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The Galleria Romana Caper

Mystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.

 

Fun:*** (3.1)
Difficulty:** (2)
Category:Mystery
Submitted By:irishthistle

 



Private Eye Sam Horowitz sat in his dingy office, watching the paint peel off the walls. He hadn't had a customer all month, and soon he would be out of business if things didn't pick up. That was before she knocked on the door, and entered his office with a flourish. She was a classy dame, looked wealthy too. Her lips were painted bright red, and pearls were sewn on to her red satin dress. Slight of build, standing only five feet tall. As she entered his office, she exuded an aura of desperation.

"My name is Erika Von Doran, and I need your help Detective," she said as she sat down in the chair facing his desk. "My father owns the art gallery Galleria Romana, and yesterday we were robbed; all our priceless paintings have been stolen. I am so upset, I haven't slept since last night! The local police are stumped."

"Two Monet's, four Picasso's, and a Rodin sculpture were stolen. The guard was found taped to a chair at the scene; he claimed that the thieves knocked him out. The janitor was found unconscious on the floor in the office, he claims to remember nothing. Thank goodness we have insurance," sobbed Erika.

"Well," said Horowitz, thinking of the steak and lobsters he would eat when he was done with this case, "I can help, but my fees are high. I am in quite a demand lately. I will meet you and your father at the scene."

"Yes, detective, of course! My father will pay anything you ask; I will have him meet you there," exclaimed Erika. With that she swept out of his office, her blue eyes sparkling like sapphires with hope.

When he arrived at the Galleria, Erika and her father, a large stately man in a pinstriped suit who stood at least six feet tall, were already there. Horowitz saw as he walked in that the janitor and guard were there too.

"Welcome, Detective Horowitz!" Mr. Von Doran boomed as he strode over to Sam and shook his hand. His grip could have broken Horowitz's hand, he was obviously a man of great strength.

"Mr. Von Doran, hello. I will have a look around," said Horowitz, trying to subtly remove his hand from the bearish man's grasp.

"By all means, Mr. Horowitz. I have gathered the evidence and copies of the police reports for you to look at, and I have called back the staff that was here last night when the robbery occurred. Feel free to talk to them. I hope you can find who did this to our family."

Sam was led to scene of the crime. He noted that each painting and the sculpture had been protected in a case behind glass with a lock. The glass had been smashed, and shattered pieces covered the floor. He saw from the police reports that prints of the janitor were found on the cases of all the paintings, and also on what was left of the case that once contained the Rodin sculpture. On the wooden base the sculpture once sat on, there seemed to be crack in the wood, something white was poking out the slightest bit. Horowitz pulled it out with a pair of tweezers. It was a note, which read "Raucous Elephants Dream, Helping Everyone Realize Romana Is No Good".

Horowitz set the note aside, and went back to searching the base with tweezers in hand and his trusty magnifying glass pressed to his eye. Stuck in the crack where the note had been, was a shiny red cloth fiber. Horowitz moved on to the chair where the guard had been, fifty feet from the cases. He examined the pile of duct tape used to secure the guard, and noticed a strange greasy red stain on the torn end of the tape. As he moved on to the police evidence bag, he noticed that a piece of glass was stuck inside the collar of the Blue uniform the guard had been wearing. There was nothing odd about the janitor's green uniform, though.

Horowitz called to the Von Dorans, the guard and the janitor. When they were gathered around him he said, "Now, tell me exactly what happened last night."

The guard, a large man who towered over even Mr. Van Doran, said, "I was walking by the Picasso, and then some one hit me on the back of the head, and I woke up with the police here and the art was gone."

The janitor, a stout greasy little man, said, "I was in the supply closet, when someone put a rag over my mouth, and I lost consciousness."

Erika said, "I was at home when I got the call from Daddy, who said the museum had been robbed."

Mr. Von Doran said, "I was out to sushi with friends when the police called me."

Horowitz then showed them the note left at the base of the statue. "I think the thief is trying to tell us something," he said, "but clever as this thief is, I have determined who took your painting Mr. Van Doran, and the culprits are in this room!"


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Comments

Posted by babygrl329 on Jun 25, 2005

i liked this one. you really had me stumped but then i thought about it and i got iy

Posted by flipflopchica on Jun 25, 2005

This was a good one. I didn't figure it out but it was stil good.

Posted by SIMARY1901 on Jun 25, 2005

VERY EASY, AND GOOD. GREAT JOB

Posted by okieman51 on Jun 25, 2005

Like reading a whole book, lol. I figured an inside job, but looked at answer pretty fast. I only figured the girl as one culprit. Got me on this one, good job though.

Posted by GarnetLover on Jun 25, 2005

I got the RED HERRING but i didnt know what it meant. i thought it had something to do with Erica, since she was dressed in red. Good mystery

Posted by cka92 on Jun 25, 2005

I got the RED HERRING part too, but I had no clue what it really meant. Actually, I was thinking of how my sister always watches the Scooby Doo when he's just a puppy, and Red Herring is the name of the kid who always gets blamed for the stuff he didn't do. Great teaser despite my brief blonde moment!

Posted by bigSWAFF_69_ on Jun 25, 2005

Irish, why didn't you tell me you made another new one?

[B]is this actually bold?[/B]

good job as always

Posted by irishthistle on Jun 25, 2005

Thanks so much for the comments everyone!

SWAFF, I didn't tell any anyone because I didn't want to jinx it, I was afraid it would be rejected because it is so long. Next time I'll tell you, but only you.

Cka, don't worry, I am a child of A Pup Named Scooby Doo as well. The whole time I was writing this, the theme song ran through my head because of Red Herring.

Posted by froggygg on Jun 26, 2005

I absolutely loved reading this as it is like a short story in and of itself. I had a feeling where you were going with it when I read the hint about the red fiber. You need to do more of these as you are really quite good at drawing the reader into the teaser. Loved the "RED HERRING" woven in!


Posted by Tori592 on Jun 26, 2005

I actually got this one! YAY! I grew up watching court tv with mommy so . . . .I was able to figure it out. I also like watching that 'I detective" show I almost picked only the lady-dude, but what made me decide her and the guard did it was at the end it said the culpritS are in the room(or someething like that) so I'm not totally forensically(Oops . . .I know that's spelled badly!) correct but I'm still smarter than the average bear.

Posted by sueintexas on Jun 26, 2005

I enjoyed the story and the mystery, very well done

Posted by mxclint68 on Jun 30, 2005

Nice mystery...enough detail to make it better than average!

Posted by Gadget on Jul 01, 2005

How Fun...

Posted by burfly01 on Jul 04, 2005

well done...it was obviose to me about the girl but i never thought of the RED HERRING thing but my friend thought it was the dad lol the owner i tried to say no duh but in the end there was a good explantion neither ofu got the whole guard thing...??

Posted by emcruiserchik on Jul 06, 2005

I was thinking that all the red and the glass was way to easy... i thought it was her father because the note spelled RED HERRING and he was out for sushi.....anyway....

Posted by marching_xc on Jul 06, 2005

The Red Herring part was obvious, and I was pretty sure Erika was involved because at the beginning she said something about insurance money. However, I thought the part about the detective having no business was irrelevant. Incorporating so many bits of information makes this mystery harder. I enjoyed reading it.

Posted by bhssoccer23 on Jul 11, 2005

That was soooo awesome!!! I really enjoyed it because I used to read those " You Be the Detective" books, and that is just like one of those. It is long, but I kinda like the long ones. It feels like I'm reading a mystery book!!

Posted by lycanthrope on Jul 15, 2005

You are becoming predictable only to the extent that your teasers are excellent. I didn't get this until I had to look at the hint. Keep 'em coming.

Posted by FerretGirl on Sep 11, 2005

Nice!

Posted by AZTTT on Sep 15, 2005

hmmm, why not the father and daughter? She had to have a strong accomplice to get the guard in the chair. She could use any long object (baseball bat?) to knock out the taller guard. Glass would be in the collar because they broke the glass case while the guard was still lying on the floor in front of the case, and moved him to the chair later. Red Herring would just be a distractor. Motive? Insurance money, of course. And if nothing else, the defense attourney for the guard could maybe use this scenario in court. Comments?

Very well written, very enjoyable! Loved it.

Posted by chickybaby3 on Sep 20, 2005

Very well written, your good, keep em coming!

Posted by converse_chik on Oct 21, 2005

really good took me a while, but i got the daughter, the guard threw me off when i read the answer, i thot it was the father, bc of the fish clue, he had been eating sushi, i thought he might want insurance or something also. really well written. keep them coming!

Posted by stephiesd on Nov 06, 2005

I only got the daughter. i had no idea what RED HERRING meant.

Posted by y4n4 on Nov 28, 2005

I knew it!! it's her n the guard!! but i missed the RED HERRING part..

Posted by Sherlock129 on Jan 07, 2006

Erika and the guard met in Las Vegas they instanley fell in love they later become such maniacs that they robbed Erika's father's own store.

Posted by didida on Jul 07, 2006

Got it! Good 1!

Posted by doni on Jul 18, 2006

Сега го преведи на български , бе левак

Posted by doni on Jul 19, 2006

Comment-a mi ot 18-ti e twyrde selski (the people from BG only can read this briliants)

Posted by doni on Jul 19, 2006

Comment-a mi ot 18-ti e twyrde selski (the people from BG only can read this briliants)

Posted by i-love-rock on Aug 10, 2006

nice mystery but i didnt get the red herring bit until i read the answers

Posted by LeafFan4life on Mar 20, 2007

great story and answer

Posted by scallio on May 08, 2007

Great teaser with fantastic writing style!

A tad bit easy but certainly not boring.

Posted by brainglewashed on Jun 13, 2007

Good job on the 24000th teaser JWD

Posted by friesaregood on Nov 30, 2007

That was the best teaser I have read yet! I love the style, it really draws in the reader.

As for the janitor's prints, however, wouldn't he have cleaned them off? Oh, well, it makes a good red herring!

Posted by Reyth on Apr 28, 2008

Nobody mentioned the reported location of the Janitor was in the wrong place...

He said he was in the supply closet and his reported location was in the office.

I think I found another red herring only this one was unintentional!

Posted by sourdough on Jun 26, 2008

$ourDough felt betrayed by this Caper

$D

Posted by Calehay on Nov 27, 2008

Wonderful teaser!

Posted by gencokerem on Mar 17, 2010

i think the red herring was too obvious you might want to write it in small letters the next time you embed a message

Posted by naren_devu on May 31, 2012

hey its great...

Posted by naren_devu on May 31, 2012

but too lengthy...

Posted by KillerQueen on Aug 14, 2012

Nice, I thought it was the janitor who 'claimed not to remember anything' but said he was gagged

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