Trouble in Paradise (14 page)

“Gladly. I’ll be the guy
inside
the house, sitting in Dad’s comfy chair and sipping lemonade. Of course since that is a door and not a window, you won’t be able to see me.”

Jack walked away, chuckling to himself. It was good that he at least found himself funny.

I went back to work. Before he’d come up, I was ready to quit. Now I couldn’t. I knew that if I had enough time, I could pick this lock. That wasn’t just wishful thinking. Ray had given me a couple more lessons and helped me practise. Since then I’d picked the lock on three different rooms at the hotel, the neighbour’s back door—thank goodness they weren’t home and hadn’t seen me—and even the side door of our school. I was getting faster and better.

I wiggled the pick around in the lock. This one was stubborn. But then the lock clicked loudly! I almost screamed, I was so excited. I reached up and turned the knob, and the door opened!

I jumped to my feet and stepped into the house. I didn’t see Jack, but I could hear him moving around in the kitchen. I went to close the door, but thought better of it. I left it open and went over and sat down in the chair Jack was planning to occupy.

Jack walked in, whistling to himself, holding a glass of lemonade. He saw the open door before he saw me. He
stopped dead in his tracks, the whistling replaced by a shocked expression.

“Since you’re up anyway, could you close that door?” I asked innocently.

He looked like he was going to argue, and then it passed. He went over and closed the door.

“You did it,” he said, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“I told you I could pick that lock. It’s not that hard. Ray’s a good teacher.”

“Do you think he could teach me?” Jack asked.

“He could if you were around more.” Lately Jack had been spending more and more time with Louise, while I worked at the hotel. And often Ray was around, so I spent time with him.

Ray seemed to always be interested in what was going on, so excited about things, like a little kid with a new toy. And he had lots of new toys that he showed me. He had a pair of sunglasses with little mirrors so you could see behind you without turning around. He showed me a book and a newspaper that had special holes—too small to be detected but big enough to see through when held in front of your face. He had a pack of cigarettes that was actually a camera, and a trench coat with secret pockets and a fedora that held twenty feet of thin, strong cord for getting up to or down from a second- or third-storey window.

“Maybe this weekend Ray could teach you,” I suggested.

“Maybe if he’s there on Saturday. I can’t go in on Sunday. I’m having dinner at Louise’s house. Mrs. Farrow invited me.”

“Forget lock picking, then. You’d better brush up on your manners.”

“I’ve got manners,” Jack said. “Besides, it’s not like I’m meeting her real parents.”

“Have you found out what her real parents do for a living?”

He didn’t answer. Maybe she hadn’t told him, or—

“I know,” he said quietly.

“What? What do they do?” I asked.

“Just because I know doesn’t mean that I’m going to tell you. A promise is a promise, and I promised Louise I wouldn’t tell anybody,” he replied.

“I’m not anybody, I’m your
brother.
”

“Which means you’re a nobody. I keep my word.” He paused. He had a smug little smile on his face. “But I can tell you that you’d be pretty impressed if you knew.”

“Like I care.”

“You would care. But I’m not telling.”

“I wouldn’t care if she was the daughter of the king and queen of England,” I said defiantly.

Jack snorted. “Oh, you’d care, believe me … but I can’t tell you anything. It’s on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know anything.”

“Maybe I don’t want to know anything.”

“Oh, you do,” Jack said. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I could tell you,” Jack said, “but then I’d have to kill you.” He laughed at his lame little joke.

“Maybe there are some things happening at the hotel that I’m not telling
you
about,” I replied.

“Yeah, like you’re dumping some top secret garbage or sweeping some Nazi dust from the floors?” Jack asked.

“I do more than that.”

“Sure you do. But anyway, I’d rather spend time with Louise on the beach than with Ray at the hotel.”

“Ray is a lot more interesting than Louise,” I said.

He put a hand on my shoulder. “You really are still a kid, aren’t you?”

Maybe he was right. But if I’d learned one thing from Jack, it was that girls could be trouble, and I had no difficulty finding trouble on my own.

I brushed his hand away. “I may be young but I’m not stupid. You don’t have to come to the hotel any more at all. Your loss. Just more time for Ray to show me more neat stuff and teach me more tricks of the trade.”

“What’s he showing you?” Jack questioned.

“Sorry … need-to-know basis … wouldn’t want to have to kill you.”

“Who cares? It’s not in my plans to become either a magician or a safecracker. Which one are
you
hoping to become?”

“Maybe both. I have to decide which one has the most money in it.”

“Just don’t tell Mom and Dad. I don’t think they like Ray very much.”

There was nothing to think about there—Mom had been pretty clear she didn’t like me hanging around with him. That wasn’t going to stop me, though. I’d just have to make sure she never found out.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“YOU HAVING FUN
?” Ray asked.

I looked up from the garbage can I was getting ready to empty.

“Yeah, lots of fun.”

“I just think it’s such a waste of talent to have you emptying the rubbish.”

“I’m glad somebody besides me thinks that,” I agreed. “There are hundreds of things I could be doing instead.”

“I agree,” he said. “Instead of you handling the rubbish bins, they could have you making beds or sweeping floors or—”

“Very funny.”

“I try,” he said and gracefully bowed. “Perhaps rather than a magician, I should be a comedian … maybe I could entertain the troops.”

“Speaking of troops … when did you become a soldier?” I asked.

Ray was in uniform. I looked at the emblems on his sleeve—he was a general!

“It was a sudden decision to enlist, and imagine that, my first day and I’m already a general. Maybe tomorrow I might be supreme commander of all the Allied forces! If you see any more little stars being thrown in the garbage, you grab them for me and I’ll have a battlefield promotion.”

“Where did you get that uniform from?” I asked.

“Downstairs, the tailor shop. They can make practically any costume I want.”

“I don’t think most soldiers would like you calling it a costume. I’m surprised nobody objects to you wearing a uniform.”

“Why should they?” he asked, looking genuinely surprised. “The Pope doesn’t object when I dress like a priest.”

“You’ve dressed up as a priest?”

“Heck, I’ve dressed as a nun.”

“You’re joking … aren’t you?”

He shook his head and a crooked little smile appeared.

“Now, back to my original question. Are you having fun?” he asked.

“Does it look like this is fun?”

“Don’t imagine it is, so put down the rubbish bin and come with me.”

I put it down. “What are we going to do?”

“Weren’t you listening? We’re going to have some fun. Do you think your brother wants to come have some fun, too?”

Part of me wanted to say no because he was being such a pain, but maybe joining us would get him more interested in coming to the hotel.

“He would like that,” I said. “I think he’s in the ballroom, washing the floors.”

“Now that really is fun, but we’ll try to tempt him away. Let’s go.”

I happily—but warily—trailed after Ray.

We went through the service corridor and then into the kitchen. It was—as always—busy. There were lots of people preparing food and drink for the staff. We passed through unnoticed and went out into the ballroom. The tables had been pushed to one side and the chairs stacked up so Jack could wash the floor. It looked as though he was almost finished.

Jack turned at the sound of us entering. He gave a little wave in our direction.

“Jack, me boy, put down that mop and come with us,” Ray called out.

Jack didn’t seem to need further encouragement. He let go of the mop and it dropped to the floor with a crash.

Ray led us out the back door of the kitchen, past the big trash bins—I was very familiar with them—and into the gardens that lined the seawall. We caught up with him at
the stairs leading to the bay—to the place where the mailbags were brought for sorting, censoring and searching in the hotel.

That was it? He wanted us to carry bags up to the hotel? Well, it certainly wasn’t very exciting, but probably better than being on garbage duty.

We stopped at the top of the steps. There was a small motor launch, with two sailors in it, but no bags.

“Do you boys want to know what I have in mind?” Ray asked.

“I want to know,” Jack said, “but whatever it is, it has to be better than mopping.”

“It is,” Ray said reassuringly. “In fact, rather than mopping the ballroom, you’re going to be sweeping that ship.” He gestured to a vessel anchored in the bay.

“That doesn’t sound much better,” Jack said.

“Actually it’s much better. That ship was forced into port by a corvette. It sailed from Barcelona and was en route to South America. Do you know why it was forced into port here?”

“There could be lots of reasons,” Jack said.

“There could be, but in this case it has to do with treasure. We have reports that the ship is carrying treasure.”

“Like diamonds and gold?” I gasped.

“Much more valuable.”

“What’s more valuable than that?”

“Art. We received reports that the ship is carrying paintings the Nazis have taken from museums and are sending to South America to be sold.”

“Why would they do that?” Jack asked.

“For the same reason anybody sells anything: money. They sell the art and use the money to purchase materials needed for their war effort. Our job is to sweep the ship and look for where they’ve hidden the treasure,” Ray explained.

“So you didn’t mean we were going to sweep it with a broom,” I said.

“Not quite,” Ray said. “Are you two in?”

“Of course we’re—”

“Shouldn’t we get permission first?” I asked, cutting Jack off.

“You have permission,” Ray said. “From me.”

“I was thinking that maybe … maybe we should …”

“Check with our mommy?” Jack said, a smirk firmly planted on his face.

“We’re really not supposed to leave the grounds of the hotel,” I said.

“You’re hardly leaving the grounds,” Ray argued. “It’s right there.”

“I still think we should ask Mom.”

“You
could
do that,” Ray said. “Of course, if you did, what do you think she’d say?”

Jack and I both laughed. There was no question about her answer.

“I don’t think she’d be too happy,” I said.

“And it’s not real smart to make her unhappy,” Jack added.

“Then we have a perfect solution,” Ray said. “Don’t tell her. We won’t be gone long. She won’t even notice.”

Jack and I exchanged a doubtful look.

“And if you think about it, you have permission,” Ray said.
“My
permission. And I’m a general, which definitely outranks a mother.”

“Not our mother,” I said. “Besides, you’re a fake general.”

“Well then that fits perfectly, because I’m only giving you fake permission.” He laughed. “Come on. You’ll be perfectly safe. The passengers and crew of the ship have been escorted ashore, so the only people on board are our agents. Don’t worry, you won’t get caught.”

“My parents have eyes in the backs of their heads,” I said.

“That won’t be a problem.Your father is off the grounds up in Hamilton at a meeting, and your mother is locked inside Room 99 working on a mystery.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

He smiled. “I know lots of things. I also know you’ll be back ashore, mopping and collecting garbage, before either of them notices. Besides, you can think of this as
part of your ongoing education. I’m going to show you boys how to crack a safe.”

“I’m in,” Jack said. He started down the first few steps, stopped and turned around. “You coming?” he asked me. I didn’t see that I had much choice—thank goodness.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I SLOUCHED DOWN
in the seat of the motor launch as it moved away from the pier. I wanted to make sure that my mother didn’t see us. Pretty soon we were far enough away that she wouldn’t be able to tell it was us. The sound of the motor subsided to a rumbling, bubbling sound as we neared the ship.

It was big … not gigantic, but big … and it was mainly white with splotches of rust. Its name—
Conquistador
— was painted on the side in rusting letters. Up close you could tell that the ship was old, and pretty beat up. We pulled in beside a rope ladder hanging from the ship, and one sailor grabbed onto it and secured the motor launch while the second one killed the engine.

“You first,” Ray directed.

I tried to stand up but almost tumbled overboard as the boat rocked to the side. Jack grabbed me and stopped me from falling.

“Slick move,” he said under his breath.

I grabbed the ladder and started up. It had rope sides and wooden steps, and it swayed as I climbed. I didn’t like heights, and it was a
long
way up. I got to the top and there was a soldier, a rifle on his back, standing guard. He offered me a hand and pulled me up and onto my feet.

“Must be desperate for help if they’re sending kids,” he said.

“How old are you?” I asked.

“Twenty … on my next birthday,” he said.

“Yeah, so look who’s talking,” I snorted.

Before the soldier could respond, Jack appeared at the top of the ladder and he offered him a hand. When Ray appeared, the soldier snapped to attention and saluted.

“How about less saluting and more helping,” Ray suggested. The soldier jumped forward and helped Ray aboard.