“I’m sure that would be a beautiful photo,” Dimitri said, gushing with flattery. “But can we do it later? I’ve just returned from Delos, and I need to unload—”
“But this camera will be perfect,” Bess persisted. “You’ll need a good camera to capture the bright sunlight, the deep blue sea . . . and me.”
After a moment’s pause Dimitri sighed. “For you, I will do it,” he said at last.
Way to go, Bess! Nancy thought. She and Mick stayed hidden until they heard the footsteps retreat.
“It’s a good thing Dimitri has a thing for Bess,” Mick whispered when the coast was clear. “Otherwise, we’d be dead meat right now.”
Nancy stood up and brushed off her sundress. “I want to finish checking out this equipment,” she told Mick. “We’d better hurry.”
She wasn’t surprised to see a small darkroom with vats of processing solution. In addition to the color copier, she found a hot-glue gun, a giant stapler used to bind books, and a machine with the word Artograph embossed on it.
“I’ve seen that before in art studios,” Mick said, tapping the Artograph. “It’s used to project an image on paper or canvas so that the artist can trace over it. With this machine Dimitri could copy just about any design.”
Nancy let out a low whistle. “Including anything that might be used for passport paper. Here’s a laminating machine, too—and acetate,” she added, lifting up a sheet of clear plastic from a shelf along the wall. “This is the stuff they use for that clear plastic coating over a passport photo.”
“This studio has a lot more equipment than a simple island photographer would need,” Mick said. “Dimitri could definitely be using it to forge passports.”
Nancy was searching the row of file cabinets along one wall. She opened one drawer and pulled out a basket containing thick darning needles and twine. “A sewing basket?” she said, shaking her head as she stuffed it back into the drawer. “I still haven’t found anything that directly relates to passports.”
“Such as?”
“Printed passport covers or that patterned paper they use for the pages. Even discarded passport photos,” Nancy answered.
Mick picked up an envelope from the top of a worktable and looked inside. “This might fit the bill,” he said excitedly. “Pictures of a young woman—a rather attractive one, at that.”
“What?” Nancy spun around to look at the two sheets of photographic paper he was holding. “Those are contact sheets,” Nancy said. “Photographers use them all the time. That way they can look at the negative-size prints and decide what they want to blow up.” She looked closer at the square shots of a girl’s face. “It’s Niki!”
“That maid you were talking about?” Mick asked. “The one who gave Dimitri an envelope?”
Nancy nodded. “She must have handed him this envelope. Don’t you see, Mick? Dimitri is probably going to slip one of these photos onto Bess’s passport so Niki can get into America!”
Nancy and Mick searched the rest of the studio for the stolen passports but came up empty-handed. Besides the photos of Niki, they found a few packets of portraits, but nothing that might be used as a passport photo.
“We still don’t have nearly enough evidence to go to the police,” Nancy said, sighing with disappointment. “We’ll just have to keep an eye on Dimitri and see if we can catch him in the act.”
“We’re so lucky to be included in a family party,” Bess said as the girls left their room that evening.
“Zoe said that there’ll be folk music—and maybe even some plate-throwing,” George added.
She led the way to the terraced lawn adjoining the inn’s taverna. As they crossed the hotel grounds, Nancy had to admit that it was a perfect night for an engagement party. The wine-dark sea, the lemon-scented air, and the starry sky were a romantic backdrop, perfect for two people who were going to be married.
The party area was festooned with hanging baskets of flowers and flickering candles. A long buffet table was arranged along one side of the dance floor, which had been set on the patio near the taverna. Although Nancy couldn’t see them, she could smell the smoke of fire pits on the far side of vine-covered trellises.