Chapter One: There Is A Thief Amongst You
It was a calm day in the restaurant. There weren't too many customers, but it was nice like that.
Raeger was in the kitchen, about to serve up an order one of those customers had made, when suddenly, the entrance door opened so fast it almost flew off its hinges.
Klaus, Elise and Mistel all tried to enter at the same time and got stuck in the doorway. They tried to push each other out of the way, all eager to get in first.
Eventually, they all managed to fall into the restaurant and they looked around for a place to hide.
There was nowhere particularly useful for that, so they ran over to Raeger to ask if they could hide behind the counter. One look at Raeger's face told them the answer was going to be no.
The three very nervous individuals turned back to the dining area and wondered what to do.
Klaus sat in a corner with a menu in front of his face. Elise ran to the far end of the restaurant and sat where the lighting wasn't so good so she wouldn't be so noticeable.
Mistel looked around, but since he couldn't see anything he could do to hide, he sat down at a table in the centre of the room and tried to look normal.
All the customers watched this scene play out, confused. Raeger also watched, but he just sighed and muttered to himself, "What's going on this time?"
Raeger served the meal he'd been cooking to his customer and then went around, asking Klaus, Elise and Mistel what they would like to order.
They were all absent minded and stammered a lot when trying to recover their minds from wherever they were. Then they made their order. All three of them ordered very light.
At least Klaus was polite to order actual food; Elise and Mistel just ordered drinks.
Raeger sighed again as he returned to his kitchen. Not only was something going on and that something was going on in his restaurant, but he wasn't even going to get any business out of it.
The restaurant fell into silence; not the calm silence of before, but an ominous, bated breath kind of silence. Klaus, Elise and Mistel were always looking around in a paranoid way.
Before Raeger could deliver any of them their orders, although he wasn't too keen to get it to them fast anyway, there was the second disturbance of the day.
Agate swooped in through a window, which broke with a loud crash, rolled onto the floor, stood up and looked very fearsome. Everyone stared at her in utter shock.
"There is a thief amongst you," she said.
"Well, I'll be off!" Fritz said and headed for the door.
"Hold it right there!" Agate snapped. She leapt towards the door and grabbed Fritz's arm before he could escape. "Hand it over," she continued, expecting Fritz to be the thief.
Raeger walked over and after watching Agate make some threats and Fritz struggle in silence, he said, "Just pay up, Fritz."
Fritz miserably handed Raeger money and fled. Agate looked from him to Raeger, confused.
"He just wanted to avoid paying his bill. I know by now," Raeger said. Then he turned around and, pointing to Klaus, Elise and Mistel, said softly, "The thief is one of those three."
"How do you know?" Agate whispered back.
"They're acting really weird," Raeger answered.
Agate stood firmly, looking around at all the customers, keeping a watchful eye on the three suspects Raeger had pointed to.
Klaus was wearing a bigger coat than usual, with enough room to hide something within...
Elise had her hands behind her back, as though she were holding something...
Mistel had a bag with him which definitely seemed to have something inside it...
Any of them could be the thief. Agate didn't know where to start, but picked at random.
Agate walked over to Klaus and said, "Hey, Klaus. I noticed that for a few days you've been heading to the safari... Looking around... Casing the joint?"
"Casing the joint? Who do you think I am? I may have been to the safari a few times, but I didn't think I was frequenting in a suspicious manner," Klaus said.
"Maybe not, but... That coat you're wearing today... I know you're hiding something under it," Agate said.
"Excuse me? It's a bit chilly today. That's all," Klaus countered.
Agate didn't have anything to say to that. It was colder than usual today. "Look, I don't know if you know this, thief, wherever in the room you might be," Agate said, although she remained staring at Klaus the entire time, "but what you took is very important. Very."
"...I'm sorry. I lied to you. The truth is... I helped the thief. They needed to get to the safari without you finding out, so they asked me to get them there," Klaus admitted.
"I see... and who is the thief?" Agate asked.
Klaus didn't say anything. He looked very, very slowly around the room, and when he glanced at Elise for a moment, she snapped, "How dare you?! It's not me!"
"...He didn't say anything," Agate murmured. She turned her investigation to Elise.
"It's not me!" Elise shouted again.
"Then why have you gotten so defensive?" Agate asked.
"Because, um, Klaus accused me!" Elise said.
"He really didn't. He just looked at you for a second," Agate said.
"Fine... Klaus helped me get to the safari, but I didn't steal anything!" Elise said.
"Why did you ask Klaus for help? Why not someone else?" Agate wondered.
Elise laughed and replied, "Well, you see, Klaus has a very particular set of skills, skills he has acquired over a very long career-"
"Enough about me!" Klaus interrupted, not wanting anyone to know any more. He was so nervous about it, he snapped at Elise, "You're the thief!"
"Just give me what you're hiding behind your back," Agate said.
Elise continued to struggle wordlessly for a few moments and then gave up. "Okay, I'm the thief! But I... I had to get this! There's something I really need but the guy who's got it said he'd only give me it if I traded it for this thing from the safari," Elise explained.
"It's okay. Just hand it over and it'll be okay," Agate said.
Elise took the crystal ball out from behind her back. Agate was disappointed.
"You're not who I'm looking for," Agate sighed.
"I'm not?" Elise asked.
"I don't care about that crystal. And if no animals attacked you for stealing it, I'm pretty sure it's okay that you took it. You didn't have to "steal" it," Agate said.
"...So I can keep it?" Elise asked excitedly.
"Of course you can," Agate said and turned back to the rest of the customers.
Agate thought back to who Raeger had thought were suspicious. Mistel was the only one remaining. Agate looked over to Mistel.
That cute, innocent face. He wouldn't steal anything! Or would he...?
Immediately, Agate suspected him.
Agate walked over to Mistel and said, "Well, well, if isn't the thief."
"What makes you think it's me? Because you ran out of other suspects?" Mistel replied.
"I was building up to you. Interrogating everyone around you to make you nervous, slowly closing in on you," Agate lied.
"It's a shame since I'm not the thief," Mistel said.
Klaus and Elise looked at each other, both realising the truth simultaneously, and said to Agate, "He's the thief. He was the first to suggest we sneak into the safari."
"Thanks a lot!" Mistel shouted at them.
Agate looked at the bag Mistel had with him. She knew what she was looking for was in it. As long as she got it away from Mistel, she'd have everything under control.
However, as she reached for the bag, Mistel noticed and snatched the egg inside away.
"You can't have it! It's mine!" Mistel snapped.
"Yours?! How could it be yours? It belongs to an animal at the safari!" Agate shouted.
"It's perfect for my collection!" Mistel replied. It was a stunningly beautiful egg.
"So you plan on keeping it? What would you do when it hatches? You don't even know what's inside!" Agate said.
"...Then I guess I just won't let it hatch," Mistel said after thought.
"Murderer!" Agate shouted.
Mistel lept to his feet and started running with the egg. Agate chased. They ran around and around the restaurant, no one else daring to interfere.
Finally, Agate caught up with him and her only way of stopping him was tackling him to the ground. As Mistel fell, he let go of the egg and it flew into the air.
Agate and Mistel couldn't get up in time to catch it and both of them watched the egg, horrified.
Klaus and Elise both ran to catch the egg but collided with each other and fell to the floor also.
Everyone watched the egg fall, knowing they couldn't stop it, for they were too far or too scared or otherwise incapacitated, until Annie, who'd been trying to stay unnoticed during the entire ordeal, finally decided this was the time to interfere, leaped forward and caught the egg.
Everyone sighed with relief.
Agate jumped to her feet and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Annie!"
Annie handed the egg over to Agate. Then Agate turned and thanked Raeger as well for his help.
"You're going to pay for the broken window, right?" Raeger said.
Agate glanced at the window and then grabbed Mistel's arm with her free hand. "We have to go!" Agate said, dragging a resistant Mistel out of the restaurant.
"Where are you going? Come back here! Who's going to pay for the window?!" Raeger questioned.
Everyone in the restaurant started exiting awkwardly.
"Where are you all going?! Come back here!" Raeger shouted.