The Mystery of the Purple Pool (6 page)

“We all are,” said Jessie.

“Hello, this is Bobby Grant, and I'm stuck in the elevator,” Bobby said into the phone. “Which elevator? I don't know … oh, okay. I'll check.” Bobby turned to the Aldens. “Do you see a number anywhere?”

“There it is,” Jessie said, pointing over the door. “Elevator number three.”

Bobby told the person on the other end, then he hung up the phone. “That was Mr. Parker. He said not to worry, they'd fix it as quickly as they could.”

“Who's worried?” asked Benny. He felt much happier now that he knew someone was going to help them.

“I just hope it doesn't take too long,” Violet said.

“Why don't we play a game to keep busy?” Henry offered.

Jessie smiled at her brother. “Good idea.”

“What kind of game can we play in an elevator?” asked Benny, doubtfully.

“Well, how about Twenty Questions,” suggested Jessie.

“Hooray! My favorite!” cried Bobby.

“I forget how to play,” Benny said.

“Let's all sit down on the floor, and I'll explain,” Jessie said. The children sat in a small circle with their legs crossed. Jessie leaned back against the wall of the elevator. “Each one of us takes a turn. Let's say it's my turn first,” she began. “I'll think of a person, a place, or a thing.”

“Like the president,” offered Violet.

“Or the moon,” said Henry.

“Or a peanut butter sandwich!” Bobby said. Even after the hot dog, he was still hungry.

“Yes,” Henry said. “Or a peanut butter sandwich.”

Violet went on, “We have to guess who or what it is by asking questions. If it takes us more than twenty questions to figure it out …”

“Then I win!” said Jessie.

“I remember now,” Benny said.

“I'll go first.” Jessie thought for a moment and then smiled, “Okay, I'm ready — it's a person. Violet, why don't you ask the first question?”

Violet was looking around the elevator nervously, her face pale. Her sister knew that thinking of a question would be a good distraction.

“Let's see,” Violet said. “Is it a real person or make believe?”

“Real,” said Jessie.

“I'll go next,” cried Benny. “Boy or girl?”

“Boy,” Jessie said.

Henry took the next turn. “Have we ever met him?”

Jessie burst out laughing. “Yes, you've definitely met him!”

Now all the children were concentrating on the game and had forgotten they were sitting on the floor in an elevator. “Why don't you ask a question, Bobby?” suggested Jessie.

After thinking for a moment, Bobby asked, “Is he young or old?”

“Young,” said Jessie.

“Tall or short?” Benny asked.

“Short,” said Jessie. “But medium for his age.”

“Is he thin or fat?” Violet asked.

“Medium,” said Jessie, and then she couldn't resist adding, “but he loves to eat.”

Henry laughed. “Is he stuck in this elevator with us?”

“Why, yes,” replied Jessie, beginning to giggle.

“Is it Benny?” Henry asked.

Before Jessie could respond, Benny said, “Wait a minute, it's my turn!” Then he thought for a brief moment and grinned. “Is it me?”

“Yes, it is,” said Jessie, smiling broadly. The children all laughed. A second later they heard a noise, and finally the elevator began to move.

“Hooray!” Violet cheered.

The elevator went back down to the lobby. When the doors opened, the children were surprised to see that a crowd had gathered. The people clapped their hands as the Aldens and Bobby got off. Benny smiled and bowed deeply.

Mr. Parker pushed his way to the front of the group. “Are you children all right?” he asked. “Someone switched off that elevator, although I can't imagine why. I'm glad you knew how to use the emergency phone.”

“We wouldn't have, if it hadn't been for Bobby,” Henry said. “He saved the day.” Bobby beamed proudly.

“So what was wrong with the elevator?” Violet asked.

“As it turns out,
nothing
,” Don Parker said. “It took me a little while to find someone in our maintenance department, but when he checked, he said someone had just switched off the power for that elevator. I hope you weren't nervous being in there so long.”

“So long?” Benny said. “It didn't seem like very long.”

“We were having a good time playing a game,” Jessie explained.

“Is the elevator still broken?” a man in the crowd asked.

“No, it wasn't broken, just turned off temporarily,” Mr. Parker explained. “It's fine now.”

“What do you mean
someone
turned it off?” Henry asked.

“Just what I said,” Don Parker answered. “I don't know who did it, or why. But I'm going to find out.” With that, he turned and walked away.

“Sounds like another piece of the mystery,” Violet said.

“It sure does,” Jessie agreed. “I think it's about time we figured out what's going on here.”

“Let's go back to our suite,” Henry suggested.

“I think I might take the stairs,” Violet said quietly.

“Violet,” Jessie said gently but firmly to her sister, “Mr. Parker said the elevator was fixed. And you know what they say: When you fall off a horse — ”

“I know, you get right back on,” Violet said quietly. “I guess you're right.” She followed the others back into the elevator. And this time, it worked fine. In a few seconds, they were on the fifth floor.

CHAPTER 8

Who Did It?

T
he Aldens dropped Bobby off at his room. He couldn't wait to tell his parents all about his trip to the Empire State Building — and the adventure in the elevator, too.

After waving good-bye to his new friend, Benny turned to his brother and sisters. “So, are we still going to the pool?”

“Sure,” said Henry. “Why don't we have lunch first, and then we'll go up to the pool.”

The children had put the leftovers from the day before in the refrigerator, and there was enough for lunch. When they had finished eating, they went up to the roof deck, dressed in T-shirts and shorts with their bathing suits underneath.

“Hello!” called Mike as the Aldens approached his desk.

“We're here to swim!” called Benny. “What color is the pool today?”

“I'm sorry. You can't swim in it just yet. We had to drain it and scrub it, and it hasn't been refilled. But maybe you'd like to try out our exercise room,” Mike suggested.

“That sounds like fun,” said Violet.

In the exercise room, there was something for everyone.

Henry went over to look at the rack of loose weights. Selecting one small barbell for each hand, he began curling his arms up and down.

Meanwhile, Benny had wandered over to a machine that had a sort of television screen on it. “What's this?” he asked.

“That's a rowing machine,” Mike said. “I'll be over there to help you in a second. Let me just get your sisters started.”

Jessie and Violet had gotten on the exercise bicycles.

“Do you girls like to ride?” Mike asked.

“Yes,” said Jessie quietly. Being around Mike seemed to make her nervous.

“We go all over Greenfield on our bicycles,” Violet added. “I wish we could have brought them with us — but I'd be scared to ride my bicycle around New York City.”

“A lot of people do it,” Mike said. “But it can be pretty dangerous with all the cars. You'll like these bikes — you don't have to worry about traffic.” Mike grinned. “And you can make it easier or harder to pedal just by pushing this button, depending on how hard a workout you want. First, you have to start pedaling.”

Jessie began pedaling, and Mike pushed a button on the panel at the front of her bike. “There, try that,” Mike said. “That's like riding on flat ground.”

Jessie pedaled very fast.

“Too easy?” he asked. He pushed another button. “How about hilly countryside?”

Jessie pedaled harder.

“Still too easy?” Mike pushed another button. “This is mountain terrain.”

By now Jessie was getting out of breath. “Okay, okay!” she said, laughing. “How do you stop this thing?”

Mike laughed, too, and pushed another button. “Better?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jessie said. Now she was pedaling at a slow, easy pace, as if she were riding along the roads of Greenfield. “Thank you.”

“Glad to help you,” Mike said with a smile, adjusting Violet's bike to the same level.

As he walked away, Violet turned to her older sister. “I think he likes you,” she whispered with a big smile.

Jessie looked straight ahead, as if she was concentrating on pedaling. But Violet thought she could see a small smile tugging at the corners of her sister's mouth, and she was sure her cheeks weren't pink just from riding.

Meanwhile, Mike was helping Benny with the rowing machine. “Sit in the little seat,” he told Benny. The seat was on the ground, facing what looked like a TV screen. Mike strapped Benny's feet securely into place, so that his legs were bent up in front of him. Then Mike showed Benny how to “row” by pulling a small bar toward him while pushing back with his legs.

“This is hard to pull,” Benny said.

Mike pushed some buttons on the side of the machine. “There, that ought to be easier.”

As Benny pushed with his legs, the seat slid backward. When he had pushed the seat nearly all the way back, his legs were straight out in front of him. Then he bent his legs and let the tension on the bar pull him forward again.

“Now pull on the bar and push back with your legs again,” Mike explained. “Back and forth. You can watch the little boat moving across the screen to see how fast you're going.”

“Neat!” cried Benny. “But this is hard work!”

“That's the point,” Mike said, smiling.

After he had gotten each of them going on their exercises, Mike headed back out to the front desk. “Yell if you need anything,” he called over his shoulder.

When Mike was gone, Henry turned to his sisters and brother. “We've got to solve this mystery,” he said, panting slightly as he lifted a barbell to his chest and brought it back down.

“We can add the broken elevator to the list of strange things that have happened here,” Jessie remarked.

“I can't believe how many things have gone wrong or gotten mixed up!” Violet said.

“They could be accidents, couldn't they? Maybe this is just a bad hotel,” Benny said.

“Grandfather wouldn't stay here if it weren't a good hotel,” Violet pointed out. “And anyway, most of the things that have happened
couldn't
have been accidents. Remember the purple pool?”

“And the sugar and salt mix-up?” added Jessie.

“Yeah, you're right,” Benny admitted. “But why would someone do all those things?”

“Could someone not like this hotel?” Jessie asked. “And want it to close down?”

“But who? And why?” asked Benny.

Jessie shrugged. “I don't know.”

“That's what makes it a mystery,” Henry said.

“Who are our suspects?” asked Jessie.

“There's Lucille, the maid,” Henry said. “Remember how angry she was that the hotel had fired Malcolm? She said she was doing something about it, and he warned her not to get fired. She'd certainly be fired for dyeing the pool purple and turning off the elevator switch. Maybe this is what they were talking about.”

“And she knows her way around the hotel. In her uniform, she could get into lots of places other people couldn't,” Jessie added.

“Remember when we first got here?” Benny asked, pushing back and forth. “The man down the hall complained to her about his room not being cleaned up? She said she was sorry, but maybe she wasn't. Maybe she didn't clean it on purpose!”

“You know who else was listening to that conversation?” Violet asked. “Karen Walsh. She always seems to be around when there are problems.”

“Karen was in the coffee shop during the salt and sugar mix-up, too,” Jessie recalled. “She was one of the only people who didn't seem bothered. It was almost as if she expected it.”

“When I went over to talk to her that morning, she was afraid I'd see what she was writing in her notebook,” Benny reminded them. He had grown tired and had stopped rowing. “I thought that was pretty mysterious.”

“And she was very curious to hear about the purple pool. A little
too
curious, I thought,” Jessie said.

“But why would
she
want to hurt the hotel?” Benny asked.

“Maybe she works for another hotel that's trying to put this one out of business,” Henry suggested, putting his weights back on the rack.

“I just thought of another suspect,” Jessie said. “Remember we saw one person up here, besides Mike, the day the pool was dyed?”