Missing, Part 3

Missing, Part 3

I was stunned by what I was looking at the man ran out of the shack so fast that he never noticed that he dropped his wallet. Inside the wallet were two IDs from California and they belonged to Damion and Sharon Blackston. What made this so shocking was that the pictures were of Greg and Rachel Robinson but their real names were Damion and Sharon Blackston. I can’t believe what is happening, I have been duped into coming here. The disappearance of Greg Robinson was just a sham. Why would the Blackstons be so interested in bringing me down there but the better question is who are the Blackstons? My next stop was to head back to the tavern and see if Vinton was still there. I walked back inside the tavern and saw that Vinton was still sitting at the table. I walked up to him and showed him the IDs that I had found. “Damion and Sharon Blackston, never heard of them” said the police officer, tell you what let me take these back to the stations and I’ll run the names and see what I find but be careful there are sure up to something to go through all this trouble to bring you out there. I knew what I had to do next, I had to go back to the manor and confront Mrs. Robinson or should I say Blackston and confront her with the evidence I had just found.

I walked back to the manor walked into the living room, however Mrs. Robinson was nowhere to be found. I walked upstairs but Florence was gone and I then went back to Zoe’s room but to my shock she was not in her room. I walked back downstairs and saw a door on my right was closed. I walked up to the door and found it was locked but I could hear Mrs. Robinson talking on the phone with someone. I put my ear to the door and continued to listen in on her conversation. “What! You were caught, tell me you had your disguise on” Mrs. Robinson said. “I think the detective is starting to figure out what is really going on here. I guess he bound to figure out what was really going on. Alright I’ll get going and meet you at the swamp but be careful. We don’t need this getting any worse than it already is. If for any reason you need to come back here and use the computer, I hid the password behind the mirror in the upstairs hallway. Alright I’m outta here. With that Mrs. Robinson hung up and I ran as fast as I could upstairs before she saw me. I looked around the hallway and found the mirror and behind it was the password for the computer. I went to the study were the computer was and got on searching for whatever clues I could find. I came across and email from Mr. Robinson and it revealed everything.


Dear, Sharon


You won’t believe the house I have just found. It was supposedly owned by pirate and his treasure is still buried somewhere around the manor grounds. With the locals so freaked out about the legends surrounding the manor they won’t even think of stopping us. The only problem is I found a map of the estate but I can’t figure out the clues on this map that would lead us to the treasure but I’ve got an idea. Let’s hire a detective and pretend that one of us disappeared. This will really freak out the locals even more. Once we find the treasure with the detective’s help, we’ll kill him and make off with the treasure. This is definitely the perfect get rich plan. No one will ever suspect what is really going on!
Love, Damion

It’s official, this whole thing was a total lie! I was tricked into coming here. Just then my cell phone rang. I answered it, it was Vinton. “Detective, I ran those names through the system and the results aren’t good. Damion and Sharon Blackston are wanted criminals. They committed crimes from fraud to theft to robbery and even murder. There are several warrants for their arrests in five different states. There are no Robinsons, they must have heard about the house and made everything up to scare everyone away. I’m on my way down detective but please watch your step and get out of the house as fast as you can. With that the officer hung up. I left the house and walked around outside I walked down the path that led into town. I saw a little house across from the swamp, I remember Florence telling me earlier that her and her husband were given this little house by the Robinsons to stay in. I walked up to the house and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Florence and Harold were both on the floor, face down. I open door and rushed inside, I turn both of them over and saw that they were both shot in the head and that they were both dead. I guess they were starting to get suspicious and the Blackstons killed them before they were able to tell anyone. I rushed back out and was met by Vinton. I showed him what happened to Florence and Harold and then we both headed into the swamp to confront the Blackstons.

We carefully made our way through the swamp and found the Blackstons on the edge of the swamp. “Well done, Detective!” Mrs. Blackston said, I was beginning to wonder when you were going to figure out what was really going on. “When we found this house we thought this was going to be a fool-proof get rich scheme. However, when we got here we could tell that we were going to need all the help that we were going to get. The locals were already freaked out over this stupid pirate legend and my husband’s supposed disappearance only made them freak out even more.” It turns out the bearded man was her husband this whole time. “Good work detective” said Mr. Blackston but we rather you figure this out on your own” before I knew it he pulled out the gun from his jacket and shot Vinton who was standing next to me, he died instantly. “Make any sudden moves and you will be next!” said Damion. “Stupid detective! Do you really think there such things as ghosts!” Zoe said. The next thing I knew Damion slams something at my chest. “Here is the map detective, now figure out what this says, lead us to the treasure and then maybe I’ll let you live!” Damion said. Looking at the map I could see the exact layout of the property. I saw the house, the town, the swamp but there was something that I hadn’t seen yet. On the opposite side of the house where I had not checked there was a path that led to a cemetery, that’s where I was going to check out next. “No sudden moves detective, I’m going to be behind you the entire time!” Damion said. As I was trying to make my way towards the cemetery I could feel Damion holding the gun to my back. I knew one wrong move I would be dead. I had to figure out my course very carefully.

I made my way towards the cemetery and found that the gate was closed and it was locked by an unusual lock. Instead of one keyhole this lock had four. “Where am I going to find the four keys?” I thought. Then I took another look at the map I could see the cemetery lock drawn out on the map and I could see that there were four symbols marked at different locations on the map. I could see that the symbols matched the same shape the keyholes were. I now had to find the keys in order to continue on. The first symbol I looked at I could see that it was marked in the house, in the living room. I walked into the living room and stated looking around. I noticed on the wall and large painting, I walked over to it and started examining it. I check the map and saw that this was where symbol was and I saw the symbol was on all four corners of the frame. I pressed my hands on the painting and felt that there was something behind it. I ripped the painting open and found a key behind the canvas. 1 key down and three to go. I then check the map and saw the next location was over the shed in the backyard. Walking into the backyard, I made my way towards the shed and opened it. I looked around wondering where the key was. I looked at the shelves and noticed something on the top shelf. There was a small box with the exact symbol on the map on that shelf. I picked up the box and to my surprise it was unlocked and inside was the second key. I looked at the map and saw the next symbol was over the spot where the attic is. I never saw the attic of the manor and wasn’t really sure how to get up there. In my investigation of the upstairs I saw no second set of stairs that would led to the attic. Then I remember something I saw that I haven’t checked out yet. When I was first coming upstairs I noticed that the door to the balcony was boarded up. Maybe the entrance to the attic may be out there. Looking around the shed I found a hammer in the tool chest and made my way upstairs.

I walked over to the door that was boarded up and using the hammer I took down all the boards and finally opened the door. I walked on to the balcony and looked around for an entrance to the attic. I looked up and saw a panel on the ceiling. I pulled the cord that was attached to it and down came a ladder. I climbed up the ladder and found myself in the attic. I looked around the attic wondering where the third key was. I then noticed something towards the back. It was an old chest with the same symbol on the map. I walked over to the chest and noticed there was a fancy lock on it. I looked at the lock and noticed that there wasn’t a keyhole on it but there was a letter combination on it. What could be the combo for this lock? Then I noticed that there was two words in the combination. Then it hits me, the combination could be the name of the former owner of the lock. So I enter in the name Jack Lefwee and the lock clicks and falls off. I open the chest and found the third key inside. Looking at the map I could see the last symbol was at the end of the hall on the right. The symbol was right where Zoe’s room is and I made my way to her room. Something catches my eye, on her dresser was a small box, I walked over and it had the same symbol on it. I looked at the chest at there was also a ship on the top of the box. I touched it and the box opened up and I found the fourth key inside.

I made my way back to the cemetery with all four keys and with Damion still holding the gun to my back. I put the keys into the lock and turned them. The gate then slowly opened up, I slowly walked into the cemetery and walked inside. I looked at the map again and saw that the “X” was over a large tomb in the center of the cemetery. I carefully walked over to the tomb and found a large puzzle on the door. In order to open the door, I had to figure out this puzzle. I looked over at Damion and he said” Don’t look at me I’m horrible at puzzles, you’re the detective you figure it out.” Just then Sharon and Zoe appeared right behind him. I could tell that we were nearing the end of this whole thing. I looked at the door and saw that there was a riddle on the door. “I am a five letter word and I am below you. Take my first letter away and I’m now above you, take my first two letters away and you can’t see me at all. What am I? I look at it for a few seconds and I immediately figure the word out. I thought it was really easy and I thought someone would easily figure it out. What is below you with five letters. Take the first letter away and now it’s above and take the first two letters away and now you can’t see it. It can only be one thing. CHAIR! I yell with that the door slowly opens up and I look into the darkness of the tomb.

I walked into the tomb or more like forced into the tomb by Damion, we continued down a hallway the led into the inner sanctum of the tomb. When we finally made it inside the tomb we all could see the treasure of Lefwee scattered everywhere around the tomb. Damion, Sharon and Zoe ran around the room yelling “WE’RE RICH!!!”. Just then the room began to shake and a loud voice came over in the room. “WHO DARES TO TRY TO STEAL MY TREASURE!” Just then the figure of a man started to come into focus into the room. It was the ghost of a pirate and he clearly wasn’t happy. I stood in horror looking at what we just awoke. “FOR TRYING TO STEAL MY TREASURE YOU SHALL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE!” With that the room began to shake, “EARTHQUAKE” Zoe yelled. I quickly made my way out of the tomb and the Blackstons tried to follow. Just as I made my way through the doorway and outside the tomb collapsed with the Blackstons still inside. Looking at what was left of the tomb I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Ghosts really do exist and by trying to steal his treasure the Blackstons did end up paying the ultimate price.

After wrapping up this case I decided that I need to take a little break. I finally headed home for and was going to settle in for the weekend. When I returned home I noticed that I had several missed phone calls. I check them, most of them were from my parents checking to see if I was alright, some were telemarketers but one came up that was unusual. It was the voice of a woman I hadn’t recognize. The voice said “Detective you must go to Destiny’s carnival immediately, something terrible has happened. All of my employees have mysteriously vanished. I fear an old enemy of mine has returned, please come Detective you are my only hope.” The line went and silent and the message ended. I knew that Destiny’s Carnival, which was part amusement park, part circus, had been around for quite a while. What was even stranger was that Madame Destiny died over 40 years ago. What struck me most about this was that the statement the voice said, all of “my” employees have vanished and an enemy of “mine” has returned. What was the most unusual of this whole thing was that Destiny’s Carnival closed down ten years ago! Either someone was playing a prank on me or something strange was really going on, I knew I had to check it out but I could never imagine what I was about to get myself into.