Mystery Boat

Bess and George were delighted with Carson Drew’s suggestion. After a series of phone calls and a busy planning session, the three girls split up to make their preparations for the next day’s early flight. Hannah came up to help Nancy with her packing.

“Is something wrong, Nancy? ” she asked as she folded an array of summer clothes.

“I just keep wondering why my name was chosen for the holiday, ” she admitted. “I know it wasn’t a contest and I don’t think it was advertising, so why? ”

“People have heard of you, ” Hannah reminded her. “It’s like that file on the boat that your father told you about. Maybe the people at the resort just wanted to meet you and thought that this was a good way to extend an invitation.”

Nancy smiled. “Won’t they be surprised when they meet Bess and George instead? ” “Perhaps you and your father will be able to solve the mystery in Florida very quickly, ” Hannah said. “Then you can ask the owners of the resort for an explanation.”

“I certainly intend to do that, ” Nancy stated firmly as she added a beach cover-up and thongs to the pile of things to be packed.

The flight to Miami proved smooth and uneventful, though Nancy felt a pang of regret as she bid George and Bess farewell. “Now you call us at the hotel after you reach the resort, ” she told them, giving George the number her father had provided the day before.

“just get the mystery here solved quickly, so you can join us, ” Bess said. “It really won’t be the same without you, you know.” Her pretty face showed her apprehension.

Nancy laughed fondly. “You can still stroll on the moonlit beach and swim in that lovely water, ” she reminded her.

Carson Drew and Nancy watched till the flight for Nassau took off. Then he took her arm.

“I guess we’d better be on our way, Nancy, ” he said, his pleasant expression changing to one of concern. “The sheriff is an impatient and unreasonable man, and he is most anxious to have you examine this boat.”

“Is there more to this than you’ve told me, Dad? ” Nancy asked, her own mystery forgotten now. “You seem troubled.”

“I just don’t like being suspected of something, ” her father replied. “The sheriff hasn’t been able to find out anything about the boat, and he seems to think that I’m hiding something from him.”

“Well, maybe we can find a clue today, ” Nancy consoled him. “Something the sheriff has missed. Where exactly did they find the boat? ”

“It was located by a couple of young boys fishing along a deserted inlet, ” her father explained as they got into the rental car. “It’s a big powerboat, the kind that does quite well on the ocean traveling between islands. That’s why the sheriff is having so much difficulty finding the owners Many of the people on the islands seem to have similar boats, and with all the identification removed, he’s having to wade through all the missing-boat reports from the United States and various island groups.”

“You mean it could have come here from somewhere else? ” Nancy asked.

Her father nodded. “From a Caribbean Island or from the Bahamas—or from anywhere in this area.”

“Where are we going now? ” Nancy inquired, enjoying the passing scene.

“I thought we’d drop your luggage off at the hotel, then drive up to Palm Cove. That’s the town closest to the inlet. We went in by helicopter yesterday, so the sheriff said he’d leave a map with his deputy and meet us on the boat. How does that sound? ”

“Lovely, ” Nancy answered. “How far is it? ” “Should be about an hour’s drive to Palm Cove. Beyond that, I’m not sure.”

Since most of the highway took them along the coast, the drive proved to be very beautiful, giving views of the beaches and the water as it washed sand or rocks. June had brought to the area a richness of flowers and thick-growing plants that made it a tropical paradise quite different from River Heights.

It was nearing noon by the time they reached Palm Cove, so they stopped for lunch at an old- fashioned seafood restaurant before going to the sheriff s office.

“Doesn’t look like a very lively town, does it, ” Carson Drew observed as they watched three sleepy-looking dogs make their way across the nearly deserted main street.

Nancy giggled. “I’m sure any strangers would be noticed.” They ordered their food, then looked out over the little cove that had given the town its name.

Nancy’s observation proved quite correct, for a uniformed young man came up to their table before they’d finished their meal. “Mr. Carson Drew? ” he asked politely.

Mr. Drew nodded. “May I help you? ”

“The sheriff asked me to give this to you, ” the deputy said. “I saw you drive up over here, so I thought I’d save you the trip to the office.” His admiring gaze touched Nancy, then dropped. “The sheriff is anxious to have your daughter look at the boat.”

“Has there been any progress in locating the owners? ” Mr. Drew asked, inviting the young man to join them.

“You’ll have to ask Sheriff Boyd about that* sir, ” the deputy replied, then began to explain the rough map he’d brought. Nancy and her father finished eating while he spoke, then they all left.

Though the last few miles of the trip were made over back roads that were still rutted from the spring rains, Nancy and her father had no difficulty following the map to the tree-draped inlet. Once there, they found the sheriff s dusty cruiser parked beside an age-grayed, half-rotted dock. The boat had been neatly tied to the strongest of the dock posts.

Sheriff Boyd, a beefy man in his forties with dark brown hair and angry brown eyes, came out on the deck as soon as he heard their car. “It’s about time you got here, ” he greeted them, his expression reflecting his frustration. “Do you recognize the boat, girl? ”

Nancy looked at her father but could read nothing in his handsome face, so she joined him as they walked out on the dock and stepped aboard. The boat deck showed excellent care, but it was already spotted with fallen leaves from the trees that sheltered it.

“Well? ” the sheriff prompted after Carson introduced Nancy.

“I’ve never seen this boat, Sheriff, ” Nancy stated firmly.

“Nor have I, ” Carson Drew echoed her. “As I told you yesterday.”

The sheriff s frown deepened as he led them into the cabin that opened off the deck. “Then how do you explain this? ” he asked, handing Nancy a manila folder.

She opened it. There were a half-dozen clippings in a variety of newsprints, indicating that they had come from at least two or possibly three different newspapers. They covered cases from the past year and were all glowing reports of Nancy’s exploits as a detective.

“Anything occur to you, Nancy? ” her father asked as he scanned the reports.

Nancy shook her head. “I don’t see any connection between the cases, ” she answered. “And they are all from different areas, so it can’t have anything to do with this or any other particular location.”

“But they were found on this boat, ” Sheriff Boyd protested.

Nancy handed the file back to the sheriff. “The people who own it must have been interested in my father’s career or mine, but that doesn’t mean that we know them. These could have been clipped from any newspapers that carried the stories. Unless they contacted us about something...” She let it trail off.

Sheriff Boyd sighed. “That’s exactly what your father said, ” he admitted.

“You’ve learned nothing more about the boat? ” Carson Drew asked.

“We do have a tentative name, ” the sheriff answered. “I traced one of the appliances in the galley to a Miami store. The names of the purchasers were Jeff and Lena DeFoe. Do those names mean anything to you? ”

“DeFoe? ” Carson’s eyes sought Nancy’s.

She concentrated, then shook her head. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard the name, ” she said. “Is it someone from one of your cases, Dad? ” “Not that I recall, ” he answered. “I’m sorry, Sheriff Boyd. It just doesn’t mean a thing to me. Is there anything else? ”

Sheriff Boyd shook his head. “Not so far. However, I’d appreciate it if you’d look around the boat now that we’ve finished fingerprinting. I’ll go check with my deputy and see if he’s gotten any further information.”

Nancy waited until the sheriff was off the boat, then turned to her father. “What do you think, Dad? ” she asked.

“Let’s see if the sheriff missed anything, ” he suggested. “Where do you want to start? ”

“In here, I guess.” Nancy went to the enclosed shelves to look at the small collection of dishes stored there.

“Mr. Drew.” Sheriff Boyd’s call summoned her father out on deck while Nancy continued to open drawers and look into cubbyholes around the cabin. She was just about to go down into the lower cabins when her father returned.

“Did he have any more information? ” she asked, noting her father’s strange expression.

“His deputy just radioed the news that Jeff and Lena DeFoe are owners of a resort in the Bahamas. They don’t have the name of it yet, but it’s located on Anchor Island.”

Nancy gasped. “But that’s where Sweet Springs Resort is located. Didn’t I tell you that? ”

He shook his head.

“Oh, Dad, Bess and George are on their way there now, ” Nancy groaned. “What do you suppose is going on? ”