The Lure of the Italian Treasure Read online

  “Yes,” Julia said, “possibly the lid is made of a different metal than the base, which might have caused a corrosive chemical reaction.” She took hold of the lid and gave a gentle tug.

  Off it came.

  Nobody said anything for a good ten seconds. Then Julia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “This is beyond belief,” she whispered.

  Joe kept the light shining in the box. A magic space full of bright, glowing objects threw the light back into his face.

  “It’s . . . it’s . . . a jewelry box,” Julia struggled to say. “Full of gold. . . . Bracelets, fibulae, earrings, agrafes . . . all in perfect shape. Nothing like this has ever been found outside a tomb.” She peered up at Frank and Joe and smiled triumphantly.

  “Yeee-haaa!” Joe shouted at the top of his lungs.

  “Shhhhh!” Julia said. But there was no stopping Joe.

  “It’s a gold mine!” he shouted, loud enough for everyone in the complex to hear.

  “So much for keeping this secret until we can secure it,” Julia said.

  The first person to show up was Francesca Ruffino. Without asking Julia for permission, she started down the ladder. “Papa, come over!” she yelled before her head was below ground level. “They’ve found something here!”

  Soon the count was peering over the edge into the room. Next to him was a man in his fifties in a white linen suit and a wide-brimmed hat. Joe noticed that this man was wearing various pieces of gold jewelry. Instead of a tie, he had his shirt open to reveal a gold pendant resting on his hairy chest.

  Students from the adjacent room came, and even Bruno the gardener was peeking down into the room.

  The sudden intrusion of Francesca and the gathering of the small crowd up above shook Julia out of her euphoric mood. Before Francesca could get a look at the jewelry, Julia had the lid back on. “We’ve got to hush this up,” she whispered, worried. “Joe, tell everyone you were just kidding.”

  “Oh, come on, Julia,” Francesca implored. “Whatever it is will be perfectly safe here. Papa can put some guards on duty.”

  Julia hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do.

  “Good then,” Francesca said confidently. “Let’s have a look.”

  “Well, I suppose we’re not going to fool anyone.” She bent down and carefully lifted the lid. “Feast your eyes, Francesca.”

  “But I’m afraid everyone else will have to stay out of the pit,” Julia said with authority, addressing the crowd above. Everyone agreed and peered down intently as Julia removed the lid. Joe directed the light into the box.

  “It’s a pity the government will pay you only a fraction of what the black market would pay for something like this,” the man in the linen suit said to the count, loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Joe thought that was a pretty weird thing to say to anyone, and an especially weird thing to say to a count.

  “Allow me to introduce my blunt friend, Signore Antonio Cafaggio,” the count said to Julia. “Despite all outward appearances,” he continued, with a smile and raised eyebrows, “he is an honorable man. He owns the best ceramics shop in Florence, and, if I am not mistaken, he is very knowledgeable about Etruscan objects of various kinds.”

  Signore Cafaggio bowed and removed his hat. “Will you be joining us for dinner this evening?” he asked Julia. “I should like very much to discuss what you have found so far.”

  “Thank you very much, sir,” she replied. “But I’ve already got a date with my assistants. We’re going to celebrate.” She flashed Cosimo, Frank, and Joe a quick grin and then proceeded to cover up the box with a small canvas tarp.

  Julia was obviously too distracted to dawdle in conversation. She quickly turned her back to the count and his friend and finished covering up the box. Then she changed her mind. “I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to leave it here, now that everyone knows about it. On the other hand, it’s going to take some time to excavate the fragile base of the box. And I don’t think it would be wise to handle the jewels.”

  “You really shouldn’t worry, Julia,” Francesca said. “Nothing will happen to your treasure. Papa, can’t you arrange a guard for the night?”

  “Of course,” the count said cheerfully as the dinner bell began ringing. “We’ll have Gino stand watch.” He turned to go. “Oh, and Francesca,” he said over his shoulder, “your young man is here.”

  Joe was interested to see Francesca give Frank a coy smile and watch as Frank blushed slightly. She started up one rung and then backed down. She walked over to Frank and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Congratulations, Frank,” she said, and raced back up the ladder.

  She was met at the top by a tall, well-built young man, who had evidently seen this last interaction. Joe didn’t know what he said to Francesca in Italian, but it didn’t seem very nice. Without waiting to be introduced, he took her by the arm and whisked her off to dinner.

  “Nice to meet you!” Joe yelled.

  “Can it, Joe,” Frank said. “Let’s help Julia get this place secure.”

  “Actually, I think I’d better call Professor Mosca and ask him what to do,” Julia said. “Maybe we should get some lights in here and remove the box tonight. Hang on while I go phone him.”

  Joe and Cosimo began covering up the site with plastic while Frank seemed lost in a daze. Joe assumed Frank was thinking about Francesca and so was working out a good way to give him a hard time when Cosimo spoke. “I think the girl, she is trouble. Take my advice and don’t bother about her, Frank.”

  “Girl?” Frank asked, amused. “What girl? I was just trying to figure out why the lady of our Etruscan house didn’t come back after the fire to retrieve such a valuable jewelry box.”

  “Maybe she couldn’t,” Cosimo said.

  Joe smiled at his brother’s success at covering up his reaction to Francesca’s kiss. On the other hand, maybe Frank was thinking about the poor Etruscan woman who had lost her jewelry box, and possibly her life. With Frank, it was hard to tell.

  When Julia rejoined them, she appeared more relaxed. She had been unable to reach Professor Mosca, but did reach the conservator, Ricardo Corsini, who was in charge of the conservation lab in Florence.

  “Corsini wanted to have the box in his lab tonight,” Julia explained, “but we agreed that it must be carefully excavated. We will also need to get several closeup pictures of the excavation, and Armando is gone for the day.”

  “Do you think it will be safe?” Cosimo asked.

  “Well, Corsini made the excellent point that each of the villas in these hills contains dozens of priceless treasures. There’s no reason a thief would single out this box. Plus we’ll put one guard at the site. So let’s go celebrate!”

  • • •

  After showering and throwing on clean clothes, Frank, Joe, and Cosimo waited for Julia in the garden on a bench in the shadow of an old, weathered statue of some mythical warrior fighting a three-headed monster.

  “Hey, we should pick up one of these for Mom’s garden,” Joe said. “It would inspire her in her battle against the rabbits.”

  “Do you think it’s supposed to be one of Francesca’s ancestors?” Frank asked.

  “Interesting idea,” Cosimo said, studying the statue through his thick glasses. Despite Cosimo’s interest in archaeology, he planned on becoming a doctor. Right then Frank could see Cosimo was practicing his clinical gaze. “It’s obviously meant to be Hercules fighting Cerberus, the protector of Hades, but it is true that artists in the Renaissance would sometimes dress up their patrons in flattering disguises.”

  “Speaking of disguises,” Joe said, “look who’s coming.”

  Julia had apparently managed to break away from digging and studying long enough to do some shopping in the fashionable shops of Florence. Her leather skirt, silk blouse, and high heels—not to mention her makeup—gave her a chic Italian look.

  “Where to?” she asked, sidling down on the bench between Frank and Cosimo. “I don’t suppose anyone wou
ld be interested in Chinese. I could go for a change of pace.”

  “Chinese food in Italy?” Joe asked. “Cool.”

  • • •

  The Chinese food was as good as any Frank and Joe had ever had, and it was fun sharing Julia’s excitement about the archaeological site. Afterward, Julia took her scooter back to the apartment she had taken in Sesto Fiorentino, while Frank, Joe, and Cosimo took theirs back to the villa.

  Cosimo had convinced Frank and Joe to rent Vespa scooters so that they could explore the area together.

  The ride home was glorious. Warm moonlit air streamed past them as they wound around the hairpin turns of the road leading out from the noisy congestion of the Arno Valley. As they ascended the peaceful beauty of the Apennine Mountains, Joe was straining every muscle in his body to keep his scooter under control as he threw his weight into a turn at top speed. When he hit a patch of oily pavement, he lost control, and before he knew it had spun off the road. He flew over the embankment and down the mountain like a skier going off a jump.

  When he came to, he could remember nothing of his fall. All he knew was that he couldn’t move. He lay motionless while a siren filled his ears with a horrible wail that he knew was heading for him. . . .

  • • •

  “Joe, Joe, wake up” came the sound of his brother’s voice, accompanied by a violent shaking. “There’s a police car parked on the street right below.”

  “Huh? What? Oh,” Joe sputtered as he struggled to wake up. “Wow, did I just have a nightmare! I dreamed I crashed my Vespa.”

  “Your brain must have heard the siren,” Frank said.

  Joe got out of bed feeling dazed but glad to be in one piece. He followed Frank to the window, where he could see the police car parked beside the villa.

  “Look!” Frank said, leaning out the screenless window and pointing at a man coming out of the garden door. The doorway went through the massive spiked wall that abutted the villa and surrounded the garden. The man was running toward the two officers. “It’s Bruno and he looks upset.”

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Joe asked, as the officers ran with Bruno back into the garden.

  “If there was something wrong in the villa, they wouldn’t go in the garden door,” Frank replied.

  “Julia’s gonna die if somebody stole the jewelry box,” Joe said.

  “She’s not the only one,” Frank replied as another police car arrived with its siren on. “We didn’t even get a picture of the jewelry box. It would be as if it was never found.”

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Cosimo said. He had gotten up, too, and was looking out the window. “Maybe it is only an ordinary crime, like a murder.” He smiled mischievously.

  “Well, let’s find out,” Joe said.

  They quickly dressed and raced out. Their room, along with those of the other students, was on the top floor of a two-story wing on the east end of the villa. The boys went down the stairs at the west end of the wing and through the dining hall, into the giant kitchen, and straight out the double glass doors into the garden.

  Joe pushed open one of the glass doors, and they filed out into the garden. The brilliant, crisp colors of the flowers and foliage in the early morning sun jarred them awake.

  They ran past the tall hedge that bordered the grassed-in area toward the Etruscan ruins, at the south end of the garden. As soon as they rounded the hedge they could see the guard sitting on the ground, surrounded by Bruno and four officers. Bruno was kneeling next to the guard, untying the cord that was dangling from one of his wrists.

  3 A Suspicious Bug

  * * *

  Frank couldn’t tell from the guard’s deeply tanned and wrinkled face whether or not he was in pain. He looked a little dazed. Instead of a uniform, he was dressed in well-worn trousers and a sleeveless undershirt.

  “He doesn’t look much like a professional security guard to me,” Frank said to Joe and Cosimo.

  “Perhaps he’s one of the workers who tend Count Ruffino’s vineyard and olive grove,” Cosimo suggested.

  “How could a guy who works all day in the fields stay awake all night?” Joe asked. “I bet he fell asleep on the job.”

  Frank was about to try his Italian on the officers to ask them what had happened when Cosimo took the initiative.

  “They say the guard remembers nothing,” Cosimo reported. “He says he must have been knocked out, but there’s no sign of an injury. Joe might be right about him falling asleep.”

  “Did you ask if they checked to see if the box is gone?” Joe asked.

  “They said they didn’t want to disturb the site until the inspector arrives.”

  Frank saw something in a clump of roses about twenty feet away that looked out of place. He walked over and saw that it was a small white handkerchief. He bent down to take a closer look and knew at once that it was a crucial piece of evidence. The cloth was dry now, but the smell of chloroform was unmistakable.

  Frank was about to get up when an officer grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back, shouting something.

  “Cosimo, tell them that we’re used to police work,” Joe said when he saw Frank being manhandled. “Our father is a detective, and we often help him out.”

  “No,” Cosimo said seriously as he and Joe walked toward Frank. “I think we’d better just be quiet. I know the type. Let’s hope the inspector is more civilized.”

  The officer finished scolding Frank, and the three boys began walking back to the villa.

  “Is it really true that you have done detective work?” Cosimo asked

  “Once you’ve started, it seems to get under your skin,” Joe replied.

  “Wow,” Cosimo said as they turned the corner around the big hedge. “I am a big fan of American detective shows. I never thought I would meet a real live American detective.”

  “We’re not quite real, Cosimo,” Joe explained. “We don’t have a license or anything.”

  “Well, if you’ve helped solve real crimes, you are real enough for me,” Cosimo replied.

  Frank saw Julia come in through the door that led from the garden to the street. With her was a woman wearing a dark suit. Both women hurried over to join them.

  They had gotten no further than learning that the woman in the suit was Inspector Amelia Barducci, when Professor Mosca came running up from a different direction.

  “Che succede?” he said, asking Julia what had happened.

  “Non lo so,” she replied, looking nervously at Inspector Barducci and then at Cosimo and the Hardys. “Parla inglese?” she asked the inspector.

  “Yes, a little,” Inspector Barducci replied.

  “Good, then we all have a common language,” Julia said, glancing at the Hardys.

  “But what is the problem that we are all going to discuss?” Professor Mosca asked impatiently. “I am eager to see the amphora that this young man discovered yesterday.” He extended an arm in Joe’s direction.

  “That has already been sent to the conservation lab, sir,” Joe said. “But there’s some very bad news, we think.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, again impatient. “You think there is bad news, or there is news which you think might be bad?”

  “The guard was tied up last night,” Frank said, cutting through the professor’s argument.

  “What guard?” the professor asked.

  “Frank here found something extraordinary after you left—a box full of jewelry—so Count Ruffino agreed to hire a guard,” Julia explained. “I tried to get in touch with you last night to see what you wanted us to do. Signore Corsini and I agreed to keep it in the ground so that it could be properly excavated.”

  “So someone stole it. Why didn’t you tell me in the first place?”

  “We don’t know yet that the box was stolen, sir,” Frank pointed out. “The police were waiting until the inspector arrived to approach the site. That’s why we think there’s bad news. Very bad news.”

  “Well, as I a
m here,” Inspector Barducci said, “let us proceed to the site.”

  Frank, Joe, and Cosimo followed along silently, while Julia led Inspector Barducci and Professor Mosca, amid a barrage of rapid-fire Italian and waving arms, to their room at the edge of the Etruscan complex.

  Frank could tell from Julia’s face as she peered down into the room from the edge of the mud-brick wall that there was in fact bad news waiting for them down in the shadows.

  Professor Mosca was the first to begin the ranting and raving.

  Cosimo translated the Italian. “He’s just using a lot of words to say that he’s mad at everyone. He’s mad at Julia for not phoning him again later last night, and at the Count for not hiring a professional guard, and again at Julia and Ricardo Corsini for not hiring a professional guard.”

  “It looks like he’s going to have a heart attack,” Frank said, watching the professor wipe the sweat from his glistening head.

  “I feel sorry for Julia,” Joe said. “It wasn’t her fault. I mean, I would have stayed out here last night if I had known the guard was going to fall asleep.”

  “I don’t think she’s really listening anyway,” Cosimo said. “Mosca’s just making a lot of noise to express his frustration. He’ll stop in a minute.”

  At the same time that Cosimo finished speaking, Professor Mosca stopped yelling. He marched over to a nearby bench, collapsed into a sitting position, and lit a cigarette with a shaking hand.

  “Boy, there’s a health nut for you,” Joe said.

  “You know, the guard didn’t fall asleep,” Frank said. “He was knocked out with chloroform.”

  “How’d you figure that out?” Joe asked.

  “The thief carelessly threw the handkerchief over there in the rose bushes.” Frank pointed to the spot where the officer had interrupted his investigation.

  “And you recognized the odor of chloroform. Very good, Frank,” Cosimo the future doctor said. “They have stopped using this chemical in operations because the patient’s response is very unpredictable. But I suppose it works well enough for a thief.”