another as Leo and Remi finished their pancakes back inside. It was one thing to have a hotel empire within your reach, another to know how to get one’s hands on the prize. No one seated at the table had ever been asked to build a hotel, and certainly not in the weird way that Merganzer was asking them to do it. No one, that is, except Leo and Remi. They’d already been on two such adventures — one inside the Whippet Hotel and one underground, beneath the very same building.
“Has anyone else been inside the top floor of your hotel?” E. J. Bosco asked. He was raring to go, but he had no idea where to start.
Remi began to say yes, of course, he’d been in the Whippet Hotel library lots of times. But Leo felt it was a piece of information best kept secret. He elbowed Remi in the side, but Mr. Pilf with the long face and the longer beard took notice — he could tell Leo and Remi knew something he did not.
Miss Sheezley’s huge eyes grew even larger as her eyebrows raised, and she started whispering something to E. J. Bosco. A second later, both of them were up out of their chairs, hastily walking away. They made an odd pair, a walrus and a bug-eyed woman, but clearly they’d struck up some sort of bargain. This seemed to get all the other hotel managers nervous, as if they should be putting together alliances of their own.
“Shall we make a go of it together, at least for a while?” Miss Harrington asked the dapper Alfred Whitney. They were perfect for each other, like two people pulled out of a black-and-white movie, and Leo expected Alfred to say yes.
“I’m afraid I’d only hold you back,” Alfred said, lifting his cane ever so slightly. “I’m a little slow on my feet. Football knees.”
“You played football?” Remi asked.
“At the University of Oregon,” Alfred said proudly, tapping the golden duck on the end of his cane. “I’m a Duck, through and through. Also a running back.”
While this small conversation took place, Miss Harrington looked Mr. Pilf up and down. He was the most annoying person in the bunch unless she wanted to partner with two kids or an old man who would surely slow her down. She turned her gaze on Remi, thinking.
“Don’t look at me,” Remi said, putting an arm around Leo. “I’ve already got a partner, and I’m not trading.”
Miss Harrington was in mortal danger of going it alone, an unacceptable outcome at this stage of the game. She put all her charms into play, standing as she reached out her hand in Mr. Pilf’s direction. He was not a man who had enjoyed very many dates (work was his girlfriend), and he was obviously smitten with Miss Harrington. He rose to his feet and the two of them moved away, plotting and scheming.
“Well, I’m feeling lucky,” Remi said, standing as he stretched his arms toward the sky. “And full. Let’s get this show on the road, partner.”
Leo looked at Alfred, who he’d taken a real liking to. He had a thought just then, that this really was the man for the job. Leo had zero interest in running an empire of hotels, but he sure didn’t want to end up with Mr. Pilf or E. J. Bosco as a boss. That spelled Disaster with a capital D. And so he said what he truly felt, which wassomething that only a kid would do at a time such as this.
“Mr. Whitney,” he began.
“Oh, please, call me Alfred.”
“Okay, Alfred. I’m not even twelve yet, but me and Remi here have had a couple of Merganzer D. Whippet–size adventures already, and I have to say, we really enjoy having them.”
“That we do,” Remi agreed. “Nothing like a Merganzer adventure! They’re the best.”
“And we kind of have our hands full running the Whippet Hotel. It’s our home.”
Remi could already tell where Leo was going, and he liked it very much.
“So what I’m thinking is this,” Leo went on. “You seem like a very nice guy, the nicest of the bunch, and we don’t really have any interest at all in running six hotels. We’re happy