Chapter 25 - The Case of the Stolen Gift (part 1) (1/2)
”Where were you on the night of the Queen's birthday party?”
”I was on the table next to the pastries.”
”Did you see anything suspicious?”
”I… I…”
”Speak, if we have more information about the chain of events, we may find the culprit earlier.”
”Yes… the thing is that I don't know what I saw exactly,” the young girl sipped her cup of tea.
The little lady was the daughter of a small Count follower of the Duke of Mills. They were invited as almost all the nobles to the party, but many things happened that night to even remember everything. It was a chaotic night.
”I was eating some piece of cake, it was delicious, I think the filling was of chocolate with strawberries…”
”Miss, please, what did you see?”
”A ghost,” she said with a straight face.
”A ghost?”
”I already told you, I am not clear, but I think it was a ghost or more like a joke of someone disguised as a ghost. It appeared from underneath the table with a white cloth covering its body. I looked at it, then it looked at me as if he wanted some cake, I offered it a plate and he just disappeared again underneath the table.”
”Is that all?”
”Yes, I returned to eat my cake, but… sigh I noticed that I gave the little ghost the last piece of my cake… sigh… what a bad omen.”
****
”Where were you on the night of the Queen's birthday party?”
”I was the head chef appointed to bake the Queen's cake for the evening. And I was in a mission given to me from the highest authority of them all.”
”The King?”
”Princess Anne and the King, of course.”
”And this mission was?”
”To guard the cake.”
”…”
”From Moira.”
”I understand, that is indeed bravery,” there was not an inch of mockery in the detective's words. Anyone knowing about the hidden talents of Moira would understand the danger and the bravery of the mission.
”Then… you were?”
”I was in the kitchen guarding the making of the cake, then the cake itself until it was delivered.”
”Did you see anything unusual that night?”
”Yes,” chef Hugo was surprisingly serious.
”What was that?”
”I saw a ghost.”
”A ghost?”
”Yes, I saw something that tried to resemble a ghost, I think… it came from under a table and have some white cloth covering his head and body, though, it was very small to scare anyone.”
”What did you do then?”
”He looked at me and I looked at him, it seemed that he wanted some cake.”
”Did you give him?”
”No, I was guarding the cake, so I didn't leave my post for even a slight second.”
”What did this ghost do then?”
”He sat beside me and told me a story, a very tear-jerking story about a heroic woman that saved his mother from being burned to death, and he wanted to meet that woman and thank her.”
”Then… what did you do?”
”I… *cough* I gave him a piece of cake.”
”…”
****
”Where were you on the night of the Queen's birthday party?”
”I was talking to Prime Minister Prim.”
”Where were you talking to him?”
”We were discussing in one of the empty rooms upstairs.”
”Didn't you come to the party?”
”Yes, we were for about five minutes, then we went upstairs.”