TV. “See—it’s magic!” he said, and grinned.
George looked at Nancy, and Nancy laughed.
“You’re a great magician, Carlos,” Nancy said. “Does anyone have a treat for Buster?”
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition January 2002
First Minstrel edition February 1996
Copyright © 1996 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Produced by Mega-Books, Inc.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster
Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
NANCY DREW and THE NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
ISBN 978-0-671-50507-3
eISBN 978-1-4391-1338-7
The Baby-Sitter Burglaries Page 10
