The Dark and Deadly Pool by Joan Lowery Nixon

Author:Joan Lowery Nixon [Nixon, Joan Lowery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-82345-8
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

“Oh, not Lamar!” I said.

“Why not?”

“He’s so efficient. He cares about his job.”

“It could be a front. Who else would know as much about what goes on in the hotel?”

“The manager, Mr. Parmegan.”

“Okay. We’ll put him on our suspect list too. I can try to keep up with what he’s doing each day. He follows a pretty constant routine.”

Another thought occurred to me. “Why does the conductor have to be working at the hotel? Why can’t he be one of the guests? Mr. Kamara keeps a regular routine, too, and he was the one who knew Mr. Jones.”

“Okay. Mr. Kamara’s on the list, but I think you’re going off in the wrong direction.” Fran looked at his watch. “Uh-oh. I’ve been here long enough. I have to get back.”

He stopped at the doorway and turned. “You didn’t answer about the symphony tickets. Should I get them?”

“I’m sorry, Fran,” I began, but the eager look on his face stopped me. After all, listening to the Houston Symphony Orchestra together wasn’t exactly a real date. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer you right away,” I finished. “Yes. I’d like to go with you.”

For a few moments Fran looked as pleased as a puppy when you scratch his tummy. Then he became serious. “I won’t see you tonight,” he said. “My aunt and uncle are visiting, and my mom made me promise I’d come home as fast as I could, so I could get in on the tail end of the party they’re throwing.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.

“You bet,” Fran said, and vanished from the doorway.

I sat at the desk and picked up the sheet of notepad paper. In the center at the bottom, where the conductor would stand, I drew a small box, and inside the box I wrote the letter K, for Kamara. Then from that box I drew lines radiating out to each of the circles. Inside circle one I wrote sofa. Inside circle two I wrote meat. Inside circle three I wrote stuff, because naturally there wasn’t room to write things like silver and paintings and things like that. Inside circle four I wrote PP for pickpockets.

Now all I had to do was to figure out how Mr. Kamara could manage to orchestrate all these crimes. He’d have to have help. Where would he get it? Sofa, meat, and stuff left me blank. But on the line to circle four I wrote Mr. Jones. What if Mr. Kamara came into the health club office each day when no one was looking, stole some of the cards, gave them to Mr. Jones, who followed the people and stole their wallets? Then, the next day Mr. Jones could bring back the cards and Mr. Kamara could replace them.

There was something wrong with this.

Somebody was almost always in the office or nearby. It would be hard for Mr. Kamara to count on being able to sneak in and out. And this was a large hotel. Lots of types of people stayed at this hotel.

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