Notes: Thanx for all your reviews, guys! ^^ They're all treasured and appreciated :)
Tea pressed the dial tone button frantically. "Hello?? Hello?? Kaiba??!"
"Man, Tea, what the heck happened??" Joey demanded, seeing how pale the girl looked.
"That . . . that was Kaiba," Tea told them shakily.
"We gathered that much," Bakura exclaimed, his deep brown eyes shining with concern.
"He . . . he told me I was in danger, and then . . ." Tea gulped, trying not to let her worried emotions get the best of her. "I . . . I heard this painful scream. . . ."
"Was it Kaiba?" Yugi asked, becoming more alarmed by the minute.
Tea shook her head. "I . . . I don't know," she admitted, "but I think it was." Quickly she dialed the number for the Kaiba Manor and waited anxiously as the phone. Please! she said to herself. Answer!
Finally the phone was picked up. "Hullo, Mr. Kaiba's place!" Velma chirped.
"Oh, Velma, is . . . is your boss there?" Tea asked shakily.
"He sure ain't," Velma sighed. "He was up all night workin' on somethin' or another and then he went out about an hour or so ago sayin' he had to check up on somethin'. You know him, when he puts his mind to somethin', he's gonna see that it gets done!"
Tea nodded slowly, which was a ridiculous thing to do on the phone, she knew.
"Mokuba and Mara are both here," Velma continued on. "They're gettin' worried about Mr. Kaiba and I've gotta admit, I am too!" she wailed suddenly.
Tea did not feel like trying to comfort Seto's bawling maid. "Please, tell me," she begged, "do you have any idea where he might have gone?"
"I'm sorry, miss, but I don't," Velma replied. "If'n I did, I'd have someone out lookin' for him right now! Oh, it's just so awful! Someone tried to kill him last night and . . ."
"Someone tried to kill Kaiba?!" Tea exclaimed, horrified. The other teens perked up, staring at her.
"No way," Tristan gasped.
"They sure enough did!" Velma cried. With some more prodding from Tea, the maid eventually revealed everything she knew about that incident—which wasn't much—and then hung up shortly afterward.
"She doesn't know where Kaiba is," Tea related to the others, who stood in worried silence for a time.
Suddenly Yugi brightened and grabbed the phone. "I just thought of something we could try!" he exclaimed. He pressed the "O" button and after a brief wait, said, "Operator, can you please trace the last call that came in?" The others listened. "You can? Great!" Yugi exclaimed, then paused. "It will? Well, that's okay. Just call us back here when you find out!" After giving the operator the number, Yugi hung up and turned to the others. "She can do it, but it'll take a while," he sighed.
"I have an idea," Bakura spoke up.
"I'm willin' to hear it," Joey told him.
"Perhaps some of us should stay here and wait for the operator to call back and the rest of us should go talk to Byrnes and Thorton," the British boy suggested.
"That's a good idea, Bakura," Tea said, nodding. In the end they decided that Tea, Yugi, and Tristan would stay there, wait for the operator to call, and try to talk to Mr. Thorton when he came in. Meanwhile, Joey and Bakura would go find Byrnes.
"It's certainly frightening, what's been happening lately," Bakura said, shaking his head worriedly. "I wonder what on earth Seto Kaiba's gotten himself into now!"
Joey shrugged. "Eh, who knows?" he said airily. Though he was actually concerned, he would never admit it.
As they walked down the long, winding corridors towards Jim Eiffel Furniture, Mai suddenly appeared out of nowhere, waving. "Hey! Joey! Bakura!" she called brightly.
The boys looked up. "Hey, Mai," Joey returned the greeting, and Bakura waved back shyly. "You shoppin' again?"
Mai came over and fell into step beside Bakura. "No, not this time," she replied. "I was just looking for you guys. Where's Yugi?"
"He's back at the toy store," Joey told her. "We're goin' to question some weird guy."
"More mystery stuff, huh?" Mai sighed. "Well, good luck, you two," she said, and soon disappeared into the crowd.
Joey grinned. "Guess she's had enough of our oddball mysteries," he decided.
"I suppose so," Bakura agreed.
When they reached the furniture store, they found Byrnes just arriving and preparing to unlock the door. "What do you kids want now?" he asked sullenly, obviously remembering them from the previous night.
"Hey, uh . . ." Joey scratched his head and then just decided to be blunt, which was easy for him. "We know you have pictures of that mysterious woman and her kid boarding a train!" he blurted.
"Joey!" Bakura gasped.
Byrnes turned purple. "You WHAT??!"
"Yeah, see, someone locked us in your store last night and we happened to find those pictures in your filing cabinet while we were lookin' for a way out," Joey rushed on.
Byrnes didn't seem to be listening. "I COULD HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING!!" he screamed. Shoppers walking by stopped to stare. Bakura wanted to drop through the floor.
Joey shrugged. "Hey, it wasn't our fault someone locked us in your place," he said. "But I think you owe us some answers. Why the heck did you take that picture off Thorton's desk? And who is that lady?"
"I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU ANYTHING!!" Byrnes yelled.
"Hey, c'mon, why be so touchy?" Joey gestured wildly. "Unless you had somethin' to do with that lady's disappearance," he added, scrutinizing the man.
"Joey, that's really quite enough!" Bakura scolded.
"YOUNG MAN, ARE YOU ACCUSING ME OF ABDUCTION?!"
By now a crowd of people had gathered around, all obviously wanting to know what was going on.
"Of course he's not, sir," Bakura tried to speak up. "We simply want to get to the bottom of this and . . ."
". . . And we're wonderin' if you know where ol' Kaiba's gotten himself to," Joey finished grandly.
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!" Byrnes yelled. "IF YOU DON'T STOP POKING YOUR NOSES INTO MY BUSINESS, I'LL SIC EVERY LAWYER IN THE STATE ON YOU!!" With that the man stormed into the furniture store and slammed the door harshly behind him.
"Oh my," Bakura winced. "Joey, you should have been a bit more discreet!" he scolded.
Joey grinned. "I'd say that guy is actin' mighty suspicious, wouldn't you?" He turned around and discovered the crowd watching them. "Nothin' to see here," he called as he pushed through them, and Bakura followed uneasily.
****
Yugi, Tea, and Tristan weren't having any better luck. Mr. Thorton hadn't come in at all, and the operator hadn't called yet either.
"Maybe she won't be able to trace the call," Tea fretted.
"Hey, relax," Tristan said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure Kaiba's fine."
"Well, I'm not sure!" Tea shot back. "He's probably gotten himself into some awful mess!"
That's when the phone rang and Yugi snapped it up instantaneously. "Hello, Toys Etcetera," he greeted, just in case it was a customer.
But it wasn't. "Hon, I got your call traced," the operator told him. "Your party was calling from 1125 Saratoga Lane."
Yugi blinked. He didn't even know where that was. "Thank you," he stammered finally, and the operator hung up.
"What did she say, Yugi?" Tea asked, and Yugi repeated the address.
"Man, I've never heard of that place either," Tristan said, shaking his head.
"You never heard of what place, Tristan?" Joey called as he and Bakura entered.
"1125 Saratoga Lane," Tea informed them. "The operator said Kaiba was calling from there."
Joey blinked. "Man, I know where that is," he declared. "It's a real creepy neighborhood. I don't know why the heck Kaiba would want to hang out there!"
"Well, I'm sure he wasn't just 'hanging out there' for the fun of it," Tea retorted. "Let's go out there now!"
"Don't you kinda need to stay here and watch the shop?" Joey asked, blinking.
"That's already covered," a familiar voice replied, and Mai stepped out from the backroom.
"Mai?!" Joey gasped. "You're gonna watch the place?!"
Mai smirked. "Sure. Why not? I could use some extra money, so I just signed up as holiday help a few minutes ago. Now you boys and girls go on and find Kaiba!"
"Thanks, Mai," Yugi smiled. "But be careful!" he warned.
"Oh, I will," she assured him. "I just had my hair done and I don't intend to let a giant zebra mess it up again!"
****
"Man, Joey, you were right about this place," Tristan remarked when Joey brought his old, rusty car to a stop at the corner of Saratoga Lane. "This place is a dump!"
"Heh, you can say that again," Joey smirked as he climbed out. The others did the same and they began walking up the cracked sidewalk.
"How did you even know about this place anyway, Joey?" Yugi asked.
Joey shrugged. "Hey, it's a shortcut to the arcade. But it's only fit for walkin' through during the day, and even then you need to watch your back!"
Tea shuddered as they walked down the deserted, never-ending street. All of the buildings were dilapidated and broken and looked as if they might tumble to the ground at any given time. What on earth had Seto come here for? She remembered his warning message to her before the line had gone dead. Why would she be in danger?
"I don't understand it," Yugi said suddenly, shaking his head. "I don't see an eleven twenty-five anywhere, and now we're at the end of the street!"
"Could that be it over there?" Bakura ventured, pointing to a rundown home across the street. The numbers visible were 1 5, but it looked as though there had been two other numbers that had dropped off.
"I think you're right, Bakura!" Yugi exclaimed, and soon he and the others had made their way over there.
"Sure ain't nobody home," Joey observed, peering through the dirty window. "Come on, let's go see what's cookin'!" With that he opened the unlocked door casually and strolled in. The others followed more apprehensively, looking around.
"Well, somebody's sure sloppy," Tristan commented, pointing to a loaf of moldy bread on the end table. Tea stared at it in disgust and quickly averted her gaze.
Yugi, who had wandered into the bedroom, suddenly let out a gasp.
"What is it, Yug?!" Joey asked, running into the room. He stopped short, gaping in disbelief. "Oh man. . . ."
Bakura also came in, and his eyes went wide in shock and horror. "Oh my," he exclaimed, not sure of what else to say.
"What's going on in here, guys?" Tea yelled, appearing with Tristan at the door. "Did you find . . ." She trailed off, her eyes as wide as saucers.
The wall seemed to be a shrine to her. Someone had taken snapshots of her in just about every pose they could think of. There she was in her Domino High School uniform, writing at her desk. And there she was playing the arcade dancing game from several months before. There was even a picture of her in the Toys, Etc. uniform, helping a customer. Written across the photo of Tea in her school uniform was, "Mine! She's all mine!"
Tea gasped, turning pale.
"Who would do such a thing?!" Tristan exclaimed indignantly.
"I don't know, but they sound dangerous," Yugi said grimly. He looked up at Tea, concerned. "Are you okay, Tea?" he asked.
Tea nodded shakily. "I . . . I think so," she said finally.
"Maybe ol' Kaiba found out who was behind this weird stuff," Joey suggested, going over to a nearby wardrobe. "Hey, I wonder what's in here. . . ." He pulled on the door. "Hey, it's stuck," he said in confusion.
"Pull harder," Tristan replied, and they both pulled. Suddenly the doors flew open with such a force that Joey and Tristan were thrown back against the wall. Tea let out an ear-piercing shriek.
Seto's body had tumbled out!
Tea pressed the dial tone button frantically. "Hello?? Hello?? Kaiba??!"
"Man, Tea, what the heck happened??" Joey demanded, seeing how pale the girl looked.
"That . . . that was Kaiba," Tea told them shakily.
"We gathered that much," Bakura exclaimed, his deep brown eyes shining with concern.
"He . . . he told me I was in danger, and then . . ." Tea gulped, trying not to let her worried emotions get the best of her. "I . . . I heard this painful scream. . . ."
"Was it Kaiba?" Yugi asked, becoming more alarmed by the minute.
Tea shook her head. "I . . . I don't know," she admitted, "but I think it was." Quickly she dialed the number for the Kaiba Manor and waited anxiously as the phone. Please! she said to herself. Answer!
Finally the phone was picked up. "Hullo, Mr. Kaiba's place!" Velma chirped.
"Oh, Velma, is . . . is your boss there?" Tea asked shakily.
"He sure ain't," Velma sighed. "He was up all night workin' on somethin' or another and then he went out about an hour or so ago sayin' he had to check up on somethin'. You know him, when he puts his mind to somethin', he's gonna see that it gets done!"
Tea nodded slowly, which was a ridiculous thing to do on the phone, she knew.
"Mokuba and Mara are both here," Velma continued on. "They're gettin' worried about Mr. Kaiba and I've gotta admit, I am too!" she wailed suddenly.
Tea did not feel like trying to comfort Seto's bawling maid. "Please, tell me," she begged, "do you have any idea where he might have gone?"
"I'm sorry, miss, but I don't," Velma replied. "If'n I did, I'd have someone out lookin' for him right now! Oh, it's just so awful! Someone tried to kill him last night and . . ."
"Someone tried to kill Kaiba?!" Tea exclaimed, horrified. The other teens perked up, staring at her.
"No way," Tristan gasped.
"They sure enough did!" Velma cried. With some more prodding from Tea, the maid eventually revealed everything she knew about that incident—which wasn't much—and then hung up shortly afterward.
"She doesn't know where Kaiba is," Tea related to the others, who stood in worried silence for a time.
Suddenly Yugi brightened and grabbed the phone. "I just thought of something we could try!" he exclaimed. He pressed the "O" button and after a brief wait, said, "Operator, can you please trace the last call that came in?" The others listened. "You can? Great!" Yugi exclaimed, then paused. "It will? Well, that's okay. Just call us back here when you find out!" After giving the operator the number, Yugi hung up and turned to the others. "She can do it, but it'll take a while," he sighed.
"I have an idea," Bakura spoke up.
"I'm willin' to hear it," Joey told him.
"Perhaps some of us should stay here and wait for the operator to call back and the rest of us should go talk to Byrnes and Thorton," the British boy suggested.
"That's a good idea, Bakura," Tea said, nodding. In the end they decided that Tea, Yugi, and Tristan would stay there, wait for the operator to call, and try to talk to Mr. Thorton when he came in. Meanwhile, Joey and Bakura would go find Byrnes.
"It's certainly frightening, what's been happening lately," Bakura said, shaking his head worriedly. "I wonder what on earth Seto Kaiba's gotten himself into now!"
Joey shrugged. "Eh, who knows?" he said airily. Though he was actually concerned, he would never admit it.
As they walked down the long, winding corridors towards Jim Eiffel Furniture, Mai suddenly appeared out of nowhere, waving. "Hey! Joey! Bakura!" she called brightly.
The boys looked up. "Hey, Mai," Joey returned the greeting, and Bakura waved back shyly. "You shoppin' again?"
Mai came over and fell into step beside Bakura. "No, not this time," she replied. "I was just looking for you guys. Where's Yugi?"
"He's back at the toy store," Joey told her. "We're goin' to question some weird guy."
"More mystery stuff, huh?" Mai sighed. "Well, good luck, you two," she said, and soon disappeared into the crowd.
Joey grinned. "Guess she's had enough of our oddball mysteries," he decided.
"I suppose so," Bakura agreed.
When they reached the furniture store, they found Byrnes just arriving and preparing to unlock the door. "What do you kids want now?" he asked sullenly, obviously remembering them from the previous night.
"Hey, uh . . ." Joey scratched his head and then just decided to be blunt, which was easy for him. "We know you have pictures of that mysterious woman and her kid boarding a train!" he blurted.
"Joey!" Bakura gasped.
Byrnes turned purple. "You WHAT??!"
"Yeah, see, someone locked us in your store last night and we happened to find those pictures in your filing cabinet while we were lookin' for a way out," Joey rushed on.
Byrnes didn't seem to be listening. "I COULD HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING!!" he screamed. Shoppers walking by stopped to stare. Bakura wanted to drop through the floor.
Joey shrugged. "Hey, it wasn't our fault someone locked us in your place," he said. "But I think you owe us some answers. Why the heck did you take that picture off Thorton's desk? And who is that lady?"
"I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU ANYTHING!!" Byrnes yelled.
"Hey, c'mon, why be so touchy?" Joey gestured wildly. "Unless you had somethin' to do with that lady's disappearance," he added, scrutinizing the man.
"Joey, that's really quite enough!" Bakura scolded.
"YOUNG MAN, ARE YOU ACCUSING ME OF ABDUCTION?!"
By now a crowd of people had gathered around, all obviously wanting to know what was going on.
"Of course he's not, sir," Bakura tried to speak up. "We simply want to get to the bottom of this and . . ."
". . . And we're wonderin' if you know where ol' Kaiba's gotten himself to," Joey finished grandly.
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!" Byrnes yelled. "IF YOU DON'T STOP POKING YOUR NOSES INTO MY BUSINESS, I'LL SIC EVERY LAWYER IN THE STATE ON YOU!!" With that the man stormed into the furniture store and slammed the door harshly behind him.
"Oh my," Bakura winced. "Joey, you should have been a bit more discreet!" he scolded.
Joey grinned. "I'd say that guy is actin' mighty suspicious, wouldn't you?" He turned around and discovered the crowd watching them. "Nothin' to see here," he called as he pushed through them, and Bakura followed uneasily.
****
Yugi, Tea, and Tristan weren't having any better luck. Mr. Thorton hadn't come in at all, and the operator hadn't called yet either.
"Maybe she won't be able to trace the call," Tea fretted.
"Hey, relax," Tristan said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure Kaiba's fine."
"Well, I'm not sure!" Tea shot back. "He's probably gotten himself into some awful mess!"
That's when the phone rang and Yugi snapped it up instantaneously. "Hello, Toys Etcetera," he greeted, just in case it was a customer.
But it wasn't. "Hon, I got your call traced," the operator told him. "Your party was calling from 1125 Saratoga Lane."
Yugi blinked. He didn't even know where that was. "Thank you," he stammered finally, and the operator hung up.
"What did she say, Yugi?" Tea asked, and Yugi repeated the address.
"Man, I've never heard of that place either," Tristan said, shaking his head.
"You never heard of what place, Tristan?" Joey called as he and Bakura entered.
"1125 Saratoga Lane," Tea informed them. "The operator said Kaiba was calling from there."
Joey blinked. "Man, I know where that is," he declared. "It's a real creepy neighborhood. I don't know why the heck Kaiba would want to hang out there!"
"Well, I'm sure he wasn't just 'hanging out there' for the fun of it," Tea retorted. "Let's go out there now!"
"Don't you kinda need to stay here and watch the shop?" Joey asked, blinking.
"That's already covered," a familiar voice replied, and Mai stepped out from the backroom.
"Mai?!" Joey gasped. "You're gonna watch the place?!"
Mai smirked. "Sure. Why not? I could use some extra money, so I just signed up as holiday help a few minutes ago. Now you boys and girls go on and find Kaiba!"
"Thanks, Mai," Yugi smiled. "But be careful!" he warned.
"Oh, I will," she assured him. "I just had my hair done and I don't intend to let a giant zebra mess it up again!"
****
"Man, Joey, you were right about this place," Tristan remarked when Joey brought his old, rusty car to a stop at the corner of Saratoga Lane. "This place is a dump!"
"Heh, you can say that again," Joey smirked as he climbed out. The others did the same and they began walking up the cracked sidewalk.
"How did you even know about this place anyway, Joey?" Yugi asked.
Joey shrugged. "Hey, it's a shortcut to the arcade. But it's only fit for walkin' through during the day, and even then you need to watch your back!"
Tea shuddered as they walked down the deserted, never-ending street. All of the buildings were dilapidated and broken and looked as if they might tumble to the ground at any given time. What on earth had Seto come here for? She remembered his warning message to her before the line had gone dead. Why would she be in danger?
"I don't understand it," Yugi said suddenly, shaking his head. "I don't see an eleven twenty-five anywhere, and now we're at the end of the street!"
"Could that be it over there?" Bakura ventured, pointing to a rundown home across the street. The numbers visible were 1 5, but it looked as though there had been two other numbers that had dropped off.
"I think you're right, Bakura!" Yugi exclaimed, and soon he and the others had made their way over there.
"Sure ain't nobody home," Joey observed, peering through the dirty window. "Come on, let's go see what's cookin'!" With that he opened the unlocked door casually and strolled in. The others followed more apprehensively, looking around.
"Well, somebody's sure sloppy," Tristan commented, pointing to a loaf of moldy bread on the end table. Tea stared at it in disgust and quickly averted her gaze.
Yugi, who had wandered into the bedroom, suddenly let out a gasp.
"What is it, Yug?!" Joey asked, running into the room. He stopped short, gaping in disbelief. "Oh man. . . ."
Bakura also came in, and his eyes went wide in shock and horror. "Oh my," he exclaimed, not sure of what else to say.
"What's going on in here, guys?" Tea yelled, appearing with Tristan at the door. "Did you find . . ." She trailed off, her eyes as wide as saucers.
The wall seemed to be a shrine to her. Someone had taken snapshots of her in just about every pose they could think of. There she was in her Domino High School uniform, writing at her desk. And there she was playing the arcade dancing game from several months before. There was even a picture of her in the Toys, Etc. uniform, helping a customer. Written across the photo of Tea in her school uniform was, "Mine! She's all mine!"
Tea gasped, turning pale.
"Who would do such a thing?!" Tristan exclaimed indignantly.
"I don't know, but they sound dangerous," Yugi said grimly. He looked up at Tea, concerned. "Are you okay, Tea?" he asked.
Tea nodded shakily. "I . . . I think so," she said finally.
"Maybe ol' Kaiba found out who was behind this weird stuff," Joey suggested, going over to a nearby wardrobe. "Hey, I wonder what's in here. . . ." He pulled on the door. "Hey, it's stuck," he said in confusion.
"Pull harder," Tristan replied, and they both pulled. Suddenly the doors flew open with such a force that Joey and Tristan were thrown back against the wall. Tea let out an ear-piercing shriek.
Seto's body had tumbled out!