Puzzles: The Missing Piece

Chapter 12: Crime Scene

"Ehem, It all started a few hours ago," he said, "I was in the kitchen, making my world famous spaghetti alla carbonara. I was in the middle of making the sauce when suddenly," he said spookily, "I was lacking a few ingredients."

Garry and I rolled our eyes.

"So, I went to the storage room in the basement where we keep the extra food supplies," he continued. "But, as I was taking a few ingredients for the carbonara, I heard a loud smashing sound coming from upstairs," he told us. "I ran as quickly as possible!"

"So, I'm guessing this is the part where you discovered the gemstone was stolen?" I asked him.

"Indeed it is," he replied.

"What about grandpa?" asked Garry, "Where was he? Didn't he heard the loud noise?"

"You do know the rooms in the mansion are soundproofed right?" Anton raised his eyebrows.

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Garry. "Hmmm...... isn't soundproofing dangerous?" he said.

"Well, yes, but it could be useful. If the neighbours are having a loud party, we wouldn't be affected by the loud monstrosity you call music these days. What was his name? Alan Walker right? Who even likes him?" he reasoned.

"I like him," I said. Both of them ignored me.

"Even so, if an emergency situation happens let's say, a tsunami is coming, we wouldn't hear the sirens!" he fought back.

I've had enough. I stood up, "Are you guys seriously having this conversation now?" I said in a higher tone than usual.

"Absolutely good point," replied Garry. Then, he stood up.

"Come on, I want to check the crime scene," I told him.

"Why?"

"I want to help, and this mystery may just be the opportunity we've been looking for," I said.

His eyes widened, "You mean-"

"Yes, this will officially be our first mystery!" I grinned at him.

After that, we headed into the mansion. Unfortunately, a policeman was guarding the front door.

"Can we come in?" asked Garry.

Surprised, the policeman said, "This is a crime scene, young man. You can't enter it."

"B-but...." I stuttered.

"I'm sorry, but this zone is off limits. Even the news reporters can't enter it," he interrupted me.

As we were about to leave, a lady, maybe in her mid twenties stopped us, "Follow me," she ordered. Then, she brought us back to the doorway. She faced the guard. As she did that, she pulled out a badge from the inner pocket of her leather jacket, "I'm detective Stacy. These kids are with me," she informed the guard. She went inside the mansion. We followed her.

As we were walking to the living room, I said, "Thank you, Miss Stacy, for helping us."

She turned around. Her ginger hair flinging to the sides, "No problem," she looked at me. She had blue eyes. However, I don't know how, but I could know that she had been through a lot of suffering.

"So, are you guys like Scooby Doo or something?" she asked us.

"Well, sorta," Garry laughed.

"You know, I was once like you guys," she told us, "I was about around your age. I had a friend named Matt. We were best of friends. We met when we were in kindergarten. After that, we were never apart. We were really into Scooby Doo, so, we decided to make our own little agency. Just for a few years though. Then, we started dating. We had a life. Became detectives and then-" she suddenly stopped. Her eyes were watery. Her voice was croaking.
"Forget it......" she said. She wiped her eyes, "You guys can look at the crime scene okay. But, don't take anything."she said, "Promise?"

"Promise!" me and Garry said in unison.

After that, we went to the large glass cabinet where the stone was placed. A part of the glass was broken. Then, I realized something. There weren't any glass shards inside the cabinet. The only glass shards present were on the carpet. I told Garry about this.

"What do you mean?" he said, perplexed.

"It's logic. Think about it. If the thief was breaking the glass from the outside, the majority of the glass shards would be inside the cabinet, not out." I explained.

"Wait, hold on a second. The thief could've done that from the inside. He could always pick the lock on the door-"

"Even if he did pick the lock, why would he waste time smashing the glass when he already had access to the gemstone," I interrupted him.

"Good thinking," he pointed out, "So wait, what are you proposing? Do you think there is a traitor among us?" he exclaimed.

"I don't know yet but, with the evidence present, I think this is an inside job," I told him. Both of our faces turned grim.