Note: Chuck-A-Rama and the Oak restaurant are real places. I don't own them ^_~


Several scant hours later, everyone gathered in the dining room to decide what they would do.

"We should each choose two or three of the guests and try to find and question them throughout the day," Tea announced. "Just see what their reactions are to certain things, like Lisa with her earring."

"I'll talk to her," Joey grinned.

"Also, maybe you can look for DeeDee," Tea suggested.

In the end, Yugi wound up with the assignment to find out who the man at the cliff's edge was and also to look for the Cobbs family, Tristan would interview Rocco, and Bakura and Tea would find Owen Bridges and Percival von Bruno. After brunch, they would go their separate ways and look for their chosen interviewees.
****
"What's wrong, big brother?" Mokuba asked, concerned. Seto had just entered the den looking very put out.

"Von Bruno pulled a disappearing act again," the older Kaiba replied with a sigh. "Now he just called and suggested we meet at eight tonight, and he refused to tell me where he was during the time we were supposed to meet this morning."

"That's twice now," Mokuba observed. "Big brother, I don't know if you should trust him."

Seto smiled, ruffling Mokuba's hair. "I don't trust him," he said, "and if he doesn't show up tonight, I'm going to be very, very angry."
****
"Hey, Lisa!" Joey called, waving excitedly.

"Joey! What have you been up to?" Lisa asked, smiling as she walked over to him.

"Well, actually, I've been up in the crawlspace on the second floor," Joey announced.

"Oh really?" Lisa said, sounded surprised. "What were you doing up in that place?"

Joey recounted the adventures of early that morning, all the while wondering how Lisa knew about the crawlspace, unless she'd been in there herself. "And guess what we found!" He held up the earring.

Lisa's eyes went wide. "My earring!" she exclaimed. "I was going crazy trying to find it!"

"Where did you lose it, Lisa?" Joey asked curiously, handing it to her.

"Yesterday," Lisa replied, "somewhere in the snow, I thought. I don't know how it ever got in the crawlspace."

Joey couldn't tell whether Lisa was being truthful or not, but he was hoping desperately that she was.
****
"Hey, Rocco!" Tristan called.

The ski instructor looked up from the skis he was cleaning. "Oh, hey," he said. "Tristan, right?"

"That's me," Tristan said grandly. "So, what do you think about these weird things going on lately?"

"I think someone's seriously demented," Rocco replied with a frown. "And somebody had better find out what's going on soon before we get shut down."

"Shut down?" Tristan repeated. "I haven't heard anything like that."

"Well, it's bound to happen," Rocco shrugged, "eventually. We can't possibly stay open if this kinda stuff keeps happening."

"Who do you think is behind it?" Tristan asked.

"I honestly have no idea," Rocco said, "and hey, I'd love to keep chatting, Tristan, but it's time for me to teach my next class."

"Alright. See you later . . ." Tristan trailed off when he realized Rocco had already skipped. "He was sure eager to get away," the hazel-eyed boy commented to himself.
****
Carl paused thoughtfully. Yugi had just asked him about the guy from the cliff incident and had described him. "That was Kevin, the ski lift operator," the elderly man deduced.

"Really?" Yugi's violet eyes widened. "I'd like to talk to him."

"Well. . . ." Carl checked his watch. "He should be taking his usual 3 o'clock break about now."

"Great! I'll try to catch him." Yugi jumped up to hurry off.

"If you can't find him here, check with the Chuck-A-Rama restaurant in the city," Carl suggested. "He'll either be there or at the Oak restaurant here in the canyon. He's a regular customer; everyone at both places knows him by now."

"Thanks Carl," Yugi smiled. "We'll crack this case, I promise!"

As he headed off, he met up with Tristan, who was just coming back from talking to Rocco.

"Hi, Tristan. Any luck?" Yugi asked.

"Not really," Tristan replied. "But he sure high-tailed it away in a hurry when I started talking about the 'accidents.'"

"Hmm, that's odd," Yugi remarked.

"He did say he had to go teach his class," Tristan added, "but still, he left pretty quick."

"It might be nothing," Yugi said as they started walking again. "But then he might've wanted to get away before you asked anything inquisitive about him."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Tristan replied. "So, where are we going, Yugi?"

"To find Kevin, the ski lift operator," Yugi informed his friend. "We might be able to catch him before he goes on his break."

"Cool," Tristan said as they neared the operator's booth. "And then we'll look for the Cobbs?"

Yugi nodded. "That's right." He paused. "Hmm, it looks like he's not here."

"Who runs the ski lift when he's not around?" Tristan wondered.

"There's supposed to be another operator or something," Yugi mused, "and sometimes Carl takes over. But it looks like no one's here right now." He glanced up at the ski lift. "Good thing it's not moving right now, and that no one's trapped on it."

Tristan tried the doorknob. "It's not locked." He pushed the door open and went in, Yugi hot on his heels.

"Hey, what's this?" Tristan held up a newspaper with a large hole in the front page.

"It looks like Kevin or someone cut something out of the paper," Yugi remarked.

"What was the story that was here?" Tristan wondered, putting his hand through the hole.

"I believe it was about that letter robbery," Yugi replied after some thought.

"Why would Kevin be interested in that?" Tristan mused, setting the paper down.

"I don't know, but speaking of that letter robbery, we should try to learn more about it in case it somehow relates to what's happening here," Yugi said.

"Alright, let's go look for the Cobbs and then try to learn more about the purloined letters," Tristan grinned.
****
"I wonder where Mr. Bridges is," Tea mused. "He's usually reading the paper or doing something inside."

"Maybe he's out skiing," Bakura suggested. "He was part of the group that gathered when DeeDee fell over the cliff."

"That's right!" Tea remembered. "But . . . he didn't have any ski poles, now that I think about it."

"That's right!" Bakura exclaimed. "He hadn't been skiing. But then, what was he doing?" He paused, starting suddenly. "Look out! It's a snowmobile!" he gasped.

"What?" Tea turned to look. Bakura was right—a black and red snowmobile was heading right their way. It drove right up alongside them and stopped. Its driver got off and removed his helmet triumphantly.

"Mr. Bridges!" Bakura and Tea exclaimed in unison.

"Now what did you kids think of that?" Owen Bridges said proudly. He sounded so different from his usual crabby self that the two teens could hardly believe he was the same man.

"It was terrific, Mr. Bridges," Tea said finally, and Bakura nodded in agreement.

"Ha! You youngsters didn't think someone of my advancing age could pull off such a thing, did you?" Bridges grinned.

"I'm surprised that someone of any age could ride one of those," Tea replied.

"And not fall off," Bakura added with a smile.

"Exactly," Tea agreed.

"Snowmobiles are my passion," Bridges announced, patting the machine's handlebars. "I've owned this one for twenty-five years."

"Wow!" Tea said, impressed.

"I suppose you must know all about how they operate," Bakura remarked, trying to just sound casual.

"Indeed!" Bridges said. "Anything that can be done with a snowmobile, I can do it!"

"Impressive," Bakura mused. "Very impressive!"

Bridges laughed.

"I'm glad you're in such a good mood today, Mr. Bridges," Tea smiled. "Does 'anything that can be done with a snowmobile' include making it run by itself?" she asked innocently.

"I've never had a reason to do such a thing," Bridges said. He squinted at her. "What exactly are you insinuating, young lady?"

"Oh, nothing," Tea said airily.

"I'll have you know, I did not make that snowmobile chase Lisa . . . er, Miss North!" Bridges said hotly. "Now if you youngsters will excuse me, I have more mountains to climb!" With that he got back on his snowmobile and sped off.

"Well, that was rather odd," Bakura commented when the black vehicle was out of sight.

"You can say that again," Tea sighed.

"Do you think he's guilty?" Bakura asked.

"It's hard to say," Tea replied, "but at this point, I would say probably not."

"Did you hear how he started to address the reporter by her first name?" Bakura said.

"I did," Tea nodded. She paused. "I wonder if he likes her, if you know what I mean."

Bakura blushed. "Isn't he a little old for her?"

"I would think so, but maybe he doesn't," Tea replied.

Suddenly Bakura gasped. "Look! It's the spectre!"

"What?" Tea turned to look where Bakura was pointing. Sure enough, high up in a pine tree perched the mysterious phantom of the day before. "Who are you?" she demanded.

The figure laughed. "I am the ghost of Pierre LeBlanc, come to reclaim what is rightfully mine!"

"How will sabotaging everything here help you get what you want?" Tea demanded. "Who are you really?"

"I told you," the phantom growled, "I am Pierre LeBlanc's ghost!" With that, he sprang down from the tree and started running down the slope.

"Come on!" Tea cried. "After him!"

Thus began a wild goose chase that eventually led the two teens right back where they had started from.

"I think he eluded us," Bakura sighed.

"Yes, but look here," Tea said, going over to the tree the phantom had occupied and pulling a small piece of navy blue cloth off of it. "The 'ghost' tore his business suit on this tree. This could be a great clue!"

"Good work, Tea!" Bakura congratulated. "I wonder if the others have had any luck?"
****
Seto Kaiba's eyes narrowed in vexation. He had had enough of von Bruno's elusiveness. Now he was going to track him down and demand an explanation, and probably call the deal off as well.

Reaching the second floor, he looked around for von Bruno's room and finding it, went over. "The door's unlocked," he muttered, seeing the door was partially open. "Maybe he's in here."

He knocked on the door. "Von Bruno! Are you in here?" He pushed the door open wider and stood in the doorway. "Von Bruno?"

That was the last thing he remembered before everything went black.