Everyone looked around in shock. Till now none of them had realized that the forgetful Colonel Gourry Mustard was missing.
Great, I'm not even gone for more then three hours and something like this happens. De Tanga thought while shaking his head in annoyance. "Who was the one who saw Colonel Mustard?"
"I think I was." Sylphiel spoke up in a rather timid voice.
"Okay Miss Peacock I want you to go over everything that happened when you last saw him." De Tanga said while motioning for her to sit down.
Sylphiel sat and everyone else gathered around the timid birdwatcher to hear what she had to say. She cleared her throat before starting. "Well I was in one of the rooms on the eastern side of the manor watching the storm through the window when Gourry came into the room. He said hello to me, but unfortunately I was too absorbed in my thoughts so I didn't notice him and he startled me. He apologized and he and I were talking a little bit."
"About what?"
"Oh I don't remember... though we did get on the topic of why we came the manor in the first place."
"Yes and Colonel Mustard couldn't remember the reason."
"Before he didn't remember, but when I was talking to him he realized that he did in fact remember. So he said bye and rushed off to go find you and tell you what he remembered."
"And which direction did he head?"
"Well that's the strange part, he went east even though you and the other two detectives would have been more towards the center of the manor. So really he went east when he should have gone west."
Everyone sweatdropped. No one was really surprised that Gourry had gone in the wrong direction.
"And then what happened next Miss Peacock?" De Tanga prompted after clearing his throat.
"Well I sat there while thinking again about some things. And then all of a sudden all the lights went out."
"And how long where you thinking for?"
"I'm not sure, a couple minutes I guess? I was kinda lost in my thoughts so I'm not really sure how much time had passed."
De Tanga frowned slightly. "And none of you else saw him before the power went out besides Miss Peacock?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Well does anyone have idea where he might be?"
"You kidding me, that guy's probably wandering around the manor lost somewhere." Martina said with a snort.
"Maybe, but I think that it might be a good idea to go and see if we can find him. Because he's not here and we haven't even heard anything from him then something might have happened to him when the lights went out. Like he might have tripped and hit his head or something."
"So are you saying that we should go and look for him right now?"
"Well first I want to call this in and let the chief know about the power outage and the missing colonel. Can someone tell me where the closest phone is?" De Tanga asked the group.
"It's over this way." Amelia motioned for De Tanga to follow her. Amelia leaded him to a room not to far away from the main entrance way.
De Tanga picked up the phone with intentions of dial up the police station when he noticed that there was no dial tone.
"Miss White is there something wrong with this phone?"
"No there shouldn't be. Why is there something wrong?"
"There isn't any dial tone." De Tanga said handing her the phone.
Amelia frowned and tried hanging up but still the phone remained without a dial tone. "Well maybe it's just this phone."
The two of them went to a different room and tried one of the other phones but still the same thing, not one phone they tried worked.
They both went back to where they left the others.
"Well Detective Tealson, did you get through to the chief?" Hallas asked as the two came back into the hall.
"Actually I didn't. None of the phones seem to be working. The telephones might not be working because of the storm. Like maybe a power line got knocked down by a fallen tree or something. In any case I can't use the phones here and my cell phone's battery is low so I can't even use mine. Hallas can I borrow your cell phone?"
"Mine? Sure." Hallas reached into his pocket and realized his phone wasn't there. He tried all of his other pockets, but still no phone. "Um I'm not sure but I think I lost it..."
Everyone sweatdropped.
"Well then I guess we'll just have to look around for yours later on. Death do you have a phone on you?"
Death frowned slightly. "Yeah I do have a cell phone but I don't have it on me. I left it in my room when I was unpacking. Just wait a minute I'll go get it."
Death dashed up the stairs while everyone waited. Moments later he came back with a confused look on his face.
"So Death did you get your phone?"
"No I couldn't find it. I'm sure I left it on the little drawer next to the bed but when I looked it wasn't there."
"Was your room locked?"
"Yes it was."
De Tanga tapped his chin in thought. Well isn't this a bit frustrating. "Well does anyone else have a cell phone I could use?"
Everyone collectively shook their heads.
"Okay well then I'll just call later on. For now though I think we should go and look for Colonel Mustard. So let's separate into groups."
De Tanga, Hallas and Death walked around the empty hallways of the Boddy Manor in search of Colonel Mustard.
"How come the three of us are in one group together? Wouldn't it have been a better idea for us to be in different groups to keep an eye on everyone?" Death asked De Tanga whom was deep in thought.
"I know but I don't trust any of them right now." De Tanga spoke in a very dark and serious tone.
"What do you mean Detective Tealson?"
"I don't think all of this was a coincidence."
"Coincidence? Like what?"
"The power going out, Colonel Mustard's disappearance, the phone lines being dead, Death's cell phone going missing... It all seems a little too convenient if you ask me. I think someone staged all this because they didn't want Colonel Mustard to tell us that information."
"Then you're saying that someone might have gone into my room and took my cell phone?"
"Yes I'm pretty sure that someone did."
"But that means that they would have a key to my room!" Death exclaimed angrily.
"Well this was Mr. Boddy's home, who's to say that he didn't have sets of keys for each room? But I wonder who else would have access to the manor keys besides Miss White. I'll have to talk to her about that later. But there is one thing that strikes me as odd is that when I asked if anyone had a cell phone no one said that they did. Though in this day and age everyone has a cell phone whether they need one or not. And I know from that incident today that you told me about with the mysterious woman that someone definitely has a cell phone here. Why would that person lie?"
"Maybe because she was the one who set this all up?"
"Perhaps."
"Wait a minute, if someone took Death's phone then they probably took my phone too!" Hallas exclaimed.
"Nah, I doubt that Hallas. Knowing you, you probably did loose your phone."
Hallas didn't say anything he just scowled.
About roughly twenty minutes later everyone met back in the main hall of the manor near the front door. But Colonel Gourry Mustard wasn't among the group at all.
"None of you found him?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Perhaps maybe he's in his room. Miss White can you show me where his room is?" De Tanga asked and Amelia led.
Everyone came with Amelia and De Tanga gathering around Gourry's bedroom door. De Tanga knocked a few times but got no answer. He was about to say something when he noticed the door wasn't locked. De Tanga gave Death and Hallas a stern look and the three of them pulled out their guns and entered the room cautiously. Everyone else followed quietly behind them.
Death flicked on the light switch and Gourry was nowhere to been seen in the room at all.
"Well think it would be a good idea to give up for the night and get some sleep. It's late anyway and maybe we'll find him in the morning." De Tanga instructed everyone to go back to their rooms.
When everyone was gone except for De Tanga, Death and Hallas, Death turned to De Tanga with a confused look on his face. "Detective Tealson is that really a good idea to go to sleep when a guy is missing?"
"Don't worry, I'm going to continue searching. I don't really need much sleep and I think we should take turns taking watch. If someone can easily get into our rooms it wouldn't be a good idea for us all to go to sleep when someone could get in our rooms and kill us in our sleep. So you and Hallas decide your order and I'll be back in a little while." De Tanga ordered Death before going to continue to search the Boddy Manor.
De Tanga decided that Gourry could in fact be in one of the secret passageways in the manor. So he went down to Mr. Boddy's laboratory to see if he could reopen the passage that Hallas had discovered earlier that day. Or rather earlier yesterday. By now it was well after 1 am.
Luckily for De Tanga he had a very good memory so he was able to find the spot that Hallas had pushed before to trigger the open mechanism of the secret door.
Like before the passage was dark only illuminated by the faint light from laboratory. And like what happened last time the door immediately swung back closing on De Tanga making the room completely dark and devoid of light. De Tanga pulled out his flashlight and shone it around the passage. Besides the normal little vermin that inhabits the passageway there wasn't any other living thing in the underground tunnel. Of course Colonel Mustard could just be in another passageway that's provided that another one does exist in the manor. Well I guess I'd better get back and check around in some other areas. De Tanga mused while heading over to the end of the passageway where it led into the manor's ballroom. But when De Tanga got to the end he noticed that the passage wouldn't open. Damnit it looks like it's stuck! I guess I'm going to have to head back to the other side and go out through the laboratory.
He went back to the other side and tried to open the passage there. But he had the same problem. It wouldn't budge.
What's going on here?! I can't get out! I'm trapped!