Chapter 14 Mavery's Interrogation

Passing by the hospital where Roy and Celia were staying made Lemmy's stomach churn. He hadn't heard any news that they were waking up, so more than likely, they were still unconscious. Thinking back to when he saw them, lying in their hospital beds and looking like they were barely breathing, only made Lemmy's desire to solve this mystery even stronger.

As such, Lemmy and Ludwig moved at a brisk pace as they made their way through Stonebrim. Mostly, Lemmy led the way, as he could vividly remember the exact people whom he and his siblings had encountered while they were trick-or-treating. Considering that they were some of the last people to see Roy and Celia before they got knocked out, chances were that they had something to do with their attack. At least, that's what Lemmy thought, and to be fair, it did make sense in his head. And hey, maybe, if the gang found out who had attacked Roy and Celia, then they would be able to determine where the phantoms came from!

These thoughts made Lemmy smile a little. Blowing more bubbles out of his bubble pipe, he realized that he and his older brother were getting close to the first house. And this house… well, Lemmy wasn't too terribly excited about going there. The first encounter he had with the person who lived there still stung to think about, especially because of how this person looked at and treated Celia. Just thinking about their words to the lot of them made chills run up and down Lemmy's arms. But hey, if it was any consolation, the fact that they had acted the way they did made them the perfect suspect in this case! If they were the one who had committed the crimes, then that meant the mystery would be solved, and everyone could go back to living their normal lives!

Of course, their being responsible for this was still a hypothetical at this point.

Ludwig and Lemmy stopped on the doorstep. Ludwig raised an eyebrow as he looked at the house, and one glance upward informed Lemmy of the reason why. Toilet paper was strewn all over the house's front, draping off the roof in ways that would probably take hours to clean up. With this image taking the front seat in his mind, Lemmy as he looked between the door and his brother. He blew some bubbles out of his mouth, wondering exactly how this interrogation was going to go. It could either go really well or really terribly; there was no in-between.

"You know Lems, maybe we should hold this off until tomorrow." Ludwig pulled out his phone, showing Lemmy the time. "It's almost two in the morning; the people we want to talk to are probably fast asleep at this point."

Lemmy considered this advice, knowing that it did make sense. After a little bit, however, he shook his head. "The phantoms will probably steal more stuff or do something even worse if we don't solve this mystery as soon as possible." He looked up at Ludwig. "We need to act swiftly.'

Ludwig gawked before nodding. "Okay then." He backed away from the door, allowing Lemmy to step forward and knock on it. Or to be more accurate, pound on it. He slammed his body against the door, hoping that he would be heard. Within no time at all, he heard someone shouting on the other side.

"Okay! Okay!"

Lemmy backed up, and within seconds, Mavery Marksmite opened the door. She focused her attention solely on Lemmy, glaring at him like she was about to strangle him and/or tear him to pieces. The reason why became evident to Lemmy when he saw both her eyelids and body sagging under the weight of sleepiness.

"What… THE HELL… do you want?"

For a split second, Lemmy felt incredibly guilty. However, he remembered that he was trying to solve a mystery; there was no room for guilt. He cleared his throat, looking at Mavery with a serious expression.

"Mrs. Marksmite, my brother and I would like to ask you a few questions." Mavery's glare grew more concentrated, making Lemmy tremble and let out a tiny whimper. "It, uh… it concerns something very important."

"So important that you have to wake me up?" When both Lemmy and Ludwig nodded, she sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. "Look, I don't know what you guys are trying to pull here, but whatever it is can wait till morning." She backed up and began closing the door. "My night has already been hectic enough, I don't need…"

The door stopped, glowing with a blue aura as it did. Mavery, blinking, pushed against it with all her might, but it still remained open. Her jaw dropped, and she looked over at Ludwig, whose left hand glowed with the same blue aura. She looked like she was face-to-face with a legendary creature. "What… how… why…?"

"Please, Mrs. Marksmite," Ludwig said. "This won't take long. We just need to ask you a few questions, and then we'll be out of your hair. Please. I promise that we won't take too much of your time."

Mavery hesitated. She looked at Ludwig. She looked at Lemmy. After a little bit, she sighed in defeat. "Fine." Ludwig released his hold on the door, and she opened it all the way. "Come in."

Lemmy nodded, and together, they entered. Once Mavery turned on the light, Lemmy noticed a fabulously comfy couch just a few feet away. Smiling, he made his way over and sat down. Ludwig took a seat right next to him, and Mavery (as flustered as ever) sat in an armchair perpendicular to the couch. Once she was seated, she looked at Lemmy and Ludwig with irritation in every feature.

"Well?" She said. "Get on with it!"

Lemmy frowned. He pulled a pen and a notepad out of his hammerspace and leaned forward. "Okay." He uncapped the pen with his teeth. "Mrs. Marksmite, where were you between eight-thirty and eight forty five this evening?" That was around the time of Celia and Roy's attack.

Mavery snorted. "I was getting ready for bed." She shook her head. "This Halloween has sure been a rough one, and I needed to recover." She gritted her teeth, shaking her head. "Those stupid kids and their toilet paper," she muttered under her breath. "If I knew who they were, I'd be right on the phone with the police!"

This line made Lemmy frown. "Police, huh?" The likelihood of a criminal calling the police was slim to none. Plus, given how he had seen the toilet paper firsthand, that did give Mavery a decent alibi. Still, though, that didn't really prove anything. Jotting something down in his notes, Lemmy looked back at Mavery. "So… you didn't encounter anyone around this time? You didn't have any conversations with anyone about anything in particular?"

Mavery raised an eyebrow. "Uh… no." She now incredulously looked at the Koopalings. "What is this all about? Why are you asking me this?"

Lemmy sucked some air through his teeth. "Let's just say that tonight has been an eventful night." He jotted more down. "So, Mrs. Marksmite…" he paused, frowning as he held the pen to his mouth and bit down on the bottom tip. "I understand that you and your granddaughter don't get along…"

"WE DON'T SPEAK OF THAT GIRL IN THIS HOUSE!" She shouted so loud that Lemmy and Ludwig actually jumped back, with the former letting out a little shriek. "I don't want to hear anything about that girl, especially at this time of night. Understand?"

Lemmy exchanged a look with Ludwig, looking at him in a way that he hoped communicated his unease. Thankfully, Ludwig picked up on this, and he looked back at Mavery with a brave face.

"We do need to talk to you about your granddaughter, Mrs. Marksmite. She was attacked tonight."

Mavery did a double-take. "Wait." All the anger from before vanished from her face. "She got attacked?"

"Yes, she and her boyfriend," said Ludwig.

Silence filled the room. Mavery didn't look at either of the Koopalings, instead looking like she was drawing back into her own head. "That's… wow." Wait, was that sympathy in her eyes? Was that concern on her face? How was that the case; Lemmy thought she hated Celia!

"And what's more, she got something stolen from her," Ludwig continued. "As such, we need to find out who attacked them, and we need to do it quickly."

Mavery frowned a little bit. "Well… I can say I had nothing to do with the attack." She chuckled. "I'm nowhere near coordinated enough to pull something like that off."

Lemmy frowned, squinting at her as he studied her body language. Something about the way she looked seemed off. She didn't look like she was lying, but she didn't look like she was telling the truth either. As such, she was damn near impossible to actually read. This presented a problem, as Lemmy knew that he couldn't get information from her just through interrogation. He needed to conduct a search. He needed to look around Mavery's house and see if there was any evidence that Mavery might be behind the attacks or the phantoms.

"I see." Lemmy got up off the couch. "Mrs. Marksmite, would you be so kind as to direct me to the bathroom?" Mavery did, and he flashed her a smile. "Thanks. Ludwig, continue on with the interrogation; I'll be back downstairs in a minute."

With that, Lemmy left. When he got to the bathroom door, he walked right past it, deciding instead that he needed to search Mavery's bedroom. He made sure to be quiet as he made his way there, for any noise could possibly alert Mavery to what he was actually doing and blow this whole thing. He tiptoed across the floor, making the light-footed Lemmy even more light-footed

When he got to the bedroom door, he slowly opened it, making sure to not make it creak or anything. Keeping the door open by a tiny degree, he snuck into the room. At first glance, nothing about it seemed suspicious or off-putting (excluding the fact that it was nauseatingly clean). However, Lemmy needed to think like a detective, and detectives didn't just look at something on a surface level. He let out a breath and pulled out his magnifying glass, not wasting any time when it came to the search. He searched under the bed first, but didn't see anything. He then searched the closet, but there wasn't anything of significance there either. Of course, on some level, Lemmy wasn't surprised by this. If he was a criminal mastermind, he probably wouldn't leave clues of his master plan lying around his bedroom either. But still, it was incredibly disheartening. On some level, it felt as though Lemmy was wasting his time; focusing on an insignificant area while the phantoms and the attackers/thieves still roamed free. Maybe Mavery had been telling the truth. Maybe she really did have nothing to do with the attack.

At least, that's what he thought until he got to Mavery's vanity table. It didn't take him long to find something suspicious, something that was a potential clue. On the tabletop, there was a palette of eye shadow. A palette of purple eye shadow.

Lemmy actually gasped when he saw this. The eye shadow was sparkly and thick, and it didn't look too dissimilar to the sparkles he had seen in Bob's house and in Iggy's lab. Maybe this was the answer! Maybe it had something to do with the phantoms! Sure, it was a bit of a stretch… actually, it was a very big stretch. But… well, it was the closest thing to lead Lemmy had. He needed to bring it to Iggy and find out if it was made out of the same material as the rogue sparkles.

So, he stashed it away in his hammerspace, being careful so as to not smudge it. He made his way back down the stairs, where Ludwig was still talking to Mavery. It seemed like Lemmy had come at precisely the right time, as Ludwig was fidgeting in his seat and looking mightily uncomfortable.

"Well," Lemmy said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I think that's enough interrogation for tonight." He went over and took Ludwig's hand. "Thank you for inviting us in, Mrs. Marksmite. You may return to bed."

"Hmph," Mavery said. She started making her way upstairs, and as she did, Lemmy pulled Ludwig by the hand.

"Come on, Ludwig," he whispered. "I think I might've found something."