The Librarians ...and the Sleepwalking Caretaker (Budapest Mysteries - part 2)

Room 50

The exhibition room was pretty much like any other display room of a museum. Eve Bair started reading the set of explanations printed for the visitors.

"The Flagons were part of the Britain and Europe 800BC-AD 43 section," she said, but none of the Librarians took notice.

Flynn had found the display case he was looking for and was examining it carefully, checking for clues. It seemed untouched, as if someone had taken great care in lifting and replacing it after the theft. He could tell that the case hadn't been replaced and yet he was at a loss to explain how the two Flagons had been taken with such efficiency.

Ezekiel and Jake were walking around, admiring the other items that were part of the collection. Stone was however more concerned that Jones might steal something and was therefore following him closely around.

Cassandra had chosen to remain with Eve. The Guardian had noticed that the young woman seemed worried, but she waited until she felt ready to talk, which happened sooner than expected.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" suddenly whispered the red-haired girl.

Eve remained silent and Cillian went on:

"It's Jenkins. He is acting strangely..."

"Jenkins is always acting strangely, when he is not complaining or whimpering," smiled Baird.

"It's not like that Eve. When we came back from Lima, he didn't even ask how it went. I tried to tell him about our adventures, but he wouldn't listen. It's as if..."

She hesitated, searching for the right words:

"... as if he wasn't interested anymore. As if he didn't care."

Eve turned towards Cassandra, her smile gone:

"That would explain the clipping book."

She then explained further:

"When we returned with Flynn, the clipping book was closed and Jenkins pretended that nothing of importance happened, that the book doesn't react when Librarians are not around."

"But that's a lie!" Shouted Cassandra before lowering her voice again. "Remember when we became LITs? He told us that newspaper clips would be added every single day and that we only needed to pick a page, any page, and we would have a case."

Ezekien and Jake had joined them in the meantime, mildly curious as to Cassandra's reason for screaming.

"What's up ladies?" Asked Jones.

"Have you noticed anything odd about Jenkins?" Bluntly asked the Guardian.

Both men exchanged a glance. The thief shrugged:

"He is always odd. Have you seen his nightcap? That's quite something."

"I'm serious, Jones."

"Now that you mention it," carefully said Stone. "He wasn't his usual self when we returned from Lima. It was almost as if he didn't expect us to come back at all."

"Something happened to him," sighed Cassandra. "I can't shake this feeling that it has something to do with our last case, but everything is so confused in my mind..."

"Same here, girl. Can't remember a thing," confessed Ezekiel, while Jake nodded in agreement.

"Alright, here is what I propose. As soon as we get back to the Annex, I'll talk to him, ask him what is on his mind and we'll take it from there," decided Eve.

"Do we tell Flynn?" Asked Jake.

The Guardian looked at the Librarian who was turning around the display case in a manner that could have been misinterpreted as a tribal dance.

"No, we don't tell him anything until I've spoken with Jenkins. We might worry for nothing."

Just as she was about to add some comforting words, she saw Carsen walking towards them.

"Did you find anything?" Eve wanted to know.

"No. Not a single thing, not a clue, nothing. And it's..." He smiled dreamingly: "...vexing."

"So what's the plan now?" Asked Ezekiel.

"We return to the Annex and try to find out why someone would want to steal those two Flagons."

Before anyone could object, he was already walking in direction of the door they had used to get inside the museum. He opened it and froze. Behind the door was a small closet that was meant to welcome the employees' personal belongings while they were on duty in the area. Flynn closed the door shut, took a deep breath and opened it again.

"Not that I want to state the obvious," started Ezekiel. "But shouldn't that door lead to the Annex?"

"It should indeed," replied the Guardian who was starting to feel increasingly uncomfortable.

Carsen opened and closed the door a few times, before he gave up. The link to the backdoor had been cut. The Librarian turned to face his fellow companions:

"That's not very convenient, but it's not the end of the world either," he smiled.

"Guys?"

It was Cassandra, calling the group from Room 50. She had walked back in the exhibition room following a hunch.

When her friends joined her, she simply pointed to the display case:

"The Flagons are back..."

"And we're stuck..." finished Jones.