Abruptly the door opened and von Bruno walked in. He looked around aghast, spotting the coat, which Joey had left setting across the bed.
"Oh goodness. Oh gracious. What's this doing here?" he exclaimed. "I didn't put this here . . . or did I?" He picked it up with shaking hands and hung it back in the closet, noticing the cat statue, which was laying on top of the nightstand, in the process. "Oh my. What's this? Where did you come from, kitty? I don't remember seeing you before." He left it on the nightstand and turned to leave. "Oh wait. . . . What did I come in here for?" Confused, the absent-minded man scratched his head and left the room.
Slowly the five boys came out from their hiding places. "Well, that was enlightening," Yugi remarked, coming out from under the bed, along with Joey and Kaiba.
"He really is as absent-minded as he seems," Bakura commented wide-eyed as he and Mokuba came out of the closet, where they'd been hiding on a shelf.
"He recognized the jacket!" Mokuba declared.
"But he didn't seem to have seen the statue before," Yugi mused.
"I doubt that he's the one who hit me," Seto grumbled. "He probably wouldn't have remembered to."
Joey cracked up.
"Well, so now we know that von Bruno *could* be the phantom," Yugi said as they left the room.
"Or that he's maybe in cahoots with him," Joey put in as they went across the hall to Owen Bridges' room.
"The door is locked," Yugi announced after trying the knob.
"Well, I'll fix that in a jiffy," Joey replied, pulling out a library card and fitting it in the door crack.
"I didn't know you liked to read, Joey," Yugi commented.
Joey shrugged. "It's actually Tea's card. I borrowed it from her this morning just in case of such an emergency." With the others guarding him in case someone should walk by, Joey quickly had the door open. "Alright!" he crowed triumphantly. "Everybody in!"
"Now we have to be careful," Bakura cautioned. "We don't want another close encounter."
"What's this?" Mokuba picked up a piece of paper left on top of the desk and started to read it aloud. "'My darling, my world was nothing until you came into it. I count the hours until we meet again, until I once again behold your cherubic face and kiss your soft ruby lips . . .'"
Seto's eyes went wide with horror and he snatched the note away before Mokuba could read on. "Let me see that, Mokuba." He scanned over the rest of the letter.
"Who's it to?" Joey asked curiously, trying to peer over Kaiba's shoulder.
"It's not addressed," Seto replied. "It just says . . ." He stopped, glancing at Mokuba, who was listening with goggle-eyed interest. "Never mind. You read it, Wheeler." He shoved the letter at Joey.
Yugi chuckled at Kaiba's determination to shield Mokuba from the mushy love letter and started checking the book shelf, hoping desperately for some kind of answers.
"So now we know Bridges has a major crush on someone," Joey remarked with a sigh. "Big help that is."
****
Meanwhile, Tristan and Tea got off the UTA bus in the city of Ogden.
"Now to find the Flemming mansion," Tea mused, going over to a phone booth and perusing the telephone directory.
"Maybe she's unlisted," Tristan suggested when Tea shut the heavy book in frustration.
"Obviously," Tea sighed.
"Maybe we should just look for the ritzy part of town," Tristan said. "From there, someone should know where Ms. Flemming is."
"Good idea, Tristan!" Tea smiled. "Let's do it!"
****"So now what?" Joey sighed a couple of hours and many room searches later. "We've found all kinds of oddball clues in nearly every room, except the Cobbs'. There's somethin' kinda weird about them, the way they keep disappearin' like von Bruno does."
"Have Cindy and Trevor ever mentioned to you where their parents keep vanishing to, Mokuba?" Yugi asked the younger Kaiba.
"I don't think so," Mokuba replied, "but Trevor did say something about them coming out here to work on their family history."
"Really?" Yugi said thoughtfully.
"Hey, they might be visiting the cemeteries then," Joey suggested.
"It's more likely that they'd visit the family history library in Salt Lake City," Seto remarked.
"That's right," Yugi said. "I remember hearing about that place. It's supposed to be one of the most complex and complete libraries of its kind."
"Well, so what do we do now?" Joey wondered. "All these mismatched clues are givin' me a brilliant headache."
"We have to make sense of them somehow," Bakura said.
Suddenly a horrible scream echoed through the whole manor.
"What was that?" Joey exclaimed.
"It sounded like Betty," Yugi realized as they all dashed downstairs.
****
"Well, here we are," Tristan declared. "The Flemming mansion."
"Yeah, now if we can just get in," Tea sighed, surveying the immense, towering stone wall running the length of the estate.
"Hey, no problem. There should be a bell or intercom here somewhere," Tristan mused. He began pressing the wall, hoping to find a hidden panel.
Suddenly the gate at the front started opening. "Tristan! What did you do?" Tea gasped.
"I didn't do anything," Tristan protested. "But come on!" He grabbed Tea's hand and they ran through the gate before it could close again.
"There's no one around," Tea realized in surprise. "Who could've opened the gate?"
The two teens froze when they heard a low growling noise.
"That wasn't you, was it?" Tea asked.
"No," Tristan replied. "Was it you?"
Tea was about to make a retort when two large guard dogs appeared from around the corner of the house. "Oh no! We've got big trouble now!" she moaned. "It was them!"
"Oh man. Who let the dogs out?" Tristan took a deep breath. "Alright now, we have to stay calm. If the dogs know we're scared, they're more likely to attack." The dogs got closer, barking and growling loudly. Tristan cringed. "Calm, calm, stay calm. . . ."
"Are you trying to convince yourself or me?" Tea asked.
"Both of us," Tristan replied, "but mostly me!"
The dogs came right up to Tristan and Tea, sniffing them over.
"Stay cool, stay cool . . ." Tristan gulped, frozen to the spot.
"Boris! Natasha! Stop that!" a woman's voice rang out sternly. The dogs obeyed, turning to look at the woman for further instructions. "Sit," she ordered.
The two teens relaxed. "Thanks a million!" Tristan said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Are you Ms. Peggy Flemming?"
"Why, yes, I am," the woman replied, surprised. She seemed to be in her early sixties, and was wearing a stylish business suit with an attractive pin on the lapel. Her graying hair was cropped short to her head, and her green eyes had a certain sparkle behind her glasses. "Can I help you?"
"Why, yes, actually," Tristan said, glancing at Tea for help.
"We're . . . um . . . reporters with a school paper, and we're writing an article about the Flemming family," Tea spoke up.
"Oh," Ms. Flemming said, nodding. "And you wish to interview me, is that correct?"
"That's right," Tea smiled.
"Well, come on in then," Ms. Flemming said, holding the door open for them. Tristan and Tea entered and stood wide-eyed in the parlor, seeing the many extravagant statues and knick-knacks. They talked for several minutes about the Flemming family and her great-uncle Royce until Ms. Flemming changed the subject suddenly.
"I trust that you two have heard about the robbery," she sighed.
"Yes we did. We're very sorry it had to happen," Tea said.
Ms. Flemming nodded in acknowledgment. "The burglars obviously knew exactly what they wanted. They only took some very old letters written by my great-uncle, and ignored everything else, which surely would have been worth more to them."
"That's so weird," Tristan said.
"I just can't imagine what value those letters would have to them at all," Ms. Flemming sighed.
"Do you know what was in the letters?" Tea asked curiously.
"Unfortunately, no," Ms. Flemming replied. "They were all in French, a language which I have never mastered. I did have a friend start to translate them for me a year or so ago, but he died mysteriously before the work was completed."
"I'm sorry," Tea said softly.
There was a brief silence, then Tristan spoke up, "Ms. Flemming, was your great-uncle really as ruthless as everyone seems to think?"
"Tristan!" Tea scolded.
"No, no, it's quite alright," Ms. Flemming said, waving her hand dismissively. "He really was quite ruthless, from what my mother told me," she sighed. "He did almost anything to succeed. Since his death many years ago and the recent unpleasant discoveries of several skeletons in his closet, not to mention the recent conviction of Royce's great-grandson for embezzlement, us Flemmings have been working hard to restore our family's reputation."
"I hope you'll succeed," Tea said.
****
When Yugi and the others reached the kitchen, they stopped short in horror. Someone had strung up a cloth dummy hanging by a rope from the ceiling, dripping red with a familiar red ink. Betty was sitting in a nearby chair, shaking.
"Whoa, now that's just not funny," Joey said, slamming his fist into his palm.
"Betty, what happened?" Yugi asked the elderly woman, concerned.
"I just came in here to start fixing dinner and . . . I saw this . . . thing," Betty replied, slowly standing up. Now that the initial shock had worn off, she was getting angry. "Who would dare to put this up?!" she demanded.
"Look! There's a message pinned to it with a knife," Bakura exclaimed.
Yugi went over and snatched it down. "'The dead hold many secrets. Stop now before you join them,'" he read.
Betty's eyes narrowed angrily. "Who would dare to threaten me?! I have just about had enough of this outrageous nonsense!"
"So have we," Seto Kaiba said, clenching his fist.
"We're gonna get to the bottom of this," Joey promised.
"Should we call the police?" Bakura asked.
"Oh, why bother?" Betty sighed. "I don't really see what good it would do at this point."
"In that case, we'll help you get this thing down, Betty," Yugi offered.
"And we should fingerprint the knife," Bakura said.
"I doubt very much that the mastermind behind all this would leave fingerprints," Seto remarked.
"Probably not," Yugi agreed with a sigh, "but we have to try something."
****
Bakura wandered down the hall, confused. How had he gotten lost? He had been heading for the library to find the book Carl had been showing them the other day, but somehow he must've taken a wrong turn, because he found himself going down a hallway he didn't even know existed.
Suddenly he stopped, leaning against the wall, his heart beating wildly. He had heard voices, familiar voices!
"You're late," a man's voice said accusingly.
"Hey, I was busy," a woman's voice replied. "I sure gave that old fussbudget a scare with that hangman dummy," she laughed.
"Yes, but unfortunately tho, it wasn't good enough. Those meddling kids still aren't leaving," the man grumbled. "We need to create another very, very bad 'accident' for someone."
"We've already been doing that," the woman said angrily. "Nothing's worked."
"Well, we'll just have to try again, won't we?" the man cackled nastily. "And make absolutely certain that it's permanent this time."
"They'll have to shut the place down," the woman said gleefully.
Bakura gasped. He was overhearing the criminals talking, and they were planning to . . . to . . .
He turned away. He had to warn Yugi and the others!
Suddenly a cold chill came over him and he turned around slowly, his brown eyes wide and afraid. The two he'd heard plotting were now standing right behind him. "It's you!" he gasped. "But why?"
"You know too much already," the woman smirked. "We're not about to let you know any more." She produced what looked suspiciously like a hypodermic needle.
Bakura gasped. "What are you going to do to me?"
The man grabbed the frightened boy and restrained him tightly. "We won't get rid of you just yet," he growled. "You're just going to take a nice nap."
Bakura fought in vain against his captors as the woman jabbed him in the neck with the needle. "Somebody! Help!" he screamed. "Yami!!" His yami hadn't been in the Ring, or he would've taken over and prevented these two dastardly villains from drugging me, Bakura thought to himself as he sank into oblivion.
"Oh goodness. Oh gracious. What's this doing here?" he exclaimed. "I didn't put this here . . . or did I?" He picked it up with shaking hands and hung it back in the closet, noticing the cat statue, which was laying on top of the nightstand, in the process. "Oh my. What's this? Where did you come from, kitty? I don't remember seeing you before." He left it on the nightstand and turned to leave. "Oh wait. . . . What did I come in here for?" Confused, the absent-minded man scratched his head and left the room.
Slowly the five boys came out from their hiding places. "Well, that was enlightening," Yugi remarked, coming out from under the bed, along with Joey and Kaiba.
"He really is as absent-minded as he seems," Bakura commented wide-eyed as he and Mokuba came out of the closet, where they'd been hiding on a shelf.
"He recognized the jacket!" Mokuba declared.
"But he didn't seem to have seen the statue before," Yugi mused.
"I doubt that he's the one who hit me," Seto grumbled. "He probably wouldn't have remembered to."
Joey cracked up.
"Well, so now we know that von Bruno *could* be the phantom," Yugi said as they left the room.
"Or that he's maybe in cahoots with him," Joey put in as they went across the hall to Owen Bridges' room.
"The door is locked," Yugi announced after trying the knob.
"Well, I'll fix that in a jiffy," Joey replied, pulling out a library card and fitting it in the door crack.
"I didn't know you liked to read, Joey," Yugi commented.
Joey shrugged. "It's actually Tea's card. I borrowed it from her this morning just in case of such an emergency." With the others guarding him in case someone should walk by, Joey quickly had the door open. "Alright!" he crowed triumphantly. "Everybody in!"
"Now we have to be careful," Bakura cautioned. "We don't want another close encounter."
"What's this?" Mokuba picked up a piece of paper left on top of the desk and started to read it aloud. "'My darling, my world was nothing until you came into it. I count the hours until we meet again, until I once again behold your cherubic face and kiss your soft ruby lips . . .'"
Seto's eyes went wide with horror and he snatched the note away before Mokuba could read on. "Let me see that, Mokuba." He scanned over the rest of the letter.
"Who's it to?" Joey asked curiously, trying to peer over Kaiba's shoulder.
"It's not addressed," Seto replied. "It just says . . ." He stopped, glancing at Mokuba, who was listening with goggle-eyed interest. "Never mind. You read it, Wheeler." He shoved the letter at Joey.
Yugi chuckled at Kaiba's determination to shield Mokuba from the mushy love letter and started checking the book shelf, hoping desperately for some kind of answers.
"So now we know Bridges has a major crush on someone," Joey remarked with a sigh. "Big help that is."
****
Meanwhile, Tristan and Tea got off the UTA bus in the city of Ogden.
"Now to find the Flemming mansion," Tea mused, going over to a phone booth and perusing the telephone directory.
"Maybe she's unlisted," Tristan suggested when Tea shut the heavy book in frustration.
"Obviously," Tea sighed.
"Maybe we should just look for the ritzy part of town," Tristan said. "From there, someone should know where Ms. Flemming is."
"Good idea, Tristan!" Tea smiled. "Let's do it!"
****"So now what?" Joey sighed a couple of hours and many room searches later. "We've found all kinds of oddball clues in nearly every room, except the Cobbs'. There's somethin' kinda weird about them, the way they keep disappearin' like von Bruno does."
"Have Cindy and Trevor ever mentioned to you where their parents keep vanishing to, Mokuba?" Yugi asked the younger Kaiba.
"I don't think so," Mokuba replied, "but Trevor did say something about them coming out here to work on their family history."
"Really?" Yugi said thoughtfully.
"Hey, they might be visiting the cemeteries then," Joey suggested.
"It's more likely that they'd visit the family history library in Salt Lake City," Seto remarked.
"That's right," Yugi said. "I remember hearing about that place. It's supposed to be one of the most complex and complete libraries of its kind."
"Well, so what do we do now?" Joey wondered. "All these mismatched clues are givin' me a brilliant headache."
"We have to make sense of them somehow," Bakura said.
Suddenly a horrible scream echoed through the whole manor.
"What was that?" Joey exclaimed.
"It sounded like Betty," Yugi realized as they all dashed downstairs.
****
"Well, here we are," Tristan declared. "The Flemming mansion."
"Yeah, now if we can just get in," Tea sighed, surveying the immense, towering stone wall running the length of the estate.
"Hey, no problem. There should be a bell or intercom here somewhere," Tristan mused. He began pressing the wall, hoping to find a hidden panel.
Suddenly the gate at the front started opening. "Tristan! What did you do?" Tea gasped.
"I didn't do anything," Tristan protested. "But come on!" He grabbed Tea's hand and they ran through the gate before it could close again.
"There's no one around," Tea realized in surprise. "Who could've opened the gate?"
The two teens froze when they heard a low growling noise.
"That wasn't you, was it?" Tea asked.
"No," Tristan replied. "Was it you?"
Tea was about to make a retort when two large guard dogs appeared from around the corner of the house. "Oh no! We've got big trouble now!" she moaned. "It was them!"
"Oh man. Who let the dogs out?" Tristan took a deep breath. "Alright now, we have to stay calm. If the dogs know we're scared, they're more likely to attack." The dogs got closer, barking and growling loudly. Tristan cringed. "Calm, calm, stay calm. . . ."
"Are you trying to convince yourself or me?" Tea asked.
"Both of us," Tristan replied, "but mostly me!"
The dogs came right up to Tristan and Tea, sniffing them over.
"Stay cool, stay cool . . ." Tristan gulped, frozen to the spot.
"Boris! Natasha! Stop that!" a woman's voice rang out sternly. The dogs obeyed, turning to look at the woman for further instructions. "Sit," she ordered.
The two teens relaxed. "Thanks a million!" Tristan said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Are you Ms. Peggy Flemming?"
"Why, yes, I am," the woman replied, surprised. She seemed to be in her early sixties, and was wearing a stylish business suit with an attractive pin on the lapel. Her graying hair was cropped short to her head, and her green eyes had a certain sparkle behind her glasses. "Can I help you?"
"Why, yes, actually," Tristan said, glancing at Tea for help.
"We're . . . um . . . reporters with a school paper, and we're writing an article about the Flemming family," Tea spoke up.
"Oh," Ms. Flemming said, nodding. "And you wish to interview me, is that correct?"
"That's right," Tea smiled.
"Well, come on in then," Ms. Flemming said, holding the door open for them. Tristan and Tea entered and stood wide-eyed in the parlor, seeing the many extravagant statues and knick-knacks. They talked for several minutes about the Flemming family and her great-uncle Royce until Ms. Flemming changed the subject suddenly.
"I trust that you two have heard about the robbery," she sighed.
"Yes we did. We're very sorry it had to happen," Tea said.
Ms. Flemming nodded in acknowledgment. "The burglars obviously knew exactly what they wanted. They only took some very old letters written by my great-uncle, and ignored everything else, which surely would have been worth more to them."
"That's so weird," Tristan said.
"I just can't imagine what value those letters would have to them at all," Ms. Flemming sighed.
"Do you know what was in the letters?" Tea asked curiously.
"Unfortunately, no," Ms. Flemming replied. "They were all in French, a language which I have never mastered. I did have a friend start to translate them for me a year or so ago, but he died mysteriously before the work was completed."
"I'm sorry," Tea said softly.
There was a brief silence, then Tristan spoke up, "Ms. Flemming, was your great-uncle really as ruthless as everyone seems to think?"
"Tristan!" Tea scolded.
"No, no, it's quite alright," Ms. Flemming said, waving her hand dismissively. "He really was quite ruthless, from what my mother told me," she sighed. "He did almost anything to succeed. Since his death many years ago and the recent unpleasant discoveries of several skeletons in his closet, not to mention the recent conviction of Royce's great-grandson for embezzlement, us Flemmings have been working hard to restore our family's reputation."
"I hope you'll succeed," Tea said.
****
When Yugi and the others reached the kitchen, they stopped short in horror. Someone had strung up a cloth dummy hanging by a rope from the ceiling, dripping red with a familiar red ink. Betty was sitting in a nearby chair, shaking.
"Whoa, now that's just not funny," Joey said, slamming his fist into his palm.
"Betty, what happened?" Yugi asked the elderly woman, concerned.
"I just came in here to start fixing dinner and . . . I saw this . . . thing," Betty replied, slowly standing up. Now that the initial shock had worn off, she was getting angry. "Who would dare to put this up?!" she demanded.
"Look! There's a message pinned to it with a knife," Bakura exclaimed.
Yugi went over and snatched it down. "'The dead hold many secrets. Stop now before you join them,'" he read.
Betty's eyes narrowed angrily. "Who would dare to threaten me?! I have just about had enough of this outrageous nonsense!"
"So have we," Seto Kaiba said, clenching his fist.
"We're gonna get to the bottom of this," Joey promised.
"Should we call the police?" Bakura asked.
"Oh, why bother?" Betty sighed. "I don't really see what good it would do at this point."
"In that case, we'll help you get this thing down, Betty," Yugi offered.
"And we should fingerprint the knife," Bakura said.
"I doubt very much that the mastermind behind all this would leave fingerprints," Seto remarked.
"Probably not," Yugi agreed with a sigh, "but we have to try something."
****
Bakura wandered down the hall, confused. How had he gotten lost? He had been heading for the library to find the book Carl had been showing them the other day, but somehow he must've taken a wrong turn, because he found himself going down a hallway he didn't even know existed.
Suddenly he stopped, leaning against the wall, his heart beating wildly. He had heard voices, familiar voices!
"You're late," a man's voice said accusingly.
"Hey, I was busy," a woman's voice replied. "I sure gave that old fussbudget a scare with that hangman dummy," she laughed.
"Yes, but unfortunately tho, it wasn't good enough. Those meddling kids still aren't leaving," the man grumbled. "We need to create another very, very bad 'accident' for someone."
"We've already been doing that," the woman said angrily. "Nothing's worked."
"Well, we'll just have to try again, won't we?" the man cackled nastily. "And make absolutely certain that it's permanent this time."
"They'll have to shut the place down," the woman said gleefully.
Bakura gasped. He was overhearing the criminals talking, and they were planning to . . . to . . .
He turned away. He had to warn Yugi and the others!
Suddenly a cold chill came over him and he turned around slowly, his brown eyes wide and afraid. The two he'd heard plotting were now standing right behind him. "It's you!" he gasped. "But why?"
"You know too much already," the woman smirked. "We're not about to let you know any more." She produced what looked suspiciously like a hypodermic needle.
Bakura gasped. "What are you going to do to me?"
The man grabbed the frightened boy and restrained him tightly. "We won't get rid of you just yet," he growled. "You're just going to take a nice nap."
Bakura fought in vain against his captors as the woman jabbed him in the neck with the needle. "Somebody! Help!" he screamed. "Yami!!" His yami hadn't been in the Ring, or he would've taken over and prevented these two dastardly villains from drugging me, Bakura thought to himself as he sank into oblivion.