7:00 a.m.
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"Of course the dessert wasn't misplaced!" the visibally shaken head waitress tells you, eyes wandering from you to the rest of the chefs filtering in to the restaurant for the upcoming cooking competition. "Somebody stole it!"
"Alright, alright.. just try to calm down and let's sort this out. There must be an explination."
"You bet there is an explination!" the waitress says, talking past you to draw the attention of the rest of the chefs entering the restaurant. "My chef is the best chef in the world, and all you other chefs know it! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if YOU are the culprit!" she adds, singling you out from the gathering crowd of chefs.
"Whoa, slow down there, that is quite an acqusation to be making", you say, trying not to lose your nerve.
"Yea, you don't even have any proof" quips another chef from the crowd behind you.
"Okay, I'm sorry" the waitress says to you, regaining her composure. "I'm just so upset, as you can see. And the chef stormed out of the restaurant once he found out his dish for the competition was stolen. He's nowhere to be found."
You turn to address the rest of the chefs around you. "Well guys, it sounds like our competition today has taken a back seat to this new mystery." Turning back to the waitress, "We'll help you uncover your chef's missing dish, ma'am, would you start out by telling us what you know?"
"The rest of the waitresses and I were here all night assisting the chef with his preparations. Everything was going fine and we even finished our preparations ahead of schedule, so we all decided to meet back at the chef's mansion to enjoy some music and relax for a while before returning to the restaurant for the competiton today. When we returned, the dish was missing! All of our effort was wasted, and more importantly, the competition was over for us. The chef couldn't bear it, he ran out of the restaurant and hasn't been back since."
"That's very suspicious" you reply. "And you say the entire restaurant staff was at the mansion when the dish went missing?"
"That's right. Though I must admit, some of the waitresses having been acting a little strange lately. I see them mumbling amongst themselves, or exchanging sneaky glances. Frankly I was starting to doubt their loyalty to our chef, and now that this has happened, I can't help but think some of them were in on it."
"Unfortunatly, it certainly sounds like an inside job." you assure the waitress, and then, turning back to the crowd of chefs around you, you say "it's time to face facts guys. It's clear that somebody among us is a thief."
"Hey you can't prove that."
"Yea, you don't even know what the missing dish is."
"Or who took it."
"Or what they did with it."
"For all we know, the chef cooked up this whole story because he wasn't confident in his entry and didn't want to go through with the competition."
"C'mon fellas, we've known the chef a long time, he deserves more credit than that. You all know as well as anyone that he'd never back out of a competition, he has more honor than that. If he says it was stolen, it was stolen. We're the only people who have access to the kitchen besides the restaurant staff, and they were all over at the chef's mansion."
"You're right... but how?"
"I don't know what the dish is, or where it went, or more importantly, who the thief among us is, but I'm going to start searching for clues and see if I can find out. Let's all split up and solve this mystery."
"Thank you for your help, chefs" the waitress chimes in. "I just got off the phone with the chef and have been told to let you all know that he plans to adequatly reward the first of you who can bring the thief to justice and restore peace to the cooking competition."
Originally Posted by kooky panda
