Get in before the gate closes!

The Mansion

You roll the mo-ped back onto the road and slam the accelerator. The engine roars as the bike hits its top speed. The gates are closing. You make yourself as small as possible as you come careening into the moment of truth.

You make it! and with just an inch of clearance on those closing double doors. Miraculously, there are no immediate repurcussions for your recklessness. There are just a few cars parked in the driveway, and the old lady must have gone inside already.

After parking the bike, you survey the scene of the Victorian mansion. Past the driveway, the house is encompassed by a prodigious and meticulously maintained garden. Hedges are carefully trimmed, flower beds evenly spaced, other plants diligently pruned.

The house is white-walled and three stories tall, with multiple balconies on the first and second floor and a large deck on the third. A red-tiled, multi-leveled roof tops the impressive structure.

You pass thick ashen pillars as you climb a few steps up to the front porch. Huge red oak double doors greet you there. What are you going to do, knock on the door and tell them the mother of the house stole your necklace? You're the one who just committed two felonies and a misdemeanor.

The sounds of several voices seep out from inside the mansion. You're in luck as you discover an open window on one side of the porch. If you're careful, you might be able to spy on the scene inside. That seems dangerous, though. Perhaps you ought to find a safer vantage point-- another entrance, for example.