Skeletons in the Closet

BY: JaDErUst

NOTE: Spoken words in Italics are words translated from a foreign language. In case you're wondering that means German for the police.

It is not the first time Inspector Durin Haswell had been called to Adel, and it probably wouldn't be the last, but by far this case was the most bizarre. Now who would bypass a state of the art security system, ignoring the priceless painting in the main hall, just to play a prank?

The call had come in the early hours of the morning. Herr Gutenberg, Headmaster of Adel, had called in a frantic rage. "Vandalizers!" he'd shouted and screamed. "Criminals! You must come here at once, find the ones that did this, and punish them with the full extent of the law!" He'd slammed the phone down then, giving no further explanation. It was only a few minutes later when the man's personal assistant called that the full details had been given. There had been a break in and while nothing seemed to have been stolen, a prank had been played that had sent the Headmaster in a rage.

While a robbery was a serious offense, pranks were never on the top of the police brigade's list of things to investigate. However, the Chief of Police was attempting to have his son attend Adel on scholarship, a nearly futile effort, and so Haswell had been sent to lead the investigation with a team of twenty men.

Adel Akademie der Progressiven Studien was a private boarding school known world over for two things... The wealth of the students who attended it and the security measures the school took to keep their students safe. Approaching the main gate of the school Inspector Haswell noted the security cameras discretely hidden along the walls bordering the school's campus and made a mental note to have one of his men review the tapes. His ID was already in his hand as he approached the front gate and he presented it without being asked for it to the guard that waited there. "Good morning, Arnold," he said, quickly recognizing the guard as his next door neighbor and friend for the past twenty years. "How is everything?"

Arnold smiled at him as he quickly typed in the Inspector's information into his computer terminal and called ahead to give permission for the man's access. "I've had better days, Durin. The entire school is panicking over the break in even though nothing seems to have been stolen. This is the sort of day where I am glad I only work at the gatehouse. The Headmaster is driving everyone crazy over this."

"I'll do my best to find the perpetrators," Durin promised and drove through the gate as it opened.

Adel had been founded just as World War I had started to take advantage of Switzerland's neutrality by taking in the wealthy children of families who found themselves surrounded by war. At first Adel had been exclusively for the nobility and the school still reflected that early tendency. The buildings were huge with cathedral ceilings in every room. Every classroom, no matter the subject, was full of classical paintings and sculpture and the mandatory on campus housing had dorm rooms most apartment dwellers would kill for. A staff of 200 maids, chefs, and laundresses, available 24 hours a day, were employed to keep the school's 500 students happy and the campus crisp and clean. However, despite the luxury every student found themselves surrounded by the students Durin drove by looked bored and unimpressed with their surroundings. These were the children of royalty, the very richest of businessmen, and the most powerful criminals in the world. They had been raised to expect that they deserved such riches.

Lazy bastards, Durin thought to himself in disgust as he pulled up in front of the main hall and stepped out of his car. It would be interesting to see this prank that had brought out twenty one of the police's best.

There was an officer at the door waiting for him who bowed and very quickly began to explain the situation to him. "Nothing has been touched, sir. The Lieutenant has seen to that personally. What you shall see is exactly what was discovered this morning by a janitor."

"And what shall I see inside?"

The officer was not quite able to hide the smile from his face. "I think it would be best for you to see it yourself instead of hearing me describe it to you, sir."

Durin raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue. It would only take half a moment more to actually walk into the building and see the prank in any case.

Two guards were standing at the door who opened the first set of doors for them. Stepping inside the foyer Durin noticed no evidence of a disturbance although he could hear the sounds of a man shouting angrily from just ahead, beyond another set of doors. A second set of guards were posted there too and after flashing his ID Durin was able to enter the room. He had to blink twice to check and be sure that his eyes were not deceiving him.

White was everywhere. Someone, for reasons that escaped Durin entirely, had taken the considerable time and effort to change everything white. However, nothing seemed to have been painted over or whitewashed... Instead someone had covered everything with white sheets. The floors were covered as where the windows and walls. Furniture had been carefully and tightly covered with even more sheets so that their exact form could easily be seen. White sheets covered lighting fixtures and the large statue in the center of the room, and when Durin looked up, he could see that someone had carefully covered the ceiling with sheets as well. The perpetrators, no one could have done this alone, had even wrapped the school's crystal chandelier in white sheets so that only the light bulbs remained uncovered.

At the far end of the room, on the landing of the staircase to the second floor that was also covered in white, Gutenberg stood, his face red, and shouted and screamed at an annoyed looking guard as he gestured wildly. Unwilling to distract the man from his chosen prey quite yet, Durin took another look around and wondered who would have ever done such a thing. To cover everything in white sheets? There seemed no reason for it, no motive. He had to admit though, to pull off such a prank all in one night without getting caught, was actually rather clever.

But he still had no idea who may ever want to do such a thing...