A loud shriek woke Precis Neumann and half of the other guests at Pension Chie Inn. When Ashton slipped over to turn on the room's lights, Precis's first instinct was to adjust her sleep mask, roll onto her stomach, and press her pillow over her head. At Ashton's prodding, however, she forced herself to get up.
"What was that noise?" Ashton asked, clearly disturbed.
"How should I know?" Precis's voice crackled from grogginess, and instead of letting the hubbub disturb her, she felt annoyed at having her sleep disturbed.
"Shouldn't we investigate?"
"Tomorrow, please. I just want to get a glass of water and go back to bed."
Ashton began digging around in a black-with-gold-trim duffel bag in the corner closet for a few seconds before pulling out a pair of swords. He clutched them tightly. Precis found herself bothered by how high strung her beloved was.
"Ash, it's the middle of the night, and I was up past midnight perfecting Bobot 3.0. Why must you pick now to care about other people's problems?"
"Did you not hear some woman screaming?"
"Why do you
care?"
"There might be something dangerous nearby, and that
means I should be protecting you."
"That's really sweet and all, but I'll bet some frail-minded woman just saw a mouse or something. It was probably Rena."
"You think so?" Ashton's paranoid expression softened a bit.
"Yes. Now let's get some sleep."
"Okay, fine," said Ashton. "I'll just…"
"Open up!" came a voice at the door, accompanied by some frantic knocking.
"I'll just get the door." Ashton finished slipping his robe over his pajamas, double checked his swords, and undid the door lock.
"Yes?" He said to what turned out to be Claude and Rena and an extremely frightened looking maid.
"Are you okay?" Rena asked.
"Of course," said Ashton. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"There's been a murder," said Claude.
Precis yanked off her sleep mask and, when her eyes adjusted to the light, noticed just how shook up her friends at the door looked. "Murder?"
"Leon," said Rena. "He's dead."
"Oh, just him," said Precis, before what Rena said sank in. "Wait, Leon's dead?"
"Messy scene," said Claude. "We followed the trail of blood, and it went by your door."
"Here?" Ashton began to look even more nervous.
"There," said Claude, drawing his sword and pointing it in the general direction of the closet on Precis's side of the room. The door remained closed.
Ashton gulped. "Should we… look inside?"
Claude nodded. Rena put her hand on his shoulder as if to steady him, and he nodded to Ashton to join him as he investigated.
"Wait!" cried Precis. "I want to look, too."
She leaped out from under the covers. A second later, she noticed her state of undress, her face turned bright red, and she grabbed the nearest blanked and wrapped it around herself.
"Uh, please pretend you didn't see that," she said.
"What, your tangled hair, or your rocket ship pajamas?" said Rena.
"Shut up, please," said Precis, holding her blanket even tighter.
"People," said Ashton, "this is not a time for jokes."
"You ready?" said Claude.
"Ready," said Ashton.
"And I've got your back," said Rena.
"Okay, then. On my mark," said Claude, "we open the door. One, two…"
Everyone tensed up.
"Three!" Claude threw open the door, jumped back a step, and waved his sword defensively. Ashton brandished his weapons threateningly. Both stopped when they saw what lay inside: a bluish orb covered in a sticky red substance that could only be blood. Precis knew right away what it was.
"They got Bobot, too!" she screamed. Everyone else glared at her. "Don't you see? Bobot is bleeding, and… Oh, that's right. Bobot can't bleed. What does that mean?"
"It means," said Claude, "that our killer used Bobot as a weapon. Like you do sometimes, I believe."
"It wasn't me, I swear!" insisted Precis. "I've been in here all night. Tell them, Ash."
"She has," said Ashton. "I would have known if she had gone anywhere."
"Then how did you not notice the killer stashing Bobot in the closet?" said Claude.
"I – I guess I don't know that." Ashton hung his head.
Precis flared up. "I can't believe you're accusing me of murder! Aren't we friends?"
"No one is accusing you of anything just yet," said Rena.
"I am," said the maid. "I never saw anything like this. All my years of working here, I never saw anything like this. This is…" She trailed off.
"We don't have all the facts yet," said Claude. "We don't have any reason to suspect that Precis killed Leon. It could just as well have been Ashton."
"Don't you drag me into this!" said Ashton. "There must be some third party."
Rena sighed. "We'll have to investigate. Maybe Chisato can help. This seems right up her alley."
"Yeah," said Precis. "Someone must have planted Bobot to frame me. That's the only thing I can think of."
"Anyway," said Ashton, "we should gather everyone and talk this over as a group. We'll all be safe as long as we're together, right?"
"Good idea," said Rena. "I'll start calling everyone else's rooms.
"Ashton, who could have stolen Bobot?" said Precis.
"We're just going to have to see, dear," said Ashton. Precis hugged his arm and tried to imagine that she was safe.
XXX
Chisato Madison, Bowman Jean, Ernest Raviede, Opera Vectra, Dias Flac, Rena Lanford, Claude Kenni, Ashton Anchors, Precis Neumann, Noel Chandler, and Celine Jules crowded into the hotel lobby. Chisato clearly held the floor. Precis held Ashton.
"We need to stick together," said Chisato to everyone. "We can get to the bottom of this if we think about what we know and what we can find out."
"And just what do we know" asked Bowman.
"We know there was a murder," said Chisato. "We suspect Bobot was the murder weapon."
"Do we know Bobot was just the weapon?" said Ernest. "How do we know it couldn't act under its own power? Precis, is it capable of that?"
"I've been making it more lifelike, yes," Precis admitted. "But nothing like that! Bobot can't murder anyone!"
"Are you sure?" said Opera. "It could be like in one of those novels, where the experimental robot or monster goes bad and starts a killing spree."
"Bobot absolutely cannot kill anyone," said Precis. "I wouldn't even know how to write something like that into the code. That would violate my laws of robotics."
"Who enforces these laws of yours?" said Bowman, sternly.
"I do!" said Precis.
"Then something is amiss," said Chisato. "I don't believe you are capable of murder, but I clearly your Bobot played a role in last night's killing. The trail of blood leading to your closet makes that clear. What's not clear is if someone else broke in, stole Bobot, killed Leon, and then put Bobot back without waking you up."
"In Precis's defense," said Ashton, "she's nearly impossible to wake up when she's wearing her sleep mask. I mean, even an alarm clock is worthless with her. I once had to resort to dropping ice cubes down the back of her pajama shirt just to get her up before noon."
"Too much information," said Dias.
"Just sayin'," said Ashton.
"So," said Chisato, "it's not out of the question that Precis slept while an intruder broke into the room. But what about you, Ashton?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you. Did you see or hear anything suspicious last night?"
"N—no, absolutely not! I slept like a rock."
"So it could have been anybody," said Chisato.
"Well, I'm relieved." Rena shifted in her seat. "I don't want to believe that any of my friends committed murder."
"We haven't ruled that out yet," said Chisato.
"But you haven't proven anything, either," said Dias. "And that means we all could still be innocent."
"And it means a murderer could still be loose in the inn," said Ashton. Precis shivered.
Chisato marched toward the hallway. "If there is killer on the loose, we won't catch him without looking. Let's go investigate."
XXX
Leon's corpse lay in the middle of his room. Everything else sat undisturbed. His backpack hung on the doorknob, zipped shut. A couple of books on Heraldry lay atop the nightstand next to a reading lamp. Both closet doors were closed. The bedsheets were made up nicely. Strangely, the only sign of a struggle was a small trickle of blood leading from the dead body to the doorway.
"This is, well, strange," said Chisato. "Bowman, could you look the body over? I want to know the cause of death."
"Anything for a pretty lady," said Bowman. Chisato shot him a glare, as if to say that if looks could kill, Bowman would be the night's second victim.
"Now is not the time for your perverted antics."
"Sorry." Bowman looked sheepish.
"Anyone else notice anything?" Chisato began pacing. "Like what Leon was doing before he died? Obviously, he wasn't sleeping."
"Why was that?" asked Rena.
"Because the bed is still made," said Chisato. "That much is simple."
"Oh," said Rena. "Sorry I asked."
"It's okay. Look at the nightstand, though. Those books. One of them is open."
Chisato checked the books' covers. "Advanced Heraldry and Special Heraldry. I happen to know that Leon had a habit of staying up late to work on these. And look at this jar of ink. It's open, so he must have been writing."
"He died doing what he loved," said Dias.
"I still don't get it, though," continued Chisato. "There's nothing to suggest a fight broke out in here, and no one heard anything. Wouldn't you expect Leon to scream before he died, or something?"
"Maybe someone choked him," suggested Ernest.
"I don't think so," said Bowman. "His body's in pretty good shape. I'm not even sure why he died yet."
"You don't know?" Chisato gave Bowman a puzzled look. "You're the doctor, aren't you?"
"I'm a pharmacist. And I see no injuries."
"Precis, when you fight with Bobot, you usually throw him at your target, don't you?"
"Yep, I do."
"Then," said Chisato, "if there's no other way Bobot could have been used as a weapon, then it's some sort of red herring."
"We don't know anything about the cause of death yet," cautioned Bowman. "This could take a while, but I'm not going to rule out him being hit with Bobot until I know just why he died."
"Come to think of it," said Chisato, "why haven't you found any injuries yet? Do you not see why that is strange?"
"Besides the fact that we have an apparent murder with no obvious cause of death?"
"Yes, besides that."
"Uh, no?"
"Think harder," said Chisato. "If there is no injury on the body, where did all that blood in the hallway come from?"
"Good question," said Bowman. "I can't answer that at the moment."
"Well," said Chisato, "I expect to hear something soon. Until then, I want everyone doubling up on rooms. We have to play it safe tonight. And Precis? I want you to disassemble Bobot."
Precis gulped. Ashton hugged her.
