Chapter Fifteen: When Did You Fall?
This is it, Elsie. They're going to kill us all, and then no one will ever be able to find out who did it, because they're all CSIs, so our deaths will forever be a mystery. Great, Elsie. You're going to get me killed on my birthday!
My thoughts were drifting all over the place as Elsie led the group away from room 2460. Stella looked around at the group, puzzled.
"Where are Danny and Lindsay?" she asked.
"Well, that's the thing…" Elsie began, throwing me a worried glance.
"Did something happen to them?" Mac asked, concerned. I shook my head, and turned to look at Charlene and Abbey. Mac studied our looks and his concern faded into confusion. "Wait? You all knew about this?"
I nodded. "Just Elsie, Charlene, Abbey, and myself."
Well, that was it. The entire group was talking at once, trying to understand what was going on. Elsie quieted them with a swift wave of her hand.
"Let me explain…"
"Yes, please," Hawkes said in a rather irritated voice. I gave Elsie a reassuring smile, as she blew a strand of hair out of her eye.
"…here's what happened tonight: I, or rather, we," she motioned to the little circle of girls, "set up Danny and Lindsay."
The group looked quizzically at Elsie, and she took that as her cue to continue. "The thing is, ever since Anna started working at the lab, she would come back to her place, and we'd talk about her day. More days went by when she mentioned two people who worked at the lab that she thought would make a nice couple, if only they would realize the attraction between them. So, as Anna's birthday began to draw closer, we," she motioned to Charlene, Abbey, and me again, "decided to take matters into our own hands."
"So, you set them up?" Flack asked with his detective voice, the one that he used to get his suspects to talk further.
"Yes, and we figured that tonight would be the perfect opportunity to do that. So, when I made up the pairs, I purposely put them together. And, as you have noticed, I gave you all the same final clue so that you would end up here."
"But wait a second," Hawkes said with bewilderment, "if you gave us all the same clue, then how come Danny and Lindsay aren't out here with us?"
Abbey spoke up. "You see, in order to – well – get them together, there had to be a way to make sure that none of us ended up in the same final spot as they did."
"So, their second-to-last clue was room 2460," I explained.
Stella frowned. "Then what is their last clue?"
Elsie sent a tiny smile in my direction and I tiptoed to the end of the hallway, pulling out sheets of poster board from a utility closet. "Their last clue was this: A falcon on bended knee."
The entire group sat, thoughtful.
"Well, consider the fact that they were already in the room when they read this clue," she remarked, taking the posters from my hand.
"Oh," Hammerback said with a grin. "the balcony. I get it now." The rest of the group murmured in agreement before Mac spoke up.
"So, what's the plan?" he asked, with interest. Elsie raised her eyebrows at him.
"Are you kidding me? You actually want to help me get them together?" she asked incredulously.
"Come on, Elsie. We have all wanted to see them together," Hawkes replied with a smile. "Now, what can we do to help?"
Elsie beamed and began to divulge her plan to them.
"And, I think that is a good place to stop, right?" I asked teasingly to the kids. They all burst out in Mom that is totally not fair! And You have to finish the story! And Don't leave it like that!
"Please Mommy," Leala begged with her puppy-dog pout. The other children joined in, and soon, I wasn't sure if I had a room full of my flesh and blood, or a room full of whining abandoned dogs.
"Okay, so if you want to know that badly, listen up, because I will only tell this story once…"
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"Basically, this is how it's going down tonight," Charlene explained as Elsie began to write things on the posters. "Their final clue was to wait out onto the balcony of room 2460. At the very bottom of their clue, it said to wait out there for further instruction. Of course, they think that they've won, and that the murderer is going to be revealed to them."
"But we know better," I said with a smirk, following Charlene's lead. "Elsie will sneak over to the balcony and lock the door. That is our cue to file quietly into the room. Now, Elsie is going to be the only one who is allowed to be seen by Danny and Lindsay, so we need to make sure to stay out of view."
"What are the posters for?" Stella asked.
"Precisely what I am about to explain," Abbey said with a smile. "Once Elsie finishes writing her clues and responses on the poster, she will hold them up to the balcony window for Danny and Lindsay to read."
"And what do they say?" Mac wondered.
"You'll see," Elsie said cryptically. "Alright, is everyone ready to go?"
We all nodded and Elsie pulled out her card key.
"Then let's do this thing."
Elsie let the door to room 2460 click softly open, and she silently motioned for us all to come through the threshold. I crawled on my hands and knees (which was difficult to do in a floor-length dress, mind you) with a trail of CSIs following behind me. Elsie held a finger up to her lips, as she placed the posters against the wall. We all sat silently against the wall that her posters were up against. Elsie gave us all a curt little nod and a salute as she picked up the first poster and crawled to the balcony door.
"Wait a second Mom," Eva interrupted. "How did you know what was going on after this? You couldn't see what Elsie was doing."
I nodded. "You're right; none of us could see what she was holding up to the window. She wouldn't let us get anywhere close to it, for fear that Danny or Lindsay would see the entire group and begin to get suspicious."
"So you sat there, the whole time, and didn't know what was going on?" Baron asked curiously.
"Yes, until the very end of her plan came, and then she allowed me to join her at the balcony door, while the others watched through the window. Elsie told me later on exactly what had happened while she was holding up her posters…"
"Ooh! What did they say?"
"What happened?"
"What was her plan?"
I grinned and replied softly. "Well, this is what Elsie told me happened…"
Hurrah. The mother of all cliffhangers arrives!But I have to be sure to get this next chapter right before I post it. :)
