(#60) The Greek Symbol Mystery (13 page)

He furrowed his eyebrows in bewilderment.

“They thought Nancy was part of your gang,” George explained.

“How terrible!” he said. “That was not my intention at all.”

“What was the purpose of stamping that symbol on the mask and the bracelet?” Nancy pressed on.

“It was a way to identify and separate the real artifacts from the fake ones which were being shipped to America as exhibits. I’m surprised you noticed the symbol.”

“Was it your idea?” Nancy asked.

“No.”

“Was it Isakos’s?”

“No. I don’t know who thought of it.”

“Were the artifacts shipped on the white banded freighter?” George spoke up.

“Yes, but I don’t know much about that part of the business.”

“Your cousin Helen is here in Athens looking for you,” Bess put in.

“And Mr. Drew is trying to settle the inheritance for her,” George added. “He needs your help. ”

“I will do whatever I can,” Constantine responded. “Where is Helen staying? Can you bring her here?”

“More likely we will be taking her to visit you in jail,” Burt said.

Constantine nodded. “I know. But please let me stay here just a little longer. I’m safer here than I’d ever be in jail, and I need to speak with the monks. ”

Just then, the holy man who had helped rescue Nancy and Ned approached the group. “It is all right,” he assured them all. “Constantine will not escape. We will watch him.”

“Thank you.” Nancy smiled at him.

The young people said good-bye and left the monastery. The drive back to Athens was filled with speculation about how the other smugglers could be caught.

“It seems to me,” Ned said, “if we can round up the key people, the police ought to be able to catch the rest. ”

“I’m glad we found Constantine, at least,” Bess commented as she gazed out the car window. “He’s really cute.”

“You think so?” Dave asked instantly.

“Yes, very. Dark hair, dark eyes—”

“Each to his own taste,” Ned cut in as he swung the car toward a major intersection.

Suddenly, Nancy stuck her head out the open window on her side. “Stop the car, Ned! Let me out!” she cried, and unlocked the door.

He grabbed her arm before she dived into the moving traffic.

“What’s going on?” Bess asked.

“I just saw Isakos again!” Nancy exclaimed.

Ned pulled the car to a halt and released his grip on Nancy. She flung open the door and raced after the burly man.

“Isakos!” she shouted, dashing across the street.

He turned, poised on the edge of the curb.

“This is the last time you will bother me!” he snarled. When she was within reach he lunged forward and shoved her back into the heavy, oncoming traffic. Car brakes squealed as Nancy tumbled into their midst!

20

Smugglers’ Arrest

“Nancy!” a voice cried as she barely missed being struck by an oncoming car.

It was Ned. He ran in front of the vehicle, causing it to jolt to a stop.

“Ned, Ned—” Nancy murmured. With his help, she stumbled to her feet.

The driver of the car shouted angrily at the couple, then sped down the street.

“Are you okay?” Ned asked Nancy, resting his arm firmly against her back.

She nodded, unaware of deep bruises on her knees. “But I lost one of the smugglers!”

“No, you didn’t.”

“What?”

“You didn’t.” Seeing the bewilderment on Nancy’s face, he squeezed her affectionately. “Look over there.” He pointed to a crowd that had formed on the opposite block.

Nancy noticed George’s head bob into view and spurred Ned to walk faster. When they reached the scene, she learned that two men who had seen Isakos push her into the street had tackled him and called the police. Isakos was sputtering in Greek.

“He threw me into the street on purpose!” Nancy told the policeman, but he did not understand her. Frustrated, she looked around quickly, calling out. “Can anyone translate for me?”

A university student stepped forward and in Greek repeated to the policeman what Nancy had said.

“Tell him this man is a thief and one of the art smugglers the authorities have been looking for. All they have to do is contact the archeological museum to confirm it.”

“Nonsense,” Isakos bellowed in her ear. “Pure rubbish. ”

“Like that basket of apples one of your pals sent you?” Nancy said, narrowing her eyes.

He laughed loudly, interrupting the student before he could translate her statement into Greek.

“Maybe you don’t know about the snake in the basket,” Nancy admitted. “After all, it wasn’t delivered to your room, even though I’m positive it was meant for you!” She turned to the student again. “Tell the policeman I’m pressing charges against this man for trying to injure me! And this is not the first time, either. He tampered with my car, which could have resulted in a serious accident!”

Isakos glared at her. “You’ll pay for this!” he blustered.

“On the contrary,” Ned cut in, “you will.”

When the six young people finally returned to the hotel, Mr. Drew and Helen were sharing their news with Mrs. Thompson.

“Vatis confessed,” Helen said.

“He falsified records and forged Constantine’s signature,” Mr. Drew added.

“Even my uncle’s, in order to get hold of the inheritance money,” Helen concluded.

“Did he spend all of it?” Nancy asked.

“Fortunately, no. A valuable coin collection worth a great deal was kept in my uncle’s safe-deposit box. Vatis never found the key to it, but kept paying for the rental. It was only a month ago that he told Constantine to take over the bills.”

“I guess he figured he had enough money to live on for a while,” Bess said. “What a greedy man!”

The next day, it was decided that she and Dave would take Helen and Mr. Drew to St. Mark’s monastery.

“Constantine is waiting there for you both,” Nancy told them. “Please don’t be too rough on him, Dad.”

“If I didn’t know better,” George said, “I’d suspect you were interested in the guy.”

“Hardly,” Nancy said. “Maybe I’m just a marshmallow at heart.” She grinned.

“In that case,” Ned remarked, “let’s go out and have sundaes!”

“After we go to Piraeus,” the girl detective replied.

She telephoned the harbor police requesting them to meet her group at the white-banded freighter.

“I thought the mystery was solved,” Ned sighed as he drove up to the dock.

“Which one?” George laughed.

“There’s always more than one, don’t you know!” Burt added.

Ned turned off the ignition and the foursome got out.

“The freighter’s leaving!” Nancy exclaimed.

“And there’s Isakos’s friend,” George said.

“The same one who dragged Stella away from us,” Nancy added as an Interpol agent arrived with the police. “We must stop that ship,” Nancy said.

The men ran along the dock to a patrol boat and jumped in quickly. Nancy and Ned followed.

“We’ll wait here for you!” George called.

The small craft churned through the water, catching up to the freighter in record time. The police ordered it to stop immediately.

“Hang on to me,” Ned told Nancy as their boat pulled close to the ship. It rocked against the hull and the Interpol agent caught hold of a rope ladder. He climbed up first, followed by Nancy and Ned, then the police.

“What is the meaning of this?” Fotis questioned.

“You are under arrest,” the Interpol agent said.

“On what grounds?”

“Shipping stolen goods.”

“That man’s involved, too,” Nancy declared, pointing to Isakos’s associate. “You’re Dimitri Georgiou. Correct?”

“So what?” he snapped.

“You helped hide stolen artifacts from the museum in bales of cotton stored below deck,” Nancy accused.

Although she and the police had checked a few random crates earlier and found nothing, her father had learned from museum authorities in the States that artifacts shipped from Greece were discovered in bales of cotton.

“I have nothing to say about that,” Dimitri said.

“How does it feel to have taken money that was meant to help poor families?” Nancy asked him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Dimitri hissed, but the crimson color in his face assured Nancy that she was right.

“You’re also the one who abducted George on Corfu, aren’t you?” she went on.

Dimitri stared at her full of anger.

“How did he get to Corfu?” Ned asked. “Just a little while ago, he ran a fake charity in the United States. Then all of a sudden he was in Corfu with Vatis?”

“That’s because his real name is Dimitri Vatis!” Nancy said. “He’s Vatis’s brother and former partner. The original law firm consisted of Vatis Senior and two sons, not just one.”

“How did you ever figure that out?”

“His money clip provided the clue. Remember, it had the initials D.V. on it—V for Vatis.”

“Did you wiretap my phone, too?” the man rasped furiously.

“No need to,” Nancy replied. “Your reaction just now was enough proof. Either you had an argument with your brother and left the law firm for that reason or you believed that running the Photini Agency in New York would be more lucrative. Then, when you realized that the police might soon uncover your scheme, you returned to Athens.”

“That’s when you found out about your brother’s connection with Constantine and the Nicholas inheritance,” Ned added.

“See if any of this holds up in court,” the man sneered.

“Oh, it will,” Nancy siad, “because Constantine will testify to everything. ”

“I’m also positive that Isakos will have a few things to say,” George remarked.

“Especially since you and he stole the mosaics from St. Mark’s monastery,” Nancy said.

“Too bad we got in your way,” Ned remarked.

“That wasn’t the first time,” George pointed out. “The night the three of us went to investigate St. Mark’s, you or Isakos set off that weird noise in the gardens to distract us.”

“It went on by mistake,” Dimitri declared.

“Sending that poisonous snake to Isakos didn’t work, either,” Nancy went on. Her listener grumbled, but did not deny her accusation.

“Why did he do that?” Ned inquired.

“He wanted to get rid of Isakos and take over his racket,” Nancy explained, “which, by the way, took Isakos to the U.S. on occasion. We happened to meet him on one of his return flights on Olympic Airways.”

“When did Dimitri become involved with Isakos?”

“He learned about him from his brother, who in turn was aware of the art smuggling scheme through Constantine. When Dimitri returned to Athens, he needed a job. He contacted Isakos. It didn’t take him long to decide to take over Isakos’s organization. ”

“Do you think Isakos realized what Dimitri was up to?” Ned asked.

“No. They worked closely together. As a matter of fact, the snake symbol was Dimitri’s idea. He threw the smugglers’ stamp at me in the hotel corridor. ”

“But why would he throw evidence in your path?”

“To plant something conclusive on me. He figured he could have me arrested and out of the way, once and for all.” She paused, digging into her purse. “I don’t plan to keep anything that will indict the man. Here.” She handed Dimitri’s money clip and the stamp to the agent from Interpol.

The police ordered Fotis to return his ship to the dock, where it would be searched. When they arrived, Dimitri and Fotis were led off in handcuffs.

“Thanks to you girls,” the Interpol agent said, “the main members of the gang are now in tow!”

That evening, when Nancy’s group was all together again, the young detectives and their dates took turns telling about Isakos’s and Dimitri’s capture.

“And to think I missed it all,” Mrs. Thompson said. “But I have to admit I did buy some lovely presents for the Papadapoulos family.”

“That’s great,” Nancy replied.

“What about Constantine?” Nancy asked Helen.

“Your father has arranged something wonderful for him.”

Mr. Drew smiled. “Well, it turned out that his role in the gang was a minor one. He didn’t actually steal anything. He was just a go-between and delivery boy. For that, the gang gave him a reward once—the cuff bracelet. Unfortunately, he had been living way beyond his means and lost his job. That’s when Isakos enlisted him with the promise of a lot of money.”

“Which he never got, of course,” Helen added.

“Right. That’s why he gave Vatis the bracelet as payment for legal fees. Vatis realized it was a valuable ancient piece and pressed Constantine to tell him how he got it.”

“What about Stella?” Bess asked. “She acted so peculiar when I met her in the dress shop. Obviously she knew Dimitri—”

“As a result of being Constantine’s girlfriend,” Mr. Drew said. “Dimitri began making deliveries to Chrysoteque, the jewelry shop, when Constantine stopped. Apparently, Dimitri told Stella he would harm Constantine if she even spoke to you girls, much less ask for your help.”

“No wonder she pretended not to know me while I was shopping,” Bess said.

“Well,” Mr. Drew spoke up, “I convinced Constantine to turn himself in. He’ll be out shortly on light bail.”

“You’re terrific, Dad,” Nancy said, hugging him.

“I say this calls for a celebration,” Helen declared. “I’m going to plan one on my new yacht. ”

“Your new yacht?” Nancy asked, surprised.

Helen explained that shortly before his death her uncle had ordered one to be built. It was ready now.

“What a shame he never had a chance to sail on it,” Bess remarked.

“But we will tomorrow!” Helen said gaily.

The following day, she led the group to a berth near the Nikos dock. The yacht, nearly two hundred feet long from bow to stern, glistened in the sunlight.

“She’s gorgeous!” Nancy exclaimed.

Suddenly, she noticed the crest on the bow. It was identical to the one on the silver box the young priest had left at the church in Plaka!

“That’s the Nikos crest!” Nancy exclaimed.

Bess and George stared in amazement. “You mean the priest we saw on our first afternoon in Greece was Constantine?” Bess asked.

“That’s correct,” Mr. Drew replied. “He told me he gave the silver box that had been in his possession for a long time to his patron saint—to make up for his dishonest ways.”