Carolyn Keene - Hit and Run Holiday

Nancy was wearing a caftan too, but it didn’t have a hood. She’d wrapped her hair in a bright paisley scarf, like a turban, and put on so much makeup that her face itched and her eyelids felt weighted down. She knew she and her friends looked completely different, but she also knew they had to be careful. “You’re right,” she said to George, “we’d better split up. As soon as the Rosita gets going, we can meet somewhere—how about the bow?—and start looking for Kim and Maria.”

The minute the three friends parted, Nancy felt a hand on her arm. “Hey,” a voice said in her ear, “want some company?”

Nancy turned and found herself looking into the brown eyes of a boy wearing a fish-net shirt, a gold neck chain, and a self-satisfied grin that didn’t attract her at all, but she smiled at him anyway. “I sure do,” she said softly. “I don’t know anybody at all, and I was starting to feel a little lonely.”

“Well, now you don’t have to, because you know me. And I have a feeling that before the night’s over, we’ll be real close friends.” He squeezed her hand and grinned again.

Nancy forced herself to laugh, and as they walked up the gangplank she glanced over her shoulder. George, tall and mysterious-looking in her hooded caftan, was in deep conversation with two guys, and Bess had attached herself to a group of giggling, dateless girls. She must be miserable, Nancy thought, smiling to herself.

“Welcome!” a sultry voice called out. “Welcome aboard the Rosita !”

It was Lila Templeton, dressed in a long robe of shimmering sea green silk that opened in the front to reveal an extremely small bikini. Her honey blond hair spilled over her bare shoulders like a lion’s mane, and she was flashing her toothpaste-ad smile to everyone coming up the gangplank. “If there’s anything my boys or I can do for you, just let us know,” she called out, “because we want each and every one of you to have the most fantastic night of your lives!”

Each and every one of us except two, Nancy said to herself, thinking of Kim and Maria. Turning to her “date,” she flashed a smile of her own, ducking her head and pretending to be fascinated with whatever he was babbling about. That got her safely past Lila, but she knew she’d still have to be careful of Lila’s “boys,” who were patrolling the deck like sentries.

Fortunately, the party to nowhere was booked solid, and Nancy soon found herself on the jam-packed deck, trying to dance and make conversation with her new friend, whose name she still didn’t know. She was hot and sweaty, and she’d lost sight of Bess and George, but at least she was inconspicuous.

At eight o’clock, a cheer went up as the Rosita pulled smoothly away from the dock. In twenty minutes, they’d left the lights of Fort Lauderdale behind and were moving swiftly through the water under a starlit sky. Nancy decided she’d better start exploring. It wouldn’t take long to reach the island, and she knew she had to find Kim and Maria before then, or it might be too late.

“Listen,” she said when there was a break in the music, “I’m going to collapse if I don’t get some breathing space. I think I’ll just wander around a little bit, okay?”

“Aww, come on,” her date said, “the party’s just getting started.“.Grabbing her hand, he pulled Nancy close to him as a slow number began playing. “I thought you and I were going to spend the whole night together,” he whispered in her ear.

“You thought wrong,” Nancy whispered back. She slipped down out of the circle of his arms and turned him around until he was facing another girl. “Sorry, but I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding a partner.”

Obviously not heartbroken, the boy immediately asked the other girl if she wanted to dance, and Nancy left them together, threading her way quickly through the crowd until she reached the deck rail. Then she craned her neck around, trying to find Bess and George.

She spotted George standing near the entrance to the galley, which was roped off, sipping a can of soda and watching the dancers. Bess was still attached to the group of unattached girls, tapping her foot to the music and looking frustrated. Lila was nowhere to be seen, but her boys were all over the place, carrying trays of drinks, mingling with the crowd, and keeping their eyes wide open, Nancy noticed.

Casually Nancy raised her hands above her head, as if she were stretching. Bess and George both caught the movement, and just as casually, started making their way toward the Rosita ’s bow. Nancy lowered her hands, pretending to be adjusting her turban, but instead of the silk of the scarf, her hands came down on her hair.

What had happened to her scarf? Nancy’s reddish blond hair was as big a clue to her identity as a fabulous figure was to Bess’s. With her telltale hair swirling around her shoulders and her thick makeup dissolving in sweat, Nancy knew she’d be recognized by anyone who’d spent even five minutes with her. And that includes Lila, Dirk, and at least two more of Lila’s boys, she thought frantically.

Nancy realized it was too late to go searching for her scarf. It must have come loose when she broke free from her date’s arms, and had probably already been trampled by at least eighty feet. She grabbed her hair in both hands and swept it back, tying it in a loose knot that she knew wouldn’t hold for long, but it was the best she could do. Hoping to get lost in the crowd, she moved into the mass of dancing bodies, and that’s when she saw Lila’s “maintenance” man.

He was heading straight toward Nancy, one hand in his pocket and both eyes on her face.

Whirling around, Nancy grabbed the hands of the nearest boy, not caring if he was with anyone else or not, and started dancing with him. When she sensed that the maintenance man was drawing close to her, she spun around again so that her back was to him. By that time, she’d lost her dance partner, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that the maintenance man had recognized her. She was sure of it. Just keep dancing, she told herself; at least it’s rock and you can move fast.

With a few quick dance steps, Nancy reached the other side of the Rosita . Only then did she dare look back. She expected to spot the maintenance man somewhere in the crowd, but she found that was impossible. There were too many people bouncing, clapping, and swirling around the deck.

Nancy took a deep breath, tightened the knot in her hair, and headed toward the bow. The water was becoming rougher, and she clung to the rail, bumping into a few romantic couples on the way, but finally she reached the bow.

The deck was narrow there, and in spite of the lights on the rail, it was dark. Nancy stepped into the shadows, expecting to find Bess and George waiting for her.

No one was there. Nancy edged her way around the bow, toward the other side of the boat, but before she reached it, a voice—throaty and sultry—called out, “Looking for someone, Miss Drew?”

Chapter Thirteen

Turning slowly, Nancy found herself face-to-face with Lila Templeton, her silk robe billowing gently in the breeze, her green eyes glittering as brightly as the barrel of the gun she held in her hand.

“I said,” Lila repeated, “are you looking for someone?”

Nancy didn’t bother to answer. “I have a question too,” she said, keeping her eyes on the gun. “Is that the same gun that killed Ricardo?”

Lila laughed softly. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I suggest that you be careful, or it just might kill you . I also suggest that you be cooperative,” she went on. “I want you to turn around and walk slowly and calmly back to the main deck.”