All of a sudden, the door clicked open, revealing a startled elderly man.
“How did you two get in here?” he demanded.
“We were just looking around, and the door shut on us,” George said.
“It must have been a draft,” Nancy said. “Sorry. We’re going to miss our ship if we don’t hurry.”
“There’s no draft in here!” the man shouted at them as Nancy and George raced toward the front entrance to the store. “This building is as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar!”
In the distance they heard the ship’s horn sounding.
“Oh, George!” Nancy shouted. “It’s leaving!”
George picked up her speed, leaving Nancy a few paces behind. “I’ll stop it!” she shouted.
They finally had the ship in sight, but the gangway was being pulled up.
“Stop! Stop!” George screamed. Both she and Nancy started waving their hands.
At last one of the crewmen saw them, shouted something to the men on the shore, and the gangway was lowered back to the ground.
Nancy and George reached the gangway, raced onto the ship, and fell against one of the railings.
“You’re lucky one of the crew saw you.”
Nancy managed to look up, in between gasps for air. The captain was giving them both a stern look.
“We got locked in a room in the basement of one of the shops,” George told him. “We didn’t do this on purpose.”
“Well, try not to cut it so close next time,” the captain said. “We have a schedule to keep.”
With that, he and one of his officers resumed their conversation.
Nancy was slowly getting her breath back. She looked over at George, who didn’t seem to have been fazed at all by the run to the ship.
“Come on, George. I’m worried about Bess,” Nancy said. “We need to go check on her.”
“Why are you worried about her?” George said as they hurried toward the clinic.
“Getting locked inside that room was no accident,” Nancy explained. “Someone did that to us deliberately.”
When the girls reached the clinic, they discovered that Bess had been discharged a short time before and had gone back to their suite.
“She’s managing quite well on her crutches,” the nurse told them. “In fact, she probably won’t even need them in a few days.”
Nancy and George raced back toward the elevator and took it to deck 5.
They found Bess propped up in her bed.
“Thank goodness!” Bess cried when she saw them. “When your cell phone didn’t answer, I thought something had happened to you. Especially after what I heard.”
“What did you hear?” Nancy asked.
“Well, the clinic released me right before the passengers started reboarding the ship,” Bess explained. “I was just about to go around a corner so I could take the elevator to our deck when I heard Craig and Amber laughing about something.” She paused. “At first it sounded sort of like a romantic thing, if you know what I mean, and I didn’t want to interrupt them. So I stopped. I thought Craig might be giving her a kiss. Instead, I heard Amber say something like, That should take care of them!’ I was hoping to hear more, but they started walking again. They came around the corner where I was standing, so I had to pretend that I was adjusting my crutches.”
“Craig and Amber?” George said. She looked over at Nancy. “Do you think they’re the ones who locked us in that room?”
Nancy told Bess what had happened. “My cell phone didn’t work because of the thick walls,” she said.
“I never trusted Craig,” Bess said. “I think he’s been treating Amber really poorly.”
“Bess, you just said that both Craig and Amber were laughing about what happened,” George said. “That means Amber knows about it and was probably in on it.”
“Well, I’m quite sure that Craig talked her into it,” Bess insisted. “I can’t imagine that Amber would think up something like that on her own.” She turned to Nancy. “Just how much do you know about him, Nancy?” she asked.
“Well, I …” Nancy paused. “I told George the whole story this morning, so I might as well tell you. Craig isn’t just a detective. He works for Interpol, and he’s trying to catch a fugitive who stole millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds from jewelry stores in Mexico and the United States. This person is trying to escape to Canada.”
Bess looked at her incredulously. “On a cruise ship?” she asked.
“It actually makes some sense, Bess,” Nancy countered. “Because, just like you, most people would find it hard to believe.”
“Did Craig show you his credentials?” Bess said.
“Of course he did,” Nancy said.
“Did you study them carefully?” Bess said.
“Yes, I… well, I looked at them,” Nancy said. She knew she was blushing. She hadn’t really examined them carefully. “But, no, I didn’t do any sort of test on them, if that’s what you mean.”
Bess just looked at her for a moment.
“Okay, so I probably let the thought of getting involved in an international mystery temporarily cloud my judgment,” Nancy admitted. “I probably wanted to believe he worked for Interpol.”
“Craig could be the fugitive himself, Nancy,” George said. “Amber could be his accomplice.”
“Or maybe Amber is his innocent victim,” Bess countered. “I just really don’t see Amber being involved in this.”
“I think you’re both wrong about Craig, but I’ll do some research,” Nancy said. “Maybe I’ll call Dad in Toronto and ask him if he can find out about any investigation of jewelry store robberies in Mexico and the United States.”
“That’s a good idea. Makes me feel better,” Bess said. “So tell me everything that you did in Alpena.”
“Maybe later? I’m all talked—er, shouted out,” George said. “I don’t feel like using my voice. Why don’t you tell us what you did?”
“Well, I designed some dresses for Laura, so they’d be ready for her to look at when she got back on the ship,” Bess said. “But I guess they released me before she could come by.”
“That’s strange,” Nancy said. “We saw Laura right before we got locked in, and she said she was on her way to see you.”
Bess shrugged. “Maybe she got involved with something else,” she said. “I’ll call her.”
“Go ahead,” Nancy said. “I want to take a shower.”
“I need to do some laps,” George said. “That’ll help me unwind.” George slipped into her swimsuit and left the suite.
Nancy undressed, put on her robe, and began brushing her hair. Bess picked up the telephone and called Laura’s room.
“Hi, Laura. It’s Bess!” Bess said. “The clinic discharged me before you got back on the ship. Did you find anything interesting in Alpena?”
Bess listened for a minute, then said, “Well, I have some designs I’d like you to look at, if you have some time. Could you come to our suite? We’re on deck 5, suite 502.” She paused for a moment, listening. “Okay. See you in half an hour.”
Just as Nancy started to go into the bathroom she noticed that Bess looked suddenly glum.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Bess said. “Laura’s voice … she just didn’t seem as interested as she was last night.” She shrugged. “Well, she’s coming—so I must be imagining things.”
“She may just be tired, Bess,” Nancy said. “She really was in a good mood when we saw her onshore, and she was looking forward to seeing your designs.”
Nancy stayed in the shower longer than she normally did because it felt so good. By the time she got out and had combed her hair and brushed her teeth, Bess was in the middle of showing Laura her dress designs.
“Hi, Laura!” Nancy said.
Laura turned and smiled, then returned to looking at Bess’s designs.
After several minutes Bess said, “Well, that’s it. That’s my collection. What do you think?”
“It’s nice. You draw well,” Laura said. “I’m just not sure anything here really appeals to me.”
Nancy saw Bess’s face drop. In fact, Nancy was a bit confused too. Laura didn’t seem as friendly as she had been before, even when Nancy and George encountered her at the shop—and she certainly was not as lively as she was at dinner.
“I have some other ideas,” Bess said. “I’ll start on them right away, then show them to you.”
Laura stood up. “Okay, if you want—but only if you feel like it. Now I’d better go. I have a million things to do!”
After Laura had left their suite, neither Nancy nor Bess said anything for a few minutes. Then Nancy climbed onto Bess’s bed and said, “Let me see your designs.”
Bess pushed them over to her without saying anything.
“Bess, these are wonderful!” Nancy said. “So professional! I really can’t believe there was nothing here that Laura liked.”
“They were all designed with her personality in mind,” Bess said. She paused for a minute. “It’s almost as if—well… as if that woman weren’t Laura.”
Nancy stopped looking at the designs and looked at Bess. “What do you mean? Of course that was Laura. But maybe she was just tired, like I thought.” When Bess didn’t say anything, Nancy said, “What makes you think she’s like a different woman, aside from the mood shift?”
“Well, for one thing, she wasn’t wearing the gold necklace that she said she’d never take off,” Bess said. “And another thing: Her fingernail polish didn’t match the outfit she was wearing.”
Nancy was amazed at Bess’s observations. She hadn’t noticed these things at all.
Suddenly, Nancy wondered if perhaps Bess might be right. Could the person who just left their room be an impostor?