Shards of the building silently flew by his head and impaled themselves in the wall. The ceiling of his room collapsed into the middle of his floor leaving a hole to the room above.

  A hint of lime wafted through dust and destruction. Detective Zander disabled the automated anti mine security routine. His hearing returned to the building alarm sounding. Someone had the courtesy of turning the alarm off. Aunt Truffle looked down on Zander from the hole above. Cherry and Ginger came running down the hallway. Lime arrived along with some staff members.

  Detective Zander stepped away from his room's entrance showing the outline of his figure on the wall where his trench coat and stopped shrapnel from running him through.

  Vance shuffled down the floor. "Oh, Thank goodness. Your armor weave coat saved you. He peered in the room. Oh dear what happened."

  Detective Zander dusted himself off. "It seems someone or something doesn't want me to find the missing will."

  "Something. Like the mech?" asked Vanced.

  Lime answered, "Yes the mech. Very mech like to use a mine, don't you think?"

  Detective Zander looked at the wall. "Not very. This is messy and efficient." He pulled a piece from the wall. "Lime, Yes you. Would you step away from that? There could be a second mine." Detective Zander made sure the Plozun stepped back and plucked at the pieces of debris. He pulled up a shard of the mine and balanced it with his pinky and looked up at the ceiling. "Of course I could be wrong. This is an anti mech mine. No magnetics, no RF, No signal. If I would have triggered that pressure plate with anything except the tip of my toe I'd be dead, armor weave or not." Zander dropped the scrap of the mine and stood up. "Vance did the mech check out while we were at dinner?"

  "It did."

  Lime said, "See it was the mech. Checked out at dinner, swooped in here to lay a mine and left."

  "Perhaps. I guess that its room is now empty. I'll spend the night there." Detective Zander stepped into his room to dig out his bag and turned around to leave. "Good Night. I think I'll be getting some sleep. You should all do the same and we can sort this mess out tomorrow." He left the gawking Plozun in the hallway as he made his way into the room, checked that no mine was left at the door and made his inspection of the place. Not one trace of an explosive showed up but the mech had been in the room long enough to leave footprints in the center of the room. It had entered the room stand long enough for a few days dust to settle and never moved. Another set of footprints beyond Zanders had been there as well. Someone had come to the mech--delivering them what? Information? An item? The will? What use would the will be to a mech.

  In the morning, Detective Zander stopped by the dining room to pick up breakfast in the form of some toast, eggs, and a glass of orange juice. And coffee, black with a sugar. Then he headed to the beach. He reclined on the beach chair for hours and worried about a sunburn, placed his trench coat back on and ordered a refill on the orange juice. The shadows shifted and eventually Cherry arrived.

  "I wondered who would check on me. I'm taking a long needed vacation."

  Cherry said, "Vance won't appreciate this."

  "He should be very pleased. I'm working the case. Answers are coming through." Detective Zander tapped his temple. "Have you ever considered sailing? I think I could live on a sailboat."

  In a sad voice Cherry said, "Patrick loved sailing. He enjoyed it very much." She looked at the coast. "The dock used to be there. In the end Patrick didn't sail much and Aunt Truffle had the dock removed. The sailboat, I'm not sure where it ended up. Maybe with Vance or Uncle ... Lime," Cherry smirked when she said the name. "You called him lime."

  "Vance called him Lime, that's what his name smells like." Detective Zander stood up and whisked sand off his trench coat. He took in a deep breath through his nose. "Cherry, why do you always smell like a cherry?"

  "Because I'm devastated by the loss of Patrick. I don't usually but I'd be just terrible to be around. I'm artificially masking the smell as I morn."

  "That confirms my suspicions. To the mansion. I have a case to solve. Well, one to explain."

  Cherry followed behind as Detective Zander made it to the formal dining room. "Please summon all of the guests."

  Vance arrived before the staff had the chance to leave the room with Zander's request. "What are you doing wasting your morning on the beach and now commanding staff around here like you own the place?"

  "Good," Zander looked at the time, "late, late, morning. I have made progress with the case."

  "Good then tell me everything and we can be done with these disruptions."

  "In good time. Let everyone shuffle by. Aunt Truffle, please sit here. Ginger, right there with your sister. Oh yes of course and Uncle Lime. Here at last." Detective Zander took his place in the room where he could see everyone. "Let's try to wrap this up in time for lunch. Shall we. I'm not sure I can get all of the details but someone here tried to kill me last night, perhaps they killed Patrick as well." Detective Zander started breathing in through his nose. He went around the room saving Cherry for last. First a whiff from Vance as the air about him boiled with a rotten smell of rage? The eyebrows spoke of fury. Lime with his usual sour smell. Aunt Truffle smelled of a depressing mix of a trash can with something moldy from the fridge. Ginger was similar. Zander was gagging and red in the face as he smelled the sweetness from Cherry. "Very enlightening, Now the tricky part. could everyone say Lime's name, err if you will not in english. Do your normal mix of sounds and chemicals if you will. The room exploded with hint of lime." Zander waved the air around him. "My mistake." He took in a breath of fresh air next to Cherry. "Could you one at a time, please. Yes you as well Lime. Ahh there it is. Vance do you smell that."

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  "Smell what?" asked Vance.

  "Your particular dialect. I don't have the best sense of smell but as you say ... smell Lime's name there is a hint of sour to it." Zander clapped his hands. "What a very peculiar case."

  Zander paced the room in front of them. "Cherry is innocent, as is her sister Ginger. Lime you're innocent of attempting to murder me, unless you like to speak your name as you do. Aunt Truffle, you're innocent of this as well, and well you have the firmest alibi. How could you plant a mine in my room as you're attempting to bring in your bags. Yes, you wouldn't have a clue which room to go to. Vance." Zander stepped up to tower over the Plozun. "Why would you hire me and then attempt to kill me? It was a rushed job and for that I am thankful. You remind me to clear a room before I enter it. Uncle Lime spoke to you and the dinner. He relieved you of something, a worry. But quickly after you worried, again." Zander turned to Lime. "Would you care to let us in on your conversation?"

  Lime stuttered, "It was a private conversation of no matter."

  "No matter, I accused Vance of attempted murder. We will most assuredly find the security logs to my room altered or missing. Do you know the codes to this mansion?"

  Lime muttered and stuttered.

  "No answer. You'd rather not incriminate yourself. I thought the conversation that would take place mere feet away from us, right out there in the hallway would not be so important."

  "I only reassured Vance that the planet in question would not come under any uncertainty. That he or Aunt Truffle would end up with it most assuredly. That I would revoke my claim."

  "And that reassured him."

  "Yes, well briefly and then we parted ways. I left for an evening walk. He went back to his room."

  Zander turned back to Vance, "And that's when you rushed to my room to set a trap. As I was helping your Aunt up the stairs you went to my room. She of course did not know this. You did not see either myself or Miss Truffle."

  Vance backed away looking to run.

  Lime said, "But he hired you, why would he do such a thing?"

  Detective Zander cleared his throat. "Simple. I had become a liability. Vance very much desires this deal. He was initially worried the planet would not, or at least not quickly be under your control. The delays but eventually and likely the planet as it was contested would be auctioned away and the proceeds split around this room. A respectful amount. But if the green diamond vein was as rich as it seems, possibly even richer, the planet especially out here would not fetch a very good number compared to that."

  Cherry asked, "How do you become a liability."

  "With no contest from Uncle Lime the odd's changed in his favor. Truffle had agreed that the mining operation should happen. Why she'd arrived earlier and had a brief meeting with a guest who is no longer here."

  "The mech?" asked Cherry.

  "Yes, the mech. Keep that insightful mind of yours and you could be a gumshoe someday. The mech ran an analysis on the green diamond and found high traces of unique metals, metals that help make mech brains."

  Aunt Truffle exclaimed, "How could you know that? It's not illegal to sell to the mechs." She fumed.

  "No, Aunt Truffle it's not. But it is illegal to withhold the will. The will that you found in a boat."

  Aunt Truffle mumbled and with a bit of coaxing she produced the will. "I. Cherry," She started to cry. "Cherry, I'm so sorry. I ... Patrick left you the mansion and the boat."

  Cherry exclaimed, "What. He did." She jumped up and down."

  Zander placed cuffs around Vance. "There you have it. The will is found. I suspect even that version doesn't clear things up. Likely it went to Lime or yourself Vance. But if it went to Truffle or you Vance. Well I'm afraid the law won't look kindly that you attempted to kill me. You hired me and tried to kill me. You and your aunt wanted to be greedy and sell to the mechs. Lime is innocent of pretty much everything. Cherry, Ginger would you sign this as witnesses. I solved the case as Vance requested and found the missing will."

  Cherry and a confused but cooperative Ginger signed the paper.

  "Aunt Truffle, I don't believe you did anything nefarious to me. Or you Lime but I will leave those details to the local police." Zander tilted his hat. He spoke quietly to Aunt Truffle, “But Truffle, I hope Cherry doesn’t follow in your steps.”