"No one," said Joe with a wry grin. "It's unoccupied. So the question remains—who wrote the note?"
"It makes no sense. It sounds like the note should have been written by Pipeline, since she was selling the information. But why does she ask for information about herself?" Nancy said, seating herself on a chair.
Just then the cabin door flew open. Nancy and Joe jerked their heads toward the intruder and jumped up.
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"Sorry I'm late," Frank Hardy said, hurrying in. "What's up?"
"Joe has some big news," Nancy told him. She sat down again.
"I found the original of this on the bulletin board in the crew's locker lounge," Joe explained, handing his brother the paper.
Frank read the note and sat down on Maxwell Schweidt's bed. "Whoa," Frank said. "This is getting more complicated all the time."
"Here he goes," Joe said with a smile. "He's going to start asking himself a million questions now."
"Typical private investigator's kid," Nancy said teasingly. "But seriously, what would happen if we started at the beginning and looked at everything methodically?"
"Typical lawyer's kid," Frank said, a slow grin lighting up his face.
Nancy returned the grin, then they began in earnest. "Okay," Joe said as he leaned against the dresser. "Where are we?"
"I think I've just figured it all out," Nancy said. She pulled her chair closer to the Hardys. "According to the note, the disks are still for sale, which means we didn't blow it this morning. The exchange never took place."
"I'll go along with that," Frank said. "But why not?"
A Nancy Drew 6» Hardy Boys SuperMystery
"That I don't know," Nancy replied. "Let's put that one on hold for now. The other thing the note tells us is that Pipeline has an accomplice or friend—and the accomplice doesn't know where she is. It's the only way the note makes sense."
"It's amazing. Whoever wrote this note isn't even looking for money," Joe said, flicking the paper. "He just wants to get Pipeline back!"
"I agree," Nancy said. "And since I'm convinced that Marcy is Pipeline, it makes sense that one of her friends wrote the note."
"Sounds good," Frank agreed. "The only thing I don't get is how did her friends know to put the note on the crew bulletin board?"
"Maybe," Nancy said, "Marcy met with her friends, or friend, after she met the Spanish guy on the stairs. She told them what happened. You know, it seems like they tell one another everything. So maybe it happened like this: Marcy waited on the stairs with that Plummer's bag as a signal, so the guy would know who she was. When he did show up, she saw that he was a crew member."
"But why was she meeting with someone she didn*t even know?" Joe asked.
"I don't know yet," Nancy admitted. "Just follow me for a minute. After she talks to the guy on the stairs, she goes back to her friends
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and tells them that the contact is a busboy, or whatever. Then sometime between nine last night and five-thirty this morning, Marcy disappears. Her friends think that the contact, the crew member, had something to do with her vanishing act, but they don't know who he is. So they put up the note in the crew's lounge and hope he'll respond."
"These guys are really playing with blindfolds on," Joe said, whistling.
"Interesting," Frank said. "I guess we'll have to assume that all of her friends are in on it. As you said, they do seem to stick together."
"I don't know," Nancy said tentatively. The thought of David Carlyle being involved in all of it was disturbing. And yet, what Frank said made sense.
"Let's check out that cabin," Nancy suggested. "Frank, you leave first. Then Joe. I'll meet you as soon as the corridor is clear."
Ten minutes later they were inside Cabin A forty-three—the cabin mentioned in the bulletin-board note.
"If no one's staying here," Joe said, "I wonder why the note said to leave a message in this cabin?"
"They're using it as a drop," Frank answered "Because it's empty, it's perfect."
"There's the message," said Nancy, pointing
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
to a small white paper on the bureau. She walked over, picked up the note, and read it out loud.
"I'm still interested in your disk collection. Meet me at the ruins in Cozu-mel. High noon, Monday. Alone. I'll find you."
"I guess it pays to advertise," Frank said with an ironic smile.
"Great. Now all we have to do is sit here and wait for someone to open that door," Joe said. "And—zap—we've got whoever is selling those disks."
"No, no, no," Nancy and Frank said in unison. They turned to look at each other.
"We—" They began again at the same time.
"Ladies first," said Frank.
"Frank Hardy, I never suspected you were a chauvinist," Nancy quipped.
"All right, I give. Redheads first—is that better?"
"Uh-huh. Now, Joe, what we were going to say is, even if we grab the seller, we still have to find the buyer. That's who probably has Marcy," said Nancy.
"Okay, then, let's leave the message and get out of here," Frank said. "We don't want to mess up anything."
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Joe peeked out into the hall to see if it was clear. He motioned to the others to follow him.
"So tomorrow it's the ruins at Cozumel," Nancy said as they walked past a line of stateroom doors. "We've got to be there at noon."
"That's a problem, Nancy," Frank said, shaking his head. "Joe and I are pretty sure the cabin thief will hit tomorrow while people are on shore. It's prime time, when the boat is so empty. We've got to be here to catch the thief."
"Both of us?" Joe asked.
"Good point," Frank said. "If the thief finally does hit Maxwell Schweidt's cabin, I could handle it myself."
"Great," Joe said. "Then I'll go with Nancy."
"I'll be glad to have the company," Nancy said, giving Joe a grateful smile.
"Well, I'm going to turn in," Joe said with a yawn. "I'm tired. Unlike you guys, I'm working on this boat. I got up at five this morning. See you at breakfast."
They watched Joe walk off. Then Frank and Nancy strolled in silence past the closed shops. Neither felt it was necessary to say a word. They ambled slowly, comfortable and close.
"Hey—I have an idea," Frank said. "How about a swim? It'll help us to relax for tomor-
row."
A Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys SuperMystery
"All the pools are closed," Nancy said. Then she turned and looked up into Frank's eyes and gave him a dazzling grin. "But who cares?"
"Best time to avoid the crowds," Frank said lazily. "Well? What do you say? Meet me at the pool on the Palace Deck in fifteen minutes."
"I'll be there!"
On the way back to her stateroom to change, Nancy thought about Frank. Was she attracted to him? she asked herself. She honestly had to answer yes. He was warm and funny and caring and, best of all, intelligent. He was almost the most special boy she knew— almost. But there was Ned, and Nancy knew Frank could only be her friend. She would have to leave it at that—and she hoped she could.
Joe Hardy stopped on the way back to his room to lean against the rail on the Princess Deck and look out to sea. He was standing in almost the same spot he had been when he went overboard. He looked down at the long drop into the water and then up at the sky.
"Hey, moon," Joe said. "You missed it. I made a great dive the other day. Dynamite form—slipped into the water like a hand into a glove."
Suddenly Joe looked around. He could
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swear he heard someone crying. He was right. Just twenty feet away Gail was standing at the railing too, sobbing her heart out.
Joe watched her for a moment. The blond girl looked so small and lonely. Maybe he could help, he thought.
"Hi," he said softly, making his way toward her. "It can't be that bad—"
"Oh, it is!" Gail sobbe
d. "My whole life is such a mess—"
For the first time, Joe noticed that Gail was pretty. Her green eyes were so vulnerable as she looked up at him.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, glancing away. "I must be bothering you—"
"That's okay," said Joe, standing next to her. Her defenses were down, and with the hard edge gone, Gail seemed lost and frightened and very young.
"Maybe I should just give up—" She was sobbing again. "Maybe nothing is worth it all—"
Joe knew what she was thinking by the way she was looking at the water. "Hey, wait a minute. Whatever your problem is, it can't be that bad," he said.
"Oh, it is—"
"My name is Joe, by the way."
"I know. You're a busboy, right?"
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
"On this cruise I am," he answered, smiling at her. "But do you know what's under this white jacket?"
"A heart of gold?"
"Well, no. .. actually, it's my Sea World T-shirt."
Gail laughed in spite of herself. Then she smiled at Joe and wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. She was looking at him in a way that sent a shiver up his spine. "You seem so together," she said.
"That's me," Joe agreed with a laugh. "Problems? What are they?"
Then they looked at each other for a long moment as the boat swayed beneath them. He could see the moon reflected in her eyes.
"So, what is your problem?" he asked dis-armingly.
Gail looked out at the sea and sighed out loud. "I really can't talk about it," she said softly.
Joe decided not to push it. "Where are your friends?" he asked her. "I thought you and your friends always breathed the same air."
"I wanted to be alone," Gail said.
"Do you still?" Joe asked quietly.
"I don't know."
"You look awfully sad," he told her.
Suddenly Gail shivered. Joe took off his jacket and slipped it over her shoulders.
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"Hey," he whispered. "We don't have to talk about it. There are a million other things to talk about. That's what's nice about meeting someone new—there are endless possibilities."
Gail stood gazing into Joe's eyes, which were only inches away. Then her eyelids started to close, and she leaned in even closer.
Suddenly she was wrapped up in his arms, and their lips were pressed together. Joe's heart was pounding. He hadn't meant to kiss her, it had just happened.
When it was over, there was nothing to say. Gail leaned against him and turned her head toward the water. "That was nice," she whispered.
"Very nice," Joe said huskily. And he meant it.
Nancy looked at herself in the mirror in her cabin. Her new bathing suit was great. It was a tank style, cut high at the thighs and low in the back. The iridescent blue of the fabric almost perfectly matched her eyes. She threw on jeans and a sweatshirt, grabbed a towel, and stepped out of her cabin.
There was a vaguely familiar-looking man standing and observing her from the other end of the hallway. Nancy returned his stare for a moment, and then he turned and walked away.
A Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys SuperMystery
Now, where have I seen him before, Nancy wondered. And then it came to her. He was the same man who had been staring at her that afternoon. She wondered who he was and decided he might be on to her. She'd have to tread even more carefully from here on in.
The elevator ride to the Palace Deck was filled with passengers wearing blue jeans, white socks, and ponytails. Nancy fit right in with them—except they were going to the Sock Hop in the disco, and Nancy was meeting Frank Hardy for a midnight swim.
The pool area was dark, and all the lights in the Olympic-size pool were turned off when Nancy lifted the latch on the fence gate and walked in.
She put down her towel, kicked off her shoes, and stuck a foot in the water. It was still warm. In the time it took to step out of her jeans and take off her sweatshirt, Nancy's eyes had adjusted to the dark. At the far end of the pool Frank was already in the water.
"Hey! I see you!" she said in a loud whisper. Then, with her arms stretched in front of her, Nancy cut cleanly into the water, hardly disturbing the surface. She swam underwater the length of the pool until she came up just inches from Frank's face.
He was swimming facedown, not moving.
"Frank Hardy, you can't fool me with that
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dead man's float." Nancy laughed. "Frank? Frank?"
"Yes, Nancy. I'm right here. How's the water?" Frank asked from the deck of the pool.
Nancy froze, and her heart started thumping a thousand times a minute.
It wasn't Frank Hardy in the pool with her. It was someone else—and he was dead!
Chapter Nine
N,
ancy wanted to scream, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She was having trouble treading water. Even though she wanted to get away, she couldn't force herself to swim to the edge of the pool.
"Nancy? Are you all right?" It was Frank Hardy—the real live Frank Hardy calling to her. "Where are you? It's so dark. I can't see a thing."
"Frank," Nancy said through chattering teeth. "Come here, right away."
"Is the water cold?" Frank asked, pulling off his shirt.
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"Frank," Nancy said, sounding calmer than she felt. "There's a dead body in the pool."
Splash! Frank dove in immediately.
A short while later Nancy was sitting on a deck chair beside the pool, wrapped in her towel, shivering. Frank's arm was around her, holding her close. Captain Helgesen was standing next to them. He had been summoned by Frank on the ship's intercom.
"It's Julio Aguerra," said the captain. He looked at the face of the corpse lying on the pool deck. "Poor devil. He was a steward. Looks like he wanted to take a midnight swim himself."
"I don't think so," Nancy said, standing up and rubbing her hair with the towel.
"He's wearing a bathing suit," Captain Helgesen said. "There are no cuts, bumps, bruises, or marks on his body. He must have been swimming and had an accident."
"Captain," Nancy said, "the other night I overheard a teenage girl and a crew person with a Spanish accent. Now a teenage girl is missing and a steward with a Spanish name is dead. We've got to suspect a connection."
The captain heaved a sigh and shook his head. "We're going to present a pretty picture to the police in Cozumel tomorrow," he said. "One corpse and one missing girl. We'd better
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
look for some answers." Then the captain led Nancy and Frank to Julio Aguerra's cabin, where he knocked and then opened the door.
He let Nancy and Frank go inside while he stood guard.
The room was small and simple and decorated exactly like all the others they had searched earlier that day.
"You searched this cabin—didn't you?" Frank asked.
"I must have," Nancy replied. "But I don't remember it."
Nancy and Frank walked around the room, observing but not saying anything. A crucifix on the wall. Photos stuck into the dresser mirror: Julio with his arm around a couple of women, whom Nancy assumed were his sisters because of their resemblance to him. Julio in a graduate's cap and gown. Julio with a man who looked like his brother. The brother was wearing army combat clothes.
Then they found a lap-top computer and several notebooks in a desk drawer.
"What do you think he used this for?" Frank asked, looking from the computer to Nancy.
"He could have used it to look at Marcy's sample disk," Nancy said. She opened the notebooks and saw that they were filled with what appeared to be codes.
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After that they searched the room even more thoroughly and carefully, being careful not to disturb anything, using pencils to lift and look under things so they wouldn't smudge whatever fingerprints might be there. They wanted to find Marcy's disk—or some
thing to confirm that he was the contact she had met on the stairs.
After tearing apart every fixture in the room, they still found nothing. There wasn't a single computer disk anywhere.
"Would anyone really have a computer and no disks?" Nancy asked.
Frank shook his head. "Maybe they've been stolen," he said. "By the person who killed Julio."
When they had seen enough of Julio's room, Frank and Nancy went outside to report to the captain. Then they headed back to their own cabins. They desperately needed sleep.
It was late, and Nancy expected George to be asleep, but she wasn't. She was standing on her head in the middle of the room.
"Hi, George," said Nancy. "David's turned you upside down already, huh?"
"He's an absolute dream, Nancy! He's—I don't know—special somehow. It's like we're —hey, you look dead, Nancy," George said. She had brought her legs down so she could talk to Nancy.
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
A vision of Julio's face floated in front of Nancy's eyes.
"Where've you been?" George asked.
"Frank Hardy and I went for a swim," Nancy said.
"Sounds risky, and very romantic," George teased, raising her eyebrows. "After hours? Just the two of you—"
"It wasn't romantic. Believe me. We found a corpse in the swimming pool."
"Well, I'm glad you're—excuse me, but did you just say you found a corpse in the swimming pool?" George exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock.
"That's what I said—a corpse," Nancy said. 'Who was it?"
'A guy named Julio Aguerra." 'He's crew!" George gasped. "I mean, I know him! Well, not really know him, but, you know—I can't believe he's dead."
"We're pretty sure he was the contact for Pipeline," Nancy told her. "There was a computer in his room, but we didn't find a disk."
"Who killed him?" George asked as she sat slowly.
"You were with David all evening, right?" Nancy asked.
Suddenly George stood up again. "You don't actually think David—"
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