Twilight Sparkle: Consulting Detective

Twilight Sparkle: Consulting Detective

Case: The Invisible Thief

Part II

Note: If you read chapter one before December 4th, it is advised that you re-read it. A few changes have been made that will become relevant later on.

The trio of detectives sat at a small table in Sugarcube Corner, drinking their coffee. They had been there for about ten minutes, and none of them had said a word so far, save for complimenting Mrs. Cake for making such wonderful coffee. Though one might think that coffee from a sweet shop would be overly sugary, it was actually quite well-balanced.

The case was going quite slowly. Close Patrol seemed close to giving up, his patience being far more thin these days after so many unresolved cases, Steel Sleuth was simply sipping his coffee, and Twilight Sparkle was deep in thought.

“Any ideas yet?” Steel Sleuth asked.

Twilight didn’t respond. He waved a hoof in front of her face, but her concentration remained unbroken. He then remembered a small trick that the guards at the castle used to use when they closed the library for the day and Twilight was still inside reading.

“Uh… somepony over there is folding the corner of a page in their book?”

Twilight’s reaction was immediate. “What?!” she exclaimed, nearly spilling the coffee in front of her. “They’ll ruin the pristine condition!” She looked around for the book-offender.

“Er… just kidding,” Steel Sleuth chuckled.

Twilight deadpanned. “Not funny. Dog-ears are one of the worst things a pony can do to a book.”

“Right.” Steel Sleuth resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “So, have you come up with any theories yet?”

Twilight smiled. “Seven, actually. I did have nine, but then I remembered that the new moon was a week ago.”

Close Patrol snapped out of his brooding mood. “What?! Why didn’t you tell us immediately?”

Twilight shrugged. “Well, most of them can’t be proven easily, and none of them seem very likely. I was going to bring it up when I settled on a more plausible solution.”

“Miss Sparkle, you do realize that you’re not solving puzzles in the castle any more, right? This is serious business,” Close Patrol warned her.

Twilight seemed somewhat taken aback. “I… just didn’t think any of them were worth bringing up.”

“Don’t mind him,” Steel Sleuth said. “I bet he’s just jealous that you have seven theories already—probably seven more than he has,” he joked.

“I don’t get jealous,” Close Patrol said defensively.

“Sure you don’t.” Steel Sleuth grinned and then turned his attention to Twilight. “Anyway, just let us know when you have a theory that’s even the slightest bit possible. You’re not on your own any more, you know. We can help you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Twilight relaxed back into her chair. A few seconds later, she perked up again. “Actually, I might have an idea.”

“Really?” Steel Sleuth asked.

“Yes. Did Ms. Milten have anypony in to work on fixing her roof?”

Close Patrol raised a hoof to his chin in thought. “I believe she said she had a fellow in a couple of days ago. Is it important?”

“Everything is important when solving a mystery.” Twilight looked over at him curiously. ”No offence, detective, but don’t they teach you this?”

“School was never really my forte,” he said. “I prefer to reply on my instincts.”

“And by that he means he barely passed his exams and resorted to a basic gut feeling.” Steel Sleuth glared over at him.

“Hey, it’s not my fault the teachers were so boring. Their voices were so monotone that they sounded like an idling engine!” Close Patrol defended. Steel Sleuth just rolled his eyes.

“Anyway,” Twilight interjected, “who was this maintenance pony?”

“His name is Iron Wrench,” Close Patrol said, looking back to Twilight. “He’s a very well-respected repairpony who used to live in Manehattan, but he moved here to stay with his mother because of her declining health.”

“Well, that sounds like as good of place to start as any,” Twilight said. “Let’s pay him a visit.”

They arrived at Iron Wrench’s door whilst in the middle of a debate about the merits of various types of coffee. Twilight argued that the latte’s flavour enhanced its appeal to its drinker, thereby making them more awake, and Close Patrol argued that pure espresso would jolt anypony to attention, regardless of its taste.

“I prefer decaf,” Steel Sleuth chimed in.

Both Twilight and Close Patrol looked at him like he was mad.

“But enough about my tastes!” He smiled unconvincingly. “Let’s go talk to this guy.”

“Right,” Twilight said, switching back to the topic of the case. “He might know who passed by the house, assuming he didn’t commit the crime himself.”

“Why would a successful repairpony who probably makes a ton of bits steal from an old mare?” Close Patrol asked.

“Well, I guess we’re about to find out, aren’t we?” Twilight smiled as she approached the doorstep. She rang the bell. A small commotion was heard coming from somewhere inside the house. A moment later, a light-grey unicorn with a dark mane stepped out after opening the door. His cutie mark was, unsurprisingly, two crossed wrenches.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“We’re here to ask you a few questions involving a recent robbery. I believe you know the victim, Ms. Milten?” Close Patrol said.

“Yeah,” Iron Wrench replied, a concerned look crossing his face. “She’s the one with the leaking roof, right? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, though her financial situation could be better. Can we talk inside?” Steel Sleuth said.

“Oh, of course. Come on in.” Iron Wrench gestured to a door on the right of the hallway. “We can sit in the living room.” He magicked the door open and stepped inside. The trio of detectives followed him.

Twilight glanced at the walls in the living room, surprised by the number of plaques on the wall. “They give out awards for repairs?” she asked.

“Not usually, but I’ve repaired a lot of buildings that were close to collapsing. Nopony else wanted to. It’s more of a thank-you than an actual sign of skill,” he explained. “Please, sit down, detectives.” He gestured to the sofa across from the chair he had sat down in.

“Actually, I’d like a quick look around, if you don’t mind,” Twilight said.

“Go right ahead,” Iron Wrench said.

“You two carry on without me,” Twilight said to Close Patrol and Steel Sleuth. “I’ll just be a minute.” She walked back out into the main hall.

There were three more doors on the opposite site of the one to the living room. A quick peek revealed that the first two went to the kitchen and the bathroom, respectively. She walked into the third room, noting a small open box. Iron Wrench must have tripped over it when he came to answer the door.

There was a small bed pushed against the middle of the right wall—probably twin-sized, if she had to guess. Three small indentations in the carpet caught her eye. If there were a fourth indentation, they would have formed a rectangle. The two indentations that would have formed opposite sides of the rectangle were lined up perfectly with the bed’s legs. A larger bed had sat here at one point. There were also a number of small- to medium-sized boxes in the corner opposite the door. Clearly, Iron Wrench hadn’t quite finished unpacking yet.

Now, what am I looking for? she asked herself. If Iron Wrench did steal from Ms. Milten, he must have broken into her cabinet with some kind of lock pick—but he probably would have disposed of any evidence afterwards.

Just in case, Twilight decided to look around for any kind of toolbox. A quick check inside the boxes that didn’t have tape on them revealed them to contain various household items: a lamp, a speaker, and a small collection of bathroom products. She looked closely at the boxes that were sealed with tape. The tape was clear and very new, so it showed the cardboard underneath it perfectly. None of the boxes had old tape marks underneath the new tape, so they couldn’t have been opened and re-sealed.

She noticed a small, messy stack of letters sitting on one of the sealed boxes. They seemed to be ordered bottom-to-top from oldest to newest. Glancing at the topmost letter, she realized it was written in Prench. What a shame that she’d never learned the language at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Just as she was about to turn away from the letters, however, she noticed something odd. None of the letters were signed. In addition, the writing on the bottom letters seemed very loose and casual, with thin strokes and upwards-curving word endings. As one moved up in the stack, the writing steadily became more pressured and sloppy, and there was more underlining on the words. The top letter had several splotches of ink all over the parchment.

Twilight stepped away from the stack and was momentarily blinded by the sun coming down just past the top of the window on the wall. She turned around and started closing the drapes with magic, but something stopped her. She opened the drapes wide again.

The wall opposite the window was very faded—clearly, the house’s previous owner had left the window open a lot at sundown, hence the discolouration—except for one tall rectangle right in the middle. It was roughly the size of a pony. Maybe the previous owner had a taste for life-size paintings?

Slightly dejected at not finding any evidence, Twilight headed back to the living room, where Iron Wrench seemed to be explaining where he was last night for the second time in a row.

“Yes, I was out for a walk. I know that leaves me with no alibi, but that’s where I was—honest. I walked past Ms. Milten’s house at about ten before I returned home for the night.”

“And that’s where you saw Mr. Greenhoof, correct?” Close Patrol asked.

“Yes.”

Twilight knocked on the doorframe, drawing their attention to her. “I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said as she walked in.

“Not at all. In fact, although Iron Wrench here doesn’t have an alibi, he’s given us a likely suspect,” Steel Sleuth said with a grin.

Twilight perked up. “Is that so?”

Close Patrol stepped in. “Greenhoof is a local gardener who got in a spot of trouble with the law a few months ago. He was accused of stealing from his wife after their divorce, but nopony could prove anything. Everypony knew it was him, though. Like Iron Wrench, he just moved here, though for a slightly different reason.”

“All of his neighbours hated him after the robbery,” Steel Sleuth interjected.

“Great! So now we have a real suspect, huh?” Twilight said.

“Looks that way,” Close Patrol said. He turned to Iron Wrench. “Thank you for your help. We’ll be sure to let you know if your advice was useful.”

“It was no trouble, detective,” Iron Wrench said with a smile.

“Let’s get going, shall we?” Steel Sleuth said, standing back up.

“Yes, let’s,” Close Patrol replied, already moving towards the door.

“Just one more question,” Twilight said.

“And what’s that?” Iron Wrench asked.

“Do you like art?”

“I don’t see how that’s relevant, but… yes, I do. I was just about to unpack a few paintings to put up around this room, actually.”

“Alright, then.” Twilight smiled. “Thank you for your time.”

The trio exited the building and closed the door behind them.

“‘Do you like art?’” Steel Sleuth quoted curiously.

“It’s probably nothing,” Twilight said, “but I’ll let you know if it’s important.” She smiled at him. “After all, I’m not working alone any more.”

Close Patrol rapped on a small black door.

“Who’s there?” yelled a deep voice from within.

“This is the police. Open up, please,” Close Patrol yelled back.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a long series of sliding noises were heard.

“Sure doesn’t want anypony getting inside his house, does he?” Steel Sleuth noted.

A final click preceded the opening of the door. A dark-green unicorn peeked through the crack.

“Those potatoes are mine, you hear? I didn’t steal them!” he announced.

“We… don’t care about any potatoes,” Close Patrol said, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh!” The pony threw the door open all the way. “By all means, come in.”

They stepped inside. “You’re Greenhoof, correct?” Steel Sleuth asked.

“That’s me,” Greenhoof confirmed.

“We’re investigating the robbery of Ms. Milten’s bits. Can you account for your whereabouts between ten o’clock last night and seven o’clock this morning?”

“I was sleeping.”

“Is that so? That’s odd, because we were told that you were out for a walk at the beginning of that time period. Apparently you stopped outside of Ms. Milten’s house for quite a while, just looking at it.”

“W-who told you that?” Greenhoof asked, starting to sweat a little.

“That’s not important. What is important is whether or not it’s true,” Close Patrol said.

“Was it Iron Wrench? I bet it was him! That lying little...” Greenhoof took a deep breath and calmed himself down. “No, I wasn’t there. I was gardening.”

“I thought you said you were sleeping?” Steel Sleuth said. “And how else would you know Iron Wrench?”

Greenhoof seemed to be at a loss for words. “Look, I didn’t do it!” he finally managed to get out.

“You’ll have to forgive me if that doesn’t sound convincing to my ears.” Close Patrol said. He turned to his companions. “Steel Sleuth, Twilight, look around the place. See what you can find.”

“On it,” Steel Sleuth said. “Come on,” he said to Twilight. They started walking down the hallway together.

“You can’t just rummage around my house!” Greenhoof exclaimed.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to be preventing us from doing so. It might look quite bad in court. A suspect stopping police officers from searching his house?” Close Patrol said. Greenhoof looked torn.

Meanwhile, Steel Sleuth and Twilight opened the door to the first room on their left, the handle to which was quite dusty. A large mirror with a rectangular-shaped hole in the corner was propped up against the wall, and a small toolbox was in the corner.

“That mirror we found in the box beside Ms. Milten’s house must have come from this,” Twilight noted. She opened up the toolbox. “Lock picks.”

“And take a look at this,” Steel Sleuth said, gesturing to a small pouch on the floor. Twilight levitated it in the air, causing it to make a jingling noise. The two shared a look of understanding before peering inside the pouch.

Sure enough, there were several hundred bits inside.

“Looks like we’ve got our burglar,” Steel Sleuth said with a grin.

“Yeah...”

“Come on; let’s go back.” They walked out into the hallway.

“Lookie what we found,” Steel Sleuth said to Greenhoof and Close Patrol, gesturing towards the bag of bits that Twilight was still levitating.

“Well, I guess that takes care of that,” Close Patrol said, bringing out a pair of hoofcuffs. “You’re coming with us,” he said to Greenhoof.

“But I didn’t do it!” he said.

“You’re really going to try that? The evidence is right in front of you.”

“I was framed!” he said as Close Patrol put the hoofcuffs on him. “Framed, I tell you!”

“Tell it to the judge.”

“Thank you for your help with this case, Twilight,” Steel Sleuth said. She didn’t appear to hear him.

“Twilight?” he repeated.

“Oh, what?” Twilight said, returning to reality. “Er… it was nothing.”

Steel Sleuth noticed her distress. “Okay, something’s bugging you. What is it? We arrested the burglar! We saved the day!”

“I suppose so,” was all Twilight said.

“You suppose so? We caught him red-hoofed. He had the mirror and everything.”

“They only counted three hundred,” Twilight finally said, not looking at him.

“What?” Steel Sleuth asked, confused.

“There were only three hundred bits in that bag.”

“And…?”

“I estimated four hundred bits were stolen from that cabinet.”

“So you estimated wrong. Or he spent one hundred. Either way, he still must have done it. I mean, he couldn’t even get his story straight for where he was last night.”

“That’s one explanation,” Twilight admitted.

“Well, technically it’s two, but what other explanation is there?”

Twilight sighed. “You know what? Never mind.” She smiled. “It’s probably nothing. I guess I just expected there to be a more elaborate solution.”

Steel Sleuth smiled back. “With that coming from Princess Celestia’s personal student, I’m not surprised. You should probably get some sleep. It’s been a long day. Thanks again for your help.”

“It was no big deal. And you’re probably right. I guess I’ll head home now.” She waved farewell and started walking down the street towards the library. “Oh, and say goodbye to Close Patrol for me!” she yelled behind her.

“Sure thing!” Steel Sleuth yelled back.

Twilight was frowning again by the time she walked inside her home.

“Hey, Twilight!” Spike said from the top of the stairs, holding a tub of ice-cream and a spoon. “How did that investigation go?”

“It was… intriguing, to put it simply.”

Spike frowned as he reached the bottom of the staircase—and not just because of the awful brain-freeze he was currently on the receiving end of. “What’s wrong? Did you not catch the pony who was responsible?”

“That does seem to be the question, doesn’t it?” Twilight said, once again gazing off into space.

“So… is that a yes or a no?” Spike asked, clearly confused.

“Both.”

Spike frowned. “Okay, now you’re not making any sense.”

Twilight sighed. “I was so sure it was more complicated than that. It had to have been.”

“I’ll take that as a check in the robber-catching column, then. You’re upset because it was so easy?”

“Not easy, Spike. Unsophisticated.”

“Not everything is a big puzzle, Twilight,” Spike chided. “Some things are just simple.”

“Not this time.” Twilight sighed. “Maybe I’m just rusty. It has been… what, five years since I was solving mysteries in the castle?”

“Six,” Spike corrected. “But you were always right. You trusted your gut”—Twilight shot him a look—”I mean, your brain, and it always led you in the right direction. What was it you used to say? ‘The clues lead the way—”

“—through the maze,’” Twilight finished. “I remember that.” She smiled fondly.

Spike smiled back. “So you really think you’re right about this?” Twilight nodded. “Then go get ‘em.”

“You know what? You’re right, Spike. I know I’m right about this—I just need to find a way to prove it.” With that, she ran back out the door.

Spike chuckled. “What would you do without me, Twilight?”

“I’d be more worried about you!” Twilight yelled through the door. “You would probably be in an ice-cream-induced coma by now without me!”

Spike frowned and looked down at the tub of ice-cream he was still holding. “Yeah… that’s probably enough for tonight. Wouldn’t want future-Spike to end up being frozen-Spike.”