"That door should be closed," she said, narrowing her eyes at a door that someone had left cracked. "Just a moment you two, I need to check on something real quick. One of the other girls hasn't been doing her job correctly lately," she explained before pushing the door open and stepping into the room, closing the door behind her.
The Master and maid pair waited just outside the room for her in silence for a moment, though the moment grew into a few and they realized just how long they had been waiting.
"I wonder what's taking her so long…" Master James wondered out loud.
"Maybe she needs help with something?" Skippy suggested.
"Maybe, though maybe she wanted to do it herself or guests aren't allowed in this room since she closed the door behind her," James went on.
The pair waited awkwardly in silence for a few more moments before they both reached for the door knob at same time, their hands bumping into each other. They both looked up at each other, Skippy blushing.
"Allow me Master," she insisted, finally opening the door and gesturing for him to go in.
"Thank you darling," he said, stepping in and looking around the room.
It appeared to be a regular guest bedroom with only the simplest of furniture. A bed, bedside table, vanity, and a wardrobe. Though Starla the maid was nowhere to be found.
Skippy peeked into the room before finally entering herself.
"Uhh Master… where's Starla?" she asked.
"That's what I'm wondering," her Master said, getting down on his knees to take a peek under the bed where he found nothing.
"Did she just vanish?" Skippy asked out loud.
"Maybe some kind of elf magic?" James speculated out loud as well. He then moved to the wardrobe and grasped the handle to the right door. He hesitated for a moment as a thought occurred to him.
"Noo, couldn't be," he thought to himself before finally opening the door. He held his breath as he swung the door open suddenly to reveal nothing. He let his breath out in relief though he was somewhat surprised to actually have found nothing. He then grabbed the handle of the left door without much though and opened it far more casually than he had the first.
He flinched as something came out of it, falling on him, which he caught. It was Starla the elf maid! He gasped in surprise, almost dropping her before laying her down on the floor gently.
"Miss! Are you alright?" he asked, skipping running over to his side. They noticed a red mark across her neck. She had been murdered!
"Thanks for catching me, but I'm not really supposed to be talking since I'm playing dead," the elf explained as she laid there with a smile, looking up at the pair.
"Well who killed you? How long have you been dead? How did they even get in here without us noticing?" James asked.
Starla just giggled.
"You know I can't tell you any of that, I'm dead," she reminded him, though she stood up and moved to the bed, laying back down.
"I thought you were dead! Can't you not move?" Skippy asked.
"Technically no, but I'm sure Master won't mind me laying on the bed instead of the floor," the maid said.
"Wait! So if she was killed in this room while we were right outside that means the killer was close to us!" Skippy realized out loud.
"Yea, we could have caught them!" James added.
"Caught them?! We could have been killed as well!" Skippy said, her voice shaking.
"Pretend killed," Strala reminded her.
"Killed still!" Skippy went on.
"My question is how did the killer get in this room? Clearly they didn't go past us," James speculated out loud.
"They were probably already in the room, cause the door was cracked when we got here!" Skippy reminded him.
"Then how did they get out?" her Master pointed out. They both then looked to the wardrobe.
"You don't think?" James speculated out loud, before reaching out and touching the back wall of the wardrobe. It held firm, but then he began to knock at it, and it was quite obvious what was behind it when it responded with a very hollow knock.
"Whaaat?" Skippy said out loud not quite understanding what was going on yet. James began to feel around the inside of the wardrobe, touching all the corners.
"Master? What are you doing?" the mouse asked.
"It's a false back," he explained, stroking his hands about the inside.
"What do you mean?" his maid asked again.
Finally his hand touched something out of place and he gave it a tug. There was a click and the back of the wardrobe popped backwards just slightly. Her Master gave the back a little shove and it opened just like a loose door.
"It means it's a secret door and this is how the killer escaped the room," he said, revealing a passage into the walls of the house.
"Ohhhh! That's cool, but what are we gonna do now?" the mouse asked.
"We're going to go down it," he assured her.
"But Master!" she gasped. "T-that's scary!" she protested.
He turned back towards her.
"I can't do it without you my darling," he assured her, reaching his hand out.
His maid hesitated for a moment, but then the words the elf maid had said to her began to ring in her ears again, before she realized that Starla was actually just repeating them again.
"I thought you weren't supposed to talk while you were dead," the mouse pointed out.
"I can still have fun!" the elf replied.
The mouse turned back to her Master and finally reached out to take his hand.
The pair stepped into the secret passage and began to make their way down the dark cramped spot between the wall. As they went they paused at a few spots to look through one way mirrors or paintings with removable eyes. They spotted the other guests a few times, looking about the manor just as lost as they were, or the maids going about their normal daily tasks.
Finally they came to the end of the passage and pushed against the secret door at the other end. It was heavy and it was soon obvious why as it led out into the library. The secret door was an actual shelf of actual books on a henge. The pair closed the door behind them and looked about the room.
The only other people in the huge room was Master Rauly and goblin maid Momo.
"Master Rauly! Did you see anyone come through here?" James asked, stepping towards the pair and looking around nervously.
"Well young Master, sadly I'm still dead and the game is still on so you'll have to ask my maid," the Master of the house informed him with a little smile as he took a puff from the small cigar he was smoking.
"Momo! Did you see anyone come out of that secret passage?!" James asked, as Skippy came up behind him and looked the pair over. The red mark was still across Master Rauly's neck, though something else caught her eye. There was a little red spot the same shade of red as the mark across the Master's neck, right at the bottom seam of Momo's apron pocket.
Without thinking the mouse maid blurted out.
"Momo, did you get murdered too?"
The goblin paused at this and smiled wide, showing off her big wide mouth of pointy little teeth.
"No I have not darling, what makes you ask?"
The mouse hesitated with her mouth open to respond as she realized why the red stain was actually there.
"Oh… I was just wondering," she lied, looking to her Master who was now looking at her as well, immediately noticing her out of character statement.
"Well then, I think we should get back to it then Master!" Skippy said, turning around abruptly to walk away but pausing for a moment before turning back to the pair. "Thank you for having us Sir," she said to Master Rauly, offering him a curtsy. She then turned once again to finally take her leave, grabbing her Master's hand to pull him along.
James allowed himself to be pulled by his little maid and looked back and forth between her and the Master of the house.
"Oh! Well I guess we're getting right back to it then!" he said awkwardly.
Once they were a bit further away from the pair, her Master leaned in close to whisper to her.
"Skip, what's going on?"
The mouse just kept tugging him along as she replied.
"Did you see it?" she asked.
"See what?" James replied.
"The red mark on the seam of her pocket.
"I did, but I thought it might be rude to bring it up."
"Well I think that red mark was from a red marker in her pocket with no cap, and I think she could be the murderer!" the mouse explained.
"Ohhhh…" her Master realized.
"You think right…" a voice spoke behind, an all too familiar voice. The maid and Master pair spun around at the very same time and as soon as they did, they saw the little goblin leap up and swipe the red marker across Jame's throat. He gasped in surprise and looked to Skippy with wide eyes.
"This is the part where I have to play dead?" he asked. The mouse took a step back in horror as the goblin replied for her.
"Yes it is, any last words?" she asked.
The mouse's Master looked back to her.
"You can do it Skip, prove it's her," he said before clutching his throat. "Gah! Ahh! Hurrr!" he moaned and groaned to make his tragic death all the more dramatic before finally collapsing on the library floor.
The Goblin smiled a smug smile.
"Good, now that-"
"Guh! Uhhhh!" James interrupted her with more of his death moans.
The goblin waited for to finish before continuing on.
"Now that-"
"Hurrr!" he began to moan again, Momo giving him an annoyed look. Once again she waited for him to finish and then sighed.
"Now that-"
"Hmmmm!"
"YOU MAY BE OUR GUEST, BUT I'LL KICK YOU IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN!" the goblin erupted, staring down at the man.
"My apologies, I'll die now. Hurk! Blah!" he said, before laying silent finally.
"Good, now…" she paused and looked to James to make sure he would not interrupt her again. "Now that your Master is dead, I just have to take care of you, hide your bodies, and I can spend the rest of the night reading with my Master," the goblin said with a sly smile.
"But wait! Don't I just have to give him proof? You've killed in the same room as him!" Skippy pointed out.
"I have, but sadly you'll see that his back is turned to us at the moment and he can't turn around seeing as he's dead," the goblin explained.
Skippy looked up just above Momo's head and sure enough, Master Rauly sat on the couch with his back to the scene of the latest murder.
"You need to bring him proof where he can see it, and I happen to be holding the only proof at the moment," the goblin explained further, holding the marker up just between her thumb and pointer finger as if presenting the prize.
Skippy narrowed her eyes at the marker and her look of fear turned to one of determination as Starla and her Master's words of encouragement echoed in her mind. With a quick movement she spun in place and snatched the marker right from the goblin's hand with her tail!
The goblin maid gasped and looked surprised, even almost offended. Though she still stood between the mouse and Master Rauly.
"How clever… to bad you'll never make it to my Master!" Momo said, lunging forward at the mouse.