Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 Sadie started down the hall of the first floor while Michael and Justin took the elevator up to floors two and three. Merle headed outside to use his climbing skills to peek in windows. DING! The elevator door opened on the second floor. Justin exited and headed down the hallway to the left. A cleaning cart was parked outside one of the rooms, and

第十六章赛迪走下一楼的大厅，迈克尔和贾斯汀乘电梯上二楼和三楼。 梅尔走到外面，用他的攀爬技巧从窗户里偷看。 丁!电梯的门在二楼开了。 贾斯汀走出去，沿着走廊向左走。 一辆清洁车停在其中一个房间外面

the door was propped open. Justin peeked in and looked around. No sign of Pearl. Just then, a woman in a uniform with an armload of clean sheets popped up from behind the cart. "AHHHHH!" Justin yelped. "Hello!" the woman said cheerfully. "Uh... hi," Justin said. "Umm... have you seen anything... suspicious today?" "You mean besides you?" the woman asked with a smile. "No. Just another day at the office." "Thanks." Justin continued down the hallway.

门被撑开了。 贾斯廷往里偷看，四处张望。 没有珠儿的踪迹。就在这时，一个穿着制服的女人抱着一大堆干净的床单从手推车后面跳了出来。 “啊! ! !”贾斯汀在吠。“你好！”女人高兴地说。 “嗯…贾斯汀说。“嗯… 你有没有看到……今天可疑?”“你是说除了你以外？”女人笑着问。 “没有。只是在办公室的又一天。” “谢谢。”贾斯廷继续沿着走廊走去。

Meanwhile, Merle was busy outside, bounding from windowsill to windowsill. Since it was the middle of the day, most of the curtains were wide open, and Merle had no trouble peeking into the rooms. Not every room was empty, but there is nothing very alarming about seeing a squirrel on your windowsill. Unless you are a dog. The Chihuahua was hardly any bigger than Merle, but it still surprised him and sent him springing backward into the branches of a nearby elm tree. "Why you gotta scare me like that?!" Merle yelled at the dog. "I'm already having a bad day!" "YAP YAP YAP!" the Chihuahua responded. On the first floor, Sadie stopped a maintenance worker. "Did you happen to notice anybody carrying an animal in a small cage?"

与此同时，梅尔在外面忙着，从一个窗台跳到另一个窗台。 因为是中午，大部分的窗帘都大开着，莫尔可以毫不费力地向房间里窥视。 不是每个房间都是空的，但在窗台上看到一只松鼠也没什么好担心的。 除非你是一只狗。那只吉娃娃不比莫尔大多少，但它还是吓了他一跳，跳到了附近一棵榆树的树枝上。 “你为什么要这样吓唬我？！”莫尔对着狗大叫。 “我今天已经过得很糟糕了！”“汪汪汪汪！”吉娃娃回应道。 在一楼，赛迪拦住了一个维修工人。 “你有没有注意到有人把一只动物关在一个小笼子里？”

"I haven't seen any cages, but someone's got a Chihuahua on the third floor," the man said. "I've been hearing that thing yapping off and on all day." "Thanks." Sadie continued down the hall. Up on the third floor, Michael pressed his ear to the door of room 302, listening for any sound that could be Pearl. Nothing. All he could hear was the barking of a small dog directly across the hall in room 303. As he turned to look, he caught sight of tag hanging from the door handle of room 317, near the very end of the hall. It was the only door on the floor with a Do Not Disturb sign. Interesting, Michael thought. He walked toward room 317 to investigate.

“我没有看到任何笼子，但有人在三楼养了一只吉娃娃，”这名男子说。 “我一整天都听到那东西断断续续地叫个不停。” “谢谢。”赛迪继续沿着大厅走去。 在三楼，迈克尔把耳朵贴在302房间的门上，倾听着任何可能是珠儿的声音。 什么都没有。他只能听到走廊对面303房间里一只小狗的叫声。 当他转过身去看的时候，他看见317房间的门把手上挂着一个牌子，就在大厅的尽头。 这是整层楼唯一一扇挂着“请勿打扰”牌子的门。 有意思，迈克尔想。 他走向317房间去调查。