Yay Chapter Six! It's about !#ing time, huh? XD Sorry it took so long. I'm only at this computer once in a while (it's at my grandma's, and I don't have a floppy to save it and take it home with) and when I was on I had major writer's block. Thanks for letting me know where the secret passages are! That was helpful : ) I didn't use it in this chapter, actually, but it will become a major part later on. Okay, this chapter's been delayed long enough; I guess I'd better shut up and let you read it.

I own nuthin.

Chapter Six- Part One: Plum, White, and Boo

Professor E. Gadd, Tayce T. and the butler Bootler turned and re-opened the door to the lounge. There wasn't anything really out of the ordinary that they hadn't known about before, as far as they could see at a glance. There was still a wet brown spot near the door from where the coffee was spilt; the cup had been left on the floor beside it. Just above the light switch was a hole with cracks spreading from it like spider's webs, where someone had tried to shoot Mr. Boddy but missed. A small patch of the carpet was darker than the rest near where the body's head had been- presumably drops of blood.

The thing was, though, they'd already seen all of it. And just from standing and looking around, none of them were able to spot anything different. After a minute of scanning the familiar- but now less inviting- room, E. Gadd cleared his throat and said "Well, I suppose the best place to start is where the body was last seen. It was..." he trailed off as he crossed the room and stood next to where Boddy had lain. "Here," he finished, and crouched down to get a closer look.

The other two joined him, stooping low to carefully examine the spot. Tayce T. squinted at the blood on the carpet- it was the first thing she noticed,because she wanted to see if it really was blood and would stain. "Hmm..." she murmured, leaning closer.

"Have you found anything, Mrs. White?" Bootler said, looking up.

"Well," she replied without turning to face him, "I was just thinking about what the best cleaner is for getting out blood stains, but now that you mention it there is something a bit strange. There's a spot here that's darkened, like it's dried a bit, but look here," she said, pointing to a spot a few inches from the first. "This bit is redder and wetter, and it's smeared."

Bootler and Gadd joined her and looked at the spots themselves. "Hmm, you're right," the ghost agreed. "But it doesn't necissarily mean anything. Someone might have stepped in the first spot here and tracked it."

Gadd shook his head. "Possibly, but it doesn't look like a footprint... Well, anyway I think it should be noted." He reached into an inside pocket of his lab coat and produced a small spiral notepad with a pen through the wire binding. He pulled out the pen and flipped the cover back, turning a few more pages before stopping. Popping the cap off the pen, he jotted down a few notes. "...other... spot... smeared," he muttered as he completed the notes. He tucked the pen and paper back into his pocket and grinned. "Well, that's one clue, anyway."

The other two nodded and they resumed looking. On a hunch, Bootler followed the direction that the blood smear had gone in, which took him to the bookshelf. "Well, that was no good... wait," he said suddenly. "Wasn't this where the gun was found?"

Tayce T. looked up from what she'd been looking at and shrugged. "Yes, but we already ruled out the revolver, remember?"

"Oh... yes..." he muttered, frowning slightly. "Well, so much for that being a clue. But still, it may mean something that that smear went this way," he added.

"I'll write it down, but I agree with Mrs. White; it probably isn't anything," Prof. Gadd said, taking out his notebook and writing down the new clue. "Hey, hold up a sec!" he said suddenly, looking around the room again. "What happened to Mr. Boddy's hat?"

The others realized immediately that the professor was right; a bright red cap like that would be hard to miss if it was still where it had been. "My, goodness, Prof. Plum, you're right! It seems he wasn't killed after all, and he left! He must've taken his hat with him; he always wore it."

"That's true," Bootler agreed, nodding. "It seems logical that if he was only knocked out and then regained consciousness, he would have stopped to pick up his cap first. But, then again... maybe someone took the hat with the body, to make it look like he's alive."

"But why?" Tayce T. said. "Really, what would be the purpose of it?"

Gadd shrugged. "I don't know, but we shouldn't rule it out as a possibility, right?" He pulled out his notebook and jotted it down.

After that they looked around a little more and found a few feathers near the coffee table, a strand of brown hair on the sofa, and a coin on the floor beside the armchair closest the fireplace. Nothing of much significance, it seemed.

Chapter Six- Part Two: Mustard and Peacock

Kolorado and Miss Peacock mounted the bottom steps and climbed up, looking around as they did so. "Have you found anything yet?" Miss Peacock inquired half-way up the stairs.

Kolorado frowned slightly. "Now, see here, Peacock," he said. "We haven't even gotton anywhere yet."

She shrugged. "I know, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have found something yet. Clues won't isolate themselves in rooms for our convenience. We've got to check eveywhere!"

He huffed indignantly. "No need to tell me, Madame; I look for clues every day of my life. But if there was a clue on the stairs we would have seen it already."

"I suppose so," Miss Peacock said, nodding thoughtfully. "You know, I wonder who the killer is. It could be anyone; we all had a motive, after all."

"Too true, my dear," Kolorado agreed.

"And naturally we'll all act innocent because whoever did do it won't want to get caught."

"Naturally."

"For all I know, you're the killer, Col. Mustard."

"Yes, and for all I know, you are, Miss Peacock."

They stopped dead and slowly turned to look at each other, uneasily. "But-but you're not, r-right?" Kolorado stammered.

"No, and n-neither are you... are you?" Miss Peacock replied with a nervous grin. He shook his head. Slowly they began climbing again, shooting wary glances towards each other the whole way until they reached the top. "So, uh, where do you want to go first?"

"Well, let's try that room there," he said, pointing to a room on the left. She nodded and they slowly approached the open doorway. The room beyond it was pitch dark. They stood in the hallway staring in, eyes wide. After a moment, he cleared his throat and said "Well, Peacock, what are you waiting for? Go on." He gave her a gentle push towards the door.

She halted just before stepping in. "N-no, no, why don't you go ahead first?"

"Because then you'd be behind me! Er, I- I mean, ladies first. I insist."

"No, no, you first."

They looked at each other in frustration, neither moving. After a moment Kolorado said "Listen, why don't we just go in together?"

"Good idea," she agreed enthusiastically. They stepped towards the door shoulder to shoulder and began to walk through. Half-way in they got wedged in the door. "Oh, bugger!" she grumbled as they pushed to get through. After much grunting and pushing they finally squeezed through, stumbling together into the dark room. "Do you see a lightswitch?" Peacock whispered.

"No," Kolorado replied. "There must be one somewhere about, though... right?"

"Right."

They groped along the walls near the doorway but found none. As they were about to venture farther in, a brilliant streak of lightning flashed through the window on the other end of the room, briefly illuminating the room. It was the billiards room. Set up in the center was a large pool table, and a rack holding cues was hung on the wall nearby. A few chairs and card tables were also set up; one of these still had the cards and chips from a half-finished game of poker.

Kolorado looked at Peacock, eyes wide. "See anything?"

"Nope!"

"Oh well; let's go!"

Chapter Six- Part Three: Scarlette and Green

"All right, we can't split up, obviously. We're going to have to pick, one way or the other," Pauline said, glancing from Luigi to the rooms they'd pointed at and back to him again.

"Well, what do you suggest?" he asked.

She uncrossed her arms and held out her hand in a fist. "I suggest we do it the old fasioned way."

He raised an eyebrow. "You want to fight over which way we go?"

Pauline rolled her eyes in exasperation. "No, you idiot! Rock Paper Scissors."

"...Oh," he said sheepishly, holding out his own fist. "All right. One, two, three, shoot!"

She threw out a fist... and so did he.

The young woman looked up at him. "Best of three, I guess. One, two, three, shoot."

Two scissors.

"One, two three, shoot."

A pair of gloved hands, held out flat. Three ties in a row. Luigi sighed. "Well, now what?"

She frowned and looked over at the two rooms again- one that branched off to the left, the other to the right. Then she noticed a door in the middle, and her frown became a grin. "We meet in the middle. Look," she said, pointing. "That must be the cellar. And that's where we're going."

Luigi looked taken aback. "Th-the cellar? No, never mind. Let's just go your way." He started walking in the direction she'd origionally pointed to, but she reached out and grabbed him by the back of his over-alls, tugging him to a halt.

"Oh, no you don't," she said, dragging him towards the basement door. "Somebody's got to check the cellar, and that somebody's us." Letting go of him, Pauline turned the doorknob and swung the door open, revealing a concrete staircase descending into pitch darkness. Luigi whimpered quietly. "Well, Mr. Green, let's go," she said, sounding confident enough, but she didn't move, herself.

"I- I'm looking for a lightswitch," she explained after a minute.

"There isn't one," Luigi replied quickly. "I already looked."

"Oh. Well... we'll have to do without, won't we? Come on, quit stalling," she said, taking a step down the stairs. Luigi followed, not wanting to be left alone. He was fumbling in his pocket for something. After a moment he found what he'd been looking for; a small pocket-sized flashlight. He pulled it out and clicked it on, sending a narrow beam of light down into the blackness and lighting up a small circle of cement flooring at the bottom.

After a moment they reached the bottom of the stairs. The cellar was separated into three rooms (and possibly a fourth they couldn't see yet); the one they had stepped into, for one: boxes and other such things were piled untidily all over, caked with what looked like centuries' worth of dust. Two open doors led off of it. "You got another flashlight?" Pauline asked.

"I don't think so," Luigi replied.

She shrugged. "Whatever. It's really not so bad, now we're down here. Besides, there's probably a lightswitch around here somewhere. I'll take the left, and you take the right." Before he could protest to splitting up, she had stepped through the darkened doorway on the left.

He sighed, and shone the beam from his light into the righthand room. He stepped inside, squinting at two large white squares on one wall. At a closer look they proved to be a very old washer and drier set. Ironic, he thought; they were both extremely dirty.

Pauline groped along the wall until at last she found a lightswitch, and flipped it on. Over her head a bare lightbulb flickered to life, casting dull yellow light over the room. She couldn't stop herself grinning; it was a wine cellar. Along one wall was a rack full of old-looking bottles; on another wall a huge wooden cask sat alone. There didn't seem to be any Boddy here, though...

Slowly Luigi walked up to the washer, shining the light on it. It was covered with dust; nobody had touched it in quite a while. He turned from the washer/drier set and shone the light around the rest of the room. There was a counter on the other side, as well as a laundry basket festooned with dusty grey cobwebs. A moth-eaten shirt was crumpled in the bottom of it. On the wall near the counter was a lightswitch. Quickly he crossed the small laundry room to it and switched it on. The lightbulb overhead flickered for a moment, then sparked wildly, popped, and went black. He squeaked in surprise and alarm, dropping his flashlight- which also sputtered and went out.

Eh. Wasn't sure how to end it, so I hope this isn't too crappy. The next chapter will come much, much sooner than this one did, I promise : ) So... I guess that's really all I have to say. Bye!