Chapter 10 Investigating

Lemmy placed the hat on his head. He took a deep breath, all while his siblings stared at him cautiously. Lemmy eyed them, their concern impacting his own emotions. He looked down at his costume. With no fraying fabric, no washed out colors, and no tight areas, this costume was the literal definition of perfect. Lemmy placed his hand in the pocket and blinked. There was a pipe in there. A bubble pipe.

"Man." He placed the pipe between his teeth. "This is just freaky on so many levels." He pulled the pipe out, studying its sleek black design.

The others exchanged looks. "Lemmy, do you think you should be doing this?" asked Wendy. "I mean, after what happened last time…."

"I'll be fine," Lemmy interrupted. "I know the warning signs; I can control myself. Besides, it's not like I'm under a lot of stress this time around."

A deadly silence filled the room. The others each swallowed a lump. Lemmy's heart sank; he knew what he said was not true. He was under MORE stress than he had been the last time he put on the costume. Shudders ran up and down his spine.

"Oh Grambi, help us all," he muttered. He cleared his throat. "Okay. We can't waste time." He stepped toward Ludwig. "Let's go to our room. We need to study the crime scene."

Ludwig nodded, his brow furrowed. "What..whatever you say, uh…" He paused, unwilling to say one name over the other.

Lemmy sighed. "Lemmy. You can call me Lemmy; I feel like a Lemmy." He whimpered. "At least, at the moment."

…

The door creaked open, which only exacerbated Lemmy's nerves. He exchanged a look with his brother just before he turned on the light. The room looked normal enough. However, the sight of Lemmy's empty bed was stress inducing. He stared at it for a little bit. His heart frayed at the edges.

"They're really gone." He step forward. Ernesta was gone. Captain Calcetin was gone. Henry, Churro, Benny, and Estelle….they were nowhere to be seen. Lemmy sniffled as he swept some dust off of the sheet.

"Yeah." Ludwig stepped closer. He placed his hand on Lemmy's shoulder; not saying a word but definitely wanting to soothe his brother.

Lemmy wiped a tear from his eye. "Well, anyway…" He looked back at his room. Scrunching his eyebrows, he studied the place intently. Everything else was still there. His circus props, Ludwig's instruments, his trash…. He furrowed his brow; why would the thief only take the sock monkeys? Ludwig's instruments, for example; they were probably worth a decent amount of cash.

"Hmm," he said. He stepped around the room. The first out of the ordinary sight he saw were the curtains; frayed and the color of charcoal. Lemmy pinched one of the burnt drapes between his thumb and forefinger. "Was this because of you?"

"Yeah. I tried to stop the phantom. They jumped out of the window before I could hit them."

Lemmy blinked. "The window, huh?" Standing on his tiptoes, he peeked above the sill. His eyes grew wide at the drop. "Unbelievable." He backed away. "They would have to be really gutsy in order to jump out of this window."

"Or really stupid." Ludwig smirked. "I mean, the only Koopa who could possibly jump out that window and survive is me."

Lemmy nodded, biting his lip as he did so. "That's true." He took a drag of the bubble pipe. "It is very curious…" Suddenly his eyes grew wide. "Wait a minute." He turned toward Ludwig, his brow scrunched up. "How do I know that it wasn't you?"

Ludwig did a double take. "Lemmy!" His breathing grew shallow. "I would never take your sock monkeys! Never!"

Lemmy glared at him. "No. But perhaps you hid them somewhere in this room as to create a scene?"

Ludwig snorted. "Right. Because that's exactly what I would do during a time of crisis; lie to everyone I care about in order to make them panic even more."

Lemmy sniffed. "Well, while I do believe you aren't nearly as sadistic as that, there is still no knowing for sure. Everyone in this scenario is a suspect Ludwig. Everyone."

Ludwig sighed. "True. So go ahead; search the room."

Lemmy nodded. He searched around the room; checking beneath both his and Ludwig's beds, in the closet, the various parts of the bathroom. It took a good five minutes, but he didn't find anything.

"Huh. I guess you really didn't hide the monkeys."

Ludwig snickered. "I could have told you that. Oh wait, that's right; I did!"

Lemmy shook his head. "But that still doesn't bring us any closer to solving this." He looked back at the window. "You're right; the only Koopa who could possibly get out of that window safely is you. And it's not like there are any other specials that we know of."

Ludwig seized up, his eyes unblinking. "Well…that's not entirely true."

Lemmy blinked, trying to decipher what Ludwig had told him. When he finally figured it out, he gasped. "You mean…Bob?"

Ludwig nodded. "Yeah."

Lemmy shook his head. "Bob? Really?" His heart fluttered. "Why would Bob be so…malicious? That would be extremely out of character for him, don't you think?"

"It is." Ludwig rubbed his forearm. "But everyone is a suspect in this scenario. You said so yourself."

It felt like Lemmy's heart was frozen in place. He started to cry. "I don't want to get Bob involved in this!"

"I know. But we have no choice." He knelt down so that he was level with Lemmy. "This is the only lead we have so far. If we don't take advantage of it, then we have no possible way of finding out what happened to your sock monkeys. Or Roy and Celia." His brow furrowed. "And I know you Lems; you love all of them dearly."

Lemmy stared at Ludwig for a minute before sniffling. "You're right." He wiped a tear from his eye. "I guess…I guess we have to go to Sparksville then."

"Yeah." Ludwig held out his hand. After a second of hesitance, Lemmy took it. Together, they flew out the window toward Sparksville.