Nancy glanced over at the low wooden table. A stack of white towels and a wide bowl filled with oranges, bananas, and grapes sat on the tabletop. “That was nice of Zoe,” she said. Then she looked pointedly at the mess on the floor.
The maid began to fumble with the snarled necklaces on the floor.
Bess exchanged a look with Nancy and George, then bent down to help the maid return the jewelry to the overnight case. “Well, it looks like everything is here and okay. Don’t worry about it,” she told the girl. “My name is Bess Marvin. And this is Nancy Drew and George Fayne.”
“Niki Christofouros,” the maid introduced herself, scrambling to her feet and nodding at the girls.
Nancy looked carefully at the girl. She had large black eyes, lined with dark makeup, which gave her a mysterious look. With her high cheekbones and stylish bob, Nancy thought that Niki looked as if she had stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine.
“Thanks for the fruit,” Nancy said, deciding not to press the issue. “Tell Zoe that we feel very much at home here.”
“Yes, I’ll tell her,” Niki promised, edging away. Then she disappeared out the door.
George closed the door, then glanced around the room. “What’s her problem?”
“She was acting strange,” Nancy agreed.
Bess was sifting through her open suitcase. “There doesn’t seem to be anything missing, but why was she going through my stuff?”
“That’s exactly what I was wondering,” Nancy said as she sank down onto one of the room’s three beds.
“And why just your stuff, Bess?” George wanted to know. “She didn’t touch ours.”
“Probably because she has excellent taste,” Bess said with a mischievous look.
Nancy groaned and tossed a pillow at Bess, who batted it away with her hands. “This is serious. Aren’t you the least bit suspicious?” Nancy asked.
“Lighten up, Nan,” Bess said. “This is our vacation!” She slipped into the bathroom, calling out, “I’ve got the first shower!”
An hour later, dressed in shorts, T-shirts, and sneakers, Nancy, Bess, and George were ready to hike into Chora. Armed with their guidebook and instructions from Zoe, the girls set off on the mile-long walk to town.
“Did you guys notice the tension between Zoe and that guy Theo before?” Nancy asked as they trudged uphill on a paved road that crossed the rocky hillside.
Bess nodded. “I got the feeling that Zoe resents him. Maybe they didn’t break up on great terms.”
“When we were in Olympia, Zoe did mention something about a guy who broke things off,” George said. “Theo seems like a nice guy, though.”
Bess wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at her cousin. “That’s a rave from you,” she said. “Do I detect the start of a new romance?”
“No way.” George raised her hands defensively. “Kevin’s the only guy on my mind these days.” George really liked her boyfriend, sports commentator Kevin Davis. Even if there had been a lot of strain between them because Kevin’s job required him to travel frequently, Nancy knew that George was serious about their relationship.
“Well, I think Theo’s adorable,” Bess said. She giggled and added, “So’s Dimitri.”
“Face it, Bess,” George said. “You’re in love with love.”
They had just rounded a crest in the road, and Nancy could see Mykonos’s distinctive white windmills in the distance. The five round towers seemed to dominate the harbor from their perch on a hill. Below the windmills, dazzling snow white buildings hugged the shoreline.
As the girls continued, the countryside gave way to meandering alleyways lined with cube-shaped houses. Cars were restricted from the cobblestone streets, but the area was busy with tourists, local merchants, and people leading donkeys with food and supplies strapped to their backs.
“Zoe told me that the buildings are whitewashed to protect them from the sun,” George said as they passed one house.
“She also warned me about the zigzagging streets,” Nancy added. They were just passing a narrow, twisting lane. “They were originally designed to foil pirate raiders, so it’s easy to get lost if you don’t watch where you’re going.”
“Don’t worry,” Bess said. “The maze of streets may have confused pirates, but a determined shopper will always find her way.”