(#60) The Greek Symbol Mystery Read Free Page A

basket. “Maybe there’s something else hidden inside.”
    “Like a scorpion?” Bess squirmed.
    “If anything, there are probably dollar bills,” Nancy announced mysteriously. “Remember the Greek myth about the Golden Apples? They were guarded by a snake that twisted itself around the pillars of Heracles, and that’s how the dollar sign came into being.”
    “I always thought apples were a love gift from Aphrodite,” Bess said dreamily.
    Ignoring the comment, Nancy glanced inside the basket. “Nothing here,” she said, refilling it.
    “So now what?” Bess asked, flopping down on her bed. “I’m beat.”
    “You’re just suffering from delusions,” George giggled. “Come on. Get up. We have work to do.”
    “Right this minute?” Bess muttered.
    Nancy glanced at her watch. “We may be able to catch Mr. Vatis before he leaves his office,” she said, referring to the attorney who handled Helen Nicholas’s inheritance from her uncle.
    The girls took a taxi to the address Mr. Drew had given Nancy for the law firm Vatis & Vatis. To their astonishment, the attorneys had moved and another name was painted on the entrance.
    Inside, Nancy introduced herself to the receptionist, who smiled politely when she heard Nancy’s question concerning the law office. “All I know is that the father, Vatis Senior, died some time ago. I have no idea where his son is. No one else does, either.”
    “Thank you anyway, Nancy said in disappointment.
    Turning to leave, she and the others almost bumped into a man who was standing behind them apparently waiting to talk to the young woman. The girls apologized and left, a little embarrassed.
    “I wonder where Vatis went,” Bess remarked.
    “Who knows?” George sighed. “The question is, where do we go from here?”

3
    Unwanted Mask
    “We’re not far from Plaka,” Nancy replied to Bess’s question.
    “Then what are we waiting for?” her friend asked. “I hear it’s mysterious and exciting!”
    Within ten minutes, the girls found themselves in the quaint district of old Athens where the capital of modern Greece had formed in the early 1800s.
    “The houses are charming,” Nancy observed.
    The buildings rose in craggy steps like layers of stone carved out of an ancient hill. Most were trellised with vines and had window boxes and clay pots filled with colorful flowers. Jasmine and honeysuckle permeated the air.
    “Smells wonderful,” Bess said. She breathed deeply as they wandered down the narrow, winding street.
    They had paused in front of a small Byzantine church when a bearded clergyman wearing a black robe darted ahead to enter. Nancy gazed up at the faded red dome.
    “It must be several hundred years old,” she said. “Shall we go in, too?”
    “Sure,” George replied.
    The odor of incense filled the church as the service ended, and in the entrance thin, white candles burned dimly, creating a soft glow around the icon on the stand next to them. It was a small wood panel on which a saint’s picture had been painted. The bearded priest placed a beautiful silver box in front of it.
    “What’s he doing?” Bess whispered as he hurried out.
    “He’s leaving a present for the saint,” Nancy explained. She stepped closer.
    To her surprise, there was a nautical crest engraved on the lid of the box. Was the young man related to a shipping family? If so, might he know Constantine Nicholas?
    “Come on!” the girl detective exclaimed, leading the way out.
    By now, the Orthodox priest was far ahead of them. To Nancy’s dismay, he disappeared quickly into the crowd of pedestrians at the foot of the hill.
    “Oh, dear,” Nancy said with a sigh as they lost sight of him completely.
    The smell of roasted corn now drew the girls farther into monastiraki, where a variety of wares hung across open shop doors.
    “Look at those embroidered blouses,” Bess remarked. “Aren’t they pretty?”
    “I’m going to buy one,” George announced.
    “Me too,” her cousin