University mysteries - ep. 6 - Father Theodor

The days were slowly passing and our friends started to meeting with new environment of university campus. They knew it will be a big change in comparison with the high school. They just didn´t expected the change will be so big. Many new faces, information, a huge rush and so much to learn... They were preparing for this but still...a man is never prepared perfectly.

Will soon realized he´ll have to start drinking a lot of coffee. He had so much studying that he hardly had a few hours of sleep a day and it started to show up also at university lectures. Naturally it wasn´t just his problem. Many students of medicine were suffering from lack of sleep.

Fortunately, the others hadn´t such problems. Kate and Grace were sometimes even enjoying the school. Mainly the lessons when their class went out and their professor told them for example about modern eavesdropping methods, which mass media are sometimes secretly using. On top of that they were trying those methods practically, so the university courtyard from time to time looked like a small spy headquarters.

Molly was managing even her social life including nightly romantic appointments with Sebastian. And Jack with Alice were content with study of economy unless they would keep their dissatisfaction for themselves. 
Nevertheless Kate was quite worried. Not because of school. It was because those lights she saw a few times before at churchyard. Her curiosity didn´t let her and so she was waiting for some more placid day to go and visit the church. She managed to do it on Thursday afternoon.

*Hey guys, I have just returned from the church. I finally managed to find a while of spare time to go there for investigation. I´ll tell you now, how did it go.

I came to the church of St. Sebastian. I don´t know why, but that place gives me goose bumps. I came in. Even though there was a lot of sunlight, I felt some kind of darkness and a strange cold surrounded me. Still I must admit it´s a beautiful church. So...I asked one older lady, where could I find local church leader.

It´s Father Theodor – an older man inspiring esteem and respect, but when we started to chat, it showed up he is also very nice and frank. 

“Good day, Father Theodor...”
 

“Good day, my child. I have never seen you there before. Are you new here?” he spoke in a firm low-pitched voice.

“Yes. My name is Kate and I started to study at university here.”

“And what brings you here to our church, Kate? Not many of students come here and those who come just want to see the church.”

“May I ask you a question?”

“Well of course, ask me.”

“So...don´t you know...is there anyone else working in the church except you?”

“This is no work for me. It´s my joy.” He smiled. 

“But I know what you mean. And if I´m right, there´s no more workers here.”

“No gravedigger or something like that?”

“We don´t bury people here for many years. Only few rich families have their tombs here. Why do you ask? Tell me, what is worrying you?”

“I just...you might think I´m crazy, but...I saw a strange light few times at this churchyard.”

“A light you say?”

“It seemed to me that someone was giving signals to someone else. I don´t know what they mean yet, but I hoped I´ll find something out here.”

“I´m unaware of it.”He paused for a while.

 “There is an old shed in the back. It´s locked, however shed keys are right there on the wall and are free to use. We can go there if you want.”

So we took the keys off the wall and went to the shed. A whole estate around the church was well-tended. There was peace and a view of the whole university.

“And you take care of all of this alone?”

“Of course not. Sometimes one local boy – Martin – helps me with gardening. But I don´t know that he would come here also at night.”

He unlocked the door.

“May I look around here?”

Father Theodor nodded. It was ordinary shed, full of junks and dust. The dust, that´s a good friend of all detectives. There were many things on a table and some lantern among them. It was conspicuous just because there was no dust on it.

“That´ll be the light,” I thought.

My vision focused on the ground. It was dusty and dirty so there were discernible footprints on it. I was able to recognize where in the shed someone was walking recently. The footprints of course leaded to the lantern and then...to a stairs?!

“This shed has a cellar?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, indeed. It´s unusual, but that cellar is there for a very long time. There used to be an old shed which already had this cellar. But about 50 years ago it burned to the ground and instead of it was built this one. Go and look around downstairs, if you want.”

I went down and switched the light on to follow the footprints and find out what they leading to. Surprisingly the cellar was tidy up and the ground was perfectly clean. There was nothing to see.

I returned back upstairs and thanked to Father Theodor for his helpfulness.

“If you would like to know anything about residents, history or just come to chat, you know where you find me. You´ll be welcome here,” he bided me farewell.

So in fact I didn´t find out anything important. I still don´t know who does it, nor why he or she does it. And I don´t think it´d be Father Theodor. Maybe it has some innocent explanation or someone makes this way an intimate appointments. I don´t know. It is possible. In that case I´d rather don´t know more.

But something tells me it´s important and I do believe in my instincts. Always. Maybe I should...*

The door opened and Molly entered. She skimmed a laptop screen.

“Do you really bother with that your lights on the internet? Why do you even deal with it so much?”

“I don´t bother anyone. I´m just sharing my experiences and thoughts. If anyone has a problem with that, he´ll just stop reading my diary. And I deal with it, because it just seems to me strange.”

“It seems strange to me, that only person who saw that lights is you.”

“Maybe I´m the only person who saw them, because I am the only one with a view of the churchyard. From your window you can see maybe just a big...,” Kate took a breath, but then she just added: “I don´t want to be rude.”

Molly blew a raspberry, shook her head and left the room. Kate continued in writing the message.

*...start to observe somehow the churchyard. But how? I can´t crouch and wait somewhere in a bushes every night. I would need a camera. Just few more details which I have to solve. But now I know those people do that signals by the lantern. Also, they must be at least two, because in other case it would be nonsense to do any signals. And it has probably dealings with the shed cellar. Why it was so clean, but the basement was full of dust and dirt? They are hiding something there. I just don´t know what. Hopefully I´ll find it out soon. If only others would believe me...

Bye and kiss, your Kate.*