Carolyn Keene - Greek Odyssey

“A diamond necklace!” Bess remarked as a glittering necklace spilled out of one envelope.

“We’ve come across a lot of cash, too,” George added. “It’s hard to believe that a thief would leave all this behind.”

Good point, Nancy thought, checking the area around the safe. A shelf of ledgers seemed undisturbed, as did the wooden file cabinet beside the safe. It looked as if whoever had opened the safe and stolen Bess’s passport knew exactly where to look for it. And it wouldn’t be hard for a staff member to watch Zoe or her father open the safe and remember the combination.

“Who uses this room?” Nancy asked Zoe.

“My father uses it as an office. And sometimes the desk clerks and the cleaning staff come in here,” Zoe explained. “They need extra keys from the board when there aren’t enough master keys to go around.”

Nancy immediately thought of Niki Christofouros. Since she was one of the hotel’s maids, no one would question her appearance in the office. And the girls had caught her going through Bess’s luggage. What if Niki had been trying to steal Bess’s passport? Once she saw that it wasn’t in the room, maybe she had looked in the hotel safe. The question was, why would she do such a thing?

Nancy decided not to say anything about Niki for the moment. She didn’t want to implicate the girl without solid evidence, since Niki could lose her job over this. Just to be safe, though, Nancy suggested that Zoe question the entire hotel staff. In the meantime, Nancy would do some of her own checking on Niki.

“Oh, no! Not another one,” Bess groaned a few minutes later. She held up an envelope marked Leo Nelson. “His passport is missing, too,” she told Zoe.

George was frowning into another envelope. “Make that three missing passports,” she said. “Joseph Seidel’s isn’t in his envelope.”

Zoe circled the two names on her inventory sheet. “Two American men—and Bess,” she said wearily.

Luckily, the remaining envelopes contained everything they were supposed to. When the girls were finished, Zoe pushed away the list and leaned back in the desk chair. “So three passports were stolen in all. I can’t believe this is happening. It’s not good for the hotel. If word gets out, we’ll lose customers.”

“Not to mention the fact that three passports are now in the hands of strangers,” George said.

Bess drew her breath in sharply. “I don’t like the idea of someone using my passport illegally,” she said in a shaky voice.

“You’ll need to get a new one,” George advised her.

Leaning over, Zoe squeezed Bess’s hand. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “The police will know the best way to report it to your embassy.”

Just then a tall, husky man with salt-and-pepper hair walked into the room. He assessed the scene, a bewildered expression on his face, then addressed Zoe in rapid-fire Greek. She answered, nodding at Nancy, Bess, and George as she talked.

“This is my father, Kostas Kavalis,” Zoe said, introducing the man to Nancy, Bess, and George.

Mr. Kavalis gave each of the girls a hearty handshake. “I’m very sorry about your passport, Bess. I will report it to the police immediately.” He glanced back at Zoe’s list and frowned. “I must notify those two American men, too.”

Shaking his head, Zoe’s father went into the front office to call the police.

Nancy sat down on the edge of the desk and mulled over the situation. Three passports had been taken, but dozens of others had been left behind. The thief hadn’t touched any of the cash or jewels, either. It didn’t make sense.

“What are you thinking, Nan?” George asked.

“Just that the thief seemed to know exactly what he or she was looking for and where to find it. I hope the police can tell us why someone would take three passports and leave everything else.”

“I hope so, too,” Zoe said. “This is very upsetting.”

Nancy turned to Zoe. “Please don’t be insulted, Zoe, but under the circumstances, I’d feel a lot better if George and I could keep our passports and traveler’s checks with us.”

“Of course,” Zoe said. “I understand perfectly.” She went through the envelopes and handed Nancy and George theirs.

When an officer finally arrived, Nancy’s questions had to wait until a barrage of Greek questions and answers had flown among Zoe, her father, and the policeman. Zoe introduced the uniformed man as Officer Rossolatos.

At last Officer Rossolatos turned to Bess. He was a heavyset, gray-haired man with a wide, curled mustache. In heavily accented English, he instructed her to report her stolen passport to the U.S. Embassy in Athens. “If you tell them your passport number, there will be no problem to replace it,” he said.

“My passport number!” Bess repeated worriedly. “I was supposed to write it down. I knew there was something I forgot to do before we left River Heights.”

“Why don’t you call the embassy now?” Mr. Kavalis offered. “I will help you.” He grabbed the carton of guests’ valuables. “And these I will put in the safe in our apartment,” he added gravely, “where no one else can get to them.”

Nancy knew this was her chance to question the officer. “Excuse me, but don’t you think it’s odd that the thief left with only three passports?” she asked him.

Officer Rossolatos seemed surprised by Nancy’s question, until Zoe explained that Nancy was a detective in the United States. “A detective, on our island—we are honored,” he said, bowing graciously. He went on to explain, “In the criminal world American passports are prized because they allow access to the United States. They also allow easier passage through Europe.”

“So you think Bess’s passport will be used by a stranger?” George asked, coming over to stand next to Nancy.

“It is very likely,” Officer Rossolatos answered. “They will change the photo, of course. Sometimes they take the booklet apart and replace the entire photo page, inserting a new name and address, too. There are many ways to forge a passport.”

Forgery! Nancy’s mind reeled at the prospect of Bess’s passport in the hands of criminals. What if a crime was committed by someone using Bess’s identity? Bess could be in serious trouble. Nancy didn’t have much to go on, but she decided to watch out for any clues that might lead her to the trail of the missing passports.

By the time Bess made her call and the police report was complete, it was too late to make another trip back into Chora. The girls decided to take it easy and have a late dinner in the hotel’s taverna. Nancy went to get Mick in his room, and soon the teenagers were sitting at a table on a terrace that overlooked the Aegean Sea.

“We just got here, and already you girls are involved in a mystery,” Mick said after the girls told him about the passport theft.

“It is a mystery,” Zoe added. “I spoke to the hotel staff, and no one has any clue as to who might have broken into the safe.”

Nancy finished buttering a roll, then turned to Zoe. “Did anyone seem upset by your questions?”

“Not really,” Zoe replied. “But one of the maids, Niki Christofouros, seemed nervous when I mentioned Bess’s name.”

Bess exchanged a curious look with Nancy. “We’ve met Niki,” Nancy said, without mentioning how. She didn’t want to get the maid into trouble unless she had more to go on.

“I’m beginning to feel like one of those people in Casablanca who can’t escape until their papers come,” Bess said, stabbing a tomato in her Greek salad. “I must have tried to reach the embassy a dozen times, but I couldn’t get through to them.”

“Our phone system is unreliable,” Zoe told her, “especially during the busy summer season. You’ll get through eventually.”