When the girls arrived at the kayak shop on Monday morning the salesperson at the counter said that Michael was not there. The young man had a curious half-grin on his face as if he had an interesting secret he could not share. He gave them Michael's address though.
The girls had to consult their map of the island to find the house where Michael was staying. He was living in the basement suite. They rang the bell to his door but there was no answer.
"I'm going to play a hunch," said Nancy with determination. "Let's go back up to the blind at the lookout."
Soon they were crouching behind the bushes at the same place where they observed the blind the first time. On this occasion though, there was no mistaking that the blind was occupied. A silhouetted head and shoulders were visible through the opening nearest the girls.
"If you had made us walk up all this way for nothing I would have throttled you," Bess whispered to Nancy.
"Oh, it's my turn," said George as she picked up a rock and tossed it towards the blind.
A man emerged. It was Constable Lewis in civilian clothes. He looked stern as he approached but he spoke mildly. "What can I do for you young ladies?"
They were about to ask questions about what the policeman was doing but George spoke out first. "We were looking for Michael, really."
Constable Lewis viewed them through narrowed eyes. "There's no keeping secrets from you lot, is there? You haven't been blabbing about this, have you?"
Ivy was about to make a retort but Nancy looked placid. Constable Lewis looked at her and then said, "It doesn't make any difference now anyway. He's in a car parked on the road just outside Mr. Eberhart's residence."
The girls scrambled down the hillside, barely containing their impulse to run all the way back.
"This case is coming to a climax soon," said Bess, echoing all of their thoughts.
"I'm sure Michael will believe our theories and he can convince the other police," said George.
In an unmarked car on the roadside the girls found Michael seated with another man. They made no attempt at concealment. The other man was operating a laptop computer. Michael was not pleased to see them.
"This isn't fun and games. Stay clear of this investigation. There's no telling what might happen at this point."
"Don't you know who you're talking to?" George shot back. "This is Nancy Drew, famous girl detective. She's been involved in countless police cases. They work with her all the time."
"Yeah, yeah. I've read all about her but I'm not about to put you civilians in a dangerous position."
"Come on George. We'd better back off." Nancy put a hand on her friend's arm as if to guide her away.
"I'll come over to your house to fill you in, when I'm relieved," Michael said, in a mollified tone.
At noon Michael was in the Fisks' house. "I've been stationed here since last month. Undercover." He flashed a grin at the girls. "We've had suspicions about an operation going on here. Then last month a Coast Guard boat following a freighter was lucky enough to see it dump some cargo overboard. No boat came to pick up the cargo. Most likely they had spotted the boat. They hauled in the crate and found ten kilograms of an illicit substance. That drop spot was close to a couple of these islands and we had heard specifically that the pick-up person operated from Catriola. That's why I was assigned to assist the local police detachment.
"Of course, the police and Coast Guard can't watch the island day and night. We have nothing like the resources. We have a list of high-risk freighters and we know when they're expected to pass by. That's when we concentrate our efforts.
"The Sunday before last, we were on alert. There was a police boat available and a helicopter. The helicopter must have been too close to the freighter and the crew must have heard it because they delayed dumping the crate. The helicopter gave up the chase. The pick-up person must have kept following the freighter as it went north, staying along the coastline. The crew finally made the drop. The police boat was still waiting offshore of Catriola. Their patience was rewarded because they spotted the smuggler's boat heading back towing the crate. He was too far away and too fast for them though. He ducked into one of the coves on the west side of the island and they lost him. I was in a car driving along the coastline. I couldn't make visual contact. As I drove around the island I probably did see the boat in question but by then it was just another pleasure boat on an island full of them. It was a pretty frustrating exercise."
"The police couldn't identify the boat?" asked George.
"No, from that distance it wasn't distinctive." Michaelcontinued. "We would have been back to square one except that last Tuesday we received an anonymous tip to keep a watch on Horace Eberhart. That's when I set up the blind on the hill."
"When Nancy phoned the police to tell them about our suspicions they only pretended to be uninterested because their investigation was ongoing and they already had a suspect. You're sure that it's Eberhart then, not Mr. Podmore?" questioned George.
"I'm definitely not sure of that," Michael replied. "In fact, we have the Podmores under observation as well."
"And is there another freighter on your list expected any time soon?"
"As a matter of fact, there's one expected in three days. But by then we hope to have this operation taken out of action."