The Mystery of the Purple Pool (3 page)

“I'm Henry,” said Henry.

“Then this must be … Jessie.” Mike turned toward Jessie. “Is that short for Jessica?”

To the surprise of her sister and brothers, Jessie just smiled and looked down, not saying a word. Usually it was Violet who was shy, and Jessie who was friendly and outgoing. When Jessie looked up, the children could see that her cheeks were red.

Mike smiled. “Let me give you a quick tour. In here is our exercise room.” He motioned through a doorway on their right to a large room filled with all kinds of equipment: stationary bicycles, rowing machines, and weights. “There are locker rooms if you need to change into your suits — ”

“Nope! We've already got ours on,” Benny said.

“Well, I can see Benny is ready to hit the pool,” Mike said. “Take a towel, and go right ahead.”

Benny eagerly grabbed a towel and pushed through the doors to the pool. The others were about to follow him, when suddenly he burst back through the doors. “Wow!
Wait
till you see this!” he cried.

“Yeah, I bet you've never seen a pool on top of a building before,” Mike said.

“And I've never seen one with purple water!” said Benny.

“
Purple
water?” Mike said, smiling. “I see you like to kid around, Benny.”

“I'm not kidding!” Benny replied.

Mike looked at Benny curiously, then pushed open the door to the pool and looked in. “
What?
” they heard him say, and then he quickly disappeared inside. The Aldens ran after him.

The pool room had windows on three sides. Even the ceiling was made of glass, and the sunlight streamed in. There were rows of deck chairs, and on one side there was a small round whirlpool with steaming hot water. In the center of the room was a large rectangular swimming pool — filled with bright
purple
water!

Mike was kneeling at the edge of the pool. “
What
is going on?” he was saying to himself.

“The water isn't supposed to be purple, is it?” Henry asked.

“No — it's
definitely
not,” Mike said. “I can't imagine what's happened.”

“Look,” Jessie said, picking up an empty box that was underneath one of the deck chairs. “Purple dye,” she said, reading the label. She handed the box to Mike. “Why would anyone want the water in the pool to be purple?”

“That's
exactly
what I'd like to know,” Mike said. “Listen, I'd better call the manager. If you kids want to, you can use the whirlpool over there. It's not purple, too, is it?”

“No, it looks fine,” said Henry. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“No, thanks,” Mike answered. “I'll take care of it. But I'm glad you found this box of dye, Jessie. Who knows, it might be an important clue.” He smiled at her as he left the pool room.

Again, Jessie blushed, and gazed after Mike.

The Aldens slipped out of their T-shirts and shorts, and placed them with their towels on a deck chair next to the whirlpool. Benny was the first to dip his foot in the water. “Gosh!” he said, pulling it out quickly. “This is really hot!”

“Yes,” Henry said. “It's not for swimming. It's just for relaxing.”

One by one, the Aldens stepped cautiously into the steaming water and sat down on the ledge around the whirlpool. The water was shooting out of little jets in the sides of the pool, swirling and bubbling all around them.

“I think Jessie has a crush on Mike …” Henry teased, after a moment.

Jessie's face, which was already flushed from the steaming water, turned even redder. “Oh, Henry, I do
not
,” she said. “He's just … nice, that's all.”

“I think he's very cute,” Violet said.

“Anyway, we've got more important things to talk about,” said Jessie, quickly changing the subject. “Like who would dye a swimming pool purple?”

“If I didn't know better, I'd think it was Violet,” Henry said with a smile. “After all, purple
is
your favorite color, isn't it?” he asked his sister.

“Yes, but not for a swimming pool!” Violet said, grinning.

“What about that mysterious man? He was up here before us,” Jessie said. “He might have dumped the dye in.”

“He did seem in an awful hurry to leave,” Henry pointed out.

Just then, Mike and Don Parker burst through the doors. “Oh, my goodness!” Mr. Parker said when he saw the pool. “It really
is
purple! How could this have happened?”

The children couldn't hear everything the two men were saying, but they saw Mike showing Mr. Parker the empty box of dye that Jessie had found.

“I'm getting too hot,” Benny complained. “Isn't it time for breakfast?”

“It's almost nine o'clock. Let's go meet Grandfather in the coffee shop,” Jessie suggested.

The Aldens dried off and gathered up their clothes. Walking past Mr. Parker, they overheard him telling Mike, “We'll just have to drain the pool, clean it, and refill it. But I'm going to find out who did this, and why. I'll get to the bottom of this.”

The children went to their rooms to change, and then took the elevator down to the lobby. Grandfather was standing in front of the coffee shop, chatting with a dark-haired woman.

“Look, Jessie,” Violet whispered, grabbing her sister's arm. “That's the same woman we saw last night, peeking out of her door.”

“Yes, it is,” Jessie agreed.

“These are my grandchildren,” Grandfather said. “This is Karen Walsh. Her room is a few doors down the hall from ours.”

Karen wasn't any friendlier than she'd seemed the night before. “Yes, I saw you all coming in last night, and I was a bit worried. Children can be
so
noisy sometimes.”

“We're not,” said Henry, a bit offended by her remark.

“My grandchildren are very grown-up,” said Mr. Alden, but Karen looked unconvinced. She stood with her arms crossed and her lips pressed tightly together. “How was your swim?” Grandfather asked the children.

“You were up at the pool this morning?” Karen said. Suddenly she seemed very interested in the Aldens. “How was the water?”

“It was purple!” Benny blurted out.

“
Purple?
” Grandfather repeated.

“What do you mean?” Karen asked.

“The water was bright purple,” Henry explained. “Someone had dyed it.”

“Why?” Grandfather asked.

“No one knows,” Benny replied.

“They're going to drain the pool and clean it out,” Violet explained.

“Do they know who did it?” Karen asked.

“No, but we did find an empty box of dye,” Jessie said. “Mike thought that was an important clue.” She blushed slightly.

“Who's Mike?” Grandfather asked.

“Oh — he's just the pool attendant,” Jessie said, blushing a deeper shade of red.

“You found a box of
dye
?” Karen said. “What are they going to do about it?”

“We heard Mr. Parker say he'd get to the bottom of it,” Benny offered.

“He did? Excuse me, I'm afraid I have to run,” Karen said.

“Aren't you going to have breakfast?” Grandfather asked.

“Oh, yes, well … I'm not very hungry after all. There's something I must take care of first,” Karen said, and she hurried back to the elevator.

“What an odd woman,” Henry said.

“Yes, it seems like there are a
lot
of strange people here,” Jessie said, “and one of them put purple dye in the pool. The question is,
who
?”

“And why?” added Henry.

CHAPTER 4

The Switch

“A
ren't we going to eat breakfast?” Benny asked. “I'm hungry!”

“Well, that's no surprise,” Henry said with a laugh.

“Let's go on in,” Grandfather said, leading the way into the coffee shop. The hostess brought the Aldens to a large round table in the center of the room and gave each of them a menu.

“
Everything
looks good!” Jessie said as she read the list of delicious breakfast specials.

When the waitress came and took their orders she said, “I'm Jane. I'll be as fast as I can.”

But the wait for their food seemed endless. Each time Jane came from the kitchen with a tray of food, Benny said, “Is
that
ours?”

At last, Jane came to their table, carrying an extra-large tray loaded with food.

“Benny, your blueberry pancakes look delicious,” Grandfather said. He stirred sugar into his steaming cup of coffee.

“I'll give you a taste if you'd like, Grandfather,” Benny said, pouring a thick stream of syrup over the top of his stack of blue-flecked pancakes. “Want some syrup, Jessie?” he asked.

“No, thanks. I'm going to put sugar on my waffles and fruit,” Jessie said.

Violet had already started eating her cereal. “What's wrong?” Grandfather asked when he noticed the strange look on her face.

“This tastes
awful,
” Violet said.

“Is the milk sour?” Grandfather asked.

“No,” Violet said, “it's not that. The cereal tastes funny … sort of salty.”

“Yuck!” Jessie said after taking a big bite of waffle. “My waffle tastes salty, too!”

“My pancakes are great!” Benny said, munching happily.

“How about you, Henry. How are your scrambled eggs?” Grandfather asked.

Henry took a bite of his eggs and made a face. “My eggs taste sweet!”

“I wonder …” Jessie said thoughtfully. “Hand me the salt and sugar, please.” Henry passed them to her, and Jessie sprinkled a little from the saltshaker onto a finger. She took a taste. “This tastes
sweet.
” Then she spooned out a little from the sugar bowl and took a taste of that. “
Salty!
” she cried. “The salt and sugar are mixed up!”

“That's why all of our food tastes funny!” Henry said.

“Not mine,” Benny said. He had already eaten half of his pancakes. “Mine tastes good! I'm glad I only used syrup!”

“I'll speak to Jane and see if we can get this straightened out,” Grandfather said. But try as he might, he couldn't get her attention. Suddenly, it seemed as if everyone in the coffee shop needed something, and all the waiters and waitresses were running from table to table.

“Yes, I'll get you a fresh omelette,” the Aldens heard Jane saying to one table. “Certainly I can bring you another bowl of oatmeal,” she said to another. “I just can't understand what's happening this morning,” she muttered to herself.

At last she came to the Aldens' table. “I believe the salt and sugar have gotten mixed up,” Grandfather told her.

“What?” the weary-looking waitress said.

“We noticed that all our food tasted funny,” Jessie explained, “and so I checked the salt and sugar. They've been switched.”

“Really! How did that happen?” Jane said. “I'll bring you a new order right away. But I wonder …” She paused.

“What are you wondering?” Henry asked.

“Well,
everyone's
had some kind of complaint this morning about their food,” she explained.

“Not me!” said Benny, gobbling up the last bite of his pancakes.

Jane smiled at Benny. “I wonder if the salt and sugar were switched at other tables, too.” She walked over to the table next to the Aldens'. “Could I borrow your salt and sugar?” she asked.

“Sure,” the man sitting there said gruffly. “I'm not eating another thing until you bring me some fresh coffee. This tastes terrible! I keep putting more sugar in it, and it just gets worse.”

“Right away, sir,” she said. But first she did the same test Jessie had done earlier. “The salt and sugar on this table were mixed up, too,” she said after tasting each one. “I'm so sorry. I'll bring you some fresh breakfast immediately.”

“Thank you,” Grandfather said. The Aldens watched as Jane motioned to the other waitresses and waiters. They stood talking in a corner for a moment, and then all of them disappeared into the kitchen. After a few minutes they came out carrying empty trays, and went from table to table, removing the saltshakers and sugar bowls.