The atmosphere of the hotel was no longer as fun-filled and carefree as it had once been only yesterday. Now, the atmosphere grew cold and unfriendly as Zack and Cody silently walked down the halls and to the elevator.

"Zack," said Cody, "you don't think this is the end, do you?"

"Of the world? No. Of our life no longer being as crazy and carefree as it once was?" said Zack as he pressed the down button. "I hope not. I really hope this is just one of those instances where we're sad over something for only a few days and then things snap back to normal within a week."

Ding!

Zack and Cody silently walked into the elevator, feeling somewhat gloomy and depressed.

Zack and Cody wandered off to the games room where the pool table remained where it had been, yet no Moseby in sight.

"Mr. Moseby?" called out Zack. "Hello? It's just us."

No response.

"Maybe he just took a bathroom break," said Cody anxiously, getting a little creeped out by the fact that the people their characters were based on in their story disappeared just as their characters died (with the possible exception of Arwin, but he also played the boatman, so that pretty much cancelled it out).

"Yeah," nodded Zack, thinking the same thing. "Maybe." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a note on the pool table. "Hey, what's this?"

He picked the note up and began reading:

To Zack and Cody,

I have little time to write this before I must leave (and I am afraid I cannot tell you where), so I will give the best explanation I can before leaving this hotel, perhaps forever. First, I did indeed know a Jack. Jack Simmons and I were buddies since childhood. As we grew older, we met another man, Karl James. Jack warned me that Karl was a crook. He was right and I should have paid attention to him. I did not, and what happened to me? I ended up entangled in a world of crime. After an incident where I just about killed myself, I walked away from it. Or at least, I tried to walk away.

Just recently, Karl has been reeling me back into a life of crime in spite of my protests. I do not have enough time to go over the details, but I can tell you he also tried to reel in Jack, and Jack was murdered when he refused; however, Karl was not the one to kill Jack. Instead, he recruited an insider in the hotel and that insider is

"Is who?!?" cried Cody. "Don't tell me that's all he wrote?!?"

"I'm afraid so," said Zack grimly. "And there's a swivelling line from right after the word "is". It looks like he might have been...well...kidnapped!"

"Or maybe he had to go to the bathroom really, really bad," said Cody quickly. He gulped and said, "Anyway...let's talk to Maddie."

Zack and Cody found Maddie at the candy counter, looking as mopy as ever.

"Maddie," said Zack awkwardly.

Maddie looked up. "Oh, hi, Zack," she said glumly. "I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. It's just..." She looked to the left and right before saying, "There's something you two need to know about. Something you can never tell anyone else. Got it?"

The two boys walked a bit further up to the candy counter. "Okay," said Zack. "We're listening."

Maddie looked to the left and right one more time to make sure no one was listening. When she was sure, she said, "Last year, shortly before I got a job here, I had this boyfriend. His name was Hugh. Hugh Hampton. I fell for him—hard. One day, during the summer, I took his younger brother Johnny with me to the public swimming pool. I got distracted for just one minute. The next time I turned around, Johnny was in the deep end of the pool. I dove in and tried to save him, but I was too late."

Maddie pulled out a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. "To make a long story short, Hugh blamed me for what had happened and we broke up."

"I'm sorry," said Zack sympathetically, placing one hand on Maddie's shoulder. He smiled. "You know, this would be a good place for that audience to go 'aww' during a faux sympathetic moment."

Maddie smiled. "You have a great sense of humour, Zack, you know that?" She stood up straight and said, "Well...I guess you two boys had better go back to your hotel room. I plan on packing up and leaving for the day before things get any worse."

"Wow," said Zack as he and Cody sat down with their beloved story. "I never thought Maddie's life actually paralleled Vera Claythorne's story that much."

"Yes," said Cody slowly. "Who would've thought their lives paralleled that much."

"What are you saying, Cody?" said Zack. "If you're suggesting Maddie—"

"Anyone is a suspect, Zack!" said Cody, throwing his hands up in the air. "We can't trust anyone at this point!"

"Maddie is nothing like Vera," said Zack firmly. "You'll see." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, we're just about done with this story. We'll write three more chapters and that should be it."