Closing her eyes shut, Lila felt weight on her amid the panic and Scarlet shouting for someone to turn on the lights, when someone did, Lila opened her eyes to see Theodore threw himself over her to protect her from the chaos.
He opened his eyes and looked down towards her as she looked up, before he apologized, and helped her up as they looked around dazedly as the guests done the same, before Scarlet screamed.
Lying dead on the floor, it's Mr. Brody.
"I heard a gunshot," Colonel Kraft looked towards Professor Rose accusingly before he's told that Professor Rose dropped the gun during the struggle.
Searching around the study, they found a bullet hole in the wall, but they didn't know the trajectory.
They gone over to Mr. Brody as he laid face down on the ground near the door and Professor Rose knelt beside him and checked his pulse. Dead.
Theodore decided to double check, just to be sure, and he confirmed that Mr. Brody's indeed dead.
He even checked his mind, nothing, and that's that.
"Oh, shit, now what?" Lila winced as she realized someone took a different approach to Mr. Brody's game, now he's dead, and soon they will be too, not something she wants to deal with!
Wincing, Professor Rose said that'll they won't know who's poisoned until they start showing symptoms.
"Oh, what do you know, you're just a therapist!" Scarlet sharply tells him as she crossed her bare arms as she exasperated, panicked by the death of their host, and the fact at least one of them's going to die.
Professor Rose insisted that while he may just be a therapist, he's doing his godly best, and if she's any better, she's free to do so, before turning his attention to the stunned butler who stood quietly.
"I say we call the police!" Colonel Kraft raised a finger as he concluded they ought to call the police and have them take over, it'll sound strange telling them what happened, but at least they'll find treatment.
Scarlet pointed out, "And then what, we still don't know who killed him!"
One of them killed Mr. Brody and if it's not Professor Rose who done it, someone else did, and there's not many people in the party.
"Well, it wasn't us," Lila stated her and Theodore's innocence.
He shielded her the moment the madness started and none of them moved. They didn't get the gun and that's about what happened.
"Oh dear, I didn't mean for this to happen!" Alfred's aghast at what happened, he looked petrified that he hardly lowered his arms from behind his back as he's stunned at the sight of his dead employer.
Scarlet eyed him suspiciously as she echoed, "Didn't mean for this to happen, excuse me?"
Lila jumped in with, "If you sing "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" I promise I'll hurt you worse than military drills, buddy!"
She'll do it and she doesn't care if she's not as strong as Theodore, anger's a good buff for stats, and she's got plenty to spare.
Raising his gloved hands in front of him in self-defense, Alfred insisted that she let him speak, because he needs to tell them the truth.
"What truth, one of us' had our number called and we don't know who!" Professor Rose exclaimed as he yanked out his pipe as he yanked on his bow tie, his neck muscles tensed from the situation.
The situation tense, the guests stood off against Alfred as they're panicking about the dead Mr. Brody.
Suddenly, there's a sharp scream and everyone piled out of the study, hurrying to the source of the screaming, sliding across the shiny floors, they arrived at the board room with a billiard table.
It's Hannah and she's panicking.
"What's going on here?" Theodore spoke up as Hannah hyperventilated, clenching the edges of the billiard table.
She struggled to say, "I had some of the liver soup, too, monsiuer."
Looking over, Theodore sees that Hannah's been eavesdropping on their conversation in the study, which led to him asking why that is.
"I was doing what I was told," Hannah stated she was doing what her employer asked of her, only for Scarlet to tell her that she doesn't have to anymore, because Mr. Brody's dead, and unless she knew where the antidote's hidden, she's in the same boat as them.
Pointing at them, Hannah accused that one of them murdered Mr. Brody, for all she knew, they'll do the same to her, and who else.
Going over to her, Scarlet reached out to Hannah, and told her to come with them.
"What about the murderer?" Hannah worried. "There's strength in numbers, my dear," Colonel Kraft puffed his chest as he attempted to comfort the scared maid while Scarlet rolled her eyes in contempt for the colonel.
Theodore pointed out, "If you knew what he was up to, then you'd have to know where he'd keep the antidote, wouldn't you?"
Hannah sniffed as she shook her head, saying she doesn't know, only that her orders were to eavesdrop on the party, nothing more.
"Okay, let me get this straight, he wants to record our suffering so he can giggle himself to sleep to it, right, what else's going on here?" Lila roused as she looked around suspiciously, something wrong here, and she wasn't in the mood to deal with it more, she wanted answers, and so does everyone else.
Hannah mustered she thinks it's about the blackmailing, that he'll use it against the remaining people who survived his party.
"Well, the dead can't blackmail us," Colonel Kraft refuted the idea that Mr. Brody couldn't possibly blackmail them from beyond the grave.
Theodore reminded him that he said he has everything planned, however, that may be just a red herring.
"Another thing, what if he was lying, what if we weren't poisoned, he was just pushing us," Lila raised a point, as she looked at the guests.
The man wasn't all there, maybe he put on a ruse to get them to do what he wants, and they're panicking over nothing, outside the obvious.
Now, Mr. Brody's dead and probably didn't expect that someone would've went with Option C.
Colonel Kraft mused that they couldn't be sure and they didn't want to risk it if Mr. Brody told the truth, if they start showing symptoms of the poisoning, they're dead.
"But what if she's right?" Professor Rose pointed out to Colonel Kraft the possibility that Mr. Brody really was lying to them.
Alfred motioned with his hands, getting everyone's attention, as he guided the guests and Hannah back to the study as they tried to not step on Mr. Brody's body.
"We're dead either way, what are we going to do?" Scarlet spoke up as she wanted to know what they'll do since their host's dead and they can't be certain if he lied about the poison or not.
There's even a chance he won't let anyone leave alive and he'll have an ace for their spade.
"We can't stand around and do nothing, Farnsworth, I need to know, is there anyone else here?" Colonel Kraft looked towards Alfred as he stood near the fireplace.
Alfred said there's nobody else.
Just them, Hannah, and the cook.
"Ah, but there is somebody here!" Colonel Kraft raised a finger only for Alfred to correct him.
There's no one else here except them.
While the guests clamored for answers, Lila worryingly looked towards Theodore as she lightly touched his large hand.
"Hey, you still with me, right?" Lila asked him.
Theodore nodded as he assured her that he's fine.
Shaking her head, Lila reminded him he ate two bowls worth of liver soup, if the stars aligned, he'll be the one who gets poisoned, and Lila doesn't know how'd the antidote work on him.
"I'm sure I'm fine," Theodore tells her.
Frowning, Lila wondered if they can take their chances and getting outside, getting back to the TARDIS, treat everyone that way, without playing Mr. Brody's game.
Thinking on it, Theodore replied he doesn't know if it's safe, if Mr. Brody's willingly able to throw this together, there's no telling what else he might've done, especially if he knew the Doctor's coming.
"What're we going to do?" Lila asked him as she wearily glimpsed to Colonel Kraft getting confrontational with Alfred.
Theodore responded that he doesn't know, but they have to try, and hope for the best.
Something's off about this and especially telling considering that a Doctor encountered Mr. Brody, something should've come up the moment they gotten the invitation.
"Just... just let me know if you start feeling funny, okay?" Lila touched Theodore's arm.
Nodding, Theodore assured her that she'll be the first one that he tells if something starts feeling off, but not before adding that he'll do everything he can for her, as well, only because it's fair. And the fact that Lila's his companion, it'd be bad taste if he doesn't keep her safe.
"The cook would've known about the poison, wouldn't she?" Scarlet brought up as her hand trembled holding a lit cigarette.
Who else but the cook would know about the plan and Alfred concurred with her assessment?
Wearily, everyone gotten up from their seats and walked with Alfred out into the hallway towards the kitchen.
It's larger than Lila and Theodore's flats combined and they stepped through the doorway, finding the kitchen empty, nobody else here.
"Where is she?" Colonel Kraft raised a bushy brow as he looked around.
Scarlet wondered if she went on lunch and Professor Rose wondered if Mr. Brody killed her.
Seeing the meat locker, Lila pointed at it, and suggested, "Call it a hunch, maybe she's behind Door #1?"
Who knew having an elective taste in movies would've prepared Lila for a situation like this?
Colonel Kraft went over to the meat locker and attempted to open it, the door stuck, but he managed to get it loose enough that he's able to pull it open.
Lila expected a dead cook, but she's as surprised as everyone when Colonel Kraft opened the door, finding no one inside, only hanging cuts of meat.
"Where'd she go…?" Scarlet wondered as she walked over to the large refrigerator restaurants uses, her long fingers perusing the wooden mount nearby filled with lighters and matches.
There's an audible click and the fridge door pushed open, giving Scarlet a fright, dropping her cigarette as she scurried away from the body as it collapsed near her, produce falling everywhere.
Okay, not the meat locker, but the fridge, who woulda thought that?
Running over to the body, they see the cook's skin turned pale blue and her eyes wide open.
"Oh my god," Scarlet coughed as she attempted to catch her breath as they're looking at the sight.
Studying the body, Theodore sees that there's no visible wounds on the cook's body, and it took careful looking before he sees ligature markings on her neck. It looked like someone strangled the cook from behind, couldn't tell with what, her neck's heavily bruised.
There's no telling when she died and the pool of suspects already small. Only suspect that came to mind's Hannah since she was in the billiard room and could've easily snuck out and killed the cook, before coming back to the billiard room.
However, with no way to tell when the cook died, it's anyone's guess, and the situation's already tense enough.
Colonel Kraft wasted no time and tried searching the kitchen for anything related to the poisoning, but he found nothing, and Professor Rose tried his hand, he also found nothing.
Uneasy, the guests murmured amongst themselves until Alfred suggested they centralize the bodies.
When asked why that's a good idea, he gave his reasoning, he's a butler, and he likes things tidy. It's also poor taste wasting electricity.
The men carried the cook's body back to the study, oh, the black comedy shining through, and they're bringing it in when one of them notices Mr. Brody's body missing.
It took skill not to drop the body as they hurried inside with a befuddled look on their faces, Scarlet angrily asking what's going on, only for her to see Mr. Brody's body missing.
"What in Sam Hell?" Lila's shocked as she sees Mr. Brody's body gone from the ground and she blinked several times, trying to understand what's even going on, only for her to see the guests panicking once again, accusing Theodore and Professor Rose of conspiring.
Standing in front of Theodore, Lila talked down the guests, telling them that Theodore wouldn't lie.
In truth, he does lie, but there are things he'd never lie about, and that reason alone's enough for Lila to trust Theodore when he said that he was sure Mr. Brody died.
"But there wasn't any wound on him and there was one only bullet in the wall!" Scarlet reminded him that Mr. Brody somehow survived without getting shot by Professor Rose's gun.
They only heard one shot, that much's agreed upon.
The fact that Professor Rose was the only one with the gun and it's not helping matters when the cook died from strangulation. Theodore receiving a noose from his present.
"Unless he can project himself from where he's sitting while conscious and talking, I doubt Theodore killed the cook. Mr. Brody already has us running around like chickens with our heads cut off, so how about we focus on the subject at hand. If it's true Mr. Brody poisoned us, how likely do you think he'd poison himself to fool us?" Lila gave them a suggestion on how Mr. Brody somehow survived despite two men declaring him dead.
Fugu can cause slow heartbeats and put people in a zombie state, even a small gram's enough to floor people who encountered it, no doubt Mr. Brody would've researched the proper dosage before attempting this scheme of his.
Even then, there's always complications coming from attempting this, as with poisons like fugu, and he'd have to carefully time everything from the dosage to the effects before coming out of it.
Doubted he'd have help, though.
It's surprising that he'd recover that fast, considering how much of a slow burner fugu opted to be when used, but that's as far as Lila could've guessed.
She doubted Mr. Brody would've poisoned them with fugu, the effects would've happened much sooner than he anticipated. Especially how blasé he acted; someone would've died as soon as dinner concluded from it.
If he used the bare minimal, someone would've noticed their heartbeats slowing.
No telling if he did or didn't use poison, but enough of that, they have to find him, and when they do, they're going to have choice words with him.
"What're we waiting for, we have to find him!" Scarlet demanded they stop talking and start looking for Mr. Brody, if he's even still in the mansion.
On her insistence they went out of the study and searched for Mr. Brody, they didn't have to go very far, when he came out of the offshoot bathroom and gave Theodore a scare.
The others helped yank Mr. Brody off him, but when they brought him to the ground, they found he's dead, actually dead.
There's blood trickling from the top of his forehead and his eyes unfixed.
"What the hell?" Lila held Theodore's arm as they looked on, seeing Mr. Brody dead.
He was alive, then he wasn't, but he was, and now he's dead!
"Who killed him?" Scarlet wondered as she looked uneasy as they circled the body with confusion and fright.
Checking him closely, Professor Rose and Theodore discovered Mr. Brody died of blunt force trauma to the head, judging by the gash on the top of his head, it was something heavy.
"Colonel, you had the wrench, didn't you?" Alfred turned towards the shocked Colonel Kraft who snapped out of his daze before he told the butler that he put it down on the table in the study when they ran out and found Hannah screaming.
"Anyone of you coulda picked it up, then!" Professor Rose pointed out as he eyed them with suspicion.
They laid their weapons down when they heard Hannah screaming, anyone could've grabbed the wrench and used it on Mr. Brody.
"How could anyone kill Mr. Brody, we were all together in the kitchen, weren't we?" Theodore raised a brow as he couldn't fathom what's happening.
Colonel Kraft demanded Alfred tell them the truth about someone else being in the house, but the butler remained adamant.
Alfred affirmed multiple times there's nobody else in the mansion except them and that's a fact.
"Okay, so, either we're dealing with a ninja or someone's screwing with us," Lila crossed her velvet stitched arms as she tried coming up with answers.
Someone killed the cook and likely the same one who killed Mr. Brody, for real, and the only explanation's that either someone's lying or there's something else going on in the mansion.
Suggesting they return to the study with the body, Alfred helped them collect Mr. Brody's body and took it with them back to the study, putting it near the cook's.
Theodore's father had many odd adventures, but none as odd as this, and he's sure to have some words if he ever heard of this tale, if Theodore's even able to properly discuss it without looking madder than a hatter!
Checking the time, Scarlet worryingly said they have an hour and a half before someone shows symptoms.
Colonel Kraft insisted they call the police and wouldn't listen to Alfred, marching towards the phone sitting on the side table in the study and picked it up. He held the phone near his ear, only to hear a dead tone, instead.
"If you'd let me finish, the phones don't work during storms," Alfred tells him that they're without phones during the remainder of the storm, as it raged outside, and Scarlet lambasted Alfred for not telling them sooner.
Seems as though Mr. Brody planned.
Time ticking, they're unable to think, and Lila got them to talk about what reasons Mr. Brody would've wanted them here to do this to them, because quite frankly, something's not adding up.
He knew a Doctor, that's noted.
"We don't have time to sit around talking, we have to find the antidote!" Scarlet lambasts Lila as she found the idea stupid, but Lila fired back and said there's a reason the man went off his Rucker and did this. With him dead, they can't find the antidote, either way, they're in a bide, so they might as well use the remaining time to figure out the motive.
Nobody goes through the effort for this without having some sort of grudge or other, if he's right about not caring about money, so there's something that this man had against them, and he wanted them to suffer for his own enjoyment.
"Lee's right, we have to figure out the motive, that's the only way we'll know why he did this and maybe we use that to find the antidote," Theodore stuck up for Lila as Scarlet eyed them both scornfully.
Without any options, they compared their life stories.
Mr. Brody served under Colonel Kraft and received honorary discharge from injuries sun stained during the war.
Professor Rose was his therapist treating his PTSD from the war.
The two stand-outs obviously Theodore and Scarlet.
"What do you do?" Lila asked Scarlet plainly what she does for a living that would've resulted in Mr. Brody inviting her to the dinner party.
Crossing her arms, Scarlet said that Mr. Brody wanted services from her. She owns a business "accompanying ladies with gentlemen" and Mr. Brody used her business.
"Ah, a madam with a black heart and gold teeth, okay, so, how's that get you an invite?" Lila continued as Scarlet lowered her arms.
Running a hand through her matted hair, Scarlet replied that Mr. Brody gave it in lieu of payment.
Tilting his head, Theodore responded with, "He forgets to pay his tab so he pays with an invitation?"
Well, if it works, he supposes.
It'd explain why he wanted her here, kill her to avoid paying the debt he incurred for her services.
"What about you?" Professor Rose pointed at Theodore.
Sucking air through his teeth, Theodore tells him that he wasn't sure what happened to cause the man to send for him, but once this concludes, Theodore's going to find out and have a word with the Doctor that did, because they're going to owe him dearly for this or his name's not Theodore Levy Smith!
"Okay, we have a colonel, a therapist, a madam, you, what about you two?" Lila looked at Alfred and Hannah.
Hannah said that Mr. Brody hired her because she needed a job or else she would've had to go back to France and she didn't want to go back.
She couldn't pick and choose, she was hungry, and he was the only one who'd hire her, so she couldn't say no to him.
Looking towards Alfred, Lila sees that he's got a despondent look on his face and asked what's wrong.
Alfred explains that his employer had periods of manic episodes, he stopped taking his meds a few weeks ago, and Alfred tried to compel his employer to seek help, but he never did.
"If you knew what your employer was planning on doing, why didn't you inform the police?" Theodore demanded to know why Alfred didn't seek the authorities if he knew his employer's a risk to himself and others.
Frowning, Alfred informs him that he couldn't, Mr. Brody had him by a short leash, and he couldn't say anything without worrying what he'd do to him.
"Not after what he done to my wife for her noncompliance," Alfred sniffled as he tells them about his late wife.
Took her own life after what Mr. Brody done to her for stepping out of line for the last time and he used that as leverage against Alfred to keep him under control.
Theodore wanted answers and Alfred said that Mr. Brody slipped into a manic episode one day while they worked in the mansion, his wife always done things as she's told, but that day Mr. Brody wanted her to do things she wouldn't.
Not what you'd think, heavens no, Mr. Brody wanted her to poison the cook, suspecting her of being a spy.
Alfred's wife rightfully refused to do such thing, but Mr. Brody wasn't having it and chased her around the mansion with a knife until she tripped and fell down the staircase, cracked her skull right open, and bled at the bottom of the stairs.
When Mr. Brody slipped out of it, he didn't remember what happened, and just paid Alfred to silence him and keep him under his employment.
"So, you killed him," Colonel Kraft looked at Alfred suspiciously as he sat on the couch looking up at the butler.