Mystery at Mavadi!

Chapter 26!

The long awaited chapter 26 is finally here!

Thank you, thank you!

Recap:

Robert just shook his head.

We were all breathing heavily.

"Let's go," Larry breathed, "We're going straight to-"

He stopped, realizing that it was suddenly very quiet. He shouldn't have spoken.

A pair of footsteps echoed across the room. They were coming our way from behind the wall from the direction of the room Logan and Nero had conversed in.

My eyes were wide, my breathing fast.

Almost immediately, more footsteps echoes into the room.

"Who's there?" Nero's voice called.

Alex grabbed my hand and we all ran to the tunnel as fast as we could, not bothering to be quiet.

Chapter 26!

I ran with Alex holding my hand. The tunnel was dark and suddenly seemed endless.

Robert, Larry and Robin ran behind us with very little space in between.

Robert and Larry could be faster if they wanted to but kept behind us. Probably to get Alex and me to safety first.

Footsteps echoed behind us with exclamations about forgetting all about this tunnel.

I pushed myself to run faster and keep up with Alex. I knew it was a waste anyway. We'd take too long at the rope ladder. We didn't have any hope.

Tears of frustration and fear fell without my permission.

We reached the ladder and Alex swung up the rope, climbing like a monkey.

"Alex?" Am's voice called.

Sounds of men's voices reached us from behind and they sounded very close.

Adrenaline got me up faster and I kept up with Alex's speed. I pounced out the hole, falling next to Susan's lap. Sasha growled at the hole.

Larry got out, "Pull!" he yelled and we did.

Robert and Robin collapsed on the grass, beside us.

"Quick," I grabbed Robert's hand and began running. We ran in the direction of Rayne's house. He men down there didn't have any means to come out but it wouldn't take long.

I raced after Robin and Alex, still gripping Robert's hand. Susan and Am were faster than us and I was glad.

Sasha kept up with me.

We raced out the shade of the trees at the fringe of the woods and collapsed on the ground.

The two policemen who sat near Rayne's house, hurried towards us, shouting something about bears. I rested my throbbing head on Alex's shaking shoulder.

Slowly, things came into focus in my brain.

Logan and Nero were two separate people.

Nero was the head of an international ring of thieves.

They probably hid their stolen goods in this unsuspecting little village without the local authorities knowing.

Logan had stolen Rayne from Nero.

What was the challenge about?

Treasure? As in Jhembulingam's treasure?

And what happened to Logan?

I shivered thinking back to the sounds of the fight I'd heard.

My legs ached and I moaned.

I felt a soft hand on my aching head and saw Am give me a kind smile.

We were going to see Uncle Mark now.

I knew that from the way Larry talked to the policemen. They nodded with grim expressions of toned down disbelief.

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Mark was a riot.

He looked about twenty six with shiny brown hair and a moustache. His eyes crinkled when he laughed. It seemed to amuse him that we could grow up. I couldn't help but smile.

We were now seated in his air-conditioned cabin. His deputy stood next to him, looking surprised that his superior could be cheerful.

"So how's the case going?" Mark asked, looking cheerful.

"About that." Larry leaned forward.

Watching the expressions change on Mark's face was hilarious. Larry narrated everything that'd happened with Robert's videos and pictures acting as presentation. The way Mark's face went from surprise to confusion to understanding was quite comical.

When we were done, Robert played the conversation he'd recorded.

Twenty minutes had passed since we'd escaped from the secret lair.

Mark stood up, instructing his deputy in a calm, serious manner.

"We'll be right back. Stay here, okay?"

Alex pouted.

I stared at her in disbelief. She really wanted to go with them after everything that'd happened?

Robin and Robert were going with them to lead the way to the hole that lead down.

Before leaving, Mark tossed a manila envelope to Alex.

He exited, looking like the inspector he was. Robin exited too, sticking his tongue out at his sister.

"What if those crooks seal the hole?" Susan asked.

She had a legit point.

"Fingers crossed that they don't." I told her.

"Hey, check these out." Alex laughed.

She'd opened the envelope. There were ten to fifteen photos inside. I laughed looking at pictures of Alex and a baby me eating, more of Mark playing carrom with us and some of him, Larry and Am just chilling.

I looked up at Am to see her smile, "He was a good friend."

Larry nodded, "Made every place he went cheerful and really pleasant."

"Cool."

Half an hour later, Robert, Robin and Mark got back.

Mark tossed his hat on the table and sat behind his desk again.

Robert and Robin took their own seats.

"What happened?"

Alex, of course.

"We got the gang." Mark smiled. "This is going to give me such a huge promotion. Nero. Nobody even knew their ring existed! These guys are so good, nobody knew that the robberies were connected. He's in custody now. When he starts talking, I'll let you know."

We nodded.

I jotted down a few questions about Rayne, the casket and Jhembulingam's treasure and handed the paper to Mark.

Mark read the note before pocketing it.

"We'll ask him, just not sure if he'll know about the treasure," he said,"From that recorded conversation, it's easy to gather that Logan was telling Nero about it all and challenging him."

"So what happened to Logan?" I asked but a part of me already knew the answer.

"Nero, uh," Mark struggled, "um, killed Logan."

He looked at me but I gave him no reaction. None of us did, except Am.

She averted her gaze, her expression sorrowful.

It killed me to know how serious this case had gotten.

Was it over, then?

Was Jhembulingam's treasure safe?

Not really.