Chapter Two
You Have Been Selected to be a Part of
An Experience of a Lifetime...
A Very Special Event Has Been
Created with You in Mind...
This Will be a Weekend That
You Just Cannot Afford to Miss...
Come for the Food, the Wine or the Mystery
Because it's all Free* for You as a Guest...
You are Invited to a
Party that is Simply to Die for...
It's a Halloween Murder Mystery Weekend
That Could Prove to be so Much More...
Thursday October 27th Through Sunday October 30th
Two Thousand and Eleven...
Your Room has Been Reserved while the Food,
the Cocktails and the Fun await Your Arrival...
Your Transportation is all Arranged
All that is Missing is You…
Your Presence is Requested
At Five O'Clock** in the Afternoon...
At
Eden Manor
Higher Townsend Road
Grafton, Vermont
(Portrayed as Collinsworth. Vermont)
RSVP
Bella Grand at 123-456-7890
or email your RSVP
(Transportation Information, Game Details, and Character Biographies to be Mailed Upon Your RSVP Confirmation)
(*This Weekend is a Promotional Event and is Totally Free for the first Twenty-Five Guests to RSVP)
(**Arrival Time is any time after Ten AM Thursday Morning - Event Will Begin Promptly at Five PM in the Lounge of Eden Manor)
Later the same Day – Boston/Vermont/Boston
"Seriously, Nate?" Eliot asked trying his best not to focus on the images springing forth from the monitor screens that made up Hardison's briefing wall. He could feel a headache coming on and this was so not the type of job he would have liked to do so soon after this past month's events.
Eliot had spent nearly every day getting his strength back physically, but he still felt a little stiff, and he was really more in the mood to perform his job with some mindless hitting rather than having to perform as some insanely silly character that his own sister probably made up just to tease him with. If he was forced to do this, he knew he'd end up punching something and most likely it would be the wrong something; which if he'd thought about it, would involve mindless hitting.
Nate turned from his position facing the monitors where he had been updating the others on this job. He raised one eyebrow at Eliot's tone of voice before he spoke. "Something wrong with this job, Eliot?" He asked, hoping he sounded neutral.
Eliot quietly ran one hand nervously through his longer than usual hair before he focused on Nate. He hadn't found the time to get it trimmed to his liking and it was beginning to bug him. "Is something wrong?" He mocked the mastermind. "Yeah, I'd say that there's something wrong."
"What? I think it looks like fun." Parker added from her seat next to the hitter. Her eyes twinkled from the light overhead as she spoke, causing Eliot to wince slightly. Parker was happy, and when Parker was happy, someone else wasn't going to be; and that someone was usually Eliot. "It's simple and it's like that time Nate killed the mark."
"Parker, I did not... Never mind." Nate sighed heavily. "This is not like that at all. This is to help Eliot's sister and her friends. I thought you'd jump at the chance to help out Emma." He added to Eliot.
Eliot sighed too. "Yeah, well... that's just one of the many problems I see with this job." He loved his sister, but Eliot knew all too well that whatever Emma had told Nate wasn't the entire truth if Nate thought they were just helping the woman bring some criminals to justice. He knew all too well Emma always had an agenda to the things she did, so either she hadn't told Nate everything, or Nate was leaving a lot of important facts out. "I know Emma, Nate... and I know you... and this..." He pointed to all the information Hardison had posted in front of them. "This is not just a fun weekend to bring in a bunch of bad guys. There's more here than meets the eye. Either she's holding back all of the details or..." He let the sentence trail off as he watched Nate.
Nate had known it would be nearly impossible to keep Eliot as in the dark as Emma expected, but he hadn't thought it would be this hard. Right from the get-go, he'd had to start telling white lies to keep Emma's secret of who the true mastermind behind this was. So far, he'd only told Hardison all the facts, and that was basically because of all the information in the folder on the guests plus the fact that Hardison was going to be the one team member doing more than just the role assigned to him.
In Nate's opinion, Hardison's role was going to be the hardest because he was going to have to perform plus try and cover all the players and guests involved, which were a lot. Hardison was going to be spread thin, and that made Eliot's role in all this that much harder, too. Eliot would have to be in several places at once if he wanted to keep an eye on his team as well as everyone else. Plus trying to keep Eliot focused on not killing any of them when they finally arrived, and he found out that Kat was the true ringleader of this circus.
"I don't see what's wrong here. I'm with Parker, this will be fun, Eliot. Emma's done a fantastic job putting all of this together and her guest list is impressive. I only wish we could add more bad guys and their money to this guest list. There is a never-ending supply of really bad guys in this world." Sophie spoke up turning to look past Parker from her seat beside her, to speak directly to Eliot. "Since when do you question how we take down the bad guys, Eliot? You've always performed perfectly, and I don't see anything wrong with this job. It seems pretty simple considering the amount of people that will be involved."
"It looks like fun?" Eliot questioned her. Of course, to Sophie it would look like fun. Any excuse to attend a party was considered fun for the grifter. "If Emma has been planning this event for months, I can guarantee you that Matt or Vance would have dropped a hint to me sooner or later. There is no way they'd be able to keep this a secret from me. They both have to know what's going on." Eliot continued to watch Nate as he spoke. "And by scanning this cast of characters list, they have prominent roles, so I know for a fact they'd be dropping a hint to me sooner or later. It doesn't matter what's happened over the past month, they would have said something. They know I hate surprises, especially where Emma is concerned."
Hardison spoke up then. "Look El, man... I don't really see a problem, even if they managed to keep it from you. It's a great idea, getting so many bad guys in one place and taking them all down at once. Maybe Vance and Whitmore have been sworn to secrecy by their spouses. We all know just how secretive you can be when your forced to by the government." Hardison took in the hard look Eliot turned on him. "Hey, I'm not complaining man, we all got a past and no one wants to broadcast the things we've done. I'm just saying being threatened by Emma is probably just like being threatened by Uncle Sam where Matt is concerned." He smiled to try and let the hitter know he wasn't trying to pry.
Eliot sighed again as he took that in. "You're probably right, Emma can be like a natural disaster when it comes to breaking her confidences." He chuckled lightly. "OK, I'll do it, but I still think there's more here than Emma's telling you." He turned to meet Nate's eyes as he spoke. The look he conveyed told Nate that if he wasn't being honest with him, Eliot was going to be pissed. And that was one thing Nate never wanted to experience. Being on the receiving end of Eliot's anger.
Nate breathed a sigh of relief though as he watched Hardison pick up where he'd left off on the briefing of the guest list. One Eliot sized pothole in the road to Vermont down, umpteen more to go before they got to the mansion. He silently prayed all would go smoothly; at least until they arrived at the mansion and he could pass Eliot and his anger off to his sister, who he had no doubt would be able to handle it.
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"Everything is looking good on this end, Bella." Emma reported into her cell. "Eliot is way too suspicious, but Nate said he's agreed to the role and they'll be meeting me and Matt at the Grafton Inn on Wednesday morning. Matt will be flying us to the mansion, then he'll be heading back to town to stay overnight and prepare to fly in the guests as each batch arrives in town on Thursday." She paused as she rifled through her notes. "It looks like every guest we've invited as accepted from your email updates and no more problems are cropping up so far. How are things on your end?" She asked, knowing Bella was probably having as hard a time keeping Kat in the dark as Nate was with Eliot.
"Surprisingly well. I told Kat that I had a friend she could trust helping out and she seemed to accept that without too much fuss." Bella smiled into her own phone. "The woman is going stir crazy up at the cabin where she's been the past few weeks and she hates having to stay under the radar, but since we don't know if anything else will come from this past month, it's safer for her there. I assume Eliot has been working on seeing if this is all over while he's been recovering as well?"
Emma laughed lightly as she thought about that. "Eliot has been going crazy too, from Hardison's daily reports; but I know Eliot is probably keeping track of everyone involved with Evan and I know Vance and Matt will be keeping him more informed; especially now. I've been to see him once and Matt's checked in on him twice; we both got the same response from him each time, and I'm quoting here, 'I'm fine. Leave me alone and I'll continue to be fine.' That's how Eliot handles things; on his own. I doubt even Nate, or the others would be able to get past his walls on how he is choosing to deal with this whole thing. I'm still not sure what to think myself." She paused, then laughed as she remembered something. "But Sophie did tell me she was able to get the doctors to lock him down for a whole week in the hospital right after the second shooting. Something about him saying she was like a mother hen I think and so she grifted her way past his doctors and got him locked down as not being in his right mind from all the pain. I think she was posing as me from what I understand, and Eliot is mad at me for letting her get away with being me."
Emma remembered Sophie calling her to tell her what she'd done. She'd laughed, but she'd also been grateful because the damn man had needed the time to heal and if left alone, they all knew as well as her that he'd have snuck out of the hospital as soon as he could focus on one door and even if not, as long as he was able to walk through the right one, he'd be gone. They knew once he left, he'd have gone off the grid and wouldn't have been found until he wanted to be found.
Sophie's way had not only given Eliot time to heal a little, but it had also given his team time to keep him close and watch his every move until they could trust he wouldn't face plant trying to get from one spot to another. She was so grateful that Eliot finally had someone to keep him focused on who he really was. Eliot was a good man, he just needed to believe that when he was told that.
In his mind, Eliot would never allow those words to sink in from himself, but from his team, his extended family, well... maybe... Emma had seen for herself how much good they were doing in slowly keeping Eliot focused on who he truly was. Maybe one day he would be able to look in the mirror and see what they all saw when they looked at him. Maybe he wouldn't be lost to her anymore.
Emma silently shook off the worry and feelings that thinking of her brother always brought out of her. In a few days, she'd be seeing him again and once he got past his anger at being lied to, he just might enjoy the weekend that Kat and Bella had worked so hard on. She just might get to see her brother enjoying himself and she was anxious to see Eliot and his team working together on a job.
"Well, I can understand that." Bella laughed along with Emma. "Honestly, though I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to see those two together and not injured. In the warehouse, well..." She drifted a moment as she thought back to being held captive in that warehouse before Kat and Eliot had come to get her. "Well, let's just say I've never in my life of knowing Kat as I do, I have never seen her put a man she barely knows life above her own. Women and children, even some men who have been family yes, but to see her do what she did to save Eliot, a stranger to me... I just can't tell you how much I learned in that instant about the woman I thought I already knew well. Both myself and Sam saw how she reacted when she first arrived with him at the cabin, but that was nothing compared to the way she reacted to the fear of losing him in that warehouse." She cleared her throat as it suddenly seemed to close off. "I've never seen Kat even look at another man that way. And I can tell you, in that instant when Eliot knew what Kat was doing, I saw the same look in his eyes. I'm really glad I didn't see the ending after Nate got me outside. I don't think I'd have made it…"
Emma coughed lightly as she felt the emotional pull of what the woman was telling her. "Well then, I'd say we're pretty much already family then, wouldn't you?"
"Yes!" Bella laughed. "So as big sisters, it's our job to make sure our siblings work things out and see what we all see, don't you agree?"
"Yes, Bella." Emma said suddenly happier than she'd been in a while where Eliot was concerned. "Yes, I do!"
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Eliot stood quietly in Nate's kitchen chopping vegetables for their dinner. He was working at the kitchen bar so that he could keep an eye on what was going on in the living area. He had brought food with him fresh from the Farmer's Market after Nate had called for a meeting about this job. He half-listened to everything being said by his team, but he couldn't help letting his thoughts drift a little.
This was going to be their first job since the whole Evan thing and while he knew he needed to be doing something, Eliot still had this feeling at the back of his mind that was telling him something wasn't right with all of this. He'd learned long ago to always listen to that feeling and it had saved his life too many times to count. Eliot knew Emma, but he knew Nate almost as well, and because of that he suspected something else was going on here than just a job.
One of them was hiding something, and Eliot was putting his money on Emma being the one doing the hiding, and as such she'd roped Nate into covering for her. The man hadn't looked Eliot directly in the eye since he'd announced this job. That meant either something was bothering Nate... or he was hiding something. The others didn't seem to notice, but Eliot had. It was something he'd learned long ago, always know how to read people. It wasn't about being able to grift like Sophie did; it was more about survival for Eliot. Knowing what someone was or wasn't doing that they normally did, that could tell you a lot about what might be about to go down.
Nate was a brilliant mastermind. The man could see ten different endings in one vision and know just which plan to apply and when, but he also had a tell: a major one. When Nate couldn't look people he cared about in the eye and continue lying to them, then something was up. Eliot grabbed the fresh celery from his left and began to make quick work of chopping it for his stew. Yep, he thought. Something was up with this job and the only thing he could be sure of was that once they arrived in Vermont to meet Emma and Matt, he'd find out all the details or he was going to throw a major wrench in all of their work; job or no job.
Eliot had a nagging suspicion of what it was his sister was trying to hide, and while it did piss him off, it also gave him pause. He had a feeling that neither his sister nor Nate were the true masterminds behind all of this.
He had quickly scanned the Cast of Characters list Nate had shared and noticed several names blacked out or marked off. The others probably assumed that the names were all the people that had backed out and Emma needed to replace, but Eliot had a different assumption in mind.
Hardison had posted the listing but without anything marked out before he'd realized it and he'd quickly pulled it saying it was the wrong list; but he hadn't pulled it fast enough. Not before Eliot had caught two names on the list, the only names he recognized other than his team's. Sam and Bella Thompson. The friends of Kat's who had been involved in helping her to help him. They were very close friends of hers.
Eliot looked up from his work to find Nate and Hardison discussing something quietly between them, while the girls sat going over the character biographies. This event wasn't Emma's idea. No, he had a feeling that the person behind all of this was a honey-colored blonde with huge emerald green eyes, and a stubborn streak to rival his own.
It wasn't hard to put two and two together here. Eliot smiled to himself as he bent back down to focus on the carrots next. Yes, he knew what they were up to alright; and while he didn't like being manipulated or lied to, he had to admit if only to himself that he was kind of looking forward to seeing Kat again.
He suddenly stopped chopping and reached out to snatch a green apple from the fruit bowl further to his left. He quickly sliced the fruit in two and brought one half up to his face, but instead of taking a bite, he pushed it under his nose to inhale the tangy scent of fresh green apples. He had found himself missing that smell these past few weeks. It wasn't like getting the scent from the freshly washed shampoo that Kat used, but it would do. For now.
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AN: Here are some of the biographies for you - the Mansion Bella and Sam acquired does not exist, but the town of Grafton, Vermont does. So, it's highly possible this home might be there somewhere. I have no idea myself as I have never been there but have relatives who lived there when I researched my family's history. I looked it up and found it be the perfect town for my vision, so I'm using it. Grafton is a small town of about 700 people in Windham County of Vermont. The Grafton Inn does exist and is a historic part of the town. At this time of year, you can expect the temperatures to range from between a low of 30 degrees to a high of about 55-60 degrees. I'm calling the home Eden Manor for the basis of my mystery storyline and the town is called Collinsworth - a nod to Collinsport from Dark Shadows. I hope you are enjoying this. Starting with the next chapter the team will be arriving and everything should begin focusing on the murder mystery. Also, it should be noted in case it doesn't come out clearly in the story that most of the characters that have secrets, are based on one of the guests that have been invited. An * in their bios indicates they have a secret that one of the guests is guilty of having as well. These are the guests that Kat is wanting to get put away. Warning on those secrets - some may be graphic and/or not appropriate for younger readers, so remember that when the secrets are being revealed after each murder.
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1. Katharine "Kat" (Malone) Wakefield as Mona "Miss Mona/Mona" Ramona Eden-Collinsworth - Miss Mona is the beautiful, but somewhat reclusive owner of Eden Manor, a home that has been in the Eden family for centuries. Her great grandmother, an Eden, married a Collinsworth and merged the two families into one. She briefly married in her early twenties but was widowed in a year and she has never remarried. She has chosen to use her great grandmother's chosen name of Eden-Collinsworth. She doesn't want her home turned into a Bed & Breakfast Inn as her sister (Miss Tina/Tina) wants to do. Mona has fought her sister on this, but she finally relents with this first event as she can see it could well be profitable in the future. She relents with the stipulation that this first event is free to their guests. She does this so that she can determine just how good the game of the mystery will be and just how profitable it could be if the guests were paying. She has had the manor remodeled to accommodate guests and opened areas of the home that haven't been opened in the past. She has her reasons though, for wanting to keep herself as well as her home secluded from too many prying eyes and her sister is aware of those reasons. Mona has several dark secrets she is hiding. She once dated the current mayor of Collinsworth (Tommy) and his brother (Charlie), who is married to her sister; and she is currently carrying on a highly secret affair with the newest resident of Collinsworth, the town's sheriff (Randy). *Her main secret is she is running a high-priced brothel from her home. She has an impressive list of high-profile clients and she has helped to cover -up several felonies committed by her clients as well as her girls; the least of which includes murder. She knows their secrets and she uses her girls to feed her information so she can blackmail those guilty clients.
2. Eliot Spencer as Sheriff Randall "Randy" Taylor - Once an eagle-eyed big city (Philadelphia) detective, Randy's shrewd and cunning nature has helped him to spot the bad guys more often than not... but Sheriff Taylor has his own secrets; secrets he would rather never come to light and this weekend could prove a disaster for him as well. He and 3 of his deputies have also been invited to the event with the stipulation they provide security. Will Randy discover Mona's dark past or will she discover his? Randy is an exceptionally good-looking man who had many hidden talents, the least of which is the uncanny ability to perform his job without wearing a gun. He is highly trained in hand-to-hand combat as well as other lethal forms of weaponry. *His man secret is that while he was a detective in Philadelphia, he used his police knowledge to rob the wealthy elderly patrons of the city. He was never caught since he usually committed the robberies when no one was at home, but on his last job, he was caught by the elderly female owner and he was forced to lock her in a closet to complete the robbery and escape. He found out when assigned the case as a cop the next day, that the woman died in the closet as she wasn't able to free herself and she suffered a heart attack. Her body was only found when a neighbor reported the woman was always seen by her every morning, and she was worried when she didn't appear the next morning. Randy left the city the following day and while he feels great remorse at the woman's death, he has never confessed, nor has he ever gone back to Philadelphia.
3. Sophie Devereaux as Paula-Ann "Annie" Merry - The beautiful and demure wife of Dr. Merry, who once held many a man enthralled by her beauty. Her husband (Peter), herself and their niece (Parker-not that Parker!) are guests for the weekend due to having car trouble has they traveled through the town. She knows there's something that her husband is hiding from her, but she is willing to ignore it in favor of his status and wealth. Unable to conceive a child, she is beyond happy when Peter surprises her with a baby boy he claims to have privately adopted. She dotes on the boy and adores him. *Her secret is that she knows what her husband is hiding, but she chooses to turn a blind eye in favor of keeping her wealthy lifestyle and their son.
4. Nathan "Nate" Ford as Dr. Peter Merry - A successful dentist whose charm and confident manner helps to put his patients at ease. While he comes from 'old money', he enjoys his work and refuses to leave it behind as his wife wishes him to do. He recently adopted a son and presented the child to his wife saying only that he was able to secure the adoption privately with one of his patients who could not keep the child herself. But could he be keeping more than the truth of the adoption a secret? What other secrets could the kindly doctor be hiding? *His secret is that he molests his female patients while they are anesthetized during dental surgery. One woman found out she was pregnant, and she accuses the doctor of raping her. During the confrontation, he kills the woman and delivers her child. He has adoption papers forged to appear as if he adopted the child through legal channels and he disposes of the woman's body. He continues to molest his patients, though he is more careful now.
5. Parker as Deputy Rebecca "Becky" Miller - Is a shy somewhat timid young woman. She is a deputy for the Collinsworth Sheriff's Department and working security for the weekend. She has been dating a fellow deputy (Bernie) for the past year and she is also the sister of another deputy (Farney). She has always looked up to her brother. But now she has a secret that she doesn't want to break up her good relationship with her brother. *Her secret is that she has on occasion worked for Miss Mona as one of her call girls. She refuses to handle anything out of normal relations though. She also knows some of the secrets that the clients have and has helped feed information to Miss Mona for her blackmail schemes.
6. Alec "Hardison" Hardison as Deputy Bernard "Bernie" Purney, Jr. - Is the quirky albeit slightly devious deputy also with the Sheriff's Department and is also assigned to security for the weekend. Not much is known about his past. He moved to Collinsworth a little over a year ago and quickly acquired the deputy job and began dating a fellow deputy (Becky). He seems to be able to move about quickly and always appears to be 'lurking about' as the Butler (Whitson) puts it. He is highly intelligent although he is very accident prone. He wears thick pop-bottle glasses that give him an almost comical look. *His secret? No one knows his secret and he isn't telling. (Damnit Hardison!)
7 & 8. Bella Thompson as Courtney Colleen "CoCo' Nutter and Samuel "Sam" Thompson as Wallace "Wally' P. Nutter– CoCo is the slightly flighty downstairs maid at the manor and she is married to Wally, the slow maintenance man of Eden Manor. They have twin daughters (10 years old) who attend a boarding school that Mona pays for as part of their salary. They only have a couple secrets, but the main secret is they are in the witness protection program, because they both testified against Wally's brother, who they also worked for in his import/export business. They discovered that the man was breaking the law and was basically running with the mob. The brother was neck deep in the mob and didn't care who he had to kill to keep the money coming in. (Their secret is slightly different than any of the guests. It is similar to one guest, but that is just coincidence. This secret is just for the actual game.)
9 & 10. Emma Spencer-Whitmore as Tina "Miss Tina/Tina" Christina Eden-Gunn and Matthew "Matt" Whitmore as Charles "Charlie" Gunn – Tina is the younger sister of Mona's and she is the co-host and planner of this weekend mystery event. She is married to Charlie, who is handles all the manor's transportation needs, whether as a chauffeur or pilot. He keeps the vehicles maintained and in working order. Tina and Charlie do not have any children, and they are happy with that. They appear nice to anyone who looks, but they can be very secretive and cold if you look closer. Tina's secret is *she wants to continue with the brothel while opening a B&B to help bring in more money. She also wants to inherit everything and is bitter that Mona is in line for everything first. She knows many secrets, but her main secret * is really her husband's. Charlie is a part of a trio of hired killers (including his brother Tommy and the gardener Morey). They will do anything for the right amount of money. Charlie has extensive dark ops training that even Tina knows nothing about, but this helps him move about quietly among the manors many secret passages he's discovered over the years. He doesn't think even Mona is aware of all the passages.
