Free Seattle Puzzle by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page B

the weather forecast,” she said. “For tomorrow, I mean.” She seemed unable to look Jessie in the eye. “Anyway, I’d better dash!” Then she hurried away.
    As Jessie headed back to the elevator, she wondered just what Reena and Toby Spinner were up to.
    Upstairs, Jessie soon forgot all about the strange conversation as she looked around their three-bedroom suite.
    “Henry and Benny can share one room,” she said. “Violet and I can share another, and there’s one for Grandfather.”
    “We even have a kitchen!” Benny opened the refrigerator. “We can do our own cooking. Now all we need is food.”
    “Don’t worry, Benny,” said Grandfather. “We’ll eat in the hotel restaurant tonight. Then tomorrow we’ll stock up on groceries.”
    “We’ll go shopping in the morning while you’re at your meeting, Grandfather,” Jessie said. “We’re not meeting Reena until noon.”
    “Guess what?” said Violet, who was standing at the window. “We have a view of the water!”
    “That’s Puget Sound,” said Grandfather. “It’s an inlet from the Pacific Ocean.”

    “And look at the mountains—how pretty!” said Violet. She always noticed beautiful things.
    “There’s so much to see in this city,” said Henry. He was sitting on the couch, the brochures spread out around him.
    While Grandfather had a nap, the four Alden children looked through the brochures. “It’s hard to know where to start,” said Violet.
    “We’re starting at the Hungry Stomach Diner,” said Benny. “Remember?”
    Violet couldn’t help smiling. “The Hungry Heart Diner.”
    “The Hungry Heart ?” echoed Benny.
    Violet nodded.
    “I think the Hungry Stomach is a better name for a diner,” Benny said after a moment’s thought. “If I had a restaurant, guess what I’d call it.”
    “The Hollow Leg?” said Henry, a teasing twinkle in his eye.
    Benny shook his head. “The Hungry Benny’s Diner,” he said. Everyone laughed.
    “I wonder where we’ll be going after lunch,” said Violet.
    “There’s no way of knowing for sure.” Henry shrugged. “It’s a mystery.”
    “That’s not the only mystery,” Jessie told them.
    This got Benny’s attention. “What do you mean, Jessie?”
    “Well, it was a bit odd,” said Jessie. “Reena knew Watch’s name. Did you notice?”
    “What’s strange about that, Jessie?” Violet wanted to know.
    “How did she know it?” answered Jessie. “She said she didn’t know we even had a dog.”
    Henry, Violet, and Benny had thought nothing of it. But now they wondered, too.
    Henry frowned. “I wonder why she would lie about something like that?”
    “Maybe she just made a very good guess,” suggested Benny.
    “Maybe,” said Jessie. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

CHAPTER 2
A Mysterious Riddle
    By the time Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny got back from the grocery store the next morning, it was just starting to rain.
    “I hope Reena still wants to go sightseeing,” said Benny, while they put the groceries away.
    “Remember what she said, Benny?” Violet put the onions and green peppers into the refrigerator. “Rain or shine!”
    Henry pulled a jar of tomato sauce out of the grocery bag. “It’s supposed to clear up,” he said. “At least, that’s what they said on the radio.”
    “Even if it doesn’t, we’re not going to let a little rain stop us, are we?” asked Jessie.
    “No way!” cried Benny. “Nothing stops the Aldens!”
    It wasn’t long before they were splashing their way along the wet sidewalks. When they were almost at the diner, a woman came rushing out, hidden beneath a blue umbrella. She was in such a hurry, she almost knocked Violet over.
    “Are you okay, Violet?” asked Henry. They watched the woman dash away.
    Violet nodded slowly, her eyes still fixed on the woman under the blue umbrella. “I think so.”
    “That lady wasn’t very nice,” said Benny, as they stepped inside the Hungry