The three officers pondered the recent turn events quietly as they stood out in front of the manor staring at the cars.
"Why do you suppose someone would want to keep us all here?" Hallas dared asked De Tanga.
"Probably because that person is planning on killing us." De Tanga replied in a dry tone.
Hallas gasped with wide eyes while Death just mumbled something under his breath about what he would do if he had his gun.
"What are we going to do Detective Tealson?"
"First we're going to check all the cars to see if there are any spare tires." De Tanga declared heading off to his assigned unmarked police car. He went to put his key in the keyhole to the trunk when he realized that the trunk had been pried and was hanging slightly open. He lifted the trunk and saw what he had expected to see, no spare tire in the trunk.
Upon examination they discovered that all the cars parked in front had been broken into sometime during the night and there wasn't any spare tires in any of the trunks.
"I can't believe this many people would drive cars without spare tires. That's definitely an unsafe thing to do, you should always have a least one spare tire just in case you get a flat." Hallas disapprovingly observed.
Both Death and De Tanga rolled his eyes.
"Hallas they had spare tires, but someone stole them. That's why all the trunks were broken into."
"Oh."
"Well in any case we are stuck here for the time being. We might as well continue to work on the case." De Tanga walked off back into the manor with Hallas and Death following close behind him.
"But what are we going to do now? If we stay here we might get killed!"
"Would you rather walk home Hallas? Because it's a really long walk." De Tanga glared at Hallas.
Seeing De Tanga's point, Hallas didn't answer.
"But are we going to do now?"
"We're going to go join everyone for breakfast. And while we're at breakfast we're gong to mention about the tires to everyone."
"But wont that cause a panic?"
"That's the point."
Both Hallas and Death looked at De Tanga blankly.
"Why would we want to cause a panic for?"
"To see who freaks out and who doesn't."
"But why would we want to know that?"
"Because Hallas, the people who don't seem surprised are most likely the ones who slashed and stole the spare tires." De Tanga said with a yawn. "Also I want to see what everyone's reaction to Colonel Mustard's sudden return. Those not surprised are the most likely suspects."
"Detective Tealson did you get any sleep last night?"
"What do you think?" De Tanga glared at Death before walking through the door to the dining room.
Inside they were greeted by the sight of Colonel Gourry Mustard. In fact he was the only person in the room.
"Good morning!" Gourry beamed at them cheerfully.
"Good morning Colonel. Do you know where everyone else is?"
"Umm...." Gourry thought hard.
"I'll take that as a no."
The three of them joined Gourry at the table.
"I guess the others aren't up yet."
"Miss White is up, she's in the kitchen."
De Tanga raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that Colonel, did you see her there?"
"No I couldn't get in, the door to the kitchen was locked. I think after yesterday Miss White doesn't want anyone in there unless she's there as well."
"Then how do you know that she's in there."
"Because I can smell the food."
They looked at him with curiosity before they took a sniff. And as Gourry had said they smelled the faint smell of eggs and bacon in the air.
"When does everyone start eating?"
"Well when Miss White is almost done cooking she gets anyone whose already up to get everyone else up for breakfast. And then we eat."
Just as Gourry said that Amelia came into the dining room wearing her maid uniform. She did a double take once she saw Gourry. "Colonel Mustard! You're back! What happened to you? You had everyone so worried about you last night!"
"I dunno, I just woke up in my room this morning. And I don't remember how I got there." Gourry said with a laugh.
Amelia sweatdropped. "Well at least it's nice to see that you are alright. Good morning everyone I hoped you all slept well."
De Tanga grumbled after Amelia said that.
Amelia raised an eyebrow before continuing. "Breakfast is almost ready, would you guys mind waking everyone up for breakfast?"
"Sure we'll do it."
The four of them got up and went towards the staircase.
"Wait a minute this place is huge with many rooms, how are we supposed to know which rooms everyone are sleeping in?"
"I've got a list of everyone's rooms. And Colonel Mustard should know some of the rooms, right Colonel?"
Gourry's face went blank. "Well actually I'm usually one of the people that needs to be woken up when breakfast is ready. This is the first time that I'm actually awake before everyone else." Gourry said sheepishly.
De Tanga, Death and Hallas sweatdropped.
"Anyway we're at Mr. Green's room already, so I guess we should start with waking him up." De Tanga declared as he went to knock on Carbunkle's door. De Tanga knocked loudly, "Mr. Green are you awake? Breakfast is almost ready."
There was no reply from Carbunkle's room.
"Mr. Green? Mr. Green are you in there?"
Still nothing.
"Mr. Green?!"
The door to Carbunkle's room slowly opened revealing a very cross-looking accountant. "Alright I'm up, go away."
"Are you going to come down soon? You're breakfast will get cold." Gourry pointed out.
Carbunkle was going to snap at him but instead he blinked in surprise. "Huh? When did you get back? And where were you? No, no nevermind I don't want to know. I have a feeling it will give me a larger headache then I already have. Anyway, leave. I can't get ready with you guys loitering in front of my room." Carbunkle barked while slamming the door on them.
"Well he's definitely a morning person." Death declared sarcastically.
"Really you think so? I thought he looked a little cranky to me." Gourry observed.
No one responded to Gourry's statement.
Lina was next and she wasn't happy either when she was rudely awoken. "What?!" Lina snapped at them.
"Breakfast is almost read -- "
"Breakfast! Food!" Lina slammed the door to her room and within seconds she was out her door fully dressed. She zoomed down the hall and the stairs without paying any attention to them at all.
Zelgadis was already getting out of his room when they got his door. "Oh good morning every- Colonel Mustard? You're back, what happened to you last night? Did you get lost or something?"
"Ummm...."
"Nevermind I'll find out later. I suppose I'll see you all later downstairs." Zelgadis gave them a nod before walking past them.
On Filia's door there was a sign on it that read 'Do not Disturb, Not Even for Breakfast.'
They looked to Gourry and Gourry just shrugged. "Miss Peach is always the last one to breakfast."
Rather then risking Filia's wraith they continued on their way.
Next they came to Xellos' room and as they were about to knock Xellos appeared right behind them.
"Doing the morning wake up call? Oh Colonel Mustard! You have re-appeared. Did you have fun on your little getaway?" Xellos asked mischievously.
"Huh?" Gourry blinked in confusion.
"Nevermind Colonel. We'll see you downstairs Professor."
"I would assume so. Oh and good morning." Xellos gave them one last smile before heading downstairs.
"Well so far our dear old Professor has given the most unsurprised reaction to Colonel Mustard." De Tanga mused.
"Do you think that Professor Plum was responsible for Colonel Mustard's disappearance?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Professor Plum is a strange man to begin with so maybe we weren't likely to see him surprised about anything."
They continued on to Martina's room, which was next in the hall.
First De Tanga knocked, but there was no answer. "Madame Rose? You are awke?"
Still more silence. De Tanga knocked again, "Madame Rose are you there?"
Nothing.
"Madame Rose?!"
More knocking, and still more silence.
"Madame Rose are you in there?!"
Suddenly the door next to Martina's opened and an angry Martina wearing a pink silk robe came out. "Do you have to make so much damn noise?" She hissed at them.
"Well we came to wake you up for breakfast, but you weren't in your room so that's why we were making so much noise. Tell me Madame Rose what are you doing in Mr. Brunette's room?"
Martina's face suddenly went beet red as she just realized the situation. "Ah-a -- never you mind that!" Martina slammed the door in a flustered manor and the four men in the hallway could make out the sounds of a muffled male voice in the room with Martina.
De Tanga made a mental note to find out exactly what type of a relationship Madame Rose and Mr. Brunette had.
The last room was Sylphiel's. But they didn't need to knock because she was already leaving her room.
She almost jumped a mile when she saw them right outside her door. "Oh my! You started me!" Sylphiel exclaimed putting a hand to her chest and took a deep breath.
"Sorry we startled you Sylphiel." Gourry said while rubbing the back of his neck.
Sylphiel stared at the Colonel with wide eyes in surprise before jumping into his arms giving him a hug. "You had me so worried! You just disappeared right after I saw you last night! Are you okay? Where were you?"
"Uh, I don't really remember..."
"But you're okay right?"
"Oh yeah! I'm fine, sorry I worried you."
Sylphiel blushed slightly. But then she blushed even more when she realized that everyone was staring at her. "Let's go to breakfast shall we?"
Breakfast was served and part way through Filia came down with a yawn. Xellos gave her a sly grin. "Tired are we? You must have been up late last night. But what were you doing Filia-dear?"
Filia glared daggers at him. "Don't you ever call me Filia-dear ever again unless you want to feel pain."
"Is that a threat or a promise?"
Filia huffed and sat herself at the table and begun to eat.
A little while later everyone was done and just drinking coffee. De Tanga took this opportunity to announce the news.
"Can I get everyone's attention? I want to make an announcement. Due to our situation with our cell phones Death, Hallas and I decided that we were going to go to the station this morning, but we couldn't. All of the cars outside apparently had their tires slashed sometime last night."
Everyone gasped and De Tanga carefully observed everyone in the room. As expected Xellos was the only one who didn't seem slightly distraught.
"That's terrible!"
"And it gets worse. All the cars were broken into. It looks like the trunks off all the cars had been pried open with a crowbar or something. And it also looks like all the spare tires that might have been in the trunks have been stolen."
"Oh dear looks like someone wants to keep us captive here." Xellos joked with a laugh. Everyone glared at him.
Xellos was becoming more and more suspicious every moment, as well as everyone else.