The Mystery of the Purple Pool (7 page)
“That mysterious man!” said Benny. “I'll bet you anything it's him. He always looks as if he's just done something wrong and doesn't want anyone to catch him.”
“And I saw his name on the pool sign-in sheet,” Henry remembered. “John Smith. Doesn't that sound like a made-up name?”
“Sure does,” Violet agreed. She had gotten off her bike and gone to get a drink at the water fountain near the door.
“So we've got some suspects. Now what? We have no
proof
that any of them did anything wrong,” said Jessie.
The children all sat quietly thinking, tired from their exercising.
“I think we should follow each one of them,” Benny said. “That's what a real detective would do. Maybe then we'll get some proof!”
“I like that idea, Benny,” said Jessie. “Let's do it!”
“Shhhh!” said Violet, who was still standing near the door. In a loud whisper she said, “Look who's out there talking to Mike!”
The Aldens crowded around their sister, trying to see. It was Karen Walsh, carrying her notebook as always.
“Are you
sure
I'll be able to use the pool tomorrow?” Karen was asking Mike.
“Yes, ma'am. We're working as quickly as we can,” he answered.
“And how do you know someone won't dye it orange tomorrow?” Karen asked.
“
Orange?
” Mike said. “Well, I certainly hope that won't happen â ”
“Yes, I'll bet you do,” Karen said. “But you can't be sure, can you?” And with that, she turned on her heel, and headed for the elevator.
“This is our chance!” Benny whispered. “We should follow her!”
“What about the other suspects?” Violet asked.
“Violet, you come with me,” said Jessie, grabbing her sister's arm. “Benny and Henry, you two try to find out more about Lucille and the mysterious man.”
Violet and Jessie waited until Karen had gotten on the elevator and the doors had shut behind her. Then they hurried out and looked up at the panel over the elevator, which showed what floor the elevator was on. It stopped when it got to nine.
“What's she doing on the ninth floor?” Violet asked. “Her room's on the fifth floor, like ours.”
“I don't know, but we're about to find out,” said Jessie. “Come on!” Jessie headed for the door to the stairs. “We'll walk down. Waiting for the elevator will take too long.”
“Hey, girls, how'd you like the exercise bikes?” Mike called out just then.
“They were fun,” Jessie said, turning around to talk to him.
“Sorry we have to run, but we're on an important mission,” Violet explained. “Come on, Jessie.”
“Well, have fun!” Mike said with a grin.
R
eluctantly waving good-bye to Mike, Jessie followed Violet down the stairs to the ninth floor. When they got there, they looked around for Karen, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Rats!” Jessie said to her sister. “We've lost her.”
The only person they saw was a maid with a cart full of cleaning supplies and fresh towels. She smiled at the girls as she left room 907 and entered room 908.
“Look.” Violet pointed. “There's a door opening.” The door was halfway down the hall. Someone peered out and then left the room hurriedly. It was Karen. Violet pulled her sister behind the maid's cart where they couldn't be seen.
“I wonder whose room she's coming out of,” Jessie said.
“I don't know.” Violet poked her head out to look. “But she's writing in that notebook again. Uh-oh! Now she's coming this way! Duck!”
Just then, the maid came out of room 908. “I always forget something,” she was muttering to herself. Leaving the door to room 908 open, she disappeared down the stairs.
Karen had been watching the maid. From behind the cart, Violet and Jessie saw her look around, as if to make sure no one was watching her. Then she ducked into room 908.
“What's she
doing
in there?” Jessie whispered.
The two girls scurried across the hallway as quietly as possible, and flattened themselves against the wall. Violet, who was closer to the open door, peeked into room 908.
“What's she doing?” Jessie asked.
“She's looking in the closet,” Violet reported. She watched Karen sliding the closet door open and shut.
“Now what's she doing?” Jessie asked. It was frustrating not being able to see for herself.
“She's looking at the bed â and
under
the bed,” Violet said.
The door to the stairs opened, and Benny poked his head out. Jessie saw him just in time and put a finger to her lips, motioning to him to keep quiet.
“We're looking for Lucille,” he whispered.
“She's not here,” Jessie said. “Now go away before Karen Walsh comes out and sees you!”
Benny ducked back into the stairwell.
“What's she doing?” Jessie prodded her sister.
“She's going into the bathroom. I wonder what she's looking for.”
“I'll go check the room she was in before.” Jessie darted down the hallway. She discovered that the room Karen had emerged from didn't have a number like all the other rooms. Instead, there was a sign on the door which read S
UPPLIES
. What had Karen been doing in the supply closet?
When Jessie got back to room 908, Violet quickly pulled her behind the cart. “She's leaving the room now! Don't let her see you.”
Again, the girls were well-hidden behind the cart, and Karen didn't see them. She walked down the hall and got on the elevator.
“What was she doing in there?” Jessie asked, coming out from behind the cart.
“Just poking around â maybe looking for something,” Violet said. “I don't think she took anything out with her, though.”
“Maybe not this time,” Jessie said. “But she still might be the one who took all those things from people's rooms.”
“Do you think she's the guilty one?” Violet asked her sister.
“We still can't say for sure,” Jessie said. “Maybe Henry and Benny have discovered something more definite.”
Henry and Benny weren't having any more luck than their sisters. They had walked down the stairs, too, stopping on each floor to see if they could find Lucille. At last, they located her on the third floor. She was carrying a stack of fresh towels into one of the rooms.
The two boys watched Lucille for several minutes, hoping to see her do something that might be a clue. But nothing she did looked at all out of the ordinary. She went from one room to the next, vacuuming the floors, making the beds, dusting the furniture, and replacing the used towels with clean ones.
“Come on, let's go,” Benny said at last. “This is boring.”
“It sure is,” said Henry. “And we haven't discovered anything to help us solve the mystery.”
But just then, something
did
happen.
Lucille had just come out of the last room in the hallway. She looked quickly from side to side, as if she sensed that she was being watched. Then she went back into the room.
“Look!” Henry said. “I think she's up to something.”
They saw her sit down on the bed and pick up the phone.
“Who do you think she's calling?” Benny asked.
“I don't know,” Henry said. “We'll have to listen.”
“That's not polite,” Benny said.
“I think in this case it's all right,” Henry said.
Outside the open door, they could hear Lucille's voice, even though she was obviously trying to keep it low.
“Malcolm, I'm going ahead with my plan,” she said, sounding tense. “I can't help it; I'm still angry. I think it's worth a try. Don't worry â I know what I'm doing. I just wish it didn't make me so nervous.”
Henry and Benny looked at each other, their eyes wide. It certainly sounded like Lucille might be the culprit.
“After I've done it, I'll tell you what happened and what their reaction was,” Lucille said. “How about if we meet in the lobby tomorrow after my morning shift?”
They could tell she was about to hang up, so the boys hurried back down the hallway and up the stairs to their room.
“Wait until Violet and Jessie hear about this!” Benny said.
The children met in the suite to compare notes on their suspects. First they made four cups of hot chocolate. Then, sitting on the beds and sipping from the steaming mugs, the girls told how suspicious Karen's behavior had been. But no one could decide what it meant.
“What till you hear what
we
heard,” Benny said. Then he and Henry repeated Lucille's phone conversation.
“It certainly sounds like she's plotting something for tonight or tomorrow. We'll have to keep an eye out,” Jessie agreed.
“Do you think we should tell someone?” Violet asked.
All the children thought for a moment.
“No,” Henry said at last. “We don't have any real, hard evidence, and anyway, all of the other pranks have been harmless. I'm sure Lucille â or whoever is doing this â isn't going to hurt anyone.”
“I just hope she doesn't stop the elevator again,” Violet said. “Especially with us in it!”
Grandfather came back shortly after that, and the Aldens had dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Chinatown. The children were amazed to see that all the signs in the neighborhood were in Chinese and the telephone booths were decorated to look like little pagodas.
“I feel like I'm in another country!” Benny said, wide-eyed.
“Welcome to the big city!” Grandfather said with a chuckle.
When they returned to the hotel that night, it seemed that everything was calm, and there had been no more pranks. But the Aldens all wondered what the next day would bring.
T
he next morning after breakfast, the children sat in the lobby. They hoped they'd see Lucille and Malcolm and maybe find out what was going on.
While they waited, they enjoyed themselves just watching the people going in and out.
“I'll never get over all the different kinds of people in this hotel,” Violet said.
“Me, too,” Benny agreed. “Look, there's Mr. Parker. He's sure in a big hurry.” Benny pointed to Don Parker, who was rushing toward the elevators carrying a pile of papers.
Just then some pieces of paper fell from the pile in Don Parker's hands and drifted to the floor.
The Aldens ran after him. “Mr. Parker, wait!” Jessie called out.
Benny bent down and picked up the papers. “Wait, Mr. Parker,” he shouted, too. But Don Parker was already in the elevator and didn't hear them. As Violet ran toward him, the doors closed and the elevator started its trip up.
“What should we do with these papers?” Benny asked.
“We don't know what floor Mr. Parker is going to, and there were a lot of people in the elevator, so I guess we should take the papers to his office,” Henry said.
As usual, Benny practiced his reading. He looked down at the papers in his hand and read slowly, out loud, “Our plan is work ⦠working. Soon I'll be ⦠running the hotel ⦔
At the same time, Violet, Jessie, and Henry all said, “
What?
”
“Did I read it wrong?” Benny asked with concern.
Violet said firmly. “We really shouldn't be reading Mr. Parker's papers. It isn't right.”
Jessie said, “Let's go sit in that corner and talk about this.”
The children went to a quiet part of the lobby and sat down on some leather chairs. Henry said slowly, “I think what Benny read is very suspicious.”
“I agree,” Jessie said, “and I think, since so many strange things have been happening here, we have a right to read the rest of what's on that paper.”
“We do?” Benny asked.
Jessie took the papers from Benny's hands and looked at them. “Benny was reading from a letter,” she said. “It's written on the hotel letterhead. And this is what it says:
