I returned to the study in the ground floor, but I had a feeling there was more to this leap than telling the group that the cook is a suspect too.
I heard the man I assumed to be Mr. Green saying "Is there no indication of how he died?"
The professor shook his head, "no."
"Look, we all have a motive." The attractive woman I profiled as Miss. Scarlet sighed. "We were all being blackmailed by this creep."
Mr. Green though aloud "I wonder why he didn't just report us to the authorities."
I blurted out, "if he knew information about you guys, why not make some money off of it?"
Professor Plum stood up from the couch he shared with some guests, "And what was your role in this?"
"Me?" I knew I had to think fast, no sign of Al. No information about this Wadsworth guy whatsoever. I had no answers.
"I'm the butler. Yvette's the maid… Isn't there anyone I'm missing?" I hinted at the French maid.
"Vell no-one. Only ze cook." She replied.
The lightbulb clicked for the group and they all stood and exclaimed "The cook!"
Like an army of ants, we all followed Yvette to the kitchen, well everyone I could see. I was only focused on keeping up appearances.
The kitchen seemed spotless, no sign of the cook.
Mr. Green entered the room, "Well, she's not here."
Just then, the freezer door opened. Miss Scarlet let out a gut-wrenching scream.
The body that I assumed belonged to the cook tumbled out of the freezer and into the arms of Green, who defensively yelled "I didn't do it!"
I assisted Mr. Green on carrying the plus-sized woman. Mrs. White reached for the knife, which was piercing the cook's back.
"Hey," I told her, "don't touch that, it's evidence."
Mrs. White sassed back, "Well not for us. We have to find out who did this. We can't take fingerprints!"
She had a point.
"Okay. Who had the dagger?" Colonel Mustard asked the group, then suddenly realized. "It was you Peacock! You know, if I was the killer I'd kill you next!"
There was an awkward silence among the lot.
"I said if… If!" The Colonel laughed his previous sentence off.
"I put it down in the study." Peacock answered.
"Do you remember when?" I sighed, trying to figure out the whole leap.
"I don't know. Before I fainted, after I fainted… I don't know!" She was hysterical.
I huffed, "So any of us could have picked it up… We can't keep the cooks body here."
Mr. Green struggled with holding the womans arms, "You're telling me."
"We should put her with the other dead body." I suggested.
"Back to the study." Professor Plum lead the group as we all exited the kitchen. Green and I was still carrying the cook.
I didn't have a good view of the study, but I was startled when Mr. Green dropped the poor womans upper body.
"What?" I asked, trying to keep the woman's legs from falling.
"The body's gone!" Professor Plum exclaimed.
I admit, I lost myself and dropped the cook.
The women of the group entered and the curious Mrs. Peacock was asking questions again.
"What are you all staring at?" She inquired.
"Nothing." Mr. Green answered.
Another question, "Well, who's there?"
"Nobody… No body. Mr. Boddy's body is gone." I replied.
"Maybe he wasn't dead." Mrs. White pointed out.
"He was." The professor insisted.
"I should have made sure." I shook my head.
"It's not your fault Wadsworth." Miss. Scarlet informed me. "He couldn't have been dead."
"He was!" Plum yelled. "At least I thought he was. What difference does it make now?"
A familiar voice made me smile "Makes quite a difference to him."
He nodded at me and I returned the favour.
Mr. Green pitched a theory "Maybe Mr. Boddy killed the cook!"
More than one person cheered "Yes!"
"How?" I asked, "We were all in the kitchen, we would have seen him."
The room grew quiet.
"Check the washroom." Al told me, "Ziggy says there's a 98% probability that Boddy's in the washroom."
"Do we want to check the house as a group or split up?" I asked the lot.
They all seemed to answer in synch "Group!"
I began to take me leave from the room, "Okay, I say we check the bathroom first."
"Why?" Yvette looked around at the confused people.
"In case anyone needs to go before we start looking at the rest of the house." I bluffed, sometimes being smart comes in handy. Especially when I have no idea what I'm doing.
"Good thinking Sam." Al nodded.
We approached the main floor washroom. I was the one who had to open the door. When I did, the dead body of Mr. Boddy fell in front of me. His head was covered in blood.
I looked at Al who was hitting the handheld.
"98% probability that *the* Body's in the washroom… The…" He chuckled.
"He has new injuries. Massive head trauma…. He's certainly dead now… Given the assumption that he wasn't dead before." I said to the group while examining the body.
"What's the difference?" Prof. Plum crossed his arms.
Al laughed "That's what you're here to figure out, Sherlock."
"Don't you see? We need to figure out who killed him, where and with what. Given his injuries I think he was hit hard with something blunt. Can everyone look around for an object that possibly has blood on it?" I told the group.
After a few moments of looking around, Miss. Scarlet pointed above me.
"Wadsworth, the candlestick!" She exclaimed.
I grabbed the bloody candlestick from atop the bathroom door and examined it.
"Yeah, this would have done it." I sighed once more, "Let's return Mr. Boddy to the study."
The men took the dead body and placed it on the couch. The women (and myself) grabbed the cook and placed her over the arm of the couch.
"Now." I stood and straightened my back. "Who had access to the candlestick?"
"I did. But I dropped it on the table, anyone could have picked it up." She defended.
"Okay. Are all the weapons on the table?"
They all nodded.
I proceeded to gather the weapons and place them inside a cupboard.
"Good thinking Sam, the key is in the lock already. Nobody else dies, badda boom, you've changed history!" Al grinned.
"All the remaining weapons are in the cupboard. I'll put the key in my pocket so I know I'm safe." I stated.
Mrs. Peacock angrily ranted to me, "That means you can open it whenever you want!"
"But it also means the murderer can't!" I explained.
Peacock began stirring a frenzy, "But you could be the murderer!"
"Me? I'm not." I shook my head.
"They won't believe you… You should throw away the key. Open the door and just-" Al simulated a baseball pitch with the handheld.
"I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll throw it away." I said, grabbing the key from my pocket.
Noticing signs of approval from the group, we all headed out to the front door where I was supposed to throw the key into the abyss.
But there was a man standing in the doorway, dripping wet from the rain and looking in dire need of a ride to his home.
"Excuse me, my car broke down and I was wondering if I could use your phone." He asked politely. It was hard not to take pity on the man. But adding another person to the party would be illogical with a murderer running around.
I dropped my head in despair and mumbled "Oh boy."