Vanished

“But what—? ” Nancy began.

“He didn’t say, ” her father answered. “But I think we’d better get dressed in a hurry. He’s on his way over.”

They were just finishing a hasty breakfast ordered from room service when a pounding on the door announced that they had a visitor. Carson Drew admitted Sheriff Boyd.

Anger blazed from his dark eyes. He glared first at Carson Drew, then turned to Nancy. “Where is it? ” he demanded.

Nancy winced with guilt, her mind filled with images of the medallion.

“Just what is it you’re looking for, Sheriff Boyd? ” Mr. Drew asked, his voice calm.

“The boat, of course! ” Sheriff Boyd snapped. “It’s gone. I drove out there this morning and there’s not a sign of it.”

“Sheriff Boyd, I can assure you that the boat was still tied up at the dock when Nancy and I left, ” Mr. Drew began. “I locked it up as you requested.”

The dark eyes probed him, then turned back to Nancy. “Is that your story, too? ” he asked.

“That’s the truth, Sheriff, ” Nancy answered, her cheeks glowing pink at the implication of his question.

“You were the last ones on board, ” Sheriff Boyd growled.

“Which is an excellent reason why we wouldn’t take it, ” Mr. Drew stated. “Since you knew we were there, it would be foolish for us to steal the boat, wouldn’t it? ”

Sheriff Boyd stood glowering for a moment, then seemed to wilt.

“Who else knew that it was out there, Sheriff? ” Nancy asked.

“I expect half the population of Palm Cove knew, ” he admitted with a sigh. “We don’t have many secrets in a town that size.”

“Could it be someone from the town? ” Carson Drew asked.

“I don’t think so, ” Sheriff Boyd answered. “They wouldn’t be able to use it or sell it without someone finding out, and they’d know I’d be after them if I did find out.”

“Perhaps the DeFoes returned for it, ” Nancy suggested hopefully.

“Not likely, ” the sheriff answered. “I found out that they run a place called the Sweet Springs Resort, and I’ve been trying to reach someone there all night without any luck. I’m beginning to think there might be trouble out there and the boat here was just someone’s effort to escape.”

Nancy swallowed hard, meeting her father’s gaze fearfully.

“We’ve been worried about that, too, Sheriff, ” Mr. Drew began, then told him the whole story of the prize and the fact that Bess and George hadn’t called them. The sheriff s expression grew stormy.

“Why didn’t you tell me all this before? ” he demanded. “I thought you said you didn’t know anything about these people.”

“We didn’t, ” Nancy answered. “The prize offer didn’t carry the owners’ names and I didn’t tell my father the name of the island, so he had no way of knowing it was the same place. You were gone before he told me.”

“You could have left word at the office.” The sheriff looked very suspicious.

Nancy looked at her father, wondering if he was going to mention the medallion. She felt that they should, but the sheriff s suspicious attitude made her sure that it would cause trouble not only for them, but for Mr. Yates, too.

“We were anxious to get back to the hotel to call the girls, ” Mr. Drew replied. “I thought they would be able to give us valuable information about the DeFoes and the resort. I planned to call you as soon as I talked to them.”

“Sure you did.” Sheriff Boyd sneered.

“I assure you, Sheriff, I had no intention of keeping information from you, ” Carson Drew continued. “I’ve been trying to reach Anchor Island, too. We’re very worried about those two young ladies.”

“I’m more concerned about what happened to the boat, ” the sheriff snapped. “I want you to come to my office and make a statement about where you went after you left it yesterday.” “Really, Sheriff, ” Carson Drew began, a touch of anger showing in his voice.

“A full statement of your movements, ” the sheriff growled. “And I want it before noon.” The sheriff left before they could offer any further argument. Nancy sighed. “What are we going to do, Dad? ” she asked. “About the medallion, I mean.”

Her father gave her a wry grin. “I guess we should have told him sooner, ” he observed. “If we mention it now, he’s going to have us both arrested, and we can’t help George and Bess from a Florida jail.”

“But we didn’t do anything wrong, ” Nancy protested.

“I don’t think Sheriff Boyd is in any mood to listen to logical explanations, ” her father said.

“But we’ll have to tell the sheriff we saw Mr. Yates, ” Nancy began.

“I’ll call him and ask him not to mention the medallion. He’s simply an old friend who joined us for dinner last night.”

“Meantime, we ought to call Nassau and see if we can get a search started, ” Nancy said. “If we can convince Sheriff Boyd that we had nothing to do with the disappearance of the boat, we should go to Anchor Island ourselves and find out what is going on.”

“The sooner the better, ” her father agreed.

The phone interrupted him. She answered it immediately.

“Miss Drew, ” the operator said, “I have your call from Anchor Island.”

“Oh, at last! ” Nancy was overjoyed.

“Go ahead, please.”

“Sweet Springs Resort, ” a male voice announced.

“Hello, ” Nancy said. “May I speak to George Fayne or Bess Marvin please? ”

“What? ” The voice was not friendly.

“I would like to speak to one of your guests, ” Nancy began again. “Miss George Fayne or Miss Bess Marvin. They would have checked in yesterday.”

“There’s no one here by those names.”

“But they had reservations.”

Her father touched her arm to get her attention. “In your name, honey, ” he whispered.

“The reservations were in the name of Nancy Drew, ” Nancy went on.

“You must have the wrong resort, ma’am, ” the bland voice went on.

“Is there someone else there I could speak with? ” Nancy asked desperately. “Someone in the reservations department or something? ” “There’s no one at all here for you to talk to, ” the voice stated. “Fact is, the resort is closed. I’m the caretaker.”

“But—” Nancy began, then stopped as the line went dead.