Luna got home from her day at work feeling tired and moody as she normally did after work. Which wasn't any different then any other day, since Luna was never in a good mood after work.
Today had been a short day. There had been a fire scare at the office, which just turned out to be someone's lunch spending too much time in the microwave and setting off the alarm. But by the time that everyone had realized this most of the staff were gone. So the managers just told everyone to go home for the day.
Luna took off her coat and shoes and put her keys and purse down before heading down the hall. Her eyes were in the direction of the phone, more importantly the answering machine. It flashed signaling two new messages.
One of those better be De Tanga... Luna walked over the to the answering machine and pressed the button. The first message was from the plumber. He wouldn't be able to come and fix the leak in the basement till next friday. The other was her mother calling her to say hi.
Luna glared at the answering machine. De Tanga had promised her that he was going to call. And he hadn't done that yet. It could just be because he was still busy or his cell phone could still be dead, but Luna had expected him to call her by now.
Oh well maybe he just thought that I would still be at work and isn't going to call till when I should be getting home. And since I'm home early he probably wont be calling for a few hours yet. Luna sighed and went her room.
De Tanga went over his case file notes trying to decide who he should speak to next and what he should say to them. Considering that he barely knew anything about Lina Scarlet he decided that she was going to be the next person that he was going to talk to. But like usual he had no idea where he could find her or any of the other suspects. So that left De Tanga to wander around the manor till he found her.
The last time he had seen Lina was at lunch in the dinning room. But after she had finished her food she had bolted off someplace. According to what Amelia told him after they ate, Lina was a bit of a distrusting person. But considering the circumstances De Tanga didn't blame her.
He sighed and got up and started to trek around the Boddy Manor. The first place he tried was Lina's room but when he knocked he got no answer. De Tanga figured that since it was starting to near dinnertime that Lina wouldn't be in her room taking a nap.
De Tanga walked down the hall and down the stairs to the main hall of the manor. Upon reaching the first floor he noticed something odd.
On the floor right in front of the front door the wood was all wet. Now he knew that he had trailed in some water from when he went to talk with Xellos but there shouldn't be that much water on the floor. And from the looks of the water patterns it almost looked like something had been dragged somewhere.
De Tanga shook his head. I've been spending too much time in this place, I'm starting to get paranoid. Professor Plum was still outside when I came in so maybe it was him. Either way I'm wasting time standing her staring at the floor.
Hallas after getting himself lost again on one of his ventures in the manor, had ended up in the kitchen. And since Amelia was there cooking dinner he decided while he was there he might as well help her out. Amelia of course had refused at the beginning but Hallas wouldn't take no for an answer.
He grinned at her as he chopped vegetables for the salad. Amelia was standing over at the oven watching over the soup that she was cooking. Her back was turned to him so he could grin at her freely without her knowing it. He wouldn't say it out loud but Hallas thought she looked cute in that maid uniform. Just the same though, Amelia probably would have clubbed him.
While Hallas was enjoying helping out in the kitchen, Amelia on the other hand wasn't.
Hallas' presence in the kitchen or anyone's presence while Amelia cooked always made her nervous. Or at least since Mr. Boddy's murder is has. Even more so after that incident with the dead body in the freezer.
Amelia didn't know what exactly the people in the manor were capable of. All of them seemed to be after something. And Amelia didn't know how far they would be wiling to go to get what they wanted.
Though Hallas shouldn't be one of the people she should be nervous about, she couldn't help it. Besides she did have her reasons.
"Officer Beige, could you please hand me the pepper?" Amelia asked after giving the soup a taste.
"Okay, I'll get it. And please call me Hallas, Ms. White."
"Oh no that would be rude of me."
"No it wouldn't. Please call me Hallas, I insist." Hallas said with a grin while handing her the pepper.
"Okay then... Hallas." Amelia said with a sweatdrop trailing down the back of her head. She didn't know why, but Hallas' grin made her even more nervous.
Thus the two of them returned to their tasks.
After a long moment of silence a strange noise caught Hallas' attention.
"What was that?" Hallas spoke while rising to his feet.
"What noise?" Amelia frowned.
"It sounded like a shuffling noise. Listen."
Both of them stood in perfect silence. Again the same noise, but this time Amelia heard it as well.
"There! There it is again! It sounds like it's coming from over there." Hallas pointed towards the fridge. He went to reach for his gun when he remembered that he didn't have it.
Amelia latched onto his arm in fright as they inched over to the source of the sound.
The Chief came to in a sitting position with his back flat against the wall.
Being a little disoriented from the blow to the head that he had received; it took the Chief a few moments to realize what had happened.
After a few moments the Chief's mind cleared up and he realized where he was.
He was stuck in a small dark room about the size of a closet and he was bound and gagged and unable to move much.
Someone hit me on the head and I must have lost consciousness. That person must have dragged me in here and tied me up to make sure that I wouldn't talk. The Chief sighed despite the gag. Well it could be worse, I could be dead instead of tied up. The Chief thought sardonically.
But then another thought hit him as he squirmed around in his dark prison. The corner's report! They took it! Just great... As if things couldn't get any worse! Of course I could have avoided all this if I had just put my paranoia aside and came here with someone instead of coming alone. He stomped his foot or at least tried too in frustration.
He looked around the tiny room to see if there was anything that he could use to help him escape. But unfortunately there wasn't anything besides himself in the closet like room.
So the Chief did the only thing he could think to do. Try to make as much noise as possible to see if he could alert someone of his presence. But with the gag and the ropes that he had been tided with made that a little hard. Well I may not be able to help for help but I have to do something.
In the attempt to move the Chief fell onto his side and started hitting the wall with his feet. But after almost ten minutes of this he gave up.
Either this room is soundproof, or it's very far from where people are. I have no idea where I am in the first place. I could be underground locked in a cellar for all I know. What am I going to do? The chief thought desperately.
Luna glared at the clock. It was 5:30 pm and De Tanga hadn't called her yet. He was really starting to get annoyed.
"If he thinks that he can just leave me here waiting for his damn call and not even call at all then expect to come home alive then he's got another thing coming!" Luna declared picking up the phone with intensions of calling De Tanga's cell phone and giving him heck. Within two rings it went straight to De Tanga's voice mail message.
His cell phone's battery couldn't still be dead, could it? It should have been charged by now. Unless he's got his cell phone turned off.. Luna drummed her fingers on the table.
Maybe he's called the Chief and left a message with him for me. She picked up the phone again and dialed the police station.
"Hello, Vald City Police Station, how may I help you?"
"Hello this is Luna Tealson, Detective De Tanga Tealson's wife. I was wondering if I could talk to the Chief concerning my husband." Luna asked the girl on the phone.
"Just a moment please Mrs. Tealson." The girl put Luna on hold.
Quite a few moments later the girl finally came back on the ling.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Tealson, but the Chief doesn't seem to be in at the moment."
"Do you know when he'll be getting back in?"
"No I don't. He left hours ago and didn't tell anyone where he was gong and when he was going to be back. Would you like me to take a message?"
"No, thank you. Can you just tell him that I called?"
"Sure I can do that Mrs. Tealson."
"Alright thanks. Bye."
"Goodbye Mrs. Tealson."
Luna hung up her phone with a sigh. "What the hell is going on here?!"
Once De Tanga found Lina he sat her down in a quiet and vacant area to talk.
"Are you talking to everyone alone of am I just a special exception?" Lina asked in a teasing voice.
"No, I am talking to everyone individually. So Miss Scarlet, I'd like you to tell me again on why you came to the Boddy Manor."
"As I said before, I came here on a business transaction. Mr. Boddy was interested in an item that I had acquired in a trade."
"Yes a blue diamond you got in a trade in Spain. But didn't you say that you came to see if he was interested?" De Tanga asked looking over his notes.
"It was more to see if he was still interested in buying it."
"Could you explain on how you came to meet Mr. Boddy?" De Tanga prompted.
"Well the item I acquired was one that more then just I, that wanted it. Mr. Boddy was one of those others interested in the diamond. And when I beat him to the deal he contacted me requested I come here with the diamond so that we might make a deal. I hadn't met him before that."
"And where is the diamond now?"
"At my home sitting in a safe." Lina said with a slight grin.
"But I thought you said -- "
"Yes He wanted to bring the diamond with me but I'd never trust someone I'd only talked to on the phone." Lina cut him off. "So when I came here I brought a fake replica made of glass. But it's just the same though, I wasn't even here for a few hours when it was stolen from my room." Lina laughed bitterly.
"Someone stole it? Do you know who?"
"Well if you are thinking that it was Mr. Boddy, I'll tell you now it wasn't. He knew that it was a fake once he saw it. In fact he figured I wouldn't have brought the real with me. But we still continued with the trade negotiations."
"Did you two come to an agreement?"
"Nope, he only offered half of what I had paid for it. There was no way I would sell if for less then what I had paid, when I could probably sell it for triple of what Mr. Boddy offered. And if I couldn't, well it's just nice enough to keep at home for my own personal enjoyment. In fact I didn't even want to sell the diamond so quickly after getting it but Mr. Boddy was being so irritatingly persistent that I agree to come here."
"You didn't come here with the intensions of trying to fool Mr. Boddy into buying the fake diamond thinking it was the real one, did you?" De Tanga asked not even looking up from his notepad.
"I'll admit that that thought had crossed my mind when I aggressed to come here. But I didn't think I'd get away with it anyway. Being as much of a collector as Mr. Boddy was he was going to realize it was a fake right from the start anyways."
"Do you have any idea on who might have stolen your fake diamond?"
"Someone really desperate for money and doesn't have much experience in telling the difference between glass and diamonds. Which could be just about anyone in the manor." Lina said sarcastically. "Not that I really care that much, it was only glass after all."
"Yes I suppose. Tell me was there anyone in the manor that you knew before you came here?"
"No. I didn't know a single person here, and nor do I care to. They are all a bunch of strange and suspicious people. Like that Professor Plum character. I wouldn't trust anyone of them. Do you have any more questions for me Detective?"
"For the moment I don't Miss Scarlet. Thank you for your time."
"Oh the pleasure was all mine." Lina said with a wink.
De Tanga was going to say something more but just then two very loud screams filled the air.
"What was that?" Lina wondered.
"It sounded like it came from the kitchen." De Tanga said drawing his gun.
Everyone gathered outside the kitchen doors where the screaming still continued. De Tanga motioned for everyone to stay back as him and Death went inside to investigate.
The sight Death and De Tanga saw before them was very comical. Both Hallas and Amelia standing on chairs screaming frantically about a rat that was on the floor below them looking up in curiosity.
"Death can you take care of that?" De Tanga pointed at the rat.
Death grimaced. "Do I have to? It could be diseased. It could bite me." Death said with a shudder.
Oh well at least he isn't screaming like Hallas. "Fine I'll take care of it." De Tanga looked around for a broom and dustpan and swept up the rat. Meanwhile Death opened the closet the window for De Tanga to throw the rat outside.
Once the rat was gone from the kitchen and once Hallas and Amelia had calmed down everyone came in.
"All that commotion over a stupid little rodent." Martina snorted.
"So what happened Hallas?"
"Well I was helping Ms White with the dinner when I heard a noise coming from behind the fridge. When we went to go and investigate a rat came right out and started chasing us around the room!" Hallas cried out.
De Tanga just rolled his eyes and chose not to comment. He walked over to the fridge in question. With the help of Death, De Tanga moved the fridge enough to see behind it. There was a little hole at the bottom of the wall where the rat must have come through. De Tanga would have just dismissed this because it's a very old mansion, but the way the wall's molding was behind the fridge looked different from the other walls. He felt the wall around the molding and he felt someone that seemed like a latch.
To his surprise that section of the wall was actually a door that was made to look like part of the wall. It leads to what looked like a very dark and long passageway. Well it looks like we found another one.
"A secret passage in the kitchen? Where do you think it leads to?" Death wondered out loud.
"Only one way to find out." De Tanga grinned bringing a flashlight out of his coat.
Hallas naturally enough groaned at De Tanga's suggestion.