儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Purple Pool CHAPTER 9 The Phone Call

Reluctantly 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 1. “There’s a door opening.” The door was halfway 2 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 3 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 4 across the hallway as quietly as possible, and flattened 5 themselves against the wall. Violet, who was closer to the open door, peeked 6 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 7 not being able to see for herself.



“She’s looking at the bed — 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 8 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 9 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 SUPPLIES. 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 10 around — 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 — 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 11 to compare notes on their suspects. First they made four cups of hot chocolate. Then, sitting on the beds and sipping 12 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 13 have been harmless. I’m sure Lucille — or whoever is doing this — 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 14.



“I feel like I’m in another country!” Benny said, wide-eyed.



“Welcome to the big city!” Grandfather said with a chuckle 15.



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.