Murder

List of Characters | Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

The boat was engulfed in flames and all they could do is watch.

“It’s not sinking. I’m going to swim it,” Ethan said moving for the shore.

“Don’t be stupid. That’s too far away.” Arun sounded like he was in shock, his words were monotone and said without emphasis.

“If he was thrown clear, I have to make sure he doesn’t drown.” Ethan made it clear that he was going.

“That’s really far…” Zoe didn’t sound convinced Ethan could make it.

“I’ve been swimming my whole life. I competed before becoming a cop. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll go with you.” Riko hated water, but was starting to hate this island even more. She moved to follow him and he pulled her into a hug. He was warm despite the coolness and she felt better while he held her.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll take a life jacket in case I need it. Stay here and take care of the others.” He said loudly enough for everyone to hear before leaning closer and whispering, “Find out which one is doing this.”

She nodded at him and watched him walk away before turning to those left and saying, “Okay, everyone into the kitchen. It’s time to figure this out.”

The seven of them; Riko, Kate, Zane, Blane, Zoe, Sandrine, and Arun; all sat around the large dining table. For a long time no one spoke. They all just alternated between staring at each other and the television with the morbid poem.

Twelve naughty kittens all trapped on an island; they’re all going to die for certain.
The first betrayed love for cash; now she’s ash.
To violence and hate the second clung; now he’s hung.
To gossip the third fixated; now she’s been asphyxiated.
The fourth preferred those who were incapacitated, now it’s his turn to be penetrated.
The fifth was a jerk who loved a good burn, now in a ball of fire it’s his turn.

“Everyone who’s died did something the killer thought was bad,” Sandrine sounded annoyed.

“Seems a little disproportionate to have gossip and sexual assault on the same list. I mean I’ve made more than my share of people angry.” Zane wanted to be tough but Riko could hear the fear in his voice. “It’s not like crown attorneys make a lot of friends.”

“What the hell!” Arun jumped out of his seat and walked towards the far wall. The wall had a large chalk board surrounded by yellow orange wallpaper.

Following him to the chalkboard Riko asked, “What is it?”

“I swear I saw a blinking red light. Someone’s filming us.” Arun yelled as if he were trying to scare whoever was behind the chalkboard. “You’re setting us up and I’m going to find out why.”

“Arun, I didn’t see anything.”

The two of them stood in front of the chalkboard.

Just as Riko was turning around she saw a flicker of a red light. “Shut the curtains and turn off the lights.” A shiver ran through her as she continued to look at the blank black board.

The light was easily seen in the dark.

“What kind of bad horror movie bullshit is this?” Sandrine’s voice cracked in anger. Walking into the kitchen she came back with a large hammer used for tenderizing meat. Like all the kitchen utensils, it had a solid metal design.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Riko said as Sandrine started bashing at the chalkboard. The board splintered where she hit it and after three hard hits from someone who worked construction their entire adult life, it shattered.

The wall behind the chalk board was made of solid metal except for a small three centimetre hole that hid a small camera. Sandrine held up the camera and said, “I’ll find you and I’ll make sure you suffer for what you’ve done. You sick…” she continued with a long line of profanities that made Riko a little uncomfortable.

When she was done, Sandrine put the camera on a table and smashed it with her hammer.

Laughing awkwardly, Arun said, “This sort of reminds me of that party we had senior year.” When everyone looked at them blankly he explained, “It was the night before Kate…” he trailed off but they all knew he meant the night before Kate was hit by a drunk driver while jogging. “Anyway, remember we found that supper awkward kid—”

“Kingsley,” growled Sandrine.

Zoe’s parents had several hectares of land and she’d thrown a huge pre-graduation party. Everyone in their class had been invited. It was one of the few nights that Riko regretted. They’d all gotten drunk and she’d spent a good part of the night making out with Jonathan. Her chest felt tighter as she remembered he was dead.

While Riko only made out with Jonathan, others had done much worse. Some of the pairings that night destroyed relationships and started fights.

A girl in junior year had snuck in with a camcorder and recorded a lot before Sandrine found her. Sandrine had freaked out and thrown the camera into the fire. She’d yelled and said some terrible things to the girl before attacking her. It had taken three of them to pull Sandrine off of her.

“What ever happened to her?” Arun asked, voicing Riko’s thoughts.

“Who cares? That little snoop deserved worse than I gave her.” Sandrine’s voice was softer, but still filled with venom.

“Why is this wall metal?” Arun asked, leaning against the wall.

The silver necklace around Riko’s neck started to feel heavy. The small dolphin pendant her father had given her came out of her shirt and seemed to float towards the metal wall.

Kate’s wheelchair started stuttering towards the wall despite being locked in place. Everyone at the table got up as the silverware started rattling.

The metal hammer Sandrine had left on the table started to move towards the wall, scraping against the table.

Almost as if everything in the room decided to move at once. All the metal knick-knacks, the silverware, and pieces of the large chandelier took flight, moving as one large group towards the metal wall.

Both Riko and Sandrine dove, both for the hammer and to avoid the flying detritus. They missed the hammer and it took to the air, flying straight at Arun. He was pelted by several pieces of metal, forks embedded themselves into him, but it was the hammer that killed him; its head hit him in his neck and pinned him to the wall.

There was a sickening crack as the bulk of the metal pushed on him, crushing his body.

Riko felt her neck burn and the chain snapped off. It was just another pain combined with the multiple bruises and cuts caused by flying metal.

A large crack marked the end of the magnetic effect.

The cacophony of metal falling to the ground almost covered the sick wet thump of Arun’s crushed body falling lifelessly to the ground.

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List of Characters | Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3

“Well I’m going to have another of these,” Jonathan slurred picking up a full bottle of gyn.

The rest of the group just sort of stared at him for a little until Zoe launched herself at him. “You killed her you bastard.” Arun jumped into action and grabbed Zoe before she reached Jonathan.

Falling backwards off his chair, Jonathan made a whimpering noise.

“Ok. Relax everyone. Someone has obviously staged this. We can’t even be sure that’s Allison.” Riko tried to sound calm despite the panic she felt. “If one of us is the murderer, we just have to stop them from killing until the boat comes in the morning.”

“So we should just lock ourselves in our rooms and wait it out?” Zane clung to Blane.

Nodding solemnly, Abe said, “Right. You should lock yourselves in your rooms while the detectives and I investigate.” The doctor looked like he was half in shock and half enjoying himself.

“Weren’t you totally into these kinds of movies?” Sandrine was standing like she expected to be attacked, and in her dress it was easy to see the strong muscles of her legs and arms. She owned a construction company and must still do some of the work. The teasing, judgmental tone of her voice hadn’t changed in the past ten years.

Either Abe didn’t realize she was accusing him or he ignored it. “No way. I hate psycho killers. I’m all about monsters. Dracula, Jeepers Creepers, Nightmare on Elm Street.”

“I’d feel safer if I was with someone who has a gun,” slurred Jonathan.

With hatred in her eyes, Zoe said, “I’d feel more comfortable if you were with someone who has a gun too.” Turning to Riko and Ethan, she asked, “You have guns right?”

“No,” Ethan said and shook his head. Riko knew he was lying. The group was too frazzled; adding guns to the mix would guarantee that someone would get shot and it probably wouldn’t be the killer. “We’re off duty. No gun.” He said it as if it was obvious. She nodded in agreement.

“So we’re on an island with a psycho killer and no guns. Okay then.” Jonathan took a great big drink of the already half empty bottle of gin.

“Abe is right. Everyone should go to your rooms, lock the doors and stay there until the morning.”

Slowly everyone went up to their rooms. When no one but Riko, Ethan, and Abe were left, they carried Missy’s body up to the makeshift morgue. When they’d placed the body next to the others, Abe turned the air conditioning on to maximum.

“It’ll hopefully preserve the bodies a little.” He shrugged. The room already smelled of death and bodily fluids.

In Ethan’s room, Abe asked, “Which one of them do you think the killer is?”

“Why do you think it’s not one of us?” asked Ethan with a smirk. Riko’s heart fluttered at the smirk.

Looking like he was solving a puzzle no one else could, Abe answered, “Riko has always been the most stand up person I know. If she kills someone, it’s because they were a really bad person. If she trusts you enough to be your partner, it can’t be you either.”

Despite it feeling like a back handed compliment, Riko liked that her former classmate saw her as incorruptible. She said, “I’m not sure who it could be. I mean Jonathan is a broken jackass. I’m sure Sandrine is capable of killing, but I don’t think she’d play these games.”

Shrugging, Ethan said, “I haven’t seen anything to make me suspect anyone, but whoever this is, they’ve put a lot of thought into what they’re doing.”

They talked a little more about the others, but nothing came to mind. With no cell signal on the island and no access to the WiFi, they had no way of contacting the outside world. They finally decided to get some sleep.

“We’ll walk you to your room,” said Ethan. Every corner and every shadow made Riko’s skin crawl. She felt like she was playing a survival horror video game. Any moment she expected a zombie to crash through a window.

Despite her nerves, they walked Abe to his room and nothing happened. They said their goodnights and headed back to Riko’s room.

Ethan went for the adjoining door, turned, and said, “Goodnight.” His smile was tired but warm. She wanted to tell him to stay. She wanted to feel his arms around her, his warmth on her back as she slept. She wanted him.

“Goodnight,” she replied as he closed the door, her moment passed.

She changed out of her dress and into a comfortable pair of shorts and a Superman tank top. She wasn’t expecting to fall asleep, but the stress and worry had worn her out.

She woke up to an alarm. She hit the alarm clock next to the bed but nothing happened.

The sun shone meekly through the hotels curtains signaling a beautiful day was about to start. The smell and sound of Lake Ontario wafted through the window. She must have forgotten to close it last night.

The alarm was her phone. She had a text message. It was from a blocked number, and all it said was, “The forth preferred those who were incapacitated, now it’s his turn to be penetrated.”

There was a scream from the hallway and she ran out to find Sandrine standing in the doorway of Abe’s room. She was ashen with shock, and didn’t stop screaming until Riko pulled her into a hug.

Over the shoulder of the shocked woman, Riko could see Abe’s body hung on the wall by a six foot square patch of spikes. It looked like someone had pushed or tossed him into the spikes.

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They had just placed James’s body in the same room as the burnt canoe when all three of their phones rang.

Riko brushed her short black hair behind her ear and looked down at the screen incredulously

“Allison R has invited you to a LiveStream on Konect-EDTM” read her screen.

“What the hell? I thought she was dead?” Doctor Abe Harker gave a confused glance at the canoe.

“How’d she get my number? Wait… I don’t have signal. What the hell?” asked Ethan. He’d clicked on ok and Riko could see a countdown clock with fifteen minutes left.

Riko put her phone away and said, “If we got this, everyone else will have too. We should go before they panic.”

“Screw them, I’m panicking already,” Abe trembled as he spoke.

On the way to the staircase, they didn’t trust the elevator, they met up with Zane and Blane. “Riko!” they exclaimed in unison and pulled her into a group hug. The two had been inseparable in high school and they’d been teased mercilessly; called every form of homophobic insult until Zane came out. The teasing transformed into whispers and rumour. Despite everything, Blane had stayed firm in his friendship with Zane. In senior year they’d announced they were a couple. The whispers turned into bullying. Riko had been enraged by the way they were treated and had gotten into multiple fights before they’d asked her to just ignore it. When the two were married, a few years later, she’d been part of the wedding party.

“I know that look. What’s wrong?” Zane’s sharp nose and bright eyes looked down on her after the hug.

“James is dead and someone else was killed.” Riko was blunt but it was the best way.

“Good riddance. Who’s the ‘someone else’?” Blane’s sandy blond hair contrasted with his naturally tanned skinned and dark eyes.

“We thought it was Allison but…” Abe lifted his phone with the countdown on it and shrugged.

They walked the rest of the way to the ballroom without speaking.

When they arrived the whole group was there except for Jonathan.

“He went to the kitchen. Said he needed some ‘grub’. He’s really stuck in the past.” Zoe made air quotes around the word “grub”.

“That man is completely useless,” Missy enunciated clearly as if she was in parliament. “Screw him, What about this?” She held up her phone with a little over five minutes left in the countdown. Behind her well controlled disgust, she was barely hiding her panic.

Calmly Riko said, “Let’s all head to the kitchen together and we’ll take the call there.” As the ten of them walked across the lobby to the small attached dining room and kitchen Riko expected to see Jonathan dead. To her mixed relief and annoyance he was sitting on a stool in the dining room watching a large screen with the same countdown as their phones. He was munching down on a large bag of chips.

“Oh, hey guys. Looks like Teacher’s pet is still alive.” Jonathan used Allison’s high school nick name. He’d given it to her personally when she’d rejected him in junior year. He then started a rumour she’d been having an affair with their computers teacher, Mr. Trevors. He’d been straight out of teachers college.

Riko was embarrassed to remember that she’d believed the rumours. She wasn’t alone and they spread to the teachers and the parents. Mr. Trevors was fired for the affair despite both him and Allison saying it didn’t exist.

On the table next to Jonathan was a big bowl with ice, a dozen glasses, and a variety of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic.

Ethan reached over and prepared himself a drink of rum and coke on the rocks. Seeing Riko watching him he said, “What? We’re not on duty.” He said it with a smirk that made her insides tingle.

Taking their cue from him, they all fixed themselves drinks of one sort or the other in the glasses. Riko took a bottle of water and just held on to it.

“This better be good,” Missy mumbled. Sitting at the far end of the table she filled her glass with ice and poured a bottle of water over it. She looked ready for a tough business meeting at the end of the table in a comfy chair.

When the countdown ended, they were all sipping their drinks quietly. Allison’s face with a background of books, as if she were in a library, appeared on the screen. She hadn’t changed at all from high school. “If you’re getting this I’m most likely dead.” Everyone started talking at once, but quieted down when Allison continued, “The good news is one of you is my killer. The bad news is you’re trapped here.” Allison looked up, as if she was looking at something beyond the camera and asked, “Is that ok?”

The video cut to a blank screen and a computerized voice started saying, “Twelve naughty kittens all trapped on an island. They’re all going to die for certain. The first betrayed love for cash; now she’s ash. To violence and hate the second clung; now he’s hung.” The words appeared and stayed on the screens.

“That’s twisted,” laughed Jonathan.

“Oh shit. We’re all going to die,” Zoe fell from her chair and started hyperventilating. “We’re going to die, we’re going to die.” She kept repeating the words and Abe went to her to help with the panic attack.

Ethan moved closer to Riko and gave her a solemn look. Zane took her hand. If someone was really trying to kill them they needed to find out who it was. Riko wouldn’t put murder past most of them, unfortunately, but this was one step beyond. It was scarily premeditated.

Looking up at the screen again Riko noticed that another line had been added.

Twelve naughty kittens all trapped on an island; they’re all going to die for certain.
The first betrayed love for cash; now she’s ash.
To violence and hate the second clung; now he’s hung
To gossip the third fixated; now she’s been asphyxiated.

The only other person still looking at the screen was Missy. Riko recognized the signs of anaphylaxis; Missy’s skin was puffy and eyes bloodshot. Missy’s throat had closed and she’d suffocated while everyone had been fixated on Zoe.

Her dead eyes still stared at the screen with terror.
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