The Catnapping Mystery by David A. Adler Read Free Book Online Page B

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