The Mystery of the Purple Pool Read Online Free Page A

out.
    â€œ Purple? ” Grandfather repeated.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Karen asked.
    â€œThe water was bright purple,” Henry explained. “Someone had dyed it.”
    â€œWhy?” Grandfather asked.
    â€œNo one knows,” Benny replied.
    â€œThey’re going to drain the pool and clean it out,” Violet explained.
    â€œDo they know who did it?” Karen asked.
    â€œNo, but we did find an empty box of dye,” Jessie said. “Mike thought that was an important clue.” She blushed slightly.
    â€œWho’s Mike?” Grandfather asked.
    â€œOh — he’s just the pool attendant,” Jessie said, blushing a deeper shade of red.
    â€œYou found a box of dye ?” Karen said. “What are they going to do about it?”
    â€œWe heard Mr. Parker say he’d get to the bottom of it,” Benny offered.
    â€œHe did? Excuse me, I’m afraid I have to run,” Karen said.
    â€œAren’t you going to have breakfast?” Grandfather asked.
    â€œOh, yes, well … I’m not very hungry after all. There’s something I must take care of first,” Karen said, and she hurried back to the elevator.
    â€œWhat an odd woman,” Henry said.
    â€œYes, it seems like there are a lot of strange people here,” Jessie said, “and one of them put purple dye in the pool. The question is, who ?”
    â€œAnd why?” added Henry.

CHAPTER 4
    The Switch
    â€œA ren’t we going to eat breakfast?” Benny asked. “I’m hungry!”
    â€œWell, that’s no surprise,” Henry said with a laugh.
    â€œLet’s go on in,” Grandfather said, leading the way into the coffee shop. The hostess brought the Aldens to a large round table in the center of the room and gave each of them a menu.
    â€œ Everything looks good!” Jessie said as she read the list of delicious breakfast specials.
    When the waitress came and took their orders she said, “I’m Jane. I’ll be as fast as I can.”
    But the wait for their food seemed endless. Each time Jane came from the kitchen with a tray of food, Benny said, “Is that ours?”
    At last, Jane came to their table, carrying an extra-large tray loaded with food.
    â€œBenny, your blueberry pancakes look delicious,” Grandfather said. He stirred sugar into his steaming cup of coffee.
    â€œI’ll give you a taste if you’d like, Grandfather,” Benny said, pouring a thick stream of syrup over the top of his stack of blue-flecked pancakes. “Want some syrup, Jessie?” he asked.
    â€œNo, thanks. I’m going to put sugar on my waffles and fruit,” Jessie said.
    Violet had already started eating her cereal. “What’s wrong?” Grandfather asked when he noticed the strange look on her face.
    â€œThis tastes awful, ” Violet said.
    â€œIs the milk sour?” Grandfather asked.
    â€œNo,” Violet said, “it’s not that. The cereal tastes funny … sort of salty.”
    â€œYuck!” Jessie said after taking a big bite of waffle. “My waffle tastes salty, too!”
    â€œMy pancakes are great!” Benny said, munching happily.
    â€œHow about you, Henry. How are your scrambled eggs?” Grandfather asked.
    Henry took a bite of his eggs and made a face. “My eggs taste sweet!”
    â€œI wonder …” Jessie said thoughtfully. “Hand me the salt and sugar, please.” Henry passed them to her, and Jessie sprinkled a little from the saltshaker onto a finger. She took a taste. “This tastes sweet. ” Then she spooned out a little from the sugar bowl and took a taste of that. “ Salty! ” she cried. “The salt and sugar are mixed up!”
    â€œThat’s why all of our food tastes funny!” Henry said.
    â€œNot mine,” Benny said. He had already eaten half of his pancakes. “Mine tastes good! I’m glad I only used