Spyglass Mysteries: #1 Death At The Merryworth Manor

Chapter 13: Investigating The Manor

Friday, May 24th

11:00 am. Late Morning

The car rumbled came to a stop as we reached the main gate in-front of the Merryworth Manor. The guard posted this morning was the same from last night. The guard saw it was us and waved us through. We drove to the garage and parked. I stepped out of the car, looking over the front lawn. The flowers were crushed from the rain last night. The grounds were still muddy as brown footprints led from the front door that night. Logan lifted his hat to rub the sweat off his brow. The sun shown brightly through the clouds today. At least the mud would dry out making any tracks view-able later on as well as the nicely timed summer heatwave. We decided to talk to Keith first to understand what the police may have found out. We find Keith outside the front door waving off a fly buzzing around him. Logan waved back, thinking Keith was waving to us to come closer. Detective Shayne stepped out of the house holding an evidence bag. They both wait for us to walk over.

"Hello Detective!" I greeted.

"Finally, what kept you so long," joked Detective Shayne.

"The Commissioner held us for awhile talking about wanting us on the case," boasted Logan.

"Really, great, the more the merrier. Keith, brief them over what we found so far," ordered Detective Shayne, ducking back under the caution tape, into the house.

"I sort of think we're growing on him," I said.

"What do we got, Keith?" said Jeremy, ignoring what I said.

"You know most of what happened, there was a party set after 7:00 pm.. Everyone attending the party entered through the front gate," said Keith, rereading the notes from his notepad.

Jeremy walked over to the other end of the porch in deep thought. Logan rubs his forehead as Keith finished reading.

"Can we skip to the end here, I want to get started looking before dark," said Logan, dusting the top step to set on.

"Okay then, during the blackout, Mrs. Grace sets off to find her Husband. Arthur says he was down in the basement checking the breaker. Then, Arthur retrieves Stephen, the Gardener, to help find another fuse. Arthur runs into Mrs. Grace and leads her back to the party using a candle. Everyone was accounted for in the Ballroom except Arthur and Stephen," said Keith.

"Anything about McCloy?" I asked.

"Nope, he was seen by two other witnesses in the Ballroom during the murder," said Keith, flipping through his notepad.

"Well this is all said and done, but we should start looking around. Is that okay with you, Keith?" said Logan.

"The department is at your disposal, if you need anything, I'll be right here," said Keith.

"Thanks, see you around then," said Logan.

I notice Jeremy thinking over on the other side of the porch. His face was serious. I walk over to him.

"What's the matter, Jeremy?" I asked.

"This case, I just can't figure it out yet," said Jeremy.

"We've just been out of the business for a while, give it some time, we'll be back to solving cases like theres' no tomorrow."

"Your right, do we have a lead?" asked Jeremy.

"Not quiet, just two people out of place on the chart last night," said Logan, walking over.

"And who are these two people?" asked Jeremy.

"Stephen, the Gardener, and Arthur, the Family Butler," said Logan, tapping his head. "I've got everything memorized for this."