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

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.

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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?"

"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.

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