Murder Game

Chapter Six

By Ronin S. Oath

Tracy had been right about the blood. There was a lot of it. Everyone rushed to the door of Mr. Augustus's office and tried to push and elbow their way inside.

Mr. Augustus was seated in his chair, his head on the desk next to the computer keyboard. One bent arm covered his face.

Rachel suddenly felt sick. For a moment it was hard to breathe, and she was shaking. Rachel held on to the door frame for support and took a couple of long, shuddering breaths to steady herself. The horrible feeling gradually slid away.

Laura moaned softly and gracefully sank to the floor, sitting with her back against the wall, her hands clasped in her lap while silent tears spilled from her closed eyelids.

Alex gagged, turned white, and ran from the room, shoving Buck aside with more strength than anyone could have guessed he had.

"Ouch!" muttered Buck as he staggered into the pointed drawer of a nearby file cabinet.

Thea was standing just outside the door, Mrs. Engstrom's arms around her.

"She'll be all right," Mrs. Engstrom said as her glance met Rachel.

Senator Maggio ordered everyone, "Stay away from the crime scene. There's evidence here that should be protected."

"If you're looking for the murder weapon, it's probably that fireplace thing," Julia said, and pointed at the sharpened brass poker that lay on the floor.

There were dark stains near the point, so she might have been right; but something else had caught Conan's attention. The mesh screen across the fireplace that would normally have been closed was opened, and lying among the ashes were some curled metal and plastic pieces.

"Look at the fireplace," Conan told the others. "Someone has burned some computer disks."

Buck fell to his knees before the fireplace and groped among the ashes, jerking out the disk and making a terrible mess. "There are scraps of paper too," Buck said. "Looks like typing paper."

He got to his feet, one hand holding the disk and a couple of scorched typing papers- one with the page number 255 printed on it- while he tried to wipe the ashes from his other hand on the seat of his jeans.

"Do you think those are the backup disk containing the manuscript Augustus was telling us about?" Julia asked.

"I hope so," Laura answered.

"Turn on the computer," Julia said. "There must be a file…"

Senator Maggio flipped the Off switch and said, "I've already tried it. There's no file. Everything has been wiped out."

"If someone destroyed the file, the manuscript, and the disk, he's put an end to the threat," Alex said from behind Rachel. Apparently he made a quick recovery.

Julia's mouth twisted as she added, "And put an end to Augustus as well."

A long moment of silence followed as they realized that one person in the room was a murderer.

"The murderer has to be someone who's familiar with computers," Conan said, "someone who'd know how to delete the file."

Julia was the first to respond. "I don't use a computer. I write longhand and Jak types up the finished manuscript for me."

"I don't use a computer," the senator added.

"Me either," Buck answered.

Alex shook his head.

"I've never had a reason even to touch one of those things," Laura complained.

Conan glanced from Julia to Alex to Senator Maggio. No matter what they'd just said, a few minutes ago each of them had proved that they knew enough about computers to understand files and disks.

"We must notify the police," Senator Maggio said.

"We can't," Rachel told them. "The phone lines are still out."

This called for another moment of silence.

Finally, Julia said, "Let's face some plain facts and look at the positive side. Whatever Augustus had in mind for us is over now."

Senator Maggio scowled at her and asked in a low voice, "Are you forgetting that Augustus's wife is present?"

Julia looked embarrassed, "All I meant was that the manuscript has been destroyed."

"No it hasn't," Conan said. "Everything on the hard disk in the computer was deleted, and the backup disks were burned, along with what looks like a printed copy of the manuscript," he told them, "but Mr. Augustus was a professional writer. He wouldn't print just one copy of his manuscript. He'd have made one to send to his agent and one for himself."

Mrs. Engstrom asked Thea, "Is it true what the boy says?"

"Yes," Thea answered. "Augustus always made a second copy of every completed manuscript."

"Where did he keep the copies?" the senator asked.

"He always kept his notes and materials for whatever manuscript he was working on currently in the top drawer of that file cabinet." She pointed, and everyone turned to look. It was the drawer that had been standing open. "Since he said the manuscript had been completed, there should have been two copies of the manuscript in that drawer, as well."

Buck peered inside and shook his head. "It's empty."

"Maybe both copies were burned." Laura's voice was high-pitched and excited with hope.

The senator bent to study the contents of the fireplace. "I doubt it," he said. "Considering that we know there were at least two hundred and fifty-five typewritten pages in that manuscript, if not more, there isn't enough ash here to account for two manuscripts."

"If there is another copy, then we should look for it," Alex said.

"Do we really want it found?" Laura asked.

"I think we do," the senator answered. "It will show up sooner or later, and if it got into the wrong hands, it might pose a future threat."

"Are you talking about blackmail?" asked Buck.

Julia said, "We'll find the manuscript, the destroy it without reading it. Agreed?"

Buck said, "If Augustus hid it, then it's probably somewhere in this room."

"We could divide the room into sections," Julia suggested. "Two of us could take the bookcase, two the file cabinets, two the desk…"

"While Augustus is… still here?" questioned Laura.

Rachel couldn't stand it any longer and shouted, "You can't search this room! It's Aunt Thea's house!"

"Rachel dear," Thea said, "what happened to Augustus is horrible. But I can't believe that he could have threatened and frightened all of our guests as he did. It was unforgivable of him! I agree with them that the manuscript should be found and destroyed."

"Before the police get here?"

Thea said, "I think that finding the manuscript before the police arrive would be preferable."

"Let's get busy," Julia said.

Senator Maggio took charge by immediately making up a list of rules and assigning everyone places. They each went to their sections and began removing books, papers, and anything else in sight- only neatly, putting them back the way they had been, so everything would be in order when the police arrived.

As Conan watched them work, he had a chance to go over things that had been said, and he began to wonder about Julia. She was a writer. She should know about the importance of manuscripts. Yet she was the first one to tell them that the manuscript had been destroyed. She hadn't remembered her own stories and characters…

Buck had worked gingerly through each side of the desk, opening drawers with a handkerchief, and taking care not to touch Augustus. But he finished, finding nothing, and had joined Julia, who was meticulously removing books from the large bookcase and peering behind them.

Conan noticed something protruding from under the sleeve of Augustus's velvet jacket, near his right elbow. It seemed to be a small stack of envelopes, and they looked very much like those that held the clues Augustus had given to his guests the night before. Conan quietly walked over and slid out the stack, turned the over, and on top, printed in bright blue ink, was the name Alex Chambers, Game Clue #2.

Conan thumbed through the envelopes and, just as he thought, there was one for each of the guests. Augustus had told them that he'd have more clues for them to figure out. Obviously, here was the batch he had intended to hand out to them right after breakfast.

Buck leaned against the bookcase, his face more flushed than ever. "That manuscript is not in this room," he said. "Are we going to have to search ever room in the entire house to find it?"

"It's not as if we have a choice," the senator told him.

But Conan held up the envelopes and said, "Yes you do. These must be the next set of clues."

"Clues for what?" Laura asked. "Weren't they for finding some kind of treasure or something?"

Conan shrugged. "Maybe the manuscript was supposed to be the treasure. Mr. Augustus said it would be a significant treasure. What's significant about the treasure hunt? Remember, he said that if you could solve the clues you could get your story removed from his manuscript? It makes sense, then, doesn't it, that the clue solvers would find the manuscript itself?"

"It does make sense," the senator said slowly, "especially since it seems as though the manuscript has been hidden."

"So you may be able to find it though the clues," Rachel said.

"It's worth a try," Conan agreed.

Julia stepped up and pulled the envelopes from Conan's hand, riffling thought them until she found the one with her name on it. She shoved the other envelopes back into Conan's hand and started out of the room.

Conan called out, "Wait a minute. It could take forever if you work alone. Why don't you try to solve the clues together?"

"I don't think so," Senator Maggio said, "not if they're like the first set Augustus gave us."

Thea said, "I'm going to be blunt about it. If your clues were like mine, then they let you know exactly what it was Augustus planned to include about each of you in his book."

"You're right!" Laura said, and groaned. "No one's going to see my clue!"

"What if no one understood the clue except you?" Rachel asked. "And what if you put all the clues together and came up with where the manuscript is hidden?"

"I don't know," Buck said, and rubbed his chin as he though about it.

"I don't like the idea of sharing information," Julia announced.

"Okay," Conan said. "It was just an idea. I'm sure you have all weekend to go though every chest, trunk, cupboard and closet in this whole house. You might find the manuscript that way."

For a moment everyone was silent.

"I like Rachel's idea," Alex said. "But I want to put a qualifier in there… I suggest that we take a short break and read our clues. If they're not as personal as our first set, then it does make sense to share them. We can meet in the dining room in about half an hour."

Laura hesitated. "What should we do about the first set of clues Augustus gave us?"

"Let just see what's in the second set before we decide anything," he answered.

Senator Maggio smoothed down a single strand of hair over his bald head and grimaced. "I suppose we're all in this together. All right. I have no objections."

"Then let's get out of here and get to work," Laura said.

They quickly fled from the room…

To Be Continued…