17 – The Mystery of the Broken Guitar (3)

Stellaluna, along with Barry, Maple, and Jake, stood around the security room while Officer McNeil played through the video footage. Maple’s two other friends had gone home, for they weren’t suspected at all.

Barry watched the video over McNeil’s shoulder. “Who’s that?”

Stellaluna looked closely at the stranger on the monitor. They stopped to read the “off-limits” sign, then continued walking in the public area. “They didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But they were curious.” Barry stroked his chin. “That’s the only person we’ve seen do… something.”

“And that’s the last of the footage from today.” McNeil leaned back in the chair. “Doesn’t look like a guest did it. Unless they avoided the cameras somehow.”

Barry pounded his fist in his hand. “It must have been a servant. I knew it!”

Stellaluna checked her watch. 5:38. “They all leave in twenty minutes.”

“Not tonight. We need to round them all up for questioning.” Barry stepped aside, and tapped at his watch.

“Does this mean I’m free to go?” Jake asked.

“For now,” McNeil said. “But I wouldn’t put it past you to have sneaked past the cameras.”

“Is that possible?” Stellaluna was certain the cameras got a good view of each angle.

“Not really. Unless they got through a window.” McNeil looked at Barry. “Are any of these off-limits areas up against an outside wall? With a window, perhaps?”

“We keep those windows closed and locked,” Barry said.

“Can I see them?” McNeil asked.

“Of course. It’ll give us something to do while I wait for our butler to round up all the servants.”

At some point during the conversation, Jake and Maple left. Stellaluna followed Barry and McNeil through the off-limits area.

“See?” Barry pointed at each window they walked by. “Closed and locked.”

“What about this one?” McNeil pointed to an open window. The three stopped to look at it. But it was just that. A window that had been opened.

“This might have been a two man job,” McNeil said. “If I had to guess, I’d say a servant opened the window to let someone in.”

“Or a servant opened a window because they got hot cleaning over here,” Stellaluna said.

“I’m gonna need to get prints. I don’t have any equipment on me, but I’ll call backup to bring it.” McNeil pulled out his phone, and dialed someone. “Hello, Gish? Are you free to come down to Callahan Mansion? There’s been a crime.” He paused. “Okay, great. We need to take prints.”

After his call, McNeil put his phone away. “What’s the crime scene look like?”

“The music room is right there.” Barry pointed towards a doorway up ahead.

The group went inside the room. Nothing had changed since Stellaluna had last set foot in there. The broken guitar had been set aside on a table.

“I moved it there after I found it,” Barry said. He delicately picked it up and put it on the floor, around where Stellaluna had spotted it. “It was like this.”

McNeil inspected it. “A lot of force must have been applied to it. This had to have been intentional.”

“Someone could've accidentally stepped on it,” Stellaluna said.

McNeil nodded. “Possible, but unlikely. No. I think someone picked it up and bashed it against something. A woman wouldn’t have been strong enough to apply that much force. It had to of been a man who did it.”

Stellaluna scowled. “A woman could very well be strong enough to do that!”

Barry put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze that made her wince. “Now, darling, you know better than to speak up like that.”

McNeil looked around the hardwood floor. “A-ha!” He pointed at a mark on the floor. “Looks like a footprint to me.”

Barry and Stellaluna looked. There was a scuff near where the guitar had been. “That doesn’t look like a footprint,” Stellaluna said.

“Not that. That’s probably where it broke. No, that.” McNeil pointed to a shoe-shaped print a few inches away from the scuff. The bottom of it wasn’t clear, but it was enough to figure out what size shoe the person had worn.

McNeil straightened. “Now… where are the servants?”

Every servant formed a line around the music room. Barry had each person place their foot against the print for a match. Like a morbid version of Cinderella. Yannick was one of the last people in line. Stellaluna stood near him. The way he stared at the ground, hunched over, made her worry for him.

Right before Barry had started in on this nonsense, a police officer arrived. He and McNeil left to take prints off the window. That was about twenty minutes ago. Stellaluna wondered what was taking them so long to take a few fingerprints. How did that work anyway?

Finally, it was Yannick’s turn to compare shoe sizes. Barry smiled. “Right. Let’s see it.”

“We have the results of the fingerprints,” McNeil called out, as he walked into the room with his partner. “They belong to a German fellow by the name of Yannick Bach.”

Stellaluna’s heart raced at the name. How many servants named Yannick could they have?

“Alright.” Barry’s eyes swept the room as he addressed the servants. “Which one of you is Yannick Bach?”

No one responded.

“I swear, I will keep everyone here all night until I find out who Yannick Bach is.”

The room was dead silent, everyone holding their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.

Head turned away, Yannick slowly raised his hand.

“I knew it!” Barry pointed his finger at Yannick. “I knew it was you who broke my guitar. Your foot even matches the print, doesn’t it?”

Yannick’s eyes widened. “I did not do it!”

“All the evidence leads to you. We have proof you were the one who opened the window!”

“It was not me.”

“You opened the window.”

“Yes. I needed to… Lüften.”

Barry furrowed his brow. “What?”

“The air was bad. I opened the window to it good make.” Yannick finally met Barry’s gaze. “I break not the guitar.”

“Okay.” Barry pointed at the shoe print. “Put your foot on that.”

With a sigh, Yannick complied. Like Cinderella’s slipper, it was a perfect fit.

“It is yours!” Barry glowered at him. “You did it.”

“Yes, it is my… print? I was in here. But it was not me.”

Before Barry could argue, Stellaluna jumped in. “Did you see who did it?”

Yannick shook his head. “No.”

“It had to of been you,” Barry insisted. “If not you then... who?”

“Or what?” McNeil said. In the midst of the argument, nobody had noticed that McNeil had been examining the guitar. He held it out to Barry. “Check out those marks on the handle.”

Stellaluna walked over to look. The handle had what might have been teeth marks all over it, like an animal had gnawed on it. “What did that?” she asked.

“Not a human,” McNeil said. Next to him, the other officer muttered something about a giant rat, and they snickered.

“It wasn’t any of the servants,” Stellaluna said to Barry. “Shouldn’t we send them all home?”

“Yes, yes. I suppose we should.” Barry raised his voice to address the servants. “You are all free to go.”

The servants hurried through the door in a rush, as though worried Barry might change his mind and make them stay longer. Yannick was quick to join them.

“It must have been a large animal,” McNeil said, after the servants left. “These marks are deep. The handle might have broken from the animal chewing on it. It might have stepped on it while it did. That’s how it broke in the center.”

“Whatever animal it was probably came through the window, when it was open,” the other officer said.

“That makes sense.” Barry looked around the room. “Where’d that servant go?”

“Home,” Stellaluna said.

“I’m going to have a serious talk with him about opening windows when he comes in tomorrow.” Barry scratched his head, then sighed. “What kind of animal did that much damage?”

~~~~~

Since McNeil was too busy to drive Maple home, Jake had that privilege. Not that McNeil gave him explicit permission. Maple didn’t even tell McNeil she was leaving. She just left alongside Jake.

“Your brothers are going to be pissed when they find out I’m the one bringing you home.” Jake smiled at Maple. “Want to stop for froyo?”

Maple returned his smile. “I’d love to.”

They sat outside the shop, enjoying their froyo in silence. It was dark outside. A few streetlights illuminated their view. Jake glanced at Maple every so often to catch her looking at him. She really was beautiful, even if she was only 17.

Jake’s phone ringed, and he checked it. Axel. He picked up. “Hello?”

“Hey Jake. I just got off the phone with Sebastian. You’ll never guess what happened.”

“What?”

“His mom took Tibby out for him, up to Callahan Mansion. The dog got loose, and jumped through an open window- inside the mansion!”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She climbed in after him. Caught him chewing up one of his precious guitars.” Axel laughed. “Barry’s gonna be pissed when he finds it!”

“He already has, and is. For a moment, he thought I did it!” Jake went on to tell Axel all about his eventful day at Callahan Mansion.

Axel let out a low whistle. “I just can’t leave you by yourself, can I?”

Jake laughed along with him. “I gotta go. I’m still hanging out with Maple.”

“Give her a big kiss from me.” Axel’s tone was teasing. “Good night.”

“Good night.” Jake hung up, and looked at Maple. “That was Axel. The mystery of the broken guitar has been solved. It was Sebastian’s dog all along.”

“Wow.” Maple scraped the last bits of her froyo from the cup. “Should we tell Barry?”

It was a good question. On one hand, Jake wanted Barry to keep on wondering. On the other hand, he didn’t want any of the servants getting blamed for it and possibly fired. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I think it should stay a mystery. It’s funner that way.”

“Then we’ll keep it a mystery.” As long as no servants were fired. Jake patted her back. “Come on, let’s get you home and hope your brothers don’t kill me.”

“You can drop me off a block away, and I’ll tell them Kyra gave me a ride. She’ll cover for me.”

"Sounds good."

The two got in the car, and drove off. It hadn't been a date, but to Maple, it felt like one. And that was enough to make her day.