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An Unexplained Break-in






 

“Dad, ” she called softly, suddenly aware that she might not be alone in the dim room.

“Find something, Nancy? ” her father asked, coming to lean on the desk.

She pointed to the safe, not speaking. He looked at it for a moment, then went to check the main door of the office, which was securely locked. Nancy looked in the small lavatory and the closet that opened off the office, then made a more thorough search of the lobby and dining room before going on to the kitchen.

“What took you so long? ” George asked. “Penny and I have breakfast almost under control.”

“Is everything all right out here? ” Nancy asked, indicating with her glance that she was talking about the necklace in the freezer.

George caught the warning in Nancy’s gaze. “Everything is fine, why? ”

“The safe is open and the desk has been searched, ” Nancy answered, her gaze on Penny, hoping that the girl wouldn’t give away the hiding place they’d chosen for the golden medallion. “We don’t know if the people are still in the building or not, ” she declared.

“But how could anyone get in? ” Penny asked. “The back door was securely locked and so was the front. I checked them this morning.” “Dad is trying to find out now, ” Nancy answered. “The doors lock with keys, don’t they? I mean, you can’t just push a button to lock them from the inside.”

Penny patted her shorts pocket. “I’ve got the resort set right here.”

“How did you get in when you got here? ” George asked.

Penny looked startled for a moment, then shook her head. “I was so upset, I didn’t even think about it, ” she began. “It was unlocked. The keys were hanging on the nail over there.” She indicated the small key board which held several other keys with tags saying that they unlocked the generator building and the cabins that were scattered in the trees and bushes.

“You mean your grandparents just went off and left the place unlocked? ” Nancy asked.

“Well, at the time I just thought maybe they had gone out fishing. With no one else on the island, locking up doesn’t seem too important.”

“But if the doors were locked last night and neither one was forced, how did anyone open the safe? ” George asked.

“They forced it, ” Carson Drew answered from the doorway. “As Penny said, it wasn’t too difficult, though I’m surprised they were able to do it without waking any of us. They must have had keys. The windows and glass doors are all still locked and there’s no sign of anyone having forced the door locks that I can see.” He moved to inspect the outside of the kitchen door.

“But how could they have keys? ” George asked.

“Who does have keys to this building, Penny? ” Nancy asked. “Besides your grandparents, I mean.”

Penny shrugged. “I have no idea, ” she admitted. “I suppose some of the staff have their own keys, but I wouldn’t know which ones.”

Nancy sighed. “Well, let’s get breakfast. Then we can go out and search the village.” “And find Bess, ” George agreed.

“Is everything else all right? ” Carson Drew asked.

“There are plenty of good things in the freezer, Mr. Drew, ” George answered with a wink. “I checked that first thing.”

Mr. Drew nodded. “That’s very important since we have no idea how long we’ll have to stay here. Now, I’ll go see if I can get the electricity hooked up again before everything in there thaws out.”

“Does anyone else on the island have a radio that they might have left here? ” Nancy asked after her father left. “We really should make some kind of contact with the outside world.” “We can check today, ” Penny answered, then smiled at them. “I hope everyone likes the blueberry pancakes and ham.”

“Sounds heavenly, ” Nancy replied, “but I do wonder what Bess has been eating.”

“Don’t we all, ” George agreed.

The lights came on just as they began dishing out the food, but worry about Bess clouded their enjoyment of the meal and Carson’s success with the generator. They hurried through the cleanup, anxious to be on their way to search the village as well as the land between the resort and the small settlement.

“So how do you want to organize this search? ” Penny asked when they stepped outside into the warm sunlit morning.

“How much land is there to search? ” Nancy asked.

“You can see most of it from the road, ” Penny replied, pointing to the dirt pathway that led from the rear of the resort building along a palm-lined ridge of land. “That’s the highest point of the island. It’s like a spine that runs the whole length from the resort on this end to a sort of valley where the village is built.”

“Then we could see anyone on either side of the narrow part? ” Mr. Drew asked.

“I think so, ” Penny answered. “I used to hike along the shore on either side, but it’s very rocky and hard going.”

“Perhaps we should search this area again before we go, ” Carson Drew suggested, gesturing toward the paths that radiated from the main building. “Someone could be using the keys to stay in the cabins, couldn’t they? ”

They all agreed, and so began their search with the cabins. They found them charming, each one tucked into its own bower of hibiscus and well shaded by palms and other tropical growth. They were, however, all disappointingly empty, the debris of fallen blossoms and leaves that coated their small porches making it clear that no one had entered or left recently.

Nancy cast a longing glance at the beach and the deserted dock with the two small boats tied to it. She remembered how excited she’d been when they’d arrived in the seaplane and when she had actually seen George coming down to meet them. If only Bess had been with her.

“You walk on one side, and I’ll walk on the other, George, ” Nancy suggested. “That way we can keep a clear eye on the area below. If we can’t see behind trees or bushes, we can go down and check them out.”

“That sounds like a good plan, ” Penny agreed. “We’ll all watch.”

The searching made progress slow, but they were at least confident that they hadn’t overlooked anything by the time they reached the final dip in the road that led down to the small village. Nancy stopped on the hill, startled and depressed by what she was seeing.

“I know it isn’t really a village, ” Penny explained, “but I didn’t know what else to call it.” The half-dozen houses were all clustered around a small open area where a large fig tree spread its branches, shading several battered benches. Chickens wandered busily through the remains of gardens that had been planted behind some of the houses, and a large calico cat slept on the porch rail of one of the houses. “It sure looks deserted, ” George observed. They started down the hill, Nancy studying the one well-painted and maintained building in the area—the small structure that served what appeared to be a public dock. “Do you have keys to the houses, Penny? ” Nancy asked.

“I doubt we’ll need them, ” Penny said. “Most people don’t bother to lock up here.”

As they reached the small valley, the four of them fanned out, each heading for a different house, eager to find Bess or some sign of the person who’d opened the safe at the resort. Their hopes were quickly dashed, however.

Though the houses varied slightly in size, they were basically the same in layout—two bedrooms in the rear, a large main room across the front, and a screened porch beyond that. The furnishings were old and worn but comfortable-looking, and there were plenty of things left behind to show that the tenants planned to return. All that was missing was any sign at all of recent occupants.

“I don’t think Bess was ever here, ” George said as she stepped out of the final house. “There’s just no sign of her or anyone else.” “But if she’s not here, where can she be? ” Nancy asked, looking around.

“And where is our thief from last night? ” Penny asked, frowning just as the others were.

“Is there any place else on the island where they could hide? ” Carson Drew asked.

Penny considered, then shook her head. “There’s just the resort and the village.”

“But where...” George began, then stopped as she saw that Nancy’s gaze had gone from her to the public dock and the small building situated there.

“I don’t think anyone...” Penny started to say as she led them up the steps to the concrete slab that formed the inland end of the dock.

Nancy hurried after her, rounding the comer of the building at a trot, then stopped, her heart sinking once again. What had appeared to be a building from the island was little more than a three-sided shed with the open side facing the sea. There were protective doors and shutters, but they stood open to the warm breeze. The interior was a shadowed muddle of boxes and crates, cupboards, and a long flat counter.

“This is sure a mess, ” George observed as she peered into the interior.

“Always, ” Penny agreed. “Everybody uses it as extra storage in the summer. In the winter Old Joe runs the dock and he keeps things pretty tidy.”

“It doesn’t look like Bess or the others were here, ” Nancy said, wiping off her hand after having rested it on the counter.

“Someone was, ” Penny observed, her tone changing as she moved around the comer and made her way to the pigeonholes in the rear of the shed. She reached up and took a piece of white paper out of one and carried it back out into the sunlight, frowning.

“What is it? ” Nancy asked.

“It’s a bill from the grocery supplier that my grandparents use, ” Penny answered. “A list of supplies that were left here yesterday by the

inter-island ferry.” Penny handed the bill to Nancy and her father. “Supplies that we certainly didn’t get.”

Nancy scanned the list and felt a chill. “That’s enough food to feed a half-dozen people, ” she gasped.

George looked around nervously. “So where is it? ” she asked.

 






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