now it's you're turn. i ask the infamous question.

who did it?

let me know who you think. there's going to be two other murders until i reveal who really did it. anyone have any early guesses?

Review please.

Ruby

Chapter Six

New York: Murder One

Peyton laid crumpled outside of the ring, her body physically and emotionally defeated. She couldn't move and the back of her head was throbbing and pulsating in sync. She held her head tightly, her face pressing into the wet padding. Blood spattered from somewhere behind her.

WHAT THE FUCK!

Trish inched over to her best friend, catering to her split head while the referee called for the medics. Hearing Trish, and all the other divas walk around the ring, their steps quick and panicked, Peyton remembered everything.

She was standing on the top rope, Melina laying flat on her back. She was about to execute her finishing move, a diving hurricanrana, when she saw Mickie leave the commentary table. Just as Peyton's feet left the ring entirely, Mickie made contact with her knees and pushed her back until Peyton's head his the barrier on the outside. No one say the cheap shot coming, and everyone stared dumbfounded as the medics rushed to her neck in a brace and her body on a stretcher.

Peyton wouldn't have it. Now she was fuming at Mickie - not knowing what the hell she could have been thinking in doing something unscripted and so absurdly dangerous - but Peyton would have to wait to get back at her. At least until she could feel her back again.

Pulling the neck brace off and sitting up, everyone trying to push her back down and yelling "You could have a broken neck! Lay down!", Peyton struggled to stand. Torrie and Trish saw her and, knowing just how stubborn she was, rushed to her side to help her. Candice and all the other divas right behind them.

With their help, and the support of their bodies, Peyton walked backstage. She only did it to preserve her pride while out in front of the audience. She felt like a punk, letting Mickie one up her like that. Now, with the audience safely out of view, Peyton let herself collapse and people attend to her.

Her eyes were covered in her own blood. Before Peyton blacked out, she saw John standing over her, being pushed aside by Randy. John shoved him right back.

Then everything faded to black.

- - - - - - -

Luckily, nothing was broken. The bust in her head wasn't even that bad, she wouldn't need stitches. Even luckier, there wasn't any signs of a concussion. The trainers and medics told her that she should take a week off, but other than that she was fine. Physically.

Emotionally, she was rabid and wild. Her eyes were opened and she realized why Mickie had done it. She didn't want Peyton to wrestle her, because that would give Mickie the sense that she had actually done something wrong. Her unjustified move was out of self preservation. But it was a mistake. Mickie could have crippled her. Or worse. And now, Mickie was going to have to pay for it. For everything.

The show ended that night a little less dramatically than what was happening in Peyton's world. The crowd had left, and a voice echoed through the arena. "Those involved in the Diva dispute tonight, report to my office. NOW!" Vince didn't sound very happy. But Peyton couldn't blame him.

She was the last to enter the Chairman's locker room, her head bandaged and still throbbing. Mickie sat alone in front of his desk, almost like one of those old cop movies where the perp was flooded in a spotlight. Vince loomed over her, his hands folded and a scowl so domineering that it made Peyton cringe. Randy and John were standing on both side of the door, their arms and faces bruises and swollen. Apparently their shoving match had turned into an all-out brawl after she had passed out. Then the divas shared the couch, some sitting on arm rests and others in the cushions.

Vince nodded to the seat next to Mickie, but Peyton violently shook her head in protest. Instead, she just stood in the middle of the room.

Accepting her decision, Vince balled his hands into fists and leaned forward on his desk, falling towards Mickie. "What the hell did you think you were doing?!" Mickie opened her mouth to object, but Vince wouldn't let her. "I gave you permission to go down to ringside, but I also remember telling you not to touch anything! Peyton counts as something! You deliberately disobeyed me, and that's insubordination, Mickie. For that alone, I would have to dock your pay and give you two weeks suspension. But then there's the fact that you could have killed her!" A vein in Vince's neck was protruding out in massive proportions at this point.

Mickie sat in silence, her eyes to her lap. Peyton would have thought Mickie would have cried because of the brutal tone she was receiving, but her eyes were as dry as a desert.

Then Vince walked over to the door where John and Randy were brooding. "And you two. What do you have to fight over, hmm? Not only did you stir up quite a lot of chaos backstage, but you continued your little romp out into the parking lot. What was that about?" He pivoted and got in Randy's face, "And why would you feel it necessary to put your fist through the window of a car?!"

Peyton looked at Randy and saw the blood flowing freely from behind scabs on his knuckles. She concluded that the scabs were form a preexisting injury, which meant that he had probably been just as mad as she was that night at the restaurant. Tuning back in to Vince's rant, she heard him finish, "Just how am I supposed to punish two of my top superstars for completely obliterating public property?" before the lights failed and they were all brought into complete darkness.

The purr of the back up generators split the sudden silence and illuminated them in a greenish glow. "What the hell happened now!?" Vince barked.

Candice heard Todd's familiar voice yelling for them on the other side of the door. Vince tried to open the door, but the wooden mass was locked tight. "Todd!"

His voice was small, but they could still hear most of his comments, "...city blackout... doors and security system connected to power...doors lock when power out...I'll get an axe..."

- - - - - -

Randy was the first one to step out of Vince's locker room through a huge hole in the door. John was going to be next, but Vince shoved past him and exited. Then John, then the rest. Everything in the halls were covered in the eerie green light, casting long and lurking shadows everywhere. Candice approached Todd and hugged him. Peyton could see the absolute admiration in his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. "What happened again?" Candice asked, separating herself from him.

"The entire city is blacked out. I think some of the power lines from the plant got cut because of the horrible wind. Anyway, the security system that ties into the door locks automatically locks everything down when the power goes down. We're stuck inside until the power can come back on." He replied, his hand firmly on his walkie-talkie and the other playing with the sunglasses hanging around his neck.

"Where is everyone?" Someone asked.

"Gone. We're the only one's left in the building."

John stepped up to him, "And what were you doing here if everyone left?"

"I was waiting so I could lock up."

The green lights faltered a bit, blinding everyone temporarily. Torrie panicked, "What's going on?"

"The generators must be running out of juice." Todd was only visible for seconds as the lights continued to flicker. Then they went out all together.

The group went silent again, waiting to see if the lights would come back on. "Well that's just great," Peyton chided, folding her arms in disgust. This had to be the worst day of her life. She opened her mouth to say something else, but she was cut off as a loud bang rang through the air, followed by a loud thump.

The green lights flickered on again, revealing the body of Vincent Kennedy McMahon laying in a pool of his own crimson life force, a hole through his heart.

Torrie screamed, Maria feinted, and Randy ran to cover Peyton's eyes. She pushed him away and knelt at Vinces side, checking his wrist for a pulse. "He's dead." The words came out of her mouth mechanically.

John picked her up from the floor, helping her to her feet. "Who did it?"

Randy cast menacing glances at John as he touched Peyton, "If there's no one else here, it had to be one of us."