This is the chapter where the action starts. From here on out I'm not sure what'll happen exactly; I'm winging it - I have no idea who the killer is yet, either, so don't ask. I can only hope that this doesn't turn out too much like the movie. I want the plot to be original, you know? Anyway please RR and all that.

Thank you, all my kind reviewers! I'm so glad my story is liked. There are a few things I'd like to clear up though that it seems I should've made more obvious but did't -P I'm bad at that. Anyway, for one thing, Miss Peacock is not Peach, and Ms. Scarlette is not Daisy. Give me some credit; don't you think I know what I'm writing about? Sheesh! XD And also, I know that it might've sounded better to have Peach and Daisy in it, it seems like at least Peach should've been an obvious choice for one of the charactersbut I was kinda trying to stick to people that actually /wore/ those colors. Peach never wears blue that we see in the games,and Daisy doesn't wear red.Tayce T. was the only major exception, but I couldn't think of anyone who wore all white, and since she was the cook she was the closest I could get to maid -) Anyway once again, thank you all for the good reviews, and Anonymous Flamer, thanks so much for the constructive criticizm. I'll keep your helpful tips is mind, and please continue with your insightful comments ;-)

I own nuthin.

Chapter Three: Murder!

After the lights were turned out, several things happened at once, starting with a loud

BANG!

Several voices screamed at once, and everybody panicked. The situation was made worse by the fact that nobody could see anything, and kept tripping over things and running into each other. Miss Peacock kept shouting that someone was strangling her, and Kolorado's voice could be heard as a muffled shout. In short, chaos reigned.

"SOMEBODY GET THE LIGHTS!" someone shouted at last. "Mr. Boddy, this has gone far enough!"

There was no reply from the host. A few more seconds of confusion went on before the lights came back on, Bootler being the one to hit the switch, and they could finally see what was going on.

Miss Peacock had somehow gotten herself tangled in her own rope, and was struggling madly to get it off of her. Pauline had tripped over something and fallen on top of Kolorado, who was shouting into the carpet as his arms and legs flailed. Luigi was cowering in one corner, where he'd gone as soon as the lights went out. Prof. Gadd's glasses had been knocked off his face, and he was down on hands and knees groping for them with his fingers. Tayce T. stood as pale as a ghost, her mouth slightly open as she stared with horror at what the others hadn't yet noticed. The knife was on the floor, where she'd dropped it.

"Oh my..." she finally managed to say, her hand going to her mouth.

Pauline struggled to her feet, allowing Kolorado to do the same. "What is it?" she asked, seeing the look on the maid's face. She followed her gaze to the figure of a man sprawled out on the floor, and screamed in alarm. "Somebody murdered Mr. Boddy!" she cried, bringing everyone to their feet as they rushed over to see.

Mr. Boddy lay face-down on the floor, unmoving. His out-of-place red hat was off, and now lay a foot or two away. At a spot near the man's temple his hair looked dark and matted together, and glistened wetly. Luigi, who was the last to join the group and see what'd happened, whimpered aloud at the gruesome sight. Not gory, but enough to make everyone present's stomachs flip.

"Is he... dead?" Miss Peacock whispered tenatively. "I mean, he might have survived, it is possible."

There followed an uncomfortable silence. No one wanted to check. Finally Kolorado said "Well, Plum old chap, I'd say that you're the most qualified to check for signs of life, wouldn't you?"

Gadd, who had found his glasses and put them back on, looked taken aback. "What, me? I'm a professor, not a doctor!" he said indignantly.

"Well, someone ought to do it. He may need a doctor soon," Tayce T. said nervously.

Pauline sighed. "Oh, for crying out loud. I'll do it," she said, walking to the limp form and crouching beside him. She hesitated for a moment, then she placed two fingers on his throat. After a few seconds she pulled away, standing quickly and stepping back. "Oh, yeah, he's dead all right," she said, looking ill.

"Do you know what this means?" Peacock said, her voice lowered. "It means that one of us is a murderer."

Luigi whimpered again and took a hasty step back from the rest of the group. "B-but who? And, why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Bootler said. Everyone jumped, startled. He hadn't spoken in a while and they had forgotton about him. "Whoever did this was after the fortune. Obviously, when Mr. Boddy died his will would be put into action."

"Well, if you know so much about the murderer's motives, how do we know you didn't do it?" Tayce T. said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Bootler scowled at her. "Because I'm not in his will at all," he snapped back. "He left me out so he could have his twisted game with the six of you. Because I'm already dead I couldn't join in on us killing each other off; it wouldn't be fair. So I'd have no reason to want to murder him."

"We're still in danger," Kolorado said nervously. They turned to face him, surprised and curious at what he had to say. "Remember what Mr. Boddy said, about us getting more if there were less of us to split it between? Whoever did this is going to want to be the only one getting anything. We're still in danger."

"I knew I should have stayed home!" Luigi moaned.

"Bootler, let us leave before someone else dies, too. Give us the key," Gadd said.

The boo shook his head sadly. "I can't do that. Listen, I knew what Mr. Boddy was going to do and was appalled, so I... I called the police."

"You what!" several voices shouted in unison.

"They're to arrive at midnight," he continued. "Before then we have to discover who the murderer is, or we'll all end up in jail- yes, even me. They might assume there was another motive for me to have killed him. So we've got-" he glanced at the clock on the mantle. "Six hours to solve this mystery on our own."

"That doesn't give us much time," Pauline said.

"Well, if I may, I'd like to accuse you of this murder, Ms. Scarlette," Kolorado said, twirling his moustache again. "After all, it was you who had the revolver."

"I put that gun down," she shot back imediately. "Anyone else could have grabbed it- and you, Col. Mustard, were the closest one to it besides me. How do we know it wasn't you?"

Tayce T. spoke before Kolorado could protest. "Where is that gun, anyway? In fact, where are any of the weapons? They should be accounted for before we do anything else."

There was some general murmured agreement, and everybody started searching for their dropped weapons. The candlestick was on the sofa, where Kolorado had left it after branding it worthless. The rope was in Miss Peacock's hands of course, because she had only just disentangled herself from it. The knife was still on the floor where Tayce T. had dropped it. The pipe was found near the armchair, the wrench was under the coffee table, and finally the revolver was located, laying decievingly innocent on the floor beside a bookshelf.

They placed all the objects in a pile on the table and then looked around from face to face. "So... hudunnit?" somebody said finally.

"Well, let's look at the facts," the professor said, straightening his glasses. "We know that the man was shot in the head with the revolver, and we also know that everyone had easy access to the said weapon when the lights went out. The gun was discovered near this bookshelf," he said, walking over to it. "Which is only a yard or two away from where Mr. Boddy's body was found. Of course, that doesn't help us much, either, since there was plenty of time between the gunshot and the lights coming back on for the perpetrator to flee."

They looked at him in silence for a moment as they digested what he'd said. "So," Miss Peacock said after a moment. "What you're saying is that at a glance we have no way of narrowing this down at all, and you just spent the last five minutes going over the facts for... nothing?"

The short old man rejoined the group ad cleared his throat. "Well, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

"Professor Plum, wasn't it you who said that you'd like to tighten Mr. Boddy's loose screws?" Tayce T. said suddenly. The other guests turned to stare at him, waiting for his answer.

He looked taken aback. "Well, sure, missy, but I didn't mean I wanted to kill him! You yourself were shocked and dismayed at his ghstly proposition, as was I. I only meant that if I could, I'd invent something to make insane people... you know, sane."

"Look at this!" a voice cried suddenly, making them all jump again. It was Bootler again, and he was floating beside the wall next to the light switch.

"What is it?" Ms. Scarlette asked as they all turned to get a look.

"A bullet hole!" he exclaimed, floating out of the way so they could see. Indeed there was a bullet hole there; it had broken through he paneling and buried itself deep in the plaster. "It looks like Mr. Boddy wasn't shot after all!"

Dun dun DUUUN! XD Yeah. I lied; as I was writing this chapter I started getting an idea of who the killer is and how they dunnit, so yeah I do have a bit of an idea. But I'm still not spilling the beans ;-)