He walked to the piling where Cari stood and gave it three sharp raps. He opened the toolbox and removed a steel mallet with a short wooden handle.
“Alright then,” said Doctor Swenson, “let’s find out.” He walked across the room and opened a cabinet, from which he retrieved a tool box. “She’s here!” yelled Cari, as tears welled in her eyes. “What are you playing at, brat?” sneered Constable Fisk. “Cari, are you sure?” said Aunt Teri, who had returned to the sub-basement. “She’s here!” said Cari, more emphatically. She rose, walked to the piling, and placed her right hand on a spot about waist-high. Where indeed? Cari didn’t know, but felt oddly drawn to the stone piling she was standing next to when she was discovered. At that point, there was only one move left:Ĭari said simply: “Näktergal. There was nothing logical left to say, no reasoning she could use to explain what she was doing. Then her eyes went wide, she emitted a noticeable burp, and scampered back up the stairs.Ĭari felt everyone’s eyes bearing down on her. Papa was wide-eyed with bewilderment and fatigue, while Aunt Teri merely looked sick. “You were following Näktergal? You’re hunting ghosts, then, are you? You assured me you were not that type of person!”Ĭari tried to come up with some defense when they were interrupted again, this time by two people clambering down the stairs. “Näktergal?” said Sergeant Långskepp, “Who’s that?” There was no point in evading the question any more. “I believe the young lady can speak for herself,” said Doctor Swenson, “and I suggest you let her.” Constable Fisk retreated to a corner and sulked while Sergeant Långskepp stifled a laugh. “She said she followed somebody!” sneered Constable Fisk. “You? Didn’t we speak, not even three days ago? And now you mean to break into the Bard’s College in the middle of the night? Why?” “Oh, Sergeant Långskepp, is this our burglar?” The sergeant nodded.
“Oh, we caught this little brat sneaking in,” replied Constable Fisk. “What’s going on in my museum?” barked Doctor Swenson, a little too loudly, Cari thought. How could she tell him she was following a ghost? In any case, both were interrupted by an elderly man making his way down the stairs. “Following whom? There's nobody else in the building.”Ĭari had no answer to that, no matter how desperately she wracked her brain. He’s not going to believe me, no matter what I say! “I…I was following somebody,” she stammered. “You’re in quite a lot of trouble, so can you explain what, exactly, you’re doing here?” Someone at the police station is calling your Papa, and the director of this museum is on his way here now.” The officer, whose name tag read “Långskepp,” motioned Cari to sit at a nearby table. Turning to Cari, he said, “Frokken Cari, it seems you’ve caused quite a stir tonight. “Constable Fisk, that’s enough!” the older officer scolded. “Maybe I should just put the cuffs on you right now!” “How’s your Mama going to feel when we tell her you’re arrested?” she said, making Cari wince. The nasty officer was just getting started. “I wasn’t, I mean, that’s not what I meant to…” stammered Cari. “Well, Cari Ayalu, what are you doing burglarizing a museum in the middle of the night, huh?” asked the nasty officer. “Cari Ayalu?” he said, and began speaking into a microphone on his collar. “Constable,” he said simply.įinally catching her breath, Cari spoke. The woman was blonde and looked haughty as she stared at Cari with an arrogant sneer. The man had salt-and-pepper hair and looked tired and somewhat puzzled. In front of her stood two police officers, a middle-aged man and a younger woman. She heard a sharp click as the lights went on, and the feeling vanished. She clawed at her neck in a futile, panicked effort to escape whatever was strangling her while the woman repeated, “Put your hands back up! Put your hands back up!”. The feeling quickly grew more acute, then agonizing as Cari began to see dark blotches in front of her and began hearing her own pulse ringing in her ears. In fact, she felt a dull, constricting pain around her neck, as if she were wearing a scarf that was pulled too tight. “What’s your name, brat?” the woman ordered.Ĭari tried to speak, but she couldn’t make any words. “Put your hands where I can see them,” a female voice said. Cari was dazzled by the electric torch’s beam, and could only vaguely make out the forms of the police in front of her.
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