Foreword: I read my readers' reviews, and one of them noticed how some characters acted coldly toward Joe. I admit that I should have made them care more, but if I did that, then the detectives won't go to the hotel and the story ends there. I don't think that would sound very exciting to most of you, unless you love a mystery novel that lacks mystery. The reason I had to leave Joe in the hospital like that was because, well, this is supposed to be a Frank-Callie and Nancy-Ned mystery, and in that case, Joe is just a side character. I hope you will still continue reading, since the suspects have just appeared last chapter, and the real mystery starts now. As you can see by the title, the mystery occurs at night, and that's the time most fit for a mystery—especially an impossible crime—to happen. You'll see what I mean when you read this newest chapter. Read, enjoy, and—just as important—REVIEW, please!

Chapter 4

Into the Night

Edna Kempton gasped as she heard the announcement. Nancy looked in awe. "So…is it real blood? Is it human blood?"

"I don't think it's human blood," Frank answered. He took a whiff. "It's fake blood, just like the one used after your disappearance in the last case we solved together."

Nancy sighed in relief.

"I wonder who did this," Ned said. "This is a really gruesome thing to do, making it seem like a message written with blood. And what does the writer mean when he wrote 'Magician Is Awoken'? Who's the magician?"

"Alphonse Piermont," muttered Edna. "That's the Quebecois magician that first built this mansion. It was his home back in the 1920s!"

Amy Takahashi stared at the message in horror. "So this hotel is haunted! His spirit roams the place even decades past his demise!"

Then, all the other guests and staffs appeared in the dining room. "What's the matter?" asked Gary Friedrich. He was still carrying his laptop. "What in the world is that?" he pointed to the message.

"Oh, my god!" June Quinn screamed. "That's horrible!"

But then, she took the cap of her camera lens off and quickly took a picture. "It must be the doings of Alphonse!" she muttered.

Norma Yale held on to her book in fear. Frank noticed that she was holding the bible. "He's back… He's back… He's back…" she murmured. She took out a cross and pressed it onto her chest.

Derek Ogden, the cook, immediately took a napkin. "We should wipe this off," he muttered. "This must be the works of a maniac. He thinks he's frightening us, but I'm not scared yet!" With that, he wiped the table clean.

Xavier Churchill, the curator, stared blankly at the bloody message. Callie turned around and saw in horror how calmly he acted when he saw the bloody letters.

"You… You aren't afraid?" she asked the man.

Xavier grinned. "Afraid? I believe in no ghost, if you ask me. Besides, I'd like to see one face-to-face, if this so-called 'ghost' is brave enough to face me!"

With that, the man started laughing heartily. Callie watched as he left the dining room and into his room upstairs.

After everyone was gone, and as Edna gained back her wits, she led the detectives to the main lobby. She took out a key from her drawer and unlocked the lock that held the keys in place.

"What's interesting," said Frank amusedly. "You keep the keys locked up over here?"

Edna nodded. "Yes. Because I don't feel safe when leaving the keys out here in the lobby, I decided to lock the keys up. Therefore, when I'm not here during the night, I know that the keys are safe."

"So do you need that key to get the keys?" asked Callie, somewhat confused.

Edna grinned. "Yes, I'm afraid. It's the custom here that every morning, while you are away, you should be locking your keys here so you won't lost it. You don't have to give it to me; you can place it on the counter when I'm away, and I'll lock it up for you."

Ned asked Edna: "Shouldn't you call the police about that bloody message?"

Edna shook her head. "I don't really want the police to be involved in this. They'll think it's just a prank, anyway."

When the detectives got their keys, they left the lobby and went into their rooms. Ned saw June enter Room 13.

That's the room she's staying in, he thought. Room 13… What an unlucky number.

Ned's room was Room 8 while Nancy's was Room 9. Nancy's room was right next to the corridor with the dead end wall and Ned's room was across the corridor from hers.

Nancy sat on the bed in her room, alone. There was a funny feeling that she knew one of the guests from before. "But where did I see that person?" she wondered. "As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've ever seen any of them. I don't think they were in my previous cases. If so, why do I have a strange feeling that I already knew someone among the guests?" She touched her temples with her arms. "I can't remember…I can't remember…" She opened her eyes and stared at the weather outside. It was getting worse every minute. Even though it was just five o'clock, the weather made her feel like it was nine at night.

The telephone in her room rang. "Hello?" she answered immediately.

"Oh, Nancy?" It was Edna. "I just wanted to tell you that there will be a Fourth of July dinner held at the dining room tonight at six o'clock. I'm just letting everyone know about it, but if you could tell the others, that'll be nice. Bye!"

Nancy hung up after saying goodbye. She sighed as she looked down. Her purse was gone, and so was the necklace with her mother's picture inside it. Who could the thief have been? Why did he take her purse?

So many things puzzled Nancy. She suddenly remembered the theft back home. She called home using the telephone in the room. "Dad? It's me, Nancy."

"Nancy! How are you enjoying your vacation so far?"

Nancy chuckled. "If you could call this a vacation instead of a job. What about the case back home? Did you find any clue as to who the thief could have been?"

"No. But I've done some research on the ring that you found in the study. It turns out that I had a client named Mr. Ian Milton, who married Bertha Palatine twenty years ago."

Nancy sat up, excited. "So, did you find out where this person lives?"

Mr. Drew sighed. "I didn't, Nancy. This man died eighteen years ago."

"Dead? What about Mrs. Milton?"

"She died three years after her husband died."

Nancy was surprised. "Why did they die? I mean, if the ring wasn't left by either of them, then who did?"

Mr. Drew said, "I can't be sure now, Nancy. But I know one thing: both Mr. and Mrs. Milton were killed!"

The titian-haired detective took out her notebook and jotted down these facts.

"And the file that was stolen is about the murder of Mrs. Milton. It seems that a man named Robert Fraser killed Mrs. Milton, who was a widow then, when he snuck into her home to steal something of a value. But she found him, so she got killed. Your mother found out the truth, and I gave him a life sentence with no possibility of parole."

The girl detective jotted down these notes also. "Do you think you can talk to Mr. Fraser?"

Mr. Drew sighed again. "I'm afraid I can't. This man killed himself right after he was sent to prison."

Nancy couldn't help but sigh. "I can't believe it! All the people who are connected to this case are dead!"

"Right. And dead people can't talk, so we are officially at a dead end," her father said. He then added, "But I will look for that man's relatives. I'm sure I can find out more in a day or so."

"Well, call me when you get a chance. Oh, and since my cell phone was stolen, can you call the number of the hotel?" She then gave him the telephone number of the hotel.

"Wait a minute," Mr. Drew interrupted. "You said your purse was stolen?"

Nancy said yes. Mr. Drew sighed. To assure her father, Nancy said: "But credit cards are all safe. Don't worry."

Mr. Drew laughed. "Well, I hope your secret admirer doesn't know where you live. Well, it seems like I'll have to give you a new phone, then. Try not to let this ruin your vacation, all right?"

"Thanks, Dad. Bye."

After hanging up, Nancy sighed. BP and IM… Who could those two be?

Taking a look at the clock again, Nancy yawned. "Wow, it's still five-fifteen, and I'm ready to go to bed."

But it was really strange. Nancy didn't feel tired at all just ten minutes ago, but now, she felt like she had been working for hours. Her mind started spinning and her vision blurred.

"What…What's happening?" she muttered.

She put a hand by her temple to stop the dizziness, but it was no use. The darkness started to envelope her slowly. Then, she collapsed onto her bed.

"She's late," Frank muttered. He looked at his watch. It was half an hour past six.

"I think she's just getting ready," Callie said, seating herself at her seat.

"I just saw a 'do not disturb' sign hanging from the door of her room," said Derek. He smiled at Callie. "Wow, I've never met a cute girl like you hanging around here in the wilderness of Maine!"

Callie blushed slightly. Frank ignored the comment and changed the subject: "So, why did you decide to work here?"

"Well, I've been interested in cooking since I was a boy. Since my mother died when I was young, I had to do all the cooking for our family. I had a father who was always busy and a younger sister who couldn't even boil a cup of water right!" He chuckled. "Well, I hope you'll enjoy this party, since after dinner, I'll be serving my specialty: Gâteau Piermont."

"A cake?" Callie asked, interested.

Derek nodded. "Finest in France. I studied there for two years and my skills in cooking French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek foods are well above a typical chef's. I've studied in Italy for three years, Spain for two years, Portugal for a year, and Greece for a year as well."

"Wow," Callie said in amazement.

Frank obviously didn't feel comfortable. He asked Callie to sit with him at the table. The dinner was served, but Nancy was still not at the dining room. At seven, the detectives were worried about her, but she wasn't the only one gone. June hadn't shown up, and neither did Norma Yale, Henri LaSalle, and Gary Friedrich. Norma said that she had to write her article that was due next Monday. Henri said that he didn't have much of an appetite that evening and stayed in his room as well. Gary said he had to finish the three chapters he planned to write that day for the newest novel of his.

The dinner was joyous and bright. The dishes were made of Spanish appetizers, Greek soup, Italian entrée, and Portuguese bread.

After the dishes were cleaned, the cook went into the kitchen to get the cake. But before he could come out from there, something upstairs broke with a tremendous crash. Then, there was another crash just a few seconds later.

"What was that?" Callie asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"That's wasn't from outside. Maybe we should take a look," Edna said, getting up.

The detectives and the others ran upstairs. They got to the corridor just above the dining room. The window on the wall was broken, and the rain fell into the corridor. The broke window was right next to Room 13.

"I wonder if June heard it," Edna murmured, worried.

Frank tried the doorknob. "It's locked," he said.

Edna frowned. "That's weird. Someone left a key on my desk just before dinner, and I locked it up. The key had the number 13 carved on it, so I knew that it was the key to Room 13. I'll go get it," she said, turning around.

"I'll go with you," Frank said.

The two went down to the lobby. Frank watched as the woman took the key from her pocket and unlocked the lock that held the keys in place. After that, they went back to Room 13. Edna tried the key. It worked.

Peeking into complete darkness, Frank opened the door carefully. The lights from the hallway allowed him to see in the dark. He felt for the light switch and turned it up.

"What?" he muttered in surprise. The lights didn't work.

He took his flashlights out and lit it. He looked around. Nobody was in it. He just saw a briefcase, a lamp, a table, two chairs, a bed with sheets and a pillow, and a door leading to the bathroom. He opened that door. Stepping into the bathroom, he was sure that nobody was inside. Then, he turned around and checked the back of the door. Nobody was hiding there as well. He then tried the window. It was locked from the inside and was nearly impossible for a person outside to enter, since there wasn't even a little space for a thread to pass.

"I guess she's not inside," he muttered. The detective then exited the room and closed the door behind him. He turned the knob to check if the door was locked. It was.

Then, Derek gasped as he looked down onto the floor. "There are footprints on the floor!" he shouted.

Sure enough, there were a set of wet footprints leading from the window to the door and then to the corner. The footprints showed that the person then turned around the corner. Ned was the first one to go around there. It led to yet another window, which was also broken, but this time from the inside. He looked out the broken window. He noticed that the window was right above the cliff. He was puzzled. Did the person jump fifty feet into the ocean? No, he didn't think so. The jump would be dangerous if not fatal. The water down there was rough and perilous. Also, there were some rocks sticking out from below the surface.

Ned was astounded. "He…disappeared."

Postscript: What happened to Nancy? Who broke the windows and why? How did the mysterious intruder get out? Did he really disappear into thin air? Don't think this is the end yet! In the next chapter, the truly "impossible" part of the impossible crime appears. For those of you who aren't used to reading a crime novel, I can say that there is absolutely no gore in the next chapter. Besides, this is just a T-rated story! Anyway, the next chapter's title is: Bloody Magic (Pretty scary, if I can say so myself) Thanks for reading this chapter! Please review.

P.S. Because this is a locked-room mystery, you might need the map of the hotel like before in Ocean of Deceit, since it will be easier if you can see where each of the rooms are. If you want one, you can say so in your review. I will send one to you as soon as possible as a Word attachment. Good luck sleuthing!