The Secret of the Golden Pavillion (2 page)

He handed the paper to Nancy, who studied the strange figures. “Do you know what they mean?” she asked.

“No, I’m ashamed to say I don’t,” Mr. Sakamaki replied. “I intended trying to find out but haven’t had a chance.”

The Hawaiian said that shortly before his grandfather’s death, the elderly man had mailed the symbols to him without any translation. But a letter accompanying the strange piece of paper had said:

“Never sell or give away Kaluakua until you solve its mystery.”

AS NANCY stared at the strange symbols, her heart beat a little faster. This was a new and different kind of mystery for her to solve!

“It sounds like a fascinating case,” she commented. Nancy recalled the exciting adventures she had had solving
The Secret
of
the Old Clock,
her first mystery, and how many thrilling moments she had experienced during her recent adventure,
The Haunted Showboat.
But none of the mysteries had started out with a more challenging clue than the one just presented to her.

Mr. Sakamaki smiled. “You will love Kaluakua. The estate is right along the water of the Waikiki Beach area of Honolulu. It has beautiful gardens and a lovely house, and is a perfect place for a vacation.”

Nancy looked toward her father. She wondered wkat he was thinking.

The lawyer smiled and said, “Mr. Sakamaki, I should think you would want to go there yourself and attend to matters.”

“I suppose I should,” the Hawaiian replied, “but it would be most inconvenient at this time. Many pressing business matters will keep me on the mainland.” He turned to Nancy. “We Hawaiians call the people in the Continental United States ‘mainlanders.’ ”

Mr. Sakamaki now amazed the Drews by saying that actually there were two mysteries in connection with settling his grandfather’s estate. Only that day he had learned of two claimants, a brother and a sister, who had suddenly appeared in Honolulu, declaring that they were grandchildren of the deceased man.

“Besides that disturbing news,” Mr. Sakamaki went on, “I have had word from the caretaker that there have been queer happenings at Kaluakua.”

“What kind of happenings?” Nancy asked.

“For one thing,” the caller replied, “a stranger was seen lurking on the estate beach, and when the caretaker went to question him, the man took off hurriedly in a boat. Then, there is a Golden Pavilion on the grounds, and someone has been hacking the floor of it.”

“A Golden Pavilion?” Nancy repeated.

Mr. Sakamaki said that it was a circular open building about thirty feet in diameter. It had columns and a roof, all covered with gold leaf.

“It sounds very unusual,” Nancy remarked. “Is the secret of Kaluakua connected with this pavilion?”

Mr. Sakamaki shrugged. “Wherever or whatever the secret is, I should like to have it discovered as quickly as possible. I intend to present the estate to Honolulu, with the Golden Pavilion to be used as an outdoor theater. You see, I really don’t need Kaluakua for myself financially. And I have a lovely home in Honolulu where I prefer living.”

Then the man’s face clouded as he continued, “I keep forgetting about the Chatleys. They are the claimants. If they should prove their case, I suppose the estate would have to be split three ways. It is doubtful if they would agree to donate Kaluakua to Honolulu. They probably would want to sell it and take the money to the mainland.”

Mr. Drew now spoke up. “You never heard about these relatives from your grandfather or anyone else?”

Mr. Sakamaki shook his head. “These people are claiming that my grandfather had a wife in California some years before he moved to Honolulu. They further claim that my grandfather abandoned his wife and a baby daughter. Knowing my grandfather as I did, I cannot imagine him doing such a thing. He was somewhat eccentric, but full of kindness. My own parents, who are deceased, never mentioned any such thing taking place.”

“Was your grandfather a Hawaiian?”

“No, he came from Japan. But he married a Polynesian.”

Mr. Sakamaki told the Drews that the claimants’ full names were Roy Chatley and his married sister, Janet Chatley Lee. Both were about forty-five years of age.

“As I said, I have never seen them nor heard of them before,” Mr. Sakamaki continued. “I had come to your father, Nancy, to ask him to help me settle the estate before this complication arose. I just received a letter about the Chatleys from the bank in Honolulu which is acting as executor. Now I’ve come to beg you, Mr. Drew, to investigate this new angle.”

“Just how did your grandfather’s will read regarding beneficiaries ?”

“It stated simply that everything was left to any living grandchildren,” Mr. Sakamaki replied. “I thought I was the only living blood relative until the Chatleys suddenly came into the picture.”

He went on to say that Mr. Drew would be handling the legal angles pertaining to the settling of the estate, including the Chatleys’ claim. He had thought Nancy would like to take over the part of his case having to do with the secret at Kaluakua.

“Oh, I’d love to,” said Nancy eagerly. “May I, Dad?”

The lawyer smiled fondly at his daughter. “There is only one hitch,” he said. “I cannot leave here immediately. Besides, I think my first stop should be Los Angeles, where I’ll look into the background of these claimants to the estate. Valuable time would be lost before I could reach Honolulu.”

Mr. Sakamaki leaned forward in his chair. “Perhaps,” he said to Nancy, “you have some young friends who would go with you? And also your housekeeper?”

Nancy did not reply at once. Her mind flew to her two chums, Bess Marvin and Bess’s tomboy cousin George Fayne, but she knew that the expense involved in such a trip would be prohibitive.

The Hawaiian apparently had guessed her thoughts. Smiling, he said, “I want this mystery solved. Expense means nothing to me. I’ll finance the trip for the entire group.”

Nancy was overwhelmed by the offer. Feeling that it was up to her father to make the decision, she waited for him to speak.

Mr. Drew gazed out his office window a few moments before replying. Then he turned to Mr. Sakamaki. “I will consent to all of this on one condition. The expense involved will be my fee.”

“As you wish,” Mr. Sakamaki said. “I will do everything I can to make it a most enjoyable stay for you.” He arose and shook hands with the two Drews. “You have made me very happy,” he added, “and I will leave you now to make your own plans. I will be in touch with you soon.”

Bowing slightly, he left the office. At once Nancy went over to her father and threw her arms about his neck. “It sounds marvelous, doesn’t it? Almost like a dream. I can hardly believe it!”

Her father agreed, and said he hoped that Bess and George would be able to go with Nancy, as well as Hannah Gruen. “I’ll make arrangements for you all to fly to Honolulu as soon as you let me know if the girls can go.”

He suddenly noticed that his daughter’s smile had faded. Her expression was tense and she was staring out the window.

“What’s the matter?” the lawyer asked her.

Nancy pointed and her father turned to look in that direction. On the rooftop of a nearby office building a man was opening a collapsible ladder. As the Drews watched, he placed it against a window of the adjoining building.

“He may be the thief who got into our house last night!” Nancy cried out. “It looks like the same kind of ladder!”

Instantly Mr. Drew turned to his telephone. He put in a call to a lawyer he knew who occupied the office where the open window was. After a few moments of conversation, he hung up and said to Nancy, “The man is a window washer, but we probably should investigate him.”

“Let’s go talk to him right now,” Nancy urged.

Mr. Drew agreed and they went immediately to the office of his lawyer friend. They learned from him that the window washer’s name was Abe Antok and that he worked for the Acme Window Cleaning Company.

Nancy hastened to the window where the man was working. After a few casual remarks to Abe Antok, she asked, “Isn’t it unusual for ladders to be used for washing office windows?”

“Yes, ma’am, it is,” Abe replied. “But my boss and me, we been inventin’ this ladder. You notice it’s kind of special. We hope to put it on the market someday and make a lot of money. But a few kinks have to be ironed out yet. I use it in places that are hard to get to.”

“I see,” said Nancy. “By the way, how high will it reach?”

“Oh, very high, miss,” Abe replied proudly.

“Could it reach to the third floor of a house?”

“Oh, sure,” Abe answered. “I’ve used it a couple of times for that. Worked fine.”

During the conversation Nancy had made up her mind that Abe in no way seemed like a house-breaker. A new thought suddenly came to her and she asked, “Do you ever rent out this kind of ladder?”

Abe Antok looked at Nancy in amazement. “That’s a funny question, miss,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I did, just once. That was last night.”

“What did the person who rented the ladder want to do with it?” Nancy asked quickly.

“To tell you the truth, miss,” Abe replied, “Mr. Jim O’Keefe—that’s the name of the man who rented the ladder—said he wanted to try it out. He came to our place just about quittin’ time and gave my boss and me a great sales talk. Said he handled stock or something like that. He told us he could set us up in business and make a lot of money for us. We fell for it and gave him the ladder to try out.”

“Where is Jim O’Keefe now?” Nancy inquired eagerly.

Abe Antok’s face took on a sour look. “My boss and me sure had the wool pulled over our eyes. We found the ladder back of the shop this mornin’. When we didn’t hear nothin’ from O’Keefe, my boss called the hotel where he was stayin’. He’d skipped out without payin’ his bill!”

“That’s very interesting,” said Nancy. “What did this man look like?”

Abe described Jim O’Keefe as being of medium height, dark, slender, and with thinning hair.

“Did he have any outstanding characteristics by which you could identify him?” Nancy inquired.

Abe thought for a moment. Then he answered, “Yes, he did. O‘Keefe drummed on my boss’s desk with his fingers. Then he raised up his two forefingers and put the tips of ’em together. Kind of a funny thing to do, wasn’t it?”

Nancy agreed. She thanked Abe for answering her questions, then hurried over to her father who was conversing with his lawyer friend. “I have a wonderful clue to our thief,” she said excitedly, then told the two men about Jim O’Keefe.

Mr. Drew asked permission to use the phone and called the police. Captain McGinnis thanked him for the new clue and said he would get in touch with the lawyer as soon as he had any news.

Nancy and her father returned to Mr. Drew’s office. For several minutes they discussed the mystery—Kaluakua and its secret, the strange claimants to the Sakamaki estate, the burglar, and the proposed trip to Honolulu.

Suddenly Nancy chuckled softly. “You know, Dad, there’s one thing I haven’t told you. Certain friends of Bess, George, and myself are going on a chartered plane trip from Emerson College to Honolulu when their vacation begins.”

“You mean Ned Nickerson, Burt Eddleton, and Dave Evans?” her father asked.

“That’s right, Dad. We’ll have a whole fleet of mainland detectives to solve the Kaluakua mystery!”

MR. DREW’S eyes were twinkling. “This sounds like a Hawaiian house party,” he remarked. “Seriously, I’m glad the boys will be there to help solve the mystery. There are a few angles to this case that worry me, and I’ll feel better with a crowd of you at Kaluakua.”

“I’ll call Bess and George right away,” said Nancy. “Suppose I make it on the outside phone, Dad. See you later.”

She gave him a quick kiss and left. From his secretary’s desk, Nancy called first Bess, then George. No one answered at either of their homes. Nancy, eager to share her secret and hopeful that her friends could make the trip, was disappointed.

“Oh, well, I’ll try later,” she said to herself.

The young sleuth decided to start work on the case immediately. First, she went to the library to see if she could learn from reference books there the meaning of the Polynesian symbols which Nikkio Sakamaki had sent to his grandson. The reference librarian was very helpful, but neither she nor Nancy could find the answer to the riddle.

“I’m sorry,” said Miss Taylor, who knew the young detective well. “I suppose you’re working on another mystery. Perhaps I can help you. Something just occurred to me. I believe I know the very person who might be able to tell you what these symbols mean. He’s Professor Wharton. I understand he speaks many languages and is an authority on hieroglyphics and other forms of ancient writing.”