Rogan the Detective ONC

The Crime Scene

I like my secret passages old and dusty.

No, not really. Musty old secret passages like this one, full of cobwebs that stick to one's hair, are definitely not what I like. The fact that it's at least dry is relatively good. Unfortunately, it was too dusty, making me sneeze on more than one occasion.

It didn't help my nerves that the light from the candles kept flickering, sometimes even on the verge of being extinguished, and the mere idea of being left in the pitch darkness of the narrow tunnel that already felt like it was closing in on me already sounded like the cruelest form of torture.

"Guys, are we sure it's this way?" I asked as the candles flickered again, making eerie shadows of our bodies extend into creepy monsters.

"Are you blind? Didn't you see that the other side was a dead end?" Elizabeth said, her voice biting as she stopped to remove another cobweb from her hair.

Her expression in the dim lighting looked like one of those villains from the old cartoons, making me turn my head in the other direction only to be met with an even creepier play of shadows on Thomas's face, making me gasp loudly, almost dropping the candelabra in shock.

"What's wrong with you?" Thomas asked, stepping closer, light shining clearly on his good-natured face. "Are you okay?"

The worry in his voice snapped me back to reality and out of my imaginings, which the spooky setting made even more vivid in my mind.

"I'm fine," I said, blinking rapidly to chase away the disturbing images from my mind. "Just a bit claustrophobic, that's all."

"The faster we go, the sooner we'll leave this dusty place," Elizabeth said determinedly, like someone who was used to far better conditions, as someone who might not have even seen dust before. "Here, give me that, and I'll lead the way."

The moment she pointed at the candelabra that I clasped too tightly; I handed it to her. I was thrilled I didn't have to lead the way because not knowing what the next meter, next twist, and turn might bring started getting to me. My nerves were becoming weaker and weaker by the minute.

Elizabeth proceeded forward so quickly that Thomas and I had to almost jog to keep up with her and not end up alone in the complete darkness she was leaving behind her. It seemed to me as if the place we were in bothered her on some deep level, and at one point, it looked as if it troubled her even more than the murders or the death that was looming over us.

But then again, I never understood women, so I didn't think much about it. After all, weren't we alien species to each other or something like that? At least that was something I read somewhere before.

When the tension had risen to a point where I started wondering if I would explode, if my head would pop like a watermelon, Elizabeth suddenly stopped, carefully examining one part of the wall that looked the same as every other.

"What's up?" I asked, standing right behind her, trying to stare at the same spot but still seeing nothing of interest. "Why did you stop?"

"There is something different about this part of the wall," Elizabeth said, carefully running her fingers up and down the wall. "The way it caught the light drew my attention, so I stopped to investigate."

"I don't see anything different. Do you?" I asked, turning to Thomas, who was also inspecting the spot Elizabeth indicated.

Before he could answer, one of the bricks Elizabeth touched moved inwardly. Then the wall started to rotate slowly, revealing the cozy library whose peace had been shattered by a murder, which in my books was unforgivable. It wasn't only that the murder happened, but that it happened in the library of all places, risking damage to all the precious books.