GOLDEN GROUND MANSION; MALAYSIA
The driver parked the car in the mansion's wide backyard, which served also as a free garage. Hana didn't expect that the other guests are waiting for them. They were sitting on the wide yard's long bench. The bench served as a open lounge for the morning. The backyard was full of roses and other flowers as its decoration. Tatsumi noticed the small pond near the open garage. It was decorated with transparent colored rocks.
He went there and stopped as he watched the fishes. He identified the fishes one by one. He raised one of his eyebrow at the rainbow trout that glided in the water with the Koi fishes.
"What is that trout doing there?" asked Tatsumi, as Hana went to where he was.
"Ah! That trout is my grandfather's gift to me. It's a good luck charm in their town."
"Rainbow trout is also a medicine, may I quote. Rainbow trout contains protamine, which counters the anticoagulant heparin. It's skin was also used by the native Americans as a medicine," Rook lectured, who followed them when he saw the rainbow trout.
"My, my, I am amazed detective Rook knows about it, that's why it's called a lucky charm by my friend, it is a medicine…" said one of those who are waiting for them to arrive. Rook turned his head to him and went to introduce himself and Tatsumi. They followed Rook in the backyard.
"I am Hana's grandfather. Nice to see you here, detective Rook."
"Rook Kazuki here, and this is my friend, Tatsumi Sakoshita. We both came here because of the case Hana talked about."
"Ah…yes, we need you to solve it."
Aside from Hana's grandfather, there were four who were there. Tatsumi looked at them, and they seem to have understood his sight and introduced themselves. The first one is a tall, skinny woman. "My name is Glenda Maulana. I am the officer in charge in the business."
The second one is a medium height middle aged man, wearing a thick glasses. "My name is Aldrin Reichter, I work as a statistician, but in the business, I am one of the contributors."
The third one large built man. He wore a coat that Rook noticed so familiar. A Japanese branded coat. "My name is Daigo Kirisaki. I work as the architect for the business' construction site and also an agriculturist. Nice to meet you."
The last one is a middle aged woman. Her natural long black hair fluttered upon the wind. "Nice to meet you. I am Risa Maulana, Glenda is my sister, I work as the officer in charge for the construction site."
Rook smelled something. A sweet scent. "What was that…? It smells like a perfume…could it be either from Glenda or Risa…?"
"We should get back to the mansion. The sun is heating up the place. We should get some shade…"
Rook and Tatsumi enjoyed the mansion's ambience, with all the aquariums and the sketches around. There was a sketch of Tatsumi in the conservatory room. Rook saw it and entered the room. Hana and Tatsumi, who was at the kitchen, were preparing the foods for their dinner.
"A sketch of Tatsumi…this was when he was seventeen years old…well what do you know, Tatsumi used to be the collect-all-girls master at this age…" laughed Rook, looking at the sketch.
Meanwhile, Glenda and Risa are at the Billiard room, playing billiards as they talk about the business deal they were in.
"By the way Glenda, how was the business deal with Hana's family?"
"It went smooth, but talking about that Reichter guy, I don't think so."
"So he is still refusing to sell his father's last land to us?"
"Yes. He said it is the last of their family's saved land. Who wants that piece of land anyway…but knowing his methods, I just want to say I want to kill him."
Glenda laughed and so was Risa. She knew it was her sister's joke. But Risa had this very sad smile and looked at her hand. She was holding the billiard cue and gripped it harder, clenching her fist from her grip.
Both of them wanted Aldrin's land. Glenda discovered a secret from that land that she and Risa were the only ones who knew. Aldrin thought they are interested in the land because of the offered business projects but there was more to it that he still don't know.
Daigo opened the door and watched Glenda and Risa playing the billiards. The friction and every shot from both of them are quite remarkable. Both of them are billiard experts. Daigo played billiards but he was never that good.
"As expected from both of you. The dinner is ready, Hana and Detective Tatsumi have prepared the foods at the dining room." he invited.
"It's just a hobby. We are not that good enough. We'll join in soon after I win this game…" replied Risa, as she looked at the billiard table, aimed at the 9th ball and concentrated on her line of sight. When she knew she would surely hit the ball, she stood for a second and used her billiard cue chalk before she took her shot. The feel and friction went fine, as the mother ball pushed the ball to the board hole.
"Ah! You won again…" said Glenda.
"My second win…" Risa laughed.
Daigo escorted them to the dining room, where Hana, Tatsumi, Aldrin and Hana's grandfather were waiting for them.
Rook went to the artist room, as the door's tag called it and saw other sketches there. Some were done by Hana and some were done by the other family members. He saw a white container hidden under the large white board.
"Bleach…why is it here?"
He wondered his eyes more in the room. All were filled with sketches, paintings and even old photographs which were the concept of the sketches and the paintings.
"Rook, you're here! It's dinner time…" called Tatsumi. He saw the opened door, knowing he was there.
Rook went along, leaving the bleach hidden on the white board.
After the dinner, Hana showed Rook and Tatsumi their rooms. They were given separate rooms, since the mansion is very wide. The other guests, were of the same. The guests went into their respective rooms except Rook who went into the library room, Hana in the kitchen and washed the dishes, and Tatsumi who was in the conservatory looking at his picture on sketch.
Tatsumi went back to the kitchen and saw Hana with the ice, she placed in a container and a cup of tea.
"Iced tea late at night?" he asked.
"Yeah! I haven't had some since I went to Japan…five cubes is enough."
"A perfect iced tea formula."
"Good night Tatsumi-pon…"
"Good night…"
Tatsumi watched Hana went away before he opened the refrigerator. He looked at the ice cube container and has fifteen holes, meaning it can store up to fifteen cubes.
"Hana said she had five cubes for the iced tea. But the ice cube container has fifteen holes. The container is empty. Where did the ten other cubes go? As far as I know, only she and I went in the kitchen the whole time. Maybe the ten cubes were used before we went here…"
In the study, Rook was looking on the novels that were stacked on a old bookshelf. He pulled a dusty book from the middle of the stack. He was careless and forced the book out of the stack, making some other books fall on the floor. When the books fell, he heard a strange sound from the ground.
"What was that…? Some kind of aluminum…"
He picked the books and dropped them again. He heard a short and low sound of bang from the floor.
"Interesting mansion…" he murmured and picked the books again, fixed them in the bookshelf and took with him the book he was about to read in his room.
Morning. Risa shook Glenda's shoulder, telling her to wake up. "Sis, wake up! Morning, morning!" she said, as she laughed at her and tickled her in the ear.
"Stop Risa, its ticking me…I was tired all night…" Glenda replied and laughed with her. Tatsumi started his day with a morning exercise in the wide backyard and took a rest in the pond, looking at the little koi fishes.
Rook was still on his room, yawning. He didn't had a good sleep because of his engrossment reading the book he got on the library.
Daigo opened his backpack and checked his things. He is the man who must be in the right gear before staying in the mansion. He noticed he still had the fountain pen he borrowed from Aldrin last week.
"I must give it back to him. I heard this was given by his girlfriend…"
Rook saw Daigo and Risa on Aldrin's door. They were knocking but there was no response. He was intrigued and followed them there.