"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."
Detective Jason Thorne turned suspicious. His nose told him that something was fishy.
"May I know what did you discuss?"
"Yes, we discussed the possibility of creating another human being for our entertainment."
"What?!"
This was more alarming than any dark magic from the dark ages. However, they wouldn't say it in front of him if it were true.
"Mommy! Are you done? Can I go to the Princess tower now?"
"Give me a second, Rose. Is that all, Detective?"
"Then… " He gulped, "then what did you do?"
"We started the creation right there," the beautiful blonde-haired woman blushed. "I think I might be expecting."
Detective Thorne couldn't look in the face at the Duchess blushing that much. She was even giggling.
"Madame, did… did you notice anything unusual that day?"
"Mmm… well, my dear husband was so eager that day, though, that was not unusual…" her cheeks blushed again. "However, I think… I think I saw a ghost."
"A ghost?"
"Yes, well, someone disguised as a ghost, I saw him from the balcony from the second floor where I was waiting for my dear husband, he was jumping the wall and…"
"And?"
"Little Moira was helping him."
"Are you sure, Your Highness?"
"Yes, those two are indistinguishable."
"Two? Who else, Madame?"
"Master Callum, of course."
"Did you see anything else, Madame?"
"Well, I saw many things, but my dear hubby won't like me to tell them to some stranger."
"…"
****
"Where were you on the night of the Queen's birthday party?"
"That… Princess Anne, that was what I was going to ask you."
"Detective Thorne, I know my rights and I won't be interrogated."
"Princess, this is only routine. I mean no harm."
"I know, but if you want to make me spill the beans then you are very far from your league."
"Princess… this…"
"So… tell me, where were you on the night of the Queen's birthday party?"
"I was celebrating at the town's party with my kids and wife, my Princess," Detective Thorne was sweating cold from the piercing gaze from the little kid in front of him.
"Can you prove it?"
"Yes, I have witnesses from the people of the town and my family."
"Great."
Anne looked at the little boy with bright red hair drinking tea on the same table as her.
"Is that true, Victor?"
"Mm… yes, mostly," the little kid was barely seven years old, but his smart eyes reflected the sun.
"What is it?" Anne smiled at the Detective triumphantly.
"Papa drank a cup of wine that night."
"So detective Thorne, you drank that night."
"Ye… yes."
"So you may not be the whole night celebrating," Anne raised a brow. "You were in fact sleeping in your bed from your drunken state."
"That… I…"
"Aha!"
"But… my wife… she…"
Detective Thorne was destroyed entirely, he was distracted from his loss that he didn't even see the strange white clothing with a pair of holes for the eyes resting on the chair next to his son.