The Dark and Deadly Pool by Joan Lowery Nixon Read Free Book Online

could swear there were no puddles on the tiles when I locked up tonight. But when we went back there with Lamar I noticed water on the tiles near where we were standing.”
    “Can we go back and look again?”
    I nodded. “Let’s hurry.”
    We unlocked the door to the pool area. Once inside the room we kept our backs to the door, breathing in the smell of warm chlorine and jungle dampness until our eyes became accustomed to the darkness.
    “No one’s here now,” Fran whispered. “That is, I can’t see anyone except us.”
    As fast as possible I scurried to the office door, fumbled the keys, and finally got it open. I stepped inside and turned on the lights.
    Fran was standing outside the office door staring at a spot on the tiles around the pool. “Right over there,” he said, and pointed.
    “Yes. Someone used the pool to sneak in here.” I looked at the puddle of water that dripped across the tiles. Automatically Fran and I moved forward, following it.
    It stopped abruptly in front of one of the large potted ficus trees.
    “What happened to him?” Fran murmured. “He couldn’t just dissolve. He had to go somewhere.”
    I held my breath as I slowly looked upward into the slender branches over our heads.

No one was there.
    If someone had been looking back at me, I think I would have fainted or screamed or maybe fallen in the pool and drowned, I was that frightened.
    Fran wasn’t any braver. As he felt around the top of the big brass planter, I could see his fingers tremble. “Funny,” he said. His voice cracked and he started over, speaking a little more slowly and a little deeper. “It’s funny, but it’s damp right here and around the trunk of the tree in this one spot.”
    I put my hand where he showed me. “It’s like someone took hold of the trunk of the tree.”
    Fran let out a long sigh. “Maybe we’ve come across some kind of a relay tag race that involves diving into the pool, climbing out, touching the tree, diving in again, and—oh, well. It’s an idea.”
    “Not a very good one.”
    “Have you got a better one?”
    The telephone in the office rang, and I jumped straight up in the air.
    I ran to answer, and it was Tina. “Your mother calledfrom Dallas, and because the club is officially closed the switchboard referred the call to me. She was all excited because you hadn’t got home yet. Anyhow, I saw you on camera with Lamar, so I told her you were helping the chief of security on a special project and would be home in half an hour. What are you doing in the health club?”
    “Fran and I were investigating a puddle.”
    “There are better things to do with your spare time. You’d better get on home right away and call your mother.”
    “I thought you were off duty,” I said.
    “I will be as soon as Harvey gets here for his shift. He forgot to get his car inspected and had to take a bus.”
    “Thanks for covering for me, Tina,” I said. “See you tomorrow.”
    I turned off the lights and locked the office door. Fran and I left the club and the hotel and the parking lot, the latter only after I convinced Fran I didn’t want to go somewhere for a Coca-Cola.
    “Have you ever heard of the theory of relativity?” Fran asked.
    “Of course. Einstein. But I don’t understand it.”
    “Very few people do,” Fran said. “Sometime I’ll explain it to you. It has to do with height.”
    “No, it doesn’t.”
    “Yes, it does. You said you didn’t understand it, and you were right. Basically, when you get past all the equations, it boils down to the fact that if two people like each other, relative heights between them are meaningless.”
    “Good night, Fran,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I couldn’t imagine why, but I was looking forward to it.
    With gusto and flair I conducted the most dramatic part of Wagner’s
Ride of the Valkyries
as I drove home.
    As soon as I got inside the house I called Mom at their hotel in Dallas. She was still wide awake.
    “I’m