I'm sorry for the extremely long wait. I was mainly stuck at a writer's block, but now that that's cleared up, hopefully I will be able to write more. I hope you guys didn't forget about this story, because I can certainly say that I ddn't...

And also, to satisfy Eventryraven's (sorry if I spelled your name wrong) curiosity, the Poshley Heights case is, as a matter of fact, one of my other stories.

Murder in the mushroom kingdom

Chapter 10-Meeting the Detective

After a few more minutes of ever-so-reluctantly talking to the reporters, Mario (and also Peach) made their way back into the castle. It's not that they actually wanted to satisfy the needs of the reporters (mainly that darn Goomba girl), but they found it to be the only solution to escape the constant questions.

"Mario?" Toadiko asked, coming down the stairs after the recent phone call. Why did she even need to go up the stairs anyway? It's not like all of the phones were broken on the ground floor or anything…maybe she was just trying to get in her exercise for the day…, "The detective said that you can go see him in his office now. It's on Mushroom Drive at thefar end of the road, so it's within walking distance…"

"Isn't the detective supposed to come to the place of the crime? Why are we supposed to go there?" Mario complained. So what, did the guy just plan for them to take pictures of the ballroom and bring them down for him to take a look? What kind of detective was this?

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing…" Toadiko replied, "I asked him about it and he told me that he had some reason, but he wouldn't tell me what. He just said 'let's leave it at that',"

This detective seemed like a strange one…hopefully he wasn't as useless as he sounded. Mario wouldn't have been surprised if this guy was some very-far-from-earth idiot that didn't know the difference between circles and squares, "Peach, do you wanna come with me?"

"Yes…I do…"

"And I think it would be best if Daisy and I came as well…" Luigi butted in.

Mario nodded reluctantly at Luigi. Luigi had that reputation of doing stupid things, so Mario wasn't generally overjoyed at his brother's presence. Ah well, it's not like he would jump on top of a table and start a conga line or anything…

As Toadiko had mentioned, the detective's office really was within walking distance. The four mounted a small set of steps that led to the detective's office and knocked on the door quietly.

Almost instantaneously, the door opened, revealing a Hammer Bro.

"So you're the detective?" Mario said, sticking out his hand to exchange handshakes.

"No…" Replied the Hammer Bro, shaking Mario's hand "I'm Hamma, the detective's assistant …" The Hammer Bro seemed completely normal and didn't appear to be some loony in any instance. Maybe it wasn't going to be as bad as everyone thought…

Once everyone finished introducing themselves, they walked into the office, eager to meet the real detective. Was he another Hammer Bro? A Bob-Omb? The anxiety was too great to handle…

"You have come…" Said a Goomba sitting behind a desk. Was this the detective, or just another assistant?

"And you are…?" Daisy asked, looking at the old Goomba that sat before them. Daisy wasn't entirely sure whether or not she wanted this to be the detective. The Goomba looked utterly clueless, almost as though he were constantly asking 'what is going on'.

"I am Detective Goom,"

So this was the detective Toadiko was ranting and raving about? A Goomba?! Well, so much for actually solving the case…with this guy roaming around, searching for clues, they'd get nowhere! He'd probably spend half of the time trying to find the glass of water he left his false teeth in…

"You called me just at the right time, because I'm going on vacation tomorrow…" Said the detective. Great…so now he's going on vacation?! What kind of detective was this? It was doubtful that he would solve the case in only a day…Ah well, even if they gave him three months he'd probably spend the entire time trying to figure out who the victims were…

"Vacation?" Mario asked, "What about this case?"

"Well," Said the detective, "I was actually supposed to go tonight, but when you guys called, I figured I'd push it off till tomorrow…"

"But…" Peach started, glancing around at the others, "That's gives you only one day!"

Now it was the detective's turn to glance around. He seemed almost confused. Oh great, it certainly wasn't good when the detective looked completely baffled…

"Yeah!" Daisy agreed with Peach's last statement, "There's no way you can solve this case in only that amount of time!"

Again the detective said nothing, but merely continued to look at them like they had all gone mad. What, did Mario grow another head or something…? "Well…I suppose your right, so you better show be the car and exactly where the crime took place…"

"…The car?" Daisy asked. Did this guy have memory loss or something? Was the last thing he remembered hearing was somebody saying that they were going to take him for a ride in their new car or something? Well, it would certainly explain why he was babbling on about a car. Or maybe he was just trying to pull a fast one on them? Was it a test to see if the four were complete idiots?

"Yeah…" Detective Goom replied, "I was told that you needed me to find who put a large dent and scratch in your car…"

At that moment, the four all concluded that this guy was entirely crazy. Where did he come up with that crazy idea?! A car wasn't even involved with the case!

"Uh, Mr. Goom?" Peach started, looking at him as though he were insane. Well, at this point, he practically was insane…, "You do realize that the case we want you to solve in a murder, right?"

The detective looked astonished. It was the kind of expression you would expect to see when someone's winning lottery ticket was just ripped in half, "Oh my…"

Mario glanced at him awkwardly. The plumber wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Nothing seemed to be making sense…it felt to him as though he were trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with his eyes closed; he hadn't the slightest idea of what of piece of information went where, let alone what the big picture looked like…, "Detective Goom…I would like you to tell me more about this vacation of yours…"

The expression he made on his face made him look almost as though he were reluctant to talk. But after a moment's hesitation and a deep breathe, he began to speak, "Well, as I had said earlier, I was supposed to leave tonight…"

"Yes…" Mario began, "And where are you going?"

Detective Goom's eyes darted from left to right, "To Yoshi's Island…isn't it just so beautiful there?"

Mario nodded his head and smiled internally; this detective was right about something…, "Anything else you'd wish to add?"

Detective Goom though for a moment, "Well, Hamma is staying here for the days that I'm gone…and, well, that's about it…"

Again, Mario nodded. His questions didn't seem to be getting him anywhere. He had hoped some type of clue would emerge from the conversation, but at the moment, there was no luck.

"Why do you think we weren't told about the real case?" Hamma asked, breaking the silence that had settled over the room. That was certainly a good point he had brought up…

"I…I dunno…" Mario murmured. If anyone were to look at him, they would get the impression that he was trying to solve the most difficult brain teaser in history. In reality, he had just placed himself in deep thought about the case: Had Toadiko deliberately lied about the case? Why would she do such a thing? Well, one thing one for sure; if she was trying to keep Detective Goom from leaving the Mushroom Kingdom, she was doing an excellent job…