Nancy shrugged. "I think it's got to be the same person who murdered Julio."
The mood in the room was somber, as
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Nancy's friends understood that someone had really tried to do away with her.
"Let's go talk to Connor," Joe said, standing up suddenly.
"We've done enough talking," Nancy said. The Hardys could hear the change of attitude in her voice. It was a get-tough sound. "I want to find the disks and stop this thing cold."
"Shouldn't you be on the sidelines until you get back in shape?" Frank asked, concerned.
Nancy just looked at Frank, and he knew she had no intention of being benched. "I want you guys to make sure Connor is out of his cabin for a while tomorrow after dinner. Or is it tonight after dinner—it's so late. Then call me and tell me so I can search it," she said.
"Sounds okay to me," Frank said. As he placed his passkey in her palm, he let his hand linger in hers a moment longer than necessary.
"What if she doesn't find the disks?" Joe asked.
"Bad news," said Frank. "Because it probably means Connor sold them." His face clouded over, and Nancy knew he was worried about her. Real people were getting hurt.
Nancy returned to her cabin for a good night's sleep.
At dinner the next night in the dining room, George stepped up to the microphone and
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
greeted the passengers. She was wearing a gypsy fortune-teller costume, and Frank and Joe were dressed as gorillas.
"Tonight before our Masquerade Ball, we have a special treat for you," she said. "Please welcome, the one, the only, the Great Lantoni!"
There was a burst of music and then, as the lights dimmed, a puff of white smoke. A moment later the Great Lantoni, a short, chubby magician, appeared on the stage.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure for you to see me tonight," said the Great Lantoni. "To perform my magic for you, however, I will need an assistant. Who would like to volunteer?"
Hands went up all over the large room.
"No, no, no. Too eager. You've probably seen the tricks before." The Great Lantoni smiled. He stepped down off the stage and wandered among the guests. "I would like a different volunteer—you, young sir!"
The Great Lantoni was pointing right at Connor. He, Gail, and Demetrios were the only people in the room not wearing costumes.
"No way," Connor said.
"He wants to be encouraged!" the Great Lantoni cried. As soon as they heard that, the guests burst into applause. Even Gail started
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encouraging Connor to go up on the stage. When Lantoni grabbed him by the arm, Connor gave in.
Joe and Frank had instructed the Great Lantoni well.
Joe waited until he knew Connor was trapped. Then he went to a telephone and dialed Nancy's cabin. "All clear," he said, and hung up.
Nancy didn't waste a second. Dressed in her masquerade costume, she slipped out of her room to head for Connor's cabin.
There were people in the corridor as Nancy reached the cabin, but she didn't flinch. She put the passkey in the door confidently, as if she were going into her own room.
Nancy turned the key and pushed against the door, but it opened only slightly. She pushed again. Something was blocking the door, keeping her from opening it.
"Hey, I love your hat," said a voice behind her.
Nancy closed the door quickly and turned around. There was a young man with half his face grease-painted white and the other half black—exactly like the colors of his harlequin costume. He looked like Nancy's twin. He reached out and jingled the bells on her floppy cap.
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
"How about you and me going to the dance and making fools of ourselves?" said the harlequin with a grin.
You've got a head start, Nancy thought, hoping he'd just disappear and fast. But he leaned against the wall as if he planned to stay there all night.
Nancy realized the only way to get rid of him was to say yes. "Okay, I'll meet you," Nancy said. "Where?"
"I'll be up on the Palace Deck, pushing people into the pool," he said.
"I'm counting the moments," Nancy said, watching him walk down the hall. Then she turned and tried to open the door again.
The next time she gave it all the muscle she had. And whatever was blocking the door moved just enough so that she could squeeze into the room.
But when she got inside, her heart started pounding and she felt faint. Now she saw why the door wouldn't open.
There was a body lying on the floor!
Chapter Fourteen
N,
ancy looked carefully and saw that it was David! She knew she shouldn't move him, but she had to know how hurt he was.
She knelt down and pressed her fingers firmly against his neck. Nancy exhaled loudly, not realizing she had been holding her breath. She could feel his pulse—he was still alive. Then she ran to the telephone to call the ship's doctor.
"There's been an accident in Cabin E fifty," she reported. "A man is unconscious. Please come immediately."
After the doctor had hung up, Nancy contin-
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
ued to stand holding the telephone and looking at David.
What was he doing in here, she wondered. Was he meeting another spy? Was he working with Connor to sell his country's secrets? Looking at David's innocent face, it seemed hard to believe. And yet. . .
The doctor arrived quickly. He was a cool, handsome man with silver hair, who conducted his examination without much talk.
"Is it bad?" Nancy asked. The doctor grunted an answer, but Nancy didn't want to press him for more information just then.
David moaned and opened his eyes. He looked at the doctor, and suddenly his face became fearful.
"I'm the ship's doctor. Don't worry, young man," said the doctor.
"David," Nancy said.
David was groggy, but he smiled when he recognized her voice. He still looked confused, though.
"It's Nancy," she went on. "Connor's door was open, and I found you in here. Can you tell me what happened?"
"I came in to borrow a sweater from Connor —he said I could. Someone was in here. He spun me around and hit me on the head."
Nancy looked around the room. Hit him with what? There was nothing heavy nearby.
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Nothing had been dropped, and nothing seemed out of place.
"David, did you see anything? Anything at all?" Nancy asked.
David tried to sit up, but the doctor pushed him down again.
"Slight concussion," the doctor said as he walked to the telephone to call for a stretcher.
"Where's Connor?" David asked, looking around the room. "Tell Connor."
"Tell Connor what?" Nancy asked, kneeling beside him. His eyes told her that his mind was going in and out of focus.
"Connor's my buddy," David mumbled. "We always help each other out."
"David, I'm your friend too," Nancy said, "and I want to help you. You've got to tell me what happened."
"You're not Connor," he said. "Connor doesn't like you."
"Maybe not. But Connor doesn't know me, does he?" Nancy said. "If he knew me, he might not be so suspicious. David, you've got to tell me: Are you and Connor doing something that you shouldn't?"
David looked at Nancy and noticed her costume. "Dressed for the prom?" he asked.
"Please be serious. And try to remember," Nancy said.
"I didn't see anything. The room was dark.
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
Then—kablooie!" David paused, a funny look on his face. "I didn't see anything, but I smelled something."
"What do you mean?" Nancy asked, taking his hand.
"Pipe tobacco," he said. He was remembering clearly now. "I was lying down. Someone bent over me. Pieces of loose tobacco fell on my face. Smelled swe
et but strange." He winced, perhaps as he remembered being struck.
Nancy looked around the rug where David had been lying. She picked up a couple of strands of tobacco from the rug.
"David," Nancy said, "maybe you were robbed. Did you have any money on you? Or did Connor keep some in the room?"
"Connor doesn't believe in carrying money," David said. "But I've got some in my pocket."
Nancy checked quickly. "It's still there. You weren't robbed. Then what was that guy doing in here?"
David shook his head, and his eyes started to close. His mind was drifting again. "Where's Connor?" he mumbled. "And Gail? And Demetrios? And Marcy?"
After David was taken to the sick bay, Nancy searched the cabin thoroughly—in dresser drawers and suitcase linings, inside the
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toilet tank, behind the paintings, between the mattresses—anyplace that anyone could hide something flat like computer disks. It didn't take long for her to see that someone had already searched the cabin before her. And that probably meant one thing: She was too late to find the disks. Someone had beaten her to them!
Now what, Nancy wondered. Now it didn't matter how many people were in on the plot, because the disks were gone. And the X factor —the unknown player who had killed Julio and Marcy and conked David—probably had them.
Unless—
Unless Connor had hidden the disks so well that no one could find them.
Nancy felt like confronting Connor, having it out, face-to-face. But she knew he'd deny hiding the disks, and his friends would back him up. In the end she'd be no closer to catching anyone.
She went to the ballroom, looking for George or Frank or Joe. Costumed people were dancing in long snakelike lines, holding on to one another's waists. The music thumped and drowned out all conversation. Confetti and streamers were everywhere.
Nancy wove her way through the twisting, shouting crowds and finally caught a glimpse
A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery
of a gorilla. She knew Frank and Joe were both wearing gorilla costumes, but this gorilla had to be Frank because he was taking pictures of people in their costumes by a fake palm tree.
"Frank," she called.
Frank lowered his camera and looked at Nancy. "How did it go?"
Nancy shook her head.
"Come on," said a man dressed like a rooster. "Take the picture. Take the picture."
"I can't talk now," Frank told Nancy. "Joe and I will meet you at nine in Maxwell's cabin."
Later that night Nancy, Frank, and Joe met in the privacy of Maxwell Schweidt's cabin. Nancy told them about finding David and about the missing disks.
"Here's an interesting thought," Joe said. "When David tells Connor that you were in his room, Connor will think you've got the disks."
"Just what I need." Nancy groaned. Then she looked up at the letters of the message still written on the mirror.
"Listen, I've got an idea how to trap Connor," Frank said. "But it'll work only if the disks really have been stolen."
Nancy turned to face him.
"What is it?" she asked.
"We slip Connor a note saying something
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like 'I have the disks. Do you want the money? You know what room to look in.' And we don't sign it, of course. If the disks are missing, he'll come right to Cabin A forty-three."
"And we'll be waiting here," Nancy said with a smile.
"Sounds good," Joe said. "Just by walking in, he'll be saying he knows about A forty-three and he knows what disks we mean. That's half his confession right there!"
"It's worth a try," Nancy said. "I'll write the note. Does Maxwell Schweidt have paper and a pencil in here?" She began searching through the dresser drawers, but then she stopped. All of a sudden she looked up at the vanity mirror where the taunting message to Frank had been written by the thief. "Hey, I thought you said this message was written in black crayon," Nancy said, smudging a word with her finger.
"So?" Frank answered.
"It's not," Nancy said with a smile. "It's eyeliner pencil. I hate to tell you this, guys, but I think your cabin thief is a woman!"
Chapter Fifteen
E
(yeliner? The cabin thief's a woman? You're joking, right?" Joe said
Nancy said nothing. She just looked in her purse for a moment and removed an eyeliner pencil. Then she wrote, "Ha-ha, some joke" on the mirror.
Frank was angry at himself as he stared at the two messages on the glass. "She's right about the pencil. We've been complete bozos not to follow up on the women crew members!"
Joe was not as quick to admit the mistake. "But don't forget, Lillian Hallock said she saw a man," he said.
146
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"She saw someone in a white crew uniform, with dark hair and a vampire face," Frank said. "Underneath that mask there could have been a springer spaniel for all we know. Besides, maybe we've been bozos twice. Maybe it's a woman—with a male accomplice."
"Okay, okay," Joe said. "I'm a bozo. I'm going out right now to buy a red nose. Now what?"
"I hate to do this to you, Nancy," Frank said. "But this may be the break we need. Could you go on hold—give Joe and me half an hour to get back on track with this case? Then we'll meet you in A forty-three at ten o'clock, ready to clobber Connor."
"Okay," Nancy said. "I'll write the note to him, but I won't slip it under his door until you're ready."
Ten minutes later Frank and Joe were holding a printout of the female crew members who were on break when Lillian Hallock's cabin was robbed. They paced the deck while they talked.
"This list is a killer," Frank said, looking at 'the twenty names. "But fortunately you've flirted with most of these women. Any good suspects, Joe?"
"Sorry, none of them ever mentioned being the ship's thief." Joe shrugged playfully.
A Nancy Drew <§* Hardy Boys SuperMystery
As they were passing the bar at the gambling casino entrance, they heard a conversation in progress.
"Yes, sir, Rick, I just won five beans at blackjack—that's five thousand dollars!" a man with a Texas accent was saying.
Joe poked his brother. "Why doesn't he just take out an ad in the personals? 'Rich man looking for thief to steal his money.'"
Frank carefully watched the faces of the crew members, who were listening to this conversation. They seemed amused but not particularly interested.
"Rick," the Texan said, "I believe I should be going off to bed. Here's a hundred dollars. You're a good man."
Rick refused the money. "Good night, Mr. Robbins," he said with a smile, handing the money back.
Frank and Joe followed the Texan back to his cabin. They wanted to make sure he made it all right, and they wanted to talk to him.
"Mr. Robbins," Frank said outside the man's cabin, "wouldn't you sleep better if you put your money in the ship's safe?"
"No, thanks," the man said. "I can take care of myself." He put his key in his cabin door and walked inside. He closed the door, and Frank and Joe could hear the click of the lock.
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"I'm going to stick around—at least for a few minutes," Joe said. "I have the feeling it's going to be worth my time."
"Okay, but what about Nancy? She's waiting for us in A forty-three, so we can snag Connor," Frank said.
Nancy was sitting in the dark in Cabin A forty-three, the cabin they had been calling the mailbox. Footsteps passed. She had folded and unfolded and refolded her note to Connor a hundred times. She opened it and read it again.
"I have your disks. If you want your money, you know what cabin to look in."
It was unsigned, of course.
Finally a key scraped in the lock, and Frank Hardy appeared in the doorway. He had gotten rid of his gorilla costume and was again wearing his ship's uniform. Nancy, too, had changed back to street clothes.
He flipped a light on with his elbow as he came in, carrying a t
ray of food and coffee, a deck of cards, and a book of crossword puzzles, which he set on the dresser.
"It could be a long night," he said. "Although I doubt if we'll get bored enough to need these." He smiled as he tossed the book of crossword puzzles into Nancy's lap.
A Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys SuperMystery
"Probably not," Nancy agreed. "Well, I'm off." Now that Frank was back, she was anxious to slip the note under Connor's door.
Frank was sitting on the floor, watching the door, when Nancy got back. The room was almost completely dark, except for one small night-light.
"Now we wait," he said, munching a ham sandwich. "Want one?"
"No, thanks," said Nancy, watching him eat the sandwich. "Well, okay, maybe a bite." Frank leaned over and offered her some.
"Thanks," said Nancy, gulping the food down. His brown eyes were so warm, so friendly, Nancy couldn't help smiling at him. Frank's girlfriend, Callie, really was a lucky girl.
"You know, Nancy," he started to say. "Sometimes I wonder—"
But he stopped and held his breath. Someone was at the door—the knob turned, and the door swung open slowly.
"Am I late?" asked Joe Hardy, walking in.
"Right on time," Frank said with a relieved laugh. "Why are you back so soon? You were gone only ten minutes."
"Well, the Texan is snoring peacefully, and no one came by. I decided I'd be wasting my time there. And I knew you'd be lonely without me," he said.
An hour passed. The food disappeared, the
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coffee got cold, and the crossword puzzles got too hard.
Then, at about one a.m., the rattle of metal against metal made Frank, Nancy, and Joe jump up. It didn't sound like a key, but whatever it was, it was doing the job of opening the lock. Frank and Joe moved closer to the door. It swung open, and there was Connor.
He looked in, and for one instant his eyes registered surprise. Then he realized he had been trapped, and he took off, running.
But Frank and Joe were already airborne. Frank caught him by the shoulders, and Joe tackled him at the legs. The three of them collapsed in the hallway, a struggling mass of arms and legs.
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