*cries* I know you guys have been waiting for a long while, I'm sorry! And it's short, too...I couldn't find a good climax to end the chapter, so yeah.

Just, here. Take a new chapter. Take it and run.

~Goldie

"…I suggest we handle this in proper military fashion: we split up and search the house. We have little time, so we will be in groups of two…."

"Two?" the professor pales, "What if one of us is the murderer? If we split up, one of us might get killed!"

Mustard says that is how we will discover the murderer, to which Peacock refuses to go with anyone, fearing for her life.

"We have no choice…" I solemnly sigh.

"But," Yvette whimpers, "It is dark upstairs, and I am frightened of the dark. Will anyone go with me?"

The colonel rushes, "I will." Followed by Plum, "I will."

I grin, getting a kick out of my role, "No, thank you." And I move toward Wadsworth, who suggests that we draw lots to determine our partners; and then he grabs a bundle of matchsticks. We follow him to the kitchen, where he cuts them up into four different sizes. Turning around, he shuffles them up.

"Ready? The two shortest will go together, and the next two together. Agreed?"

Nodding heads answer silently, and they pick their sticks.

"The two shortest will search the cellar, and so on, up." I grab one, and it's fairly long. I compare around, and no one else had one like mine. Then, lo and behold, I find the other-and the owner was Wadsworth. He smiles at me, and I find myself smiling back. Plum breaks the silence to his partner, Mrs. Peacock, "It's just you and me, honeybunch.", putting a sickly sweet emphasis on 'bunch'.

Heading out of the kitchen, the pairs follow each other: Scarlet and Mustard, Yvette and White, Peacock and Plum, and Wadsworth and I. We walk up the staircase cautiously, not wanting to trip. Once at the top, he says to me "We will need to check the supply room and the master bedroom." I nod, not daring to look him in the eye. He looks at me oddly, pausing for a moment, then finally turning away. Terribly-timed thunder causes me to jump sharply; which my partner finds amusement in, grinning ear-to-ear. We arrive at the two rooms, one residing next to the other. Unmoved, Wadsworth asks, "Are you going in there?"

"Yes, are you?"

"Yes."

An awkward silence follows shortly.

"Right…um, I don't see any…light switches in there."

"Neither do I." I mutter, "But there must be a switch in there somewhere…"

He looks over to me with a gentleman-like manner, "Should I go in with you?"

"…..would you mind?" I ask timidly, face flushed.

"Not at all." He joins me in walking through the doorway, and we look around the supply room warily.

"A-anything yet?" I ask, fumbling along a wall.

"No. Nothing at all."

I continue to search my surroundings for a light, when I suddenly bump into something.

"Ouch!"

"Oh, sorry." I must've ran into Wadsworth by accident!

My hand finds a switch, and I flip the lights on, illuminating the whole room. Wadsworth, now right in front of me, sharply looks around the room, the lights catching him off-guard. "Found the switch." I explain, the butler now looking at me.
"Well, that's good." He nods. We finish our search of the room, the both of us feeling braver than before. He walks out of the room, and I follow, keeping the light on…just in case. Now, to tackle the master bedroom-we're halfway through! As I realized that, a scream rang through the house. It came from downstairs! Wadsworth and I share a look, then rush down the hall. By a freak accident, we (literally) run into Yvette and Ms. White, who were coming down from the attic, and the impact sends us all to the floor in one huge dogpile. I groan in pain, trying to recover myself. Realizing I had landed on Wadsworth, I try to get up, but Ms. White was on top of me!

"Sorry." I manage, waiting for White to get up. I look at the blushing butler underneath me, who seemed to be very uncomfortable. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

"I'm….fine." he says, breath quietly quickening.

Once White gets off of me, Wadsworth pushes me off and scrambles to his knees, gasping at the floor. Another scream pulls my attention away, "Get us out!" and we all continue downstairs, where Plum and Peacock are waiting. The noise was coming from the lounge! We all try the door, but it won't open.

"The door is locked!" Plum declares,

"I know." I say exasperatedly, then turning toward the butler at the door, I continue, "Where's the key?"

Wadsworth stares for a moment, then snaps back in focus and feels around in his pockets, "The key's gone!"

"Never mind about the key! Unlock the door!" The Professor shouts, enticing me to respond with greater volume, grabbing his collar and shaking him,

"I can't unlock the door without the key!"