There is a long silence as everyone glares at Dimentio for opening his big mouth. A few moments pass, and the doorbell has yet to ring again.
"...Maybe they'll just go away if we stay quiet," Ms. Mowz whispers.
As soon as she says that, the doorbell rings again. A few seconds pass.
"...Err, I can't take it anymore!" Luigi exclaims. "I'm going to answer it!"
"Why would you do that?!" Timpani cries. "It could be the police!"
"It could, and I will be glad if it is!"
"Why the hell would you be glad to see the police? There are three dead bodies!"
"And there is psycho too! Nor do I have anything to hide either, for I didn't do it!"
At that moment, Luigi runs to the front door, fast enough no one is able to catch him. He opens the door and finds a young pink bob-omb.
"Hi," she says. "My name is Bombette, a crime investigator from the local police. I was called telling me that a murder has taken place."
Luigi's face pales.
At that moment, he slams the door in Bombette's face.
"You imbecile!"
Dimentio pushes Luigi out of the way.
"Now you have done it! Everyone, close the doors to the study and lounge and pretend nothing is wrong!"
Without any other option, everyone quickly closes the doors and got into position. Dimentio, meanwhile, reopens the door to a very angry Bombette. Dimentio smiles.
"I apologize for that," he says smoothly. "But Luigi here can be...a real idiot at times."
Bombette narrows her eyes.
"Yeah...so, I've been called by a person named Fawful that a murder has been committed here."
Dimentio's eye twitches.
"Oh, Fawful contacted you, did he?"
Bombette nods. "Yes. And who are you, uh... mardi gras jester guy?"
Dimentio's mouth twitches, giving an unsettling small laugh.
"I am Dimentio."
"...Nice to meet you, Dimentio. So, can you get Fawful for me so that I may talk to him?"
Dimentio smiles.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, my dear. You see...Fawful left a few minutes ago, probably on the way home from a long night of partying."
Bombette narrows her eyes.
"That's an interesting story...seeing that his car is on the side of the road."
"Another guest took him home."
"That's very unlikely."
Bombette tries to take a look inside the castle but Dimentio blocks her view. As for the other guests, they all watch in pure suspense and fear.
"Say...do you mind if I take a look around for a minute?" Bombette asks. "After all, I was called here for murder."
"Uh..."
Dimentio takes awhile to respond. Slowly, a large grin appears on his face.
"...Of course you can. Here, let me lead you in."
Dimentio steps to the side a bit and Bombette walks in. Her eyes grow wide as she sees the broken chandelier.
"What happened to the chandelier?" Bombette asks.
"Oh, the rope that was holding it got...old and it broke," Dimentio explains. "Almost killed us. We are all still very shaken by it."
"Uh-huh."
Bombette studies the chandelier as she and Dimentio walk pass it. She makes eye contact with all of the guests, who are all staring at her, and then turns back to Dimentio.
"So, can you tell me what's been happening? Who's been murdered?"
Dimentio gives an uneasy laugh.
"Ah ha, yes, about that... Did it ever accrued to you that you might have been prank called? After all, if there was a murder going on, would we all be here having a party?"
"A lot of murders happen in fancy parties like this," Bombette counters. "This castle being in the middle of nowhere is the perfect place to commit a horrific crime."
"Yes, yes. It would be..."
Dimentio leads Bombette to the library. She steps inside, studying it in great detail. Dimentio slowly backs away, and with taking a hold of the doors, closes them behind him. Bombette turns around tries to escape, but Dimentio locks her in just in time. He turns back to the guests, who are all staring at him with wide eyes.
"Why did you lock her in the library?" Bobbery demands. "Now she will get even more suspicious!"
"She is already suspicious, you dimwit!" Ms. Mowz snaps.
"But she could have solved this whole mystery!" Luigi cries, his voice cracking.
"Or get in the way," Dimentio says darkly. "Having an investigator around could bring disaster. All she really does is give the killer another person to kill."
"But if she stays locked in there, she may get killed like Fawful did!" Mario points out. "Look, she's here and she knows a murder has accrued. We might as well make her one of us."
"Mario has a point," Nastasia adds. "We would all be safer with an investigator at our side. And perhaps she can figure it out quicker before the police arrive."
"But the police have already arrived!" Timpani exclaims.
Nastasia narrows her eyes.
"I mean before more of them show up. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I am tired of all this and would do anything to end it."
There is a long moment of silence.
"...Look, we haven't finished searching the castle yet," Mimi says reasonably. "There could still be someone else lurking around. Or we could find evidence to link the killer. After all, we still need that."
There is a little disagreement, mostly from Nastasia, Bobbery, and Mario, but eventually, everyone agrees. They did need to find evidence who the killer is.
And so far, they have none.
They all get back into their original pairs and went back to searching the castle.
"Damn it!" Bombette curses as she tries to open the door.
She bangs on it, kicks it, tries to pick the lock with a nearby pen. But nothing works, she is completely locked in.
"Damn it!" Bombette cries again.
She sits in a nearby chair, her heart pounding in her chest.
This...this is not what Fawful planned for her to do, not what the police told her to do! She is just supposed to stall till the police get there, get some evidence from the killer Fawful described, and then everything would turn out right! But that did not happen, and now Bombette is stuck in the same situation Fawful was in.
Fawful...
Bombette feels great grief for him, and for the other victims who had tragically lost their life this night. A part of her wonders how long it will be till she is next. For if Fawful was killed, why not her? Would the killer murder her for the same reasons they murdered Fawful? Or is there no reason at all, and all of these deaths were just made by random chance?
But no matter which way she tries to make of the situation, Bombette feels more panic-stricken and fearful.
Seeing a half full bottle of champagne, Bombette rushes towards it and starts drinking straight from the bottle. Once she finishes drinking the whole thing, she feels a little woozy and light-headed.
Then suddenly, all power from the castle is cut off and the castle turns pitch black. At that moment, she hears two people running in the hall. Bombette's eyes widen, quickly getting out of her chair and runs to the door. However, she feels weak, her mind a little foggy. She faintly hears a woman screaming, possibly choking. Bombette gasps, backing away from the door.
A few seconds pass, Bombette feeling her heart beats growing faster and faster. With a faint click of the lock, the door opens and the killer steps in. Bombette tries to escape the killer, but they are too quick and they take a hold of her. Bombette tries to fight back, but in her weak drunken state, she can't. Once the murderer gets Bombette held down, her face shoved into the floor, the killer hits her multiple times in the head with the led pipe, eventually killing her. Seeing that she is dead, the killer drops the led pipe.
Ding-dong!
The doorbell ringing causes a stiff silence throughout the castle. The killer rushes to the study and takes the gun. They answer the door to see a woman with purple skin and long pink hair. The woman smiles.
"I
"am
"your singing telegram!" she states in song.
The killer narrows their eyes.
They shoot her straight in the chest, causing a loud bang. Rashly, and knowing that they have little time left, the killer slams the door close and hides the gun on them, quickly going back inside the castle.
Bang!
Mario completely freezes in place as the sound of the gun goes off. He stands completely still, the darkness filling him with fear.
"Ms. Mowz?" Mario calls out softly. "Ms. Mowz, are you there?"
No answer.
Mario feels his heart beat growing faster.
"Ms. Mowz? Ms. Mowz?"
He tries to make his way down to the stairs, hoping that somewhere along the way he will run into his partner.
"Ms. Mowz?! Ms. Mowz?!"
"Mario?"
At the stairs, Mario and Ms. Mowz finally meet up. Mario lets out a sigh of relief.
"Thank God you are alright. When I heard that gunshot, I was afraid something bad had happened."
"So you heard it too?" Ms. Mowz quickly asks.
Mario nods.
"Yes, and it sounds like it came from downstairs."
The two of them head down the stairs, going as quick as they can in the dark. Then, suddenly, the lights in the entire castle turn back on. Knowing someone had turned the power back on, Mario and Ms. Mowz quickly run down the first floor. Everyone else is already there, Dimentio coming out of the cellar.
"Someone turned off the generator," Dimentio explains. "That's why the power went off."
"But why would anyone turn off the power?" Bobbery asks puzzled.
"So the killer could have a better advantage, perhaps?" Nastasia suggests.
"That sounds most likely," Timpani agrees.
"Uh...guys..."
Mario points his shaken hand towards the library.
"...The door is open..."
Blinking, everyone turns their attention to the library. They all go inside, in which they see Bombette's body.
"...I knew we shouldn't have left her alone," Mario says in a low voice. "And now another life has been taken..."
Luigi slowly enters the room and picks up the led pipe. He stares at it for a moment, his eyes growing a bit distant, and then turns to the others.
"But she was killed with the pipe," Luigi points out. "I thought I heard the gun go off again and a door slamming."
"Wait, didn't Mimi have the gun last?" Timpani questions.
Everyone looks around, now noticing that Mimi is not among them.
Dimentio's eyes widen.
He frantically goes back into the cellar, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mimi. The others slowly leave the library. In the corner of her eye, Nastasia sees that the study's door is wide open.
"Didn't we close that door as well?" she asks.
There is a long silence.
With no one else wanting to step forward, Ms. Mowz slowly takes a look inside. A grim expression appears on her face.
"...Someone get Dimentio."
She then turns to the front door. Opening it, she reveals the singing telegram girl. Mario's face pales.
Again, there is a long silence. At that moment, Dimentio comes back up, he too seeing the dead telegram girl.
"Has anyone yet to see-"
Dimentio cuts himself off as Ms. Mowz gestures towards the study. Trying to keep his expression calm, Dimentio walks over to the study. His eyes widen to what he sees, his body shaking.
"...Excuse me for a moment."
His voice cracks as he closes the door behind him.
The other guests patiently wait, feeling a great sense of loss. Suddenly, Bobbery's eyes flared with rage.
"Well, whoever this killer is, I hope they are satisfied!" he shouts. "Taking the lives of six people, that is horrifying! They...they..."
His voice cracks as he tries to think of a threat.
Timpani nervously starts to rub her arm while Luigi rubs his head like he has a headache. Ms. Mowz leans against the wall, her eyes completely emotionless as Mario walks over to the telegram girl, picking her body up and placing her with Fawful's body. Nastasia starts to pace a bit while Bobbery tries to keep himself from exploding.
Finally, Dimentio comes back out, cradling the limp body of Mimi, who looked like she was strangled to death.
"Let's put the bodies in the lounge," Dimentio says, his voice completely flat. "It is time we end this once and for all."
At that moment, everyone takes Bombette, Bowser, and Dyliss's bodies over to the lounge. They, as gently as they could, set each one down, trying to be a little respectful as they place them. Dimentio is the last to put down Mimi, great emotion in his eyes.
Once everyone is back in the hall, Dimentio closes the door to the lounge clears his throat.
"All right...we have exactly ten minutes before the police arrive," he says. "In that time, we need to figure out who the murderer is so that we all can get out of here and move on with our damn lives. Now, while I was..."
His voice cracks a bit as he keeps himself from crying.
"...grieving, I put all the pieces together how these murders were committed and I think I figured out who did it."
Everyone gasps, their eyes glowing with hope.
"But if my theory is correct," Dimentio continues. "I need to guide you all as to what exactly happened tonight. With a deep analysis, I believe we can find the answers and the evidence we have been desperately looking for all this time."
He gives a large smile.
"So, shall we begin?"
