Foreword: Finally! At last, the mystery part of this half-romance half-mystery story appears! In this chapter, the detectives will face yet another challenge that they've never seen. Now, the mystery is just like the one in Haunting Memories but is a little different. But a little difference can make a huge change in the trick, so you might want to look at things from different perspective (hint-hint!). Anyway, here is the newest chapter. Hope you enjoy it! Don't forget to review!


Chapter Eight

Meurtre impossible

Impossible Murder

After the dinner, at around ten, the group all went inside the building. Nancy and Ned went together and sat down in the lounge. The lounge was fairly large, with a TV, some bookshelves filled with books, four tables that seated six people each, and a counter on which a coffee maker was placed.

"Why don't we play cards to pass the time?" suggested George. "I brought a deck with me. Who wants to join?"

"I'd love to!" said Diana.

"Count me in," replied Joe, raising his hand.

"Same here," Iola said, somewhat lacking her usual spirit.

Frank, Bess, and Nancy all raised their hands. Marie and Clement also joined, but the others declined.

"I have to take some rest. It's been a long day," said Marie. "I'll see you guys tomorrow morning."

Serge went home because he had to wake up early tomorrow to make the bread and pastry to sell in the morning. Martin also declined because he was too tired to stay up for too long and went to his room. Dr. Devereux went back to his room because he wasn't feeling well. Thus, nine people joined the game. Luckily, George brought another deck with her, so the group decided to divide into two groups.

As the clock displayed ten-thirty, the first game was started. They played numerous games, from poker to Go Fish to gin rummy.

Bess sighed as she folded for the fourth time. "This is so unfair!" she muttered as she put her cards down. "I'm never lucky at poker!"

George, on the other hands, kept getting full houses, flushes, and straights. Bess looked crossly at her cousin. "Why do you get all the luck and I don't?" she said.

Her cousin smiled mischievously. "I guess the god of Poker doesn't like you very much!" she replied.

At eleven o'clock, Diana—who had gone to her room to get something—returned with a key. "Mr. Charlock," she called. "This is the spare key to Renee's room. When I went to her room to say goodnight, she told me to give this to you. She says she feels more at ease when you have the spare key, just in case of emergency."

"All right," said Mr. Charlock. "I'll put it into the drawer." Getting up, he took out a key and unlocked the drawer of the desk in the lobby. Then, after placing the key inside, he slid the drawer back in and locked it.

"By the way," said Bess, "why do you think she asked you to put the key back?"

Diana grinned. "I haven't told you, but I've known Renee since the time she was beginning her career as an actress, which was about five years ago. We've been friends since then."

Joe seemed to be impressed. "Diana," he said, "you're just full of so surprises!"

Iola looked at Joe for a second, but looked away. "Let's resume the game," she said.

The games continued till two in the morning. "Do you think we should go to our rooms?" asked Diana as she looked at the time. Everyone nodded.

"Oh, but we don't have a place to stay!" said Bess.

Mr. Charlock smiled. "It's okay," he said. "I have three more rooms open, so you three can use them."

"Really?" asked George. "That'll be great."

The man then said, "The only payment I need is for me to see you enjoying your time here. Also"—he turned to Nancy—"I'd like to hear about your career as a young detective, Miss Drew."

Nancy smiled and promised to tell him about the mystery next morning during breakfast. Then, after the game came to an end, each of the members that joined the game went to his or her room, and nobody woke up until seven o'clock that morning.


Yawning slightly, Nancy got up and noticed that it was eight in the morning. "It's not that late," she muttered. "And the breakfast is at nine."

She dressed herself and washed her face. By the time she finished, she heard someone outside. Looking out of the window, she noticed that Iola and Joe were standing outside. They seemed to be quarreling.

"I wonder what they're doing this early in the morning," she muttered to herself as she sat down on her bed again and opened her laptop.

"I can't believe you're dumping me for her!" shouted Iola. She seemed more crossed than ever.

"I'm not dumping you," said Joe. "I'm simply talking to her more because I haven't seen her for many years!"

"I don't know about that. Maybe you think that she should be your girlfriend and not me." Iola clutched her shirt tightly with her hand, pushing back her anger.

"You don't understand." Joe was slightly confused as to what he should say. "I really like you, but I also like Diana as well. Please understand this."

Iola turned around sharply and glared at Joe. "Then why were you two talking to each other as if you were boyfriend and girlfriend? Why were you two talking about the promise you made ten years ago? Why don't you understand that I love you?" Tears were pouring out of the girl's eyes now, and she seemed angrier than what she had seemed just two minutes ago.

"Promises…?" Joe didn't know what to say. "So…you overheard our conversation last night?"

"Of course I did!" shouted Iola furiously. "I just happened to pass by when you two were talking like lovers. And all I got from that conversation was that you loved her more than you love me!"

Joe looked at Iola as the girl turned around and walked back into the hotel. He bit his lip and followed her inside. The two didn't talk for a long while. Silence followed again.


"Where is Renee?"

Bess was the first person to notice that someone was missing from the table. The others looked around. Renee wasn't at the table when breakfast was announced. It was nearly nine-ten, but the actress was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think she's still in her room?" asked Frank. Bess shrugged.

"She might be," said Marie. "I'll go wake her up. I'm sure she must be hungry after sleeping for so many hours."

"I'll go with you," Frank said. "I think that she might be having some kind of difficulty, since she is the type of person that's never late."

"Difficulties?" As George heard the word, she shuddered. She didn't like the feeling she was getting since morning. She was sure that something bad was going to happen. She also stood up. "I'll go, too," she suggested. "I really hope she's alright."

The three went to the actress's room and knocked on the door. However, after waiting for a minute, they found no reply.

"That's strange," muttered Marie. "She should be in there by now. Do you think she is outside?"

"No," Frank said, shaking his head. "I checked outside this morning. It was as quiet as a desert."

He put his hands on the knob and turned it. It didn't open. "Darn it. The door's locked, and there's no way I can open it without a key, since the door is too big to break down."

George felt the strange feeling again. "I'll go get Mr. Charlock," she said. "He has the spare key to the room, since Diana gave him the spare key last night when we were playing games."

Mr. Charlock indeed had the key. He took it out of the locked drawer and went straight to the woman's room with the other three. The rest of the guests were beginning to sense that there was something wrong.

"Are you okay, Miss Frazier?" asked the caretaker as he knocked on the door one last time. Then, still hearing no reply, he unlocked the door and opened it.

Marie was the first one to enter. "Renee, are you al…"

She stopped as she saw what was in the room. There was nobody in the bed, and it was clean and unwrinkled. But on the floor was a person. The person was Renee. She lay on the floor with her face and chest on the ground, and her hair spread out, covering most of her face. The woman's face was mostly covered with her brown hair, but her eyes were clearly seen, for her hair had not covered it. Her eyes were half-open, staring at nothing in particular. In fact, the eyes weren't moving at all. Neither did the woman's body. The woman was dead, and all Marie saw was the soulless body of a once-famous actress, who could speak no more.

An ear-splitting scream rang throughout the hotel. Marie staggered backwards, and her hands flew up to her mouth. Her eyes were as wide as full moon. She looked as if she saw a ghost.

Frank entered the room and saw the same thing. So did Mr. Charlock. The two, however, didn't act like the photographer. They immediately took their handkerchiefs out and walked towards the body. Touching the neck of the actress, Frank shook his head, signaling that the woman was no longer alive.

Mr. Charlock felt the hands, legs, and other various parts of the woman's body. Then, he looked at Frank. "She has been dead for some time now. I'd say she was killed about four hours ago."

"Four hours…" muttered Frank. "That's at five o'clock in the morning."

The other detective nodded. "We'll have to call the police."

The guests were at the door, and Bess gasped as she saw the woman's body. "That can't be!" she shouted. "She's…dead?"

Frank nodded. "And we should call the police now."

The detective went to the phone and took the receiver off the cradle. He got ready to dial, but when he heard nothing, his face got pale. He immediately checked the phone. There wasn't anything wrong with it. He checked the back of the phone. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He checked it again. He had to admit that what he saw was true: the modular cable was missing.

"Did you call the police?" asked Bess. She and the other guests were rushing down the stairs.

Frank shook his head. "The modular cable of the phone is missing," he announced.

Everyone was shocked to hear this. Nancy then suggested, "I'll go try my car."

The girl detective went out of the room and to the parking lot. When she got there, she saw a horrifying sight. The tires of all cars were slashed with a knife, and all the tires were flat. She immediately went inside and told the rest what she had seen. They were as shocked to hear this as she was.

"So we're stuck here?" asked Dr. Devereux. "What about the killer?"

"I'm sure the killer is still inside," said Mr. Charlock, coming from inside the building. "And I have to say that this killer is by far the cleverest criminal that I've seen in a long time."

"What makes you say so?" asked Martin.

Mr. Charlock explained, "The room was completely locked. When I went to check the window, I found it locked from inside, and when I checked the door, it was also locked before I put the key into it. And as far as I can remember, the spare key was given to me by this young lady over here"—he pointed to Diana—"at eleven o'clock yesterday. Then, I locked it up in the drawer in the main lobby. That explains one thing: the key was unusable from eleven last night to nine this morning."

The man then went on. "But when I found the only other key to the room in the drawer of the desk in the victim's room, I knew that it couldn't be used either because nobody could lock the door and then return the key back into the drawer and close the drawer when finished."

Martin then interrupted, "So the woman was killed before the room was locked. And if that's the case, then that girl named Diana is the killer!"

The guests turned to Diana, who was shivering with shock. "I…I didn't kill Miss Windham! When I went to her, she was still alive and told me to give the key to Mr. Charlock!"

"But you can be lying," said Martin. "You could have killed her and then gave Mr. Charlock the key. That's the only possible reason!"

"No!" shouted Joe. He ran in between Martin and Diana. "She can't be the killer!" he shouted angrily at the man. "She has no motive!"

Frank stopped his brother by holding his shoulder. "Joe," he said, "listen to what Mr. Charlock has to say."

Everyone's eyes turned to the middle-aged detective. Mr. Charlock started his explanation again: "When I checked the victim, I found that rigor mortis had already set in. Because when a person dies, her body loses circulation, so the body stiffens. And after decades of experience as a professional detective, I am proud to say that I can analyze the time of death as precisely as any police investigator. And after I checked the victim, I found out that she had died just four hours ago, which is same as five in the morning today."

Nancy gasped. "Are you saying that…?"

Mr. Charlock nodded. "I'm saying that the woman was killed after I got the spare key. But if a person kills her and then closes the door, he won't be able to lock it, since the doors here aren't auto-locks."

"So he had to use the key to lock the room," added Frank. "But when we looked at the drawer, we found the key inside the closed drawer. That means after the killer killed Renee, he closed the door, locked it, and somehow put the key back into the drawer, and then closed it. Do you think something that complicated could be done from outside?"

Everybody looked at the two detectives in horror. "That's not possible!" shouted Marie. "So…the killer disappeared without a trace?"

Frank nodded. "And not only that," he added, "he might still be in here, among the guests that are now trapped in this hotel."


Postscript: The biggest different between this and the previous story is that the door is no auto-lock. Therefore, the door cannot lock itself unless you turn the small knob from the inside. But this also means that when the detectives entered the room, the victim was with the killer, but that's not the case. Did the person walk through walls again, or is there a different way? More coming up, and don't forget to review, as always!