Kim nodded. “Maria wants me to tell you that she’d tried to get Ricardo to talk to you. I’d told Maria about you when she was hiding out in my hotel room. I guess I said something about having a friend who was a detective and wishing you were here,” Kim said with a smile. “But Ricardo wouldn’t listen to her. He just didn’t trust anyone. He didn’t let her talk to you until last night.”
“We really can’t blame him for that,” Nancy said softly.
“I don’t think we should be talking about blame at all,” Bess pointed out. “I think we should be talking about how to get out of here.”
Nancy laughed. “You’re right. It’s a good thing the five of us are here, too, because we need all the brainpower we can get to figure this one out.”
Springing to her feet, Nancy started exploring the room, which took her all of two minutes. “There’s not even a closet to hide in,” she remarked. “Not that hiding would do us any good.”
“How about the crates?” George said. “Is there something we could do with them—hide in them, block the door with them?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Nancy said.
“They’d find us anyway,” Bess told her. “I mean, nobody but Lila and her crew knows we’re in here. So what if we blocked the door? They’d just wait until everybody’s partying on the island and then break it down. We’re trapped!”
Nancy knew that Bess was right. Hiding or blocking the door would only postpone whatever was going to happen. It was a stopgap, and they needed an escape hatch. But Lila had made certain they didn’t have one. She’d backed them into a corner, and she was closing in fast.
Suddenly Nancy felt a change in the rhythm of the Rosita; it seemed to slow down. The five girls steadied themselves as the boat began rocking from side to side.
“What’s happening?” Kim asked.
“We’ve almost reached the island,” George said. “The Rosita’s too big to go all the way to shore, so they take everybody in on little speedboats. We’ll be stopping any minute.”
“And after everybody’s ashore, the Rosita sails away,” Bess continued. “With us on it.”
“Yeah,” Nancy said with a grim smile. “Then Lila’s private party begins.”
The girls looked at each other fearfully; they knew what was going to happen, but they didn’t know how to stop it. At that moment, the door handle clicked. Everyone jumped, and then Bess gasped.
Standing in the open doorway was Dirk Bowman, a dimpled smile on his face and a shiny revolver in his hand.
Chapter Fourteen
In a flash, Bess darted across the room, stopping just a couple of feet in front of Dirk.
“Listen to me, Dirk! Please listen!” she cried. “I know what you think, but it’s not true, it’s really not! I don’t know what’s going on here. I don’t know anything, and even if I did I wouldn’t tell. You have to believe me!”
“Wait a minute,” Dirk said, frowning. “I—”
“There’s no time to wait!” Bess interrupted frantically. “I know what Lila plans to do with us, and you have to get me out of here. Please, Dirk, I’ll do anything you want, I’ll say anything you want, if you’ll just let me go!”
As the other four listened in amazement, Bess kept on pleading with Dirk Bowman to save her. Kim and Maria stared at her in horror; obviously, they thought she was so panicked that she was willing to say anything to save her own neck.
Nancy was amazed too, but for a different reason: She knew that Bess was acting—and it was working. Dirk couldn’t get a word in edgewise; he’d try to say something, but Bess would immediately interrupt him, pleading, whining, shouting, whispering, doing anything to distract him. From the look on George’s face, Nancy could tell that she hadn’t been fooled either. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, the two of them might have started clapping. It was a beautiful performance, and it was up to Nancy to take advantage of it.
Slowly but smoothly, Nancy moved closer to Dirk Bowman. Bess was saying something about how she and Dirk could spend the rest of their lives together. “It’ll be fantastic, just the two of us, I promise you!” she pleaded, her voice almost cracking. Dirk was completely distracted. He didn’t notice anything but the near-hysterical girl in front of him.