"Clover? ...Clover, are you okay?" Lotus' voice was worried, and she slowly laid a hand on Clover's shoulder. But Clover brushed the older woman's hand away, moving over to the communications telegraph and beginning to turn it with the handle she had snapped off of the steering wheel. Lotus, with a hint of worry in her eyes, stepped backwards and simply watched the younger girl go about her business.
"...call Seven," Clover murmured, slipping the pocket watch out of her pocket and adjusting it. Lotus blinked, having been spacing off.
"Pardon?"
"Go call Seven," she repeated, a soft note of triumph in her still-weak voice. "I...I solved the puzzle."
"R...right," Lotus nodded, stepping through the door and then calling for the mountain-man. "Seven? We found the exit."
The bulking man stepped through the doorframe hesitantly, watching Clover carefully, almost as if she expected her to suddenly lunge at him and claw his eyes out. But the pink-haired girl's back was to him, and she had her hand on the door into the next room.
Without a word, Clover opened the door, and entered into the communications room, followed by Lotus and Seven. As they first surveyed the room, Clover was the first to notice the second door.
"I'm going to go search in there," she announced, crossing the room and opening the door, quickly slipping inside. "...You can leave this room to me."
Seven and Lotus stood in silence for a moment, staring at the door through which the pink-haired girl had passed.
"Y'...y'don't think that was the exit, d'ya?" Seven finally said, although his voice was slightly hesitant still.
"Of course not," Lotus said, waving her hand. "There wasn't a puzzle attached to it." The older woman sighed, crossed her arms, and then turned to begin searching the room. "Clover can take care of herself. Let's just search this room."
The mismatched pair was silent for a long time, but Clover never came back. Finally, Seven spoke.
"Hey, uh...Lotus."
"Mmm?" Lotus grunted, turning a bottle of ink over in her hands.
"You've, uh, figured it out, right?"
"Figured what out?" The scantily-dressed woman set the bottle down on the counter gently, picking something else up.
"It's...about Snake."
Lotus turned to look at Seven, her face serious.
"...and?"
"You're sharper than y' look, lady. I'm sure you've figured it out..." Seven pulled the beanie off of his head and examined the fabric.
Lotus observed the huge man, although her expression was unreadable.
"That you and Santa killed him?"
"I didn't!" Seven reacted instantly, bringing his head up to look at Lotus, his eyes pleading. He recoiled instantly. Lotus' arm was outstretched, and in her hand was a screwdriver, the point trained only centimeters away from his eyeball. "Wh...wha..."
"At least, that's what I'd like to do," she said, retracting her arm and twirling the screwdriver. "But I doubt a man like you'd have the guts to kill Snake. Besides," she said, tapping the tip of the screwdriver on her cheek, "it doesn't add up."
Seven blinked, for now relieved that there was no longer a screwdriver threatening to stab his eyes out, as Lotus continued to speak.
"I don't know what your motive would have been for killing Snake," she waved the screwdriver casually, although Seven's eyes followed the glinting tip cautiously. "But if you and Santa really did do it, why did you describe the killing method so carefully and in detail?" She paused, and set the screwdriver down on the desk. "I don't think you're the type who would do something like that. And if you had killed Snake, why haven't you tried anything on Clover? You and Santa didn't both pick a door where you could have gotten through with Clover and just one more person. Clover and Snake are siblings. If you had something against Snake, you probably would have wanted to get rid of Clover, too." While Lotus' voice was calm, she had begun pacing across the room, as if nervous about something.
"That's..." Seven slowly spoke. "That's ridiculous! Why would I wanna kill...kill a kid like that!"
Lotus nodded, pausing in her steps and pivoting towards Seven. "See? You don't have the guts to kill a person."
"...Clover thinks I do, though," he muttered, looking towards the door through which the pink-haired girl had gone through.
"She lost a sibling," Lotus said matter-of-factly. "I don't think she's thinking straight right now." Lotus gripped her arms and looked over at the morse-code devices. "...How could she be? I think the only reason she didn't attack you while you were in the same room was because she lacked a weapon."
"...That's...crazy..."
In unison, both Seven and Lotus turned to look at the door leading to the room in which Clover was searching by herself. Lotus sighed.
"We've come to a dead end in this room. The things we need are in that room. Maybe Clover's already found them..."
A/N: I realized that I made a mistake, for some reason I thought that the ALL-ICE book was in the chart room, but it's the ship's log that's there (ALL-ICE is in the communications room). It's fixed now, though!