George, who was wearing a blue-and-white-striped tank suit cut very high on the legs, gave Bess a wry smile. “Nobody’s going to have any trouble seeing you,” she commented. “Not in that color.”
“That’s the whole point,” Bess replied seriously. Then she sighed as she looked at Nancy, whose blue-green bikini was the perfect color for her reddish blond hair and made her slim legs look miles long. “I just wish I had your figure,” Bess told her enviously.
“You don’t have to worry,” Nancy assured her. “I’m not down here for the guys, remember? And even if I were, you have half an hour before I even show up on the beach.”
Bess grabbed a large beach towel. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve decided to drop by Kim’s hotel first,” Nancy explained. She found her beach bag and tossed in everything she could possibly need on the beach: sunglasses, suntan lotion, a book, her Walkman, and even an extra bikini. Then she threw on a short cover-up made of soft white cotton. She started toward the door. “I thought I’d solve my ‘case’ first,” she said with a grin. “But after that—look out, Lauderdale!”
Kim’s hotel, the Vistamar, turned out to be just three blocks away from the Surfside, and it should have taken Nancy about two minutes to reach it. Instead, it took closer to ten. The sidewalks were jammed with kids heading for the beach or just strolling along, stopping to strike up a conversation with anyone who caught their eye.
Girls were checking out boys, boys were checking out girls, and Nancy lost count of how many surfing, swimming, and disco dates she turned down. She saw plenty of great-looking guys she wouldn’t have minded spending time with, but because of Ned, she wasn’t really tempted. Still, it was fun just being in the middle of it all, and as she spotted Kim’s hotel, she thought that Bess was probably right—Kim must have met somebody special, and she wanted to be with him for as long as possible.
The Vistamar was on a narrow side street just off the main road. It was lime green, five stories high, and when Nancy went in, she just missed the elevator. However, since Kim’s room was on the second floor, she climbed the stairs. She found room 207 easily and was just about to knock when she heard Kim’s voice through the partially open door.
“Don’t blame me, Ricardo!” Kim cried urgently. “I don’t know how they found out, but they did!”
There was a pause, and when she didn’t hear Ricardo answer, Nancy figured Kim must be talking on the phone. She tried not to eavesdrop, but Kim sounded so frantic it was hard not to hear her.
“I told her not to leave!” Kim went on. “She knew she wasn’t supposed to, but . . . I don’t know, Ricardo, maybe she got cabin fever or something. What difference does it make? She’s gone!”
Nancy wasn’t even trying not to listen anymore. Who was gone? she wondered. Kim hadn’t come down with a girlfriend. Nancy knew that. But even if she’d taken on a roommate, what was the business about not leaving the room?
Kim lowered her voice, and Nancy leaned closer to the door. That was when she noticed it—not only was the door ajar, but the lock had obviously been broken. It hadn’t been a very smooth job, either. The metal looked as if it had been gouged with a screwdriver, and the wood around it was splintered. Whoever had broken it must have wanted to get inside in a hurry.
Nancy didn’t have a clue as to what was going on, and she waited impatiently for Kim to finish talking so she could find out.
“Don’t say that, you’re scaring me,” Kim protested. She waited, then sighed. “All right, okay. I’ll meet you at your perch in ten minutes.”
Perch? Nancy almost smiled. Was Ricardo a boy or a bird? When she heard Kim say goodbye, she started to knock again. But the door was flung open before she had a chance, and a very startled Kim Baylor was staring at her.
“Nancy!” Kim’s brown eyes widened in surprise. “What are you doing here?”