The Secret of the Golden Pavillion (9 page)

“Do they have a lawyer?” Nancy asked.

“Not yet,” the executor replied. “But today they threatened to obtain one if we don’t accept their credentials pretty soon.”

“There’s doubt in your mind, then, about them?” inquired Nancy.

“Naturally. I knew elderly Mr. Sakamaki well. It seems strange that he never mentioned the California relatives.”

Mr. Dutton paused a moment, then said, “Since the estate is so large, it is certainly worth fighting for. So far the credentials of these California people seem to be in order, but I understand your father, Miss Drew, is going to stop in California on his way here and check everything.”

Nancy asked if there were any letters from old Mr. Sakamaki to Janet and Roy or their mother or grandmother among the papers of proof.

“No,” Mr. Dutton answered. “The brother and sister claim to have read a news account of the will in a California paper.”

“Where are they staying?” Nancy inquired. The executor replied that they were visiting friends named Pond in Honolulu. “I can’t remember the address exactly. I’ll send it to you,” he promised.

By this time the police detective had finished his work. He returned to the house and a short while later the two men were saying
aloha
to Nancy and her friends. Both insisted that Nancy get in touch with them at once if any trouble developed at Kaluakua.

Just before a late dinner that evening, Kiyabu came into the sunroom where the guests were seated. He presented Nancy with a long box which evidently contained flowers. The caretaker waited as she opened it. Inside was a deep purple, almost black, sweet-smelling lei.

“How very unusual!” Nancy remarked, as she picked up the florist’s envelope containing a card. Pulling it out, she read aloud, “From the Armstrongs.”

“Why, isn’t this sweet of them!” she exclaimed.

Nancy lifted the black lei from the box and started to put it around her neck. Seeing this, Kiyabu snatched it from her hands.

“Oh, please! No, no! Do not wear the lei!” he begged. “This is—this is a funeral offering!”

Nancy was mystified. Certainly the Armstrongs were familiar with the customs of the Islands. Why would they send her such a lei? Rising from her chair, she went at once to the telephone and called Mrs. Armstrong.

“A lei?” the woman repeated after Nancy. “Mr. Armstrong and I did not send it to you.”

Nancy’s heart skipped a beat and she stood lost in thought. Was the lei a threat from some unknown person?

BEFORE rejoining the group in the living room, Nancy decided to call the florist where the lei apparently had been purchased.

Fortunately, the shop was still open. But upon looking at their records, the proprietor declared that he had not filled such an order.

“Is it true that a lei made of deep purple flowers is used as a funeral piece?” Nancy inquired.

The florist said that this was a custom among some people. He himself did not make such pieces, and he doubted that any florist would suggest one.

Nancy thanked the man for the information and put down the phone. More perplexed than ever, she returned to the group in the sunroom. “The lei didn’t come from that florist,” she told her friends. “It must have been made privately.” Then she explained what she had learned.

George, curious to know more about the flowers, had picked up the lei and was examining it. “This is odd,” she said suddenly. “Scattered here and there among the flowers are sharp-pointed, brownish-colored tacks.”

As she pointed them out, Bess exclaimed, “And wherever the tacks are, the flowers are wilting!”

Nancy gazed at the mysterious lei. “Put it back in the box, George. I think those tacks have been dipped in poison.”

“What!” Ned cried out, springing forward.

Nancy explained that she thought the sender had hoped she would wear the lei, be pricked, and poisoned.

“Oh, how horrible!” Bess exclaimed. “This mystery is getting to be dreadful.”

Everyone was disturbed by the incident, and Ned remarked that the sender must indeed be desperate to resort to such measures. “But what I can’t understand is why should he or she want to harm you personally?”

George answered for Nancy. “To get you away from here.”

At this moment Hannah Gruen walked into the room. She had heard none of the conversation and everyone decided not to worry her. George quickly whisked the box of flowers behind her chair. The Drews’ housekeeper did not notice her action. She announced that dinner was ready and requested that they come to the dining room.

Ned tarried behind and hid the box in the hall closet. He would bury the poisonous lei later, or give it to the police if they wanted it.

A delicious dinner was served by Kiyabu. It had been cooked by both Emma and Hannah who had become great culinary friends. Tonight the meal was strictly mainland—roast beef, with lemon meringue pie for dessert.

“If it’s all right with you girls,” Burt spoke up, “we fellows are going fishing in the outrigger canoe tomorrow morning.”

“I wish you luck,” George replied. “But you’d better bring in a big one to make amends for deserting us,” she teased.

“Wow!” said Burt. “How can I fail?”

Nancy asked Ned if she might borrow the car to do some errands in Honolulu. She did not say what they were to be. In fact, she did not reveal what her main errand was until the following morning when she, Bess, and George were rolling along the highway.

“I’m determined to find out if possible who sent that floral piece,” Nancy said. “Do you remember the section of road we passed on our way from the airport where a group of women were making and selling leis? I have a hunch the sender of my gift had a specialist make mine and it could be one of those women. Anyway, it won’t hurt to ask them.”

When she reached the area, the young sleuth parked the car and the three girls began asking woman after woman if she had made a lei the day before of deep purple flowers. One after another answered no, until Nancy came to a very wrinkled old lady who was fashioning a beautiful lei of baby orchids. When Nancy put her question to the flower vendor, she looked up, startled.

“Why, yes, I did make such a lei yesterday afternoon. Why do you ask?”

Nancy searched the woman’s face for any sign of dishonesty, but the wrinkled visage showed only genuine astonishment.

Nevertheless, Nancy decided that it was wiser not to tell the woman the whole truth. Pretending to giggle, she said that some unknown person had sent her the lei and she was trying to find out who he might be.

“An unknown admirer, eh?” the woman asked. Then she frowned. “To tell you the truth, I thought it was a funeral piece.”

She went on to say that the man who had asked her to make it had brought the flowers himself. She described him as being tall, with reddish-blond hair. “I do not know his name,” she added, “but I believe he is a mainlander.”

“Did he ask you to put anything else in with the flowers?” Bess spoke up.

“No,” the woman answered.

Nancy thanked her for the information, and the girls went back to the convertible.

“Reddish-blond hair!” said George. “That sounds like Ralph Emler, the same man we believe tricked Grandfather Sakamaki.”

“Yes, it does,” Nancy agreed. “And I think our next stop will be police headquarters. I hope Sergeant Hawk will be there. I want to tell him about the lei.”

Fortunately, the officer was in. When the young sleuth told her story, the police detective looked concerned.

“I don’t like this at all,” he said. “Miss Drew, you must use extreme caution. So far we haven’t been able to locate this Ralph Emler. We don’t know whether he has left the city, is using an assumed name, or is staying in a private home. Emler left the place where he was staying, directly after receiving old Mr. Sakamaki’s letter.”

The girls talked for some time with the detective. Nancy asked him about the possibility of the California claimants to the Sakamaki estate being impostors. “It’s possible, of course,” the detective replied, “but so far we have found nothing suspicious about them or their credentials.”

“I think I’ll try to call on them,” said Nancy. “May I use your phone, Sergeant Hawk?”

“Certainly.” The detective pushed the instrument toward Nancy and gave her the number of the Ponds’ residence. A rather petulant, flat voice answered the ring.

“Hel-lo.”

“This is Nancy Drew calling. I should like very much to see Mrs. Lee and Mr. Chatley. Will you please find out if it would be all right for me to come to the house.”

“Well, I dunno,” the woman on the phone answered. “They don’t see visitors much, but I’ll ask ’em.”

After a long wait, another woman’s voice said hello. “This is Mrs. Lee speaking. You wish to see me?” she asked.

Nancy repeated her request. There was a long pause as if Janet Lee was consulting someone else. Then she said, “Why, certainly. I’d love to have you. When do you want to come?”

“Right away,” Nancy replied. “And I’d like to bring two friends who are in town with me.”

“Come ahead,” Janet Lee invited. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

On the way to the Ponds’ residence, Bess declared that she was not going inside the house. She even begged Nancy to hold the conference in their garden. “After that black lei episode, I trust hardly anybody around here,” she declared.

Nancy laughed. “All right. I only hope the Ponds have a garden.”

Bess’s wish was gratified. The house was set some distance from the street and was surrounded by a high hedge. A driveway led to the front door through a most attractive garden.

Bess and George seated themselves in lawn chairs, while Nancy rang the front doorbell. It was opened by a middle-aged woman wearing a long, dark-blue muumuu. Her blond hair was rather frizzy and unkempt.

“Mrs. Lee?” Nancy asked.

“Oh my, no. I’m Mrs. Pond. Janet’ll be here in a minute. She’s gettin’ prettied up for you folks.”

Nancy took an instant dislike to Mrs. Pond. When the woman invited her inside, she said, “Oh, it’s so lovely out in the garden, I’d prefer staying outside.”

Mrs. Pond shrugged. “Have it your own way.”

At that moment Janet Lee and Roy Chatley appeared. The brother and sister did not look at all alike. He was taller than she and had light hair and a pale complexion. His sister was small and slight with dark hair and a sallow complexion. At Nancy’s suggestion they joined Bess and George in the garden.

“Why have you come here?” Janet asked abruptly.

Nancy was slightly taken aback, but she kept her composure and said, “I am a friend of Mr. Sakamaki in River Heights. In fact, my father is his lawyer. I understand you are distantly related to him.”

“Yes,” Roy replied in a soft tone, “We had the same grandfather, although I understand the Mr. Sakamaki you know was never told this.” Suddenly Roy said in a loud, unpleasant voice, “It was pretty mean the way Grandfather treated his first wife. Oh, well, we can forgive a lot if we just get the inheritance. Boy, what I couldn’t do with that money!”

Nancy and her friends were disgusted with Roy’s approach to the subject. They learned little that they did not already know, and presently said good-by.

“They’re just horrid,” Bess remarked as Nancy drove off.

Soon after reaching the highway, Nancy stopped, pulled to the side of the road, and said, “I think my next bit of sleuthing will be talks with the neighbors of the Ponds, and finding out what I can about that couple. They just don’t seem like the kind of people one would expect to live in this fine residential area.”

THE GIRLS found most of the Ponds’ neighbors in their gardens. Nancy, Bess, and George discreetly inquired of one after another if they were acquainted with the couple. In each case the answer was the same. The Ponds had rented the house very recently and no one knew them. They appeared to be unsociable and were away from the house a great deal.

“Are they Hawaiians?” Nancy asked an elderly man.

“Oh, I think not. I’m sure that they are from the mainland,” he replied.

When the girls returned to the car, one of the women to whom she had spoken earlier was waiting for them. Nancy wondered if she had further information, but the woman merely smiled and asked if the girls were going into Honolulu. Upon learning that they were, she asked for a lift, explaining that her husband was using their car that day for a business trip.

“We’d be happy to take you,” Nancy said, and they all got in.

On the way, the passenger, whose name was Mrs. Ayers, pointed out a thickly branched tree with dense foliage. “That is a monkeypod,” she said. “Many of them grow on the island of Kauai, and the wood is brought here to be made into attractive pieces. I’m going to a shop now that specializes in these pieces to buy a wedding gift.”

“The tree certainly looks top heavy,” Bess remarked. “Its long limbs seem to be way out of proportion with the size of the trunk.”

“Is the wood hard?” George asked.

“Yes,” Mrs. Ayers answered. “It’s very durable, and won’t warp or crack.”

“I’d like to look at some of the wooden pieces,” Nancy remarked. “We want to take home some gifts and this is a good chance to purchase them.”

When they reached the Waikiki Beach section, Mrs. Ayers told Nancy where to park and the four walked to the shop. After looking over the many attractive articles on display, George selected a snack server, Bess a tray, and Nancy a salad bowl with wooden fork and spoon.

“Not far from here,” Mrs. Ayers told the girls, “is an extremely interesting jewelry shop. It specializes in ivory pieces. If you have time, I’d suggest you drop in there.”

She went to the door with the girls and pointed out the shop. With a “thank you so much” and an “aloha” to Mrs. Ayers, the three hurried up the street and entered the jewelry store.