Their mistake was that they came in the night. Those same shadows who had so tenuously held onto their casters were now free. The toys that wake up when no one is around. The sun, a taskmaster, a drill sergeant was not there to push them back into line. With a sly wink to the moon, they began their meandering waltz. Drunk on the feeling of relaxation, their dances overlapped, interweaved, teased, touched, copulated.
Had they not noticed? They were there first, after all. This ballroom was theirs.
The police had a very difficult time identifying the bodies, let alone the series of events by which their demise had befallen them. Aldus lay silent. A modern-day catacomb had been conceived at the time of the museum’s construction. He wouldn’t be able to charm, to dismiss, to move the nice officers along and off the premises.
“Yes, of course, just doing your duty madam. No, no one is allowed to stay past 7 o’clock, and naturally we close early in the winter. No ma’am, our cleaners keep the same hours as our guests. Our security system was able to capture their entry in great detail, but they then obscured the interior cameras. A smart crew, it seems. You might want to check other recent break-ins for a link. Yes, of course. Do let me know how I can be of assistance.”
The police had taken most of the viscera and semi-solid waste with them in bags. The blood wasn’t hard to clean up - Marble floors make it a trivial task. The thin, clear coating on the surface even sealed the gaps between slabs. Surely that was just a precaution for the guests, though. A well thought out detail to make the cleaning process more efficient.
No one could have foreseen.. this.