“Is he ill?” Frank asked.
“He isn’t ill physically, really,” Senhora Santana said, “but emotionally and spiritually, well—that’s another story.”
“It’s a story I’ve heard often,” Inspector Oliveira said. “The war had such an effect on millions of people.”
Senhora Santana nodded. “Heinz-Erich Lüdemann didn’t die. He was able to escape after the Gestapo took him back to Germany. He was on the run for almost two years—until the war was over. He hid in the forests, often just one step ahead of the authorities.
“After the war he returned to Lisbon, hoping to make contact again with the Fleissners. But he learned from Senhora Bragança that the Fleissners had fled to the United States. My grandfather entrusted Senhora Bragança with his secret and she let him dig up the suitcase from her garden. It was she, he told me, who suggested that he fill it with bricks and bury it again, which would throw off anyone who might come looking for it in the future.”
Frank and Joe looked at each other.
“Exactly,” Joe said.
“If anyone learned of the suitcase’s existence and found it,” Frank added, “whomever it was might just think that the bricks were what was buried in the first place, and that the gold had always been somewhere else.”
Senhora Santana nodded. “With the end of the war and with so many displaced people moving themselves and their belongings around, nobody really thought much about the gold. It was actually quite common for people to dig up the wealth they had buried before and during the war and to carry it around with them. Heinz-Erich was one of many.
“Grandfather deposited the Fleissners’ half of the gold in the largest bank in Lisbon. He put half of his half in another bank and then gave the rest to various relief agencies and other organizations who were trying to rebuild the lives of people who had lost everything.”
“Your grandfather sounds like a remarkable man,” Joe said. “I’d be honored to meet him.”
“I think he’d like to meet the people who saved his granddaughter’s life,” Senhora Santana said. She turned to Frank and Isabel. “I’m including you in that,” she added.
“We’d be honored too,” Frank and Isabel said.
“There’s something I still don’t understand, though,” Joe said. “Throughout Europe, there’s no record of a Heinz-Erich Lüdemann who would be the age of your grandfather. Did he change his name?”
Senhora Santana nodded. “After my grandfather’s return to Portugal he sensed almost immediately that it would be best for him assume a new identity,” she said. “He legally changed his name to Francisco Antunes and married a Portuguese girl—my grandmother.
“Over the years he discreetly tried to locate the Fleissners. He didn’t want to be too public about it. He feared for his life. We heard stories of reprisals from ex-Nazis, not only in Europe but also in America.” She looked directly at Frank and Joe. “The Nazis who fled after the war didn’t just go to South America—they went to North America, too. My grandfather feared not only for his safety but also for the safety of the Fleissners. It’s easy to think that he should have been bolder in his attempts, I know, and my mother and I often suggested it because it troubled him so—but we hadn’t experienced what he had gone through, hiding for over two years and afraid of his own shadow. I can hardly imagine his fear. We offered to help him with the search—even to go to the United States ourselves—if it would bring him some peace, but he would never let us.”
“It was just a guess on our part that he—or someone who knew him—would see the personal ad that we placed in the German newspaper,” Joe said.
“My grandfather taught my mother German and my mother taught me,” Senhora Santana said. “No matter what happened during those horrible years, my grandfather was always proud of his German heritage.”
Frank looked at Inspector Oliveira. “Now what?” he said.
“There should be no problem whatsoever,” Inspector Oliveira said. “Frau Rilke will probably just need to prove that she is indeed the daughter of the Fleissners, and then the money will be hers.”
“It’s a fortune!” Senhora Santana said.
“Why don’t you call her from here?” Isabel said. “It shouldn’t be too late in the States.”
Joe looked at his watch and calculated the time. “Well, even if she is in bed, I’m sure she won’t mind being woken up for this news.” It turned out that Frau Rilke had gone to bed, but she hadn’t gone to sleep. In fact, she told Joe, she hadn’t slept much since his last telephone call, when he had asked for the name of the German soldier.
“We found him under a different name,” Joe said into the phone. “He’s still alive and living in Lisbon.” Joe heard a sob on the other end of the line. “After the war he put the gold bars in a bank here in Lisbon under your family’s name. There’s a fortune here for you.”
With that news Frau Rilke said that she was so overcome with joy that she could no longer talk to Joe. Now that the gold had been found, she said that she would tell her family, and she asked Joe that he give the news to the daughter who lived with her. Frau Rilke passed the phone to her daughter, who greeted Joe. When he told her the news, he heard a clattering noise, as if the receiver had fallen to the floor. In the background, though, he heard what he could only describe as sounds of pure joy.
Joe waited for a minute. When no one picked up the receiver, he hung up. “We’ll call back after we get to the hotel,” he said with a grin. “Maybe by then someone will remember that we’re on the phone!”
• • •
Two days later Frank and Joe, along with Mr. Hardy and Inspector Oliveira, met Frau Rilke and her daughter Heidi at the Lisbon airport.
On the drive into town, heading to the bank where Frau Rilke’s account had been for over sixty years, Frank and Joe told them everything that had happened.
Some of the story, especially the part about jumping off the bridge to save Senhora Santana, even Fenton Hardy hadn’t heard yet—and Joe noticed the proud look on their father’s face.
Once they reached the bank Frau Rilke produced the necessary evidence to prove her identity. Inspector Oliveira had agreed to vouch for her as well. With the stroke of a computer key the Lisbon bank transferred the fortune they’d been holding for Frau Rilke into her account in Bayport.
“The secret of the soldier’s gold has been solved!” Joe said.
“Yes, and the Hardy boys solved it,” Frau Rilke said. She gave each boy a big hug. “I haven’t forgotten my promise, either,” she added. “Part of this money belongs to you.”
Frau Rilke’s daughter nodded. “Mother told me what she had promised to you, and she was right to do that,” Heidi said. “Believe me—this is more money than we could ever use.”
Frank and Joe looked at each other.
“Honestly, Frau Rilke, we couldn’t take the money for ourselves,” Frank said, “but I’m sure Joe would agree that it could really do Bayport High School some good.”
“That’s a wonderful suggestion,” Frau Rilke said. “When we get back to Bayport we’ll talk to the principal and find out what he’s been putting off buying for the school because he hasn’t had enough money.”
Mr. Hardy looked at his watch. “We’ll need to continue this discussion on the plane,” he said. “We’re all booked on the same flight back to New York.”
“We’ll stop by the hotel to pick up Mrs. Hardy, Aunt Gertrude, and everyone’s luggage,” Inspector Oliveira said, “and we’ll rush everybody to the airport.” He looked at Frank and Joe. “Isabel said to tell you two good-bye, but that she’ll call you when she gets to Hollywood.”
“Great!” Frank and Joe said.
Frau Rilke had another surprise for everyone. She and her daughter had actually decided to stay in Lisbon for two more days so they could have a short reunion with Heinz-Erich Lüdemann.
Everyone agreed that would be a perfect ending to the story. Inspector Oliveira said he’d be happy to help them get to wh
erever they needed to be.
As they left the bank Joe said, “Bayport High School is just about to become one of the most envied schools in the country.”
“You’re telling me,” Frank said. “When we return, the school will be a lot richer—in both money and diving talent!”
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition December 2003
Copyright © 2003 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
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All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
The text of this book was set in New Caledonia.
THE HARDY BOYS MYSTERY STORIES is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
THE HARDY BOYS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Library of Congress Control Number 2003103454
ISBN 0-689-85885-X
ISBN 978-1-4391-1389-9 (eBook)
The Secret of the Soldier's Gold Page 10