IMPORTANT NOTE: Six people (FiBeen, LemmingDancer, PinkFairy23, Ethelfreda, Frienze and I) are playing a fanfic version of MFMM Cluedo. Murdoch Foyle has been murdered in Miss Fisher's House. We must discover the name of the murderer, the weapon and in which room the murder was committed. Every player must 'investigate' by writing a fic (100-1000 words). Each round, more and more clues can be crossed off their list. The first person to solve the mystery will write the story of Foyle's death and earn great praise for their cleverness. If you would like to play your own game please PM GameMaster19 for the rules and instructions.
Author's Note: Thanks always to everyone who reads and those special few who review xx DB
Close Quarters
Mrs Prudence Stanley was not accustomed to hiding in cloakrooms. It wasn't a very dignified location, crammed in among your host's coats and hats and under normal circumstances she would have protested most forcefully at the mere thought of it but these weren't normal circumstances.
Something thudded against the cloakroom door, ratting the handle. With an unladylike gulp Prudence took another step back, and then another until her back was against the back wall of the cloakroom and she was partially hidden behind Phryne's mink coat and that ridiculous white one she'd worn to the snow. There was another dull thud, as though something or someone had hit the floor hard. Prudence tightened her grip on the wrench she'd found in the toolbox by the door, she would have held it up ready to strike but it was rather heavy and just holding it by her side was stress enough.
And then the door swung open, revealing a man silhouetted in the frame with the light behind him. Prudence didn't wait to find out what he had in store for her she charged hefting the wrench as she went. Stanleys didn't stand around waiting to be murdered, they attacked. Firm hands wrapped around her wrists so that she couldn't swing her weapon, the figure in the door somehow beside her rather than in front now. She twisted and turned trying to get free, squinting as the light in the entrance burned her eyes after the darkness she'd been hiding in for so long.
"Mrs Stanley! Mrs Stanley it's Inspector Jack Robinson, you can relax now. We've caught the jewel thief."
"You've caught?" Prudence relaxed, aware of her rapid breaths and her heart pounding as the grip on her wrists eased and fell away. And then the annoyance kicked in. "Well why on earth didn't you say it was all clear?" She demanded.
There was a polite cough from the direction of the inspector but it was her niece who answered - with her usual insolence.
"We did Aunt P, several times in fact, you were just in such a hurry to attack that you failed to hear us."
And to think all she'd wanted was a quiet cup of tea with her niece to discuss Jane's future. How was she to know that Phryne had set a trap for a murdering jewel thief for that very afternoon?