The next day felt good for Dustin. With two team victories under his belt, the Swing Gang was establishing a clear dominance over the Boomers.
"And we can keep it going." Dustin noted silently so as not to wake up his teammates. "We just use our talents and let them run as they will, how can we lose?"
Over in the Boomer's cabin, Kristen was a lot gloomier. Losing a challenge always put a damper on the mood, but to lose two in a row was something depressing.
(Confession Cam)
"I sure hope we get things in gear." Kristen confessed. "I mean, Ben got the axe because he just ran headlong into things and didn't have a plan of attack."
Christian was sitting at the mirror, administering the wounds he had picked up while jumping through the wall. The pain was gone, but he found the ones on his chest would ache if he exerted himself too much.
(Confession Cam)
"I do love a physical challenge, but I hope today is something not. It wouldn't be a good thing to get these reopened. I'm just glad that Sophie knew a thing or two about this." Christian confided.
(Confession Cam)
"Help out Christian with his injuries? Of course I would do it. He's a valued member of our team, such a nice guy, and I get to rub all over him. What's not to like?" Sophie confessed.
Outside of the trailers, neither Chris nor Chef were anywhere to be found. However, they appear to have left something for the campers, for a large hanging rack was placed in front of the doorways, with plastic bundles hanging from hangers occupying it. When Kristen went outside to investigate them, she saw that on the rack were some clothes. She removed one of them and removed the plastic. It appeared to be some sort of costume, but not one she was familiar with. A pair of men's slacks, a short-sleeved collared shirt, and a black vest with the word "Kelly" around it.
"That's Sheldon's last name, if I remember." Kristen returned the outfit to the rack, and noticed on the bottom were several black bags. She opened one of them to see various props. Badges, hats, and fake guns all occupied the bags. She gathered her teammates to look over the gear.
"Well, it's not a surprise what this is. This is all police gear." Sheldon informed. "And take a look here, our last names tell us which costume belongs to which person." He jabbed at Kristen, who huffed at him.
"A cop drama?" Alice asked. "I don't really like those."
"Me neither." Victoria added. "There's lots of death and blood in them." Victoria's face paled.
(Confession Cam)
"This challenge does worry me a little bit for my little sis. She's pretty squeamish." Stephen confessed. "But there's more to this stuff then just blood. We just need to pick the right things."
After the campers had changed into their new costumes, they sat down at the picnic tables for breakfast. Chris joined them later.
"Good morning, officers." He changed his greeting. "Liking the new threads?"
"Not bad." Doug answered Chris's rhetorical question.
"Anyway, as you've probably guessed, this week's challenge is the cop drama. In many ways, this is the drama that innovates and pushes the boundaries for other different types of shows.
"We didn't ask for a history lesson." Sheldon commented, causing the host to scowl.
"Each of you teams will be taking part in trying to solve the same case." Chris explained. "There's a crime scene to investigate, witnesses to question, evidence to process, and a killer to catch. The thing is, there will only be one accusation made. You may tell me at any time who you, as a team, think is the criminal. If you are right, your team wins, and the other team votes someone out tonight. If you are wrong, then your team is the losers, and everyone will know who it was that cost the team the challenge. Heh, doesn't that suck!" Chris seemed unusually cheerful when he delivered the final line.
"Figures." Parker returned. "When do we start the challenge."
"One hour." Chris replied. "Meet at Studio E. Everything you need will be there."
The hour passed by quickly for the Boomers. Sheldon assigned himself the duty of interviewing the witnesses.
"More then one person will go, but make sure you get everything down and bring it to me." He expertly delineated tasks to his team. The rest of the Boomers didn't seem to question him at first.
"Whose going to take the body?" Doug asked.
"Not you." Sheldon replied. "Tomboy and Southern can take it."
"Hey." Kristen protested. "You think I want to see a dead body?"
"And who else could do it?" Sheldon questioned. Kristen started to think, but the other choices on the team were not going to work. Doug wasn't bright enough, Alice would probably freak out, and Sophie was too nice.
(Confession Cam)
"These types of challenges are won when we have a real defined game plan." Sheldon replied. "Honestly, I don't think anyone here besides me is capable, but we're going to have a time crunch against the Swing Gang. Never underestimate stupid people in large numbers."
The Swing Gang was just as serious as the Boomers when deciding on what to do.
"I'll...handle the people." Victoria was eager to avoid anything relating to the body.
"I'll work with you." Dustin replied. "People might have twitches and tells, and that would help out."
"I don't mind the blood." Stephen crossed his arms. "I don't mind looking at the body seeing what I can find. It's not going to be real anyway. I'll take Stripes with me." He gestured towards Casey, who didn't seem pleased with his nickname.
When the campers arrived at Studio E, they were greeted by a disgusting sight. Chris was nowhere to be found, but lying smack dab in the middle of the lot was a clearly dead body. Propped up in the back of a flatbed truck with a large knife sticking out of his gut, there was no saving this poor soul.
"Is...is that real?" Kristen seemed reviled. Victoria turned away. Casey took a few steps towards it.
"I...I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, there's no way, right? Chris may be a sadistic bastard, but he's not a murderer." Casey reported. No one else seemed to agree with him, but the contestants who agreed to stick with the body huddled around it while the rest moved quickly into the studio.
Inside the studio building, several offices were situated off to the side. When Sophie took a closer look at them, she saw that each office had a name written on the door on a piece of tape.
"That's weird." Sophie thought. She thought to enter, but stopped when she heard Doug calling over to her. He was assembled with the other campers at a table, where several clipboards and folders were lying.
"This is the case information, folders for each of us. I'll take this and this case of equipment out to our teammates." Sheldon informed. "Make sure you read." He darted towards the door.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Sophie thought inwardly, before she sat in a chair to read the file.
According to the file, the victim was named Eugene Crane, and that was his truck the body was found in. He was apparently a maintenance man for the studio. The time of death was between 10 and 11 AM, and there were three suspects, all of whom were located in the offices. Mark seemed completely lost in thought as he read over the details.
"Did you see something important?" Parker asked. Mark put down the report.
"Trying to come up with the appropriate questions." Mark replied. "How about Victoria goes in and asks questions now, and I'll go in later when the evidence comes back." Victoria agreed, and went into the first room.
The door read "Celeste Blackburn." Inside of the room, a very elegant woman sat, smoking a cigarette and occasionally fluffing her feather boa.
"Is this the detective?" Celeste seemed to regard Victoria with disdain.
"I'm Victoria." Victoria introduced herself.
"Celeste Blackburn, actress." The woman huffed again. "I suppose you're wanting to ask me about the maintenance servant. What of the little man."
"You seem to have a great deal of disdain for him." Victoria noted.
"For that insect? Me? Please. I glorified his day by letting him bask in my presence as he toiled around."
"If that's so, why even bother with acknowledging him. Why recognize him?" Victoria posed.
"He dared, that's why. He deigned speak to me without my permission. And what's worse is that he ordered me. Me, Celeste Blackburn. The only person an actress listens to is the producer and the muses. Never to the lowly masses."
"And so he slighted you. Made you mad?"
"I see what you are doing, peon. But let me tell you that I would never do something so bourgeois. I took my constitutional this morning, then was in make-up from 10:30 until now. So I couldn't have done it. Now will you please let me leave. I have a performance to give and the lives of the filth to enlighten."
(Confession Cam)
"Chris certainly can get the characters. Mark will have a field day with that one." Victoria confessed.
After Sheldon had given the reports to Kristen and Christian, it wasn't long before Casey and Stephen were given their own copies.
"See anything unusual?" Casey asked.
"I'm really not certain what I'm looking for." Stephen replied. "This report tells us things we already know, and I don't see anything that contradicts it. The knife did the guy in.
"Did they do fingerprints on it?" Casey asked. "I know that much, at least."
"Said there weren't any. But there would have to be a lot of blood coming out from something like this. What do they call that stuff that they spray and check for blood with?"
"I don't remember, let's ask when we go in." Stephen bent in closer around the body to investigate the head. The victim was bald and wearing a baseball cap, and when Stephen removed it, he saw a clear bruise around the victim's head.
"That sure wasn't mentioned. I'll tell the others, you keep looking around." Stephen tried his best to not give any hints to the other team, who were looking around the bottom of the truck for more clues.
While Victoria went in to speak with Celeste, Alice had gone into the office next door, where a suited middle-aged man with graying hair sat patiently. When he saw Alice, he stood up, shook her hand brusquely, and returned to his seat.
"Robert St. Claire. I'm the owner and director of this studio." He introduced himself. "Such a shame what happened to old Eugene."
"You knew him."
"He's been a friend of mine since my hair was all black. It may be gray, but at least I've got a full head of it." The man laughed at his own joke, while Alice groaned a little.
"So, tell me. What has your day been like?" Alice asked innocently, trying to avoid another lame joke.
"Well, it's all been awful since they found poor Gene. But before that I was in my office, trying to write up some new scripts. With that awful economy going around, I don't have as many writers as I would like, so I thought I'd try my old hand at it. Didn't do all that great, but I've made some progress."
"Were you alone?" Alice asked.
"Yes, I was." Robert replied. "I had a hard enough time doing my real job with other people around distracting me, asking me to fix their problems. Wasn't about to let someone else around when I barely knew what I was doing. Sorry that's not helpful."
"Did you notice anything weird happening?"
"No, not really. I heard Celeste moaning about something outside a little after 10, just after I got done with Mark. She had already finished her run and was supposed to be in makeup, but she ran off somewhere. What a surprise, she always had a problem with directions. I'd like to introduce my foot...but that's for another time. Was there anything else?"
"No, that'll do it for now. Thank you."
(Confession Cam)
"Wow, that was pretty easy." Alice confessed. "But I don't think we should say we're done just yet."
In the third and final room, Sophie was meeting with Frank Masters, the cameraman. He seemed annoyed and brief with her, but he wasn't cruel or harsh with her.
"I was nowhere near the studio today." He replied. "I spent the morning with the director, we were arguing over money. That guy, he's nice as hell until the checkbook comes out, then he's a real cheapskate. He was like that with Gene too. Friends for years, and paid Gene dirt. Anyway, I left to clear my head, then I saw that old actress lady running towards the studio like she saw a ghoat or something."
"Was there anything unusual about her?" Sophie asked.
"Other then the fact that she didn't insult me as she walked by? No." Frank replied. "But she ran into the bathroom." Eager for that knowledge, she thanked Frank and returned to Sheldon.
Sheldon listened to the stories given by his teammates. As he started to think, he looked over at Mark, who was being informed of something by Stephen. He heard him mention something about a bloodstain.
"Bloodstain?" Sheldon wondered. He was then joined by Christian. Rather then listen to what Christian had to say, Sheldon posed questions to him about the body.
"I see. So that's what he means. Christian, we're going to need a substance called luminol. Get it and meet me back here." Sheldon started to assemble his team.
Meanwhile, Mark was trying to plan a strategy of his own. He had sent Dustin and Ellie to get testimonies to add to Victoria's, and now he was ready to make his move.
"Ever here of the saying 'Good Cop, Bad Cop'" He asked Parker.
"I think so." She replied.
"We're going to squeeze a confession out of these people and catch them in their lies. Let's start with the director." He and Parker moved towards St. Claire's room, to see Sheldon walking out with the man's blue blazer.
"That's weird." Mark thought, but it immediately went into the room.
"Oh, hello, Detectives." Robert greeted them kindly.
"Jig is up, old man." Mark was terse, and strode into the room. "You've been lying to the law."
"Mark." Parker started to protest, unsure of what exactly her partner was doing.
"I'm sorry?" Robert seemed confused.
"What's the deal, director man. We going to run around all day?" Mark asked. "I can book you and take you downtown. See if you'll be more cooperative there."
"I'm being."
"You weren't writing." Mark slammed his fist on the desk. "Otherwise you'd write up a better story. Here's one. Cameraman argues with director about money all day, goes off in a huff."
"Mark, don't you think you're taking this too far?" Parker asked.
"Detective Williams." Mark ignored her. "Where did the knife come from?"
"It belonged to the victim. Apparently he took it out to do some work on his car."
"So he's doing a little repair work and you come along. And, like always, your good old buddy asks to bum something off you. Maybe some quick change, maybe a smoke, who knows. But it pisses you off, cause he's been doing it for years. So you take that knife and you..."
"Stop! I didn't do it!" Robert seemed frantic. "It wasn't my fault."
"What wasn't your fault?" Parker posed. Mark smiled.
(Confession Cam)
"I wasn't sure whether or not he was the guilty one, but he was hiding something, and I was going to get him to spill his guts to me. Victory is mine!" Mark confessed.
Parker and Mark exited the office with large smiles on their faces. They knew what had happened, they knew exactly what to tell Chris. They walked over to where he was sitting, calmly filing his nails as he had been doing since the game started. However, Sheldon was already there.
"Chris." He reported. "We're going to make an accusation."
"Crap." Mark kicked the ground. "He beat us."
"Are you sure?" Chris asked.
"Absolutely." Sheldon replied. "The killer is Celeste, but Robert helped her."
"What makes you say that?" Chris said.
"It's all a matter of testimony and evidence. Celeste went out for her daily run. She said she went to makeup afterward, but that wasn't true. She left and ran into Eugene by his truck. Eugene had been in a row with Robert about money earlier, and was in no mood for her and her attitude. While he was repairing his car, Celeste tripped over his toolbox. When she demanded he apologize for the insult, he refused. Angered, she grabbed the box and swung it at him, knocking him out. Realizing that he would report her when he came to, she grabbed a knife from the box and stabbed him in the gut. She then ran in to get Robert to help her adjust the crime scene, try to make it look like Robert wasn't repairing his car, seem more like a suicide. I found traces of blood on the inside cuffs of Robert's jacket, which meant he got blood on his shirt when he moved the body, but there was no blood on the outside, so he couldn't have done it. So it had to be Celeste. We discovered when we searched her, and found a pair of bloody thin gloves she always wore."
"Wow, impressive. And that's absolutely correct." Chris praised. "Well done, Boomers. You've scored your first victory. You guys could really use that, huh?"
"Bite me. Now give me the Silver Screen." Sheldon ordered.
"Not a chance. Mark's vigilante cop performance was much better then your delivery. It's all about the pacing, dude." Sheldon seemed angry that the award wasn't for him.
(Confession Cam)
"I do think Mark deserved the award today." Parker confessed. "But now I've got to think who should get voted off. It really came down to time, so I think it's going to have to be something that caused us to waste time."
At the Elimination ceremony, the Swing Gang was tense. They picked up their voting machines, and seemed to deliberate a long time before making their choices.
"You've all cast your votes and made your decisions. One of you will be leaving Total Drama Action tonight. When I call your name, come up and get your Gilded Chris award. And the first one goes to Mark."
"None other." Mark grabbed his trophy.
"Elizabeth, you're safe too." Ellie seemed genuinely relieved as she received her trophy.
"Dustin." He let out a cheer and quickly grabbed his piece of safety.
"Parker." Mark chuckled as Parker claimed her trophy. Parker tried her best to ignore him.
"Stephen." Chris threw the trophy to Stephen, who caught it expertly.
"And this is the final trophy. Either Victoria or Casey will be leaving here tonight. Who is it going to be?" Chris dangled the trophy in front of them. Victoria was pensive, while Casey had a look of horror on his face.
"Casey." Casey slumped his shoulders in relief, as Victoria, sighed, and started to walk down the carpet.
"Good luck, bro." Were the only words she said as she waved goodbye to everyone, and the limo drove out of sight.
(Confession Cam)
"It's a little sad, but Victoria was really worked up about dealing with the blood. That testimony she gave us wasn't as helpful, though it really wasn't her fault. Just bad luck I guess. Sorry, hon." Dustin confessed.
