The Catnapping Mystery (2 page)

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Authors: David A. Adler

BOOK: The Catnapping Mystery
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A very long white car drove past. It turned onto a circular driveway under a red canopy with gold stripes. The driveway was jammed with taxi cabs and other cars.
“That must be the Royal,” Mr. Jansen said. “It’s the only hotel on this street.”
The light turned green. Cam, Eric, and Cam’s parents crossed the street. They walked under the canopy. A man in a red uniform, wearing a red cap, opened a large glass door.
“Welcome to the Royal,” he said.
Chapter Two
T
he lobby was crowded. People were standing with their luggage by the long front desk. People were sitting on chairs and couches. There was a red piano on a platform, and a woman in a long black dress was playing it.
Mr. and Mrs. Jansen looked for Aunt Molly. Then, after a long while, Mr. Jansen called, “Molly! Molly!” He waved to a woman sitting by a large potted palm tree.
Aunt Molly looked across the lobby, right at Cam, Eric, and Cam’s parents. Then she looked at the people sitting on the couch next to Mr. Jansen. She turned and looked at the woman playing the piano. Then she looked at the palm tree and smiled.
“No, over here,” Mr. Jansen called as he walked toward Aunt Molly.
Cam, Eric, and Mrs. Jansen followed him.
“Oh, what a surprise seeing you here,” Aunt Molly said. She waved her hands in front of Mr. Jansen and said, “But I can’t talk to you right now. Someone is calling my name.”
“That was me,” Mr. Jansen told her.
“It was?” Molly asked. “Oh, of course it was,” she said. She hugged Mr. and Mrs. Jansen.
“Oh, my,” she said when she looked at Cam. “You and your friend Sheldon are getting so big.”
“Molly,” Mr. Jansen said, “his name is Eric Shelton, not Sheldon.”
“Is that right?” Aunt Molly asked Eric.
Eric nodded.
Molly put her hand to her cheek, shook her head, and asked, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, he’s sure,” Mr. Jansen told her.
“What have you planned for us?” Mrs. Jansen asked. “You said you would find something exciting for us to do.”
“Did I?” Molly asked. “I’m a little confused. I’ve been doing so much traveling. You know,” she said to Eric, “I work for an airline. I just came from New Orleans.”
“New Orleans!” Eric said. “That begins with an
n.
That’s my answer,” he told Cam. “Now you need a place that begins with an
s.”
Cam told Molly, “We’re playing Geography.”
“That’s nice,” Molly said. “And thank you,” she told Mr. Jansen. “I had such a nice time with you today.”
“Molly,” Mr. Jansen said very slowly. “We just got here. We haven’t done anything yet.”
“Oh, my,” Aunt Molly said. “That’s right.” She smiled. “I am
very
confused today.”
She started across the lobby. Then she turned and said, “Come with me.”
Aunt Molly led them to a young man at one end of the front desk. Behind him was a rack with folders describing things to do in the city.
“Good morning,” Molly said. “We’re looking for something to do.”
“Something exciting,” Mrs. Jansen added.
“Good morning,” the young man said. “My name is Michael. Let’s see what I can find for you.”
Michael turned and took a folder from the rack. “How about going up in a hot air balloon?”
Mr. Jansen looked at the folder and said, “These balloons go pretty high up. How about something less exciting?”
Mrs. Jansen looked at the folder and added, “And less expensive.”
“Excuse me. Excuse me,” an old woman said. She pushed ahead of Aunt Molly. She put her hands on the desk. “Excuse me,” she said again.
“You’re next,” Michael told her.
The woman was very upset.
“I can’t wait to be next,” she said. “It’s Little Tiger! It’s Little Tiger! I’m sure something terrible has happened to my Little Tiger.”
Chapter Three
“Y
ou have a tiger?” Eric asked.
Mrs. Jansen patted the woman’s hand and said, “Just take a deep breath and tell us what happened.”
The woman took a deep breath.
“Did you hear that?” Eric whispered to Cam. “She has a tiger.”
“Maybe it’s one of those toy stuffed animals,” Cam whispered.
“Oh, no,” the woman said and took another breath. “My Little Tiger is real. And she’s such a dear. I take her everywhere.”
“This is exciting,” Mrs. Jansen said.
“I came to the hotel,” the woman told Michael. “I arrived by taxi. The circle drive in front was filled with cars. The driver said, ‘I can’t get in there. How about I leave you off here?’”
The woman put her hand to her chest and took another deep breath.
Then she said, “Well, he didn’t even wait for me to answer. He stopped the car and got out. He opened the trunk and took out my luggage. There I was, standing on the sidewalk with two big suitcases and my Little Tiger. I couldn’t carry all that!”
The woman turned and said to Aunt Molly, “Those bags are heavy.”
Molly nodded. “I try to get everything into one suitcase. And it has wheels.”
“Well,” the woman said. “I was lucky. A nice young man, a bellhop, came to the sidewalk and said, ‘I’ll take that.’
“I wasn’t sure pets are allowed in the hotel. The bellhop said he would take everything straight to my room. So I gave him Little Tiger, too.
“Well, I’ve waited in my room for a long time and he hasn’t brought me my Little Tiger, and he hasn’t brought me my bags. I’m worried.”
“Don’t worry,” Michael told her. He rang a bell. “We’ll find your luggage.”
A bellhop rushed to the front desk. On the front of his red uniform was a badge with the name “Greg” on it.
He looked around. Then he asked Michael, “Who needs help with luggage?”
“A while ago, this woman gave her luggage to one of the bellhops,” Michael said. “She’s still waiting for it.”
Greg took out a small pad and asked the woman, “What’s your name and room number?”
“My name is Mrs. Esther Wright,” the woman told him. “That’s Wright with a w. I’m in room 613.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Greg said.
“Oh, this is so exciting,” Molly said. “Imagine, a real tiger loose in a big hotel.”
“Aren’t you afraid your tiger will bite you?” Eric asked.
“Oh, no,” Esther Wright answered. “My Little Tiger is such a sweet and gentle little cat.”
“Little cat!”
Cam, Eric, Mr. and Mrs. Jansen, Aunt Molly, and Michael all said.
“Tigers are not
little
cats,” Eric told Mrs. Wright. “Tigers are
big
cats.”
“Well,” Esther Wright said. She held her hands about one foot apart and said, “She’s only about this big.”
She laughed. “She’s not a real tiger. She’s a cat. She has stripes, so I
named
her Little Tiger.”
“Oh,” Eric said.
They all waited by Michael’s end of the desk. They watched Greg talk to the other bellhops. Then Greg went into a room behind the front desk. He came out a short while later and walked quickly to Esther Wright.
“I checked with my boss, the bell captain,” he told her. “Then I checked the luggage room. I couldn’t find your things.”
Chapter Four
“W
hat!” Mrs. Wright cried out. “My Little Tiger is gone! And all my clothing and jewelry!”
“I didn’t say they were gone,” Greg told her quickly. “I said I didn’t find them.”
“I think they’re gone,” Cam whispered.
“Don’t worry,” Molly told Esther Wright. “I’ve lost my luggage lots of times. Once, I bought a newspaper and chewing gum in an airport. I left my suitcase by one of the magazine racks. I think that was in San Diego.”
“San Diego,” Cam whispered to Eric. “That begins with an s and that’s my answer. Now you need a place that begins with an
o.
”
“Um,” Eric said.
“I didn’t lose my Little Tiger or my luggage,” Esther Wright declared. “I gave them to a bellhop.”
“Well,” Greg said. “Maybe the bellhop took everything to the wrong room.”
Greg looked across the lobby. Then he said, “This is a big hotel. We have a lot of bellhops here. Do you know the name of the one who took your things?”
“No,” Mrs. Wright said, and looked around. “But when I see him, I’ll know him.”
Greg said, “Please, come with me.”
Cam, Eric, and the others watched Esther Wright and Greg walk to the bellhop’s desk. Greg’s boss was sitting behind the desk. Two other bellhops were standing there. Esther Wright looked at them both and shook her head. Neither one had taken her luggage.
Molly laughed. “Once I waited and waited for my luggage to come off the airplane,” she said. “And do you know what? I had never put it on the airplane. I forgot it at home.”
“Don’t worry,” Michael said. “She’ll get her luggage. Now I have to find you something exciting to do.”
He turned and took three folders from the rack.
“You could take a helicopter ride over the city. Or, you could take a horse and buggy ride. And of course, the Kurt Daub Museum is near the hotel. There are lots of great things to see and do there.”

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