"The police checked inside, didn''t they get nothing from it?" said Meera.


    "Yes, even the weapons used were right in front of the crime scene, they didn''t even try to hide it," said Misty.


    "That means we can get their fingerprints right?" said Alex.


    "No, whoever is this culprit has made sure to destroy any evidence possible. They weren''t able to find anything from the crime scene, no fingerprint, no scent, no evidence, nothing."


    "Sadly the weapons used to murder them were this household''s, so we have no scope in finding them through that either," said Trevor.


    "So from what you guys heard or saw so far. Do you have valuable info to share, which could be a turning point in this case? Try reconstructing that day, something useful may come up in your mind," said Misty.


    "Satoshi hasn''t been feeling well lately, I mean mentally. It looked like something was bothering him alot," said Mary.


    "I''m cent percent sure that was because of seeing me after all these years, even I felt the same, we were childhood friends after all," said Catherine.


    "Hm, anything else?" said Misty. Everyone else was silent, "I guess that''s it."


    "Do you guys suspect anyone?" said Trevor.


    "I suspect Annie," said Catherine.


    "Annie? Why Annie?" said Mary.


    "Because..."


    Two days ago


    "Vishnu, you have been looking pale lately," Catherine grinned, "is it because you are the kidnapper."


    "What?! No!"


    "I was just joking... you need to start taking lessons on that."


    "Ah... my bad then."


    "It looks like something is bugging you," she looked into his eyes, "you can talk to me, ya know."


    "It''s just that... I know a secret, and it''s so hard to live with a secret."


    "What secret?" Catherine tilted her head slightly.


    "It''s about... Annie, she..." Vishnu thought for a while then stood up and left. "I don''t think it''s a good idea to tell you."


    ''Well, he didn''t even tell the ones who he''s more close to why would he tell me.'' She stood up and turned to go to her room, then she saw Annie standing there, Catherine was surprised. "Did you hear what we said?"


    "Yes..."


    "Hmm," she looked at the ceiling to avoid eye contact, "what do you think it is?"


    "I don''t know, I don''t have any secrets."


    Catherine smirked. "Hah, of course I''m believing that lie."


    "Also why does a bitch like you care," Annie gave her a blank stare, "you don''t like me, don''t you."


    "No more nice girl acts, I see. Oh yeah, it''s because it''s only me here, that''s why you don''t have to put on your covers."


    Annie smiled, still keeping that blank stare. "Yes!" she laughed. "Nobody''s gonna believe you even if you said this to them."


    "Well, I know how to make them believe, but I don''t give a fuck as long as everything''s alright."


    Present


    "Did such a thing really happen?" Tony looked at Annie. "Annie?"


    Annie sighed. "Okay, I admit, I did act that way, but it was because she was always mean to me. Also, the secret she told him is probably the fact I''m two faced. I don''t know why she cares so much about that thing, maybe it''s because she thinks she failed as a doctor, who knows? But I can assure you it''s not me who killed Vishnu, in fact I really liked him. I was probably the closest one to him after Meera and Tony," she looked around to have a look at everyone.


    Everyone was silent for quite a while. "Wow, I never expected you to talk this much," said Tony.


    "She can do other things, which you never expected from her too," said Catherine.


    "Shut up Catherine, you are blabbering stuff without knowing anything! In Fact I suspect you. You are someone who always keeps your opinions to yourself but somehow you want to reveal it to everyone right now. Totally not suspicious!" said Annie.


    Catherine breathed heavily. "I''m frustrated by my friend''s death, and how dare you say that I''m responsible for his death."


    "Stop it!" said Meera. "Alright, the meeting is dispersed, you guys do whatever you want to or just go die, but please give me a break!"


    "I''m sorry... Meera," said Catherine.


    Everyone left the living room, leaving only Misty and Trevor. "So, what are we going to do now?" said Trevor.


    "The same thing we have been doing since meeting each other."


    "Yeah, we have no other choice." He looked at Misty. "So, what''s next? I feel you need a break before starting investigations, also the police are doing it so we can relax."


    "Hmm," she looked up, "okay then," she smiled at him. "I think you need rest too."


    Meera was sitting in her room, then she saw somebody coming in with a bowl, her eyes fluttered. "Vishnu?"


    The person came inside, it was Mary. "You haven''t eaten anything all day... I thought I should bring you food." She walked closer. "I will just put it here," she put the food on the table and walked to the door. She looked at Meera just before leaving the room, she walked back inside and sat on the bed. "Meera, if you are feeling terrible just know that I''m here.... know that all of us are here, we will help you."


    "Why did they kill someone like him," Meera''s eyes became teary, "he never wanted to do anything sketchy. He never interfered on any matters," Meera held Mary''s hands. "I''m sure Mary, some psychopath killed him for fun," she teared up.


    "Cry all you want, and let it all out," she gave her a hug.


    Meera suddenly pushed Mary apart. "Isn''t it you who killed him?"


    "What... do you mean?"


    "Misty said they found sleeping pills in his room. Alex felt tired after eating the food, I felt it too," Meera looked at her furiously, "and you are the one who cooked the food. So it must be you who put it on our food."


    Mary looked at her helplessly. "No Meera, I would never do that. You are not thinking straight, you should take a little rest."


    Meera went silent for a few seconds. "I hope you are right, if not I will kill you... Now, get out."


    Mary got out of the room teary eyed, and saw Misty standing there. "What are you standing here for? Do you also suspect me, and want to question me?"


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "No, I was just walking by and heard the commotion, I was about to barge in actually," said Misty. Mary wiped her tears and walked off. Misty stopped her, "wait!"


    "Hm? Why?"


    "I don''t really suspect you but I do have some questions to ask."


    "Nah, don''t lie, you wouldn''t if you don''t suspect me. Why don''t you just say it directly," Mary crossed her arms.


    "I''m telling the truth, but it seems like you don''t wanna help, okay I guess," Misty shrugged.


    "I never said that, what do you wanna ask?"


    "You served the food yesterday, right?"


    "Yes? I did get help but that doesn''t matter I feel."


    "So have you noticed someone skipping dinner or throwing away food? I always noticed that you always looked at everyone eating food, so I think you must have noticed it."


    "Hm, yesterday.... Vishnu skipped the dinner. Satoshi, Annie, Alex, Tony and Meera have a habit of bringing their food to their room, so they took their food to the room. I think that''s it, it''s only from my memory by the way."


    "Hm, thanks," Misty smiled, "now you can go. Also, don''t take anybody''s words by heart, something really terrible happened, so we aren''t really ourselves right now."


    "Yeah, I won''t. I hope you or the police find the culprit as soon as possible."


    Mary stopped walking midway and turned over. "I just remembered this, I found a fudge in Vishnu''s room today, but he never came to eat dinner. I thought it might be something important."


    Misty''s eyes widened. "It is! Thanks Mary!" she walked to Mary, "uhm, perhaps you have leftover fudge from yesterday?"


    Mary blinked in confusion. "Yes, it''s in the fridge," she pointed to the kitchen.


    "Nice! Please get me one, Mary."


    Midnight


    Everyone else was fast asleep while Misty and Trevor were in the living room discussing. "So you are saying all of them reacted to it?" said Trevor.


    "Yes, all six of them reacted weirdly to that statement," said Misty.


    "Well, at least we can shortlist the suspects to six."


    Earlier in front of the police station


    Trevor and Misty are sitting in the car. "Uhm Trevor? You wanna read the report right now, isn''t that why you aren''t starting the car?" said Misty.


    "Yes."


    "Okay then, let''s take a look into it." Once they were done reading it, there was nothing but silence there.


    Trevor broke the silence. "I think I know what our first step should be."


    Misty shrivelled her eyebrows. "What should be our first step?"


    "We should give them wrong info about the autopsy, like adding on an extra injury."


    "Will it work?"


    "Maybe it won''t if it''s somebody else, but it''s you who we are talking about, your bluffs are hard to not believe."


    "Hm, let''s see."


    Present


    "It''s good that we were able to shortlist the suspects, but I''m confused about what to do next," said Misty.


    "I can get the footage of what happened last night," said Trevor.


    "What? How? Why didn''t you tell me earlier?"


    "Well, the chances are low. Since the CCTV was hacked by Ralph back then, I somehow thought about the possibility of it getting destroyed. So I did some techniques for the footage to be copied to my laptop. I was short on time while doing this, so I skipped some steps, that''s why it''s hard to get access to that footage. Not to mention the fact that the whole system is destroyed, but getting linked to my laptop is the same as getting linked to the internet. That is why, I can easily get access to that footage, just wait a bit."


    "That''s great, Trevor!" Suddenly something clicked for Misty. "Now that you have reminded me that you are a hacker, can you look into Satoshi''s location history?"


    "Only Satoshi''s? Not Vishnu''s?"


    "Satoshi has been acting strange before his death. He also made a lot of trips, it was like he was after something. The more and more I think about it, the more I get convinced that a certain someone is the culprit."


    "I will arrange it for you by tomorrow."


    "And we are going to those places tomorrow."


    The next day


    Trevor and Misty got ready early to go for the investigation. Misty got on the driver''s seat, while Trevor got on the passenger seat with his laptop. "So tell me the directions," Misty drove the car off.


    The car travelled a bit and stopped at a certain house. "He visited this house more than twice, this house might be important for us," said Trevor. Trevor and Misty got out of the car and rang the bell. They waited a couple of minutes, yet nobody opened the door for them. "I guess nobody''s home, guess our visit has to wait," he said.


    They went to three other houses and decided to head back. "We have got a really big piece of information from our visits, we are almost sure who it could be," said Misty.


    "Yes, but hey we are still not sure about it, maybe something else happened in between," Trevor had a rather sad expression.


    "Yes, we just need to visit that one house and everything will be clear to us."


    Misty stopped her car in front of a house. "Why did you stop the car? Our investigation is over. Satoshi never went anywhere else," said Trevor.


    Misty got out of the car. "I have to collect a little Intel from here. Why are you sitting inside, come with me."


    "A.. Alright, but what are you doing?" They both walked to the property, Misty knocked on the door, Trevor looked around. "Seems like a pretty old house."


    A Woman opened the door. "Who''s calling my house old?!"


    "Uh.. uhm," Trevor looked at Misty, but little did he know that she was already pointing her fingers at Trevor. "I hope nobody gets a friend like you. I''m sorry, I just said what I felt."


    The woman scratched her head. "Well, you aren''t actually wrong," she looked at Misty, "you are Misty''s friend, so I will let you off the hook."


    "Thank you..."


    "So, what did you find, Lily?" said Misty.


    "You were right, those fudges contain the powdered form of those sleeping pills," said Lily. "I have to tell you this, whoever ate those fudge won''t get up in the first six hours even if you shot them in the head."


    "Thanks, I have to go now," Misty looked at Trevor, "let''s go, Trevor."


    Misty and Trevor got in the car, and Misty drove it off. "What were you talking about?" Trevor raised both of his eyebrows, "did you find the food the killer used to add the sleeping pills?"


    "Bingo! And the girl you just saw is an expert at identifying such things. So when I found out about it, I wasted no time bringing the test sample to her."


    "Oh, but you didn''t tell me about it."


    "I completely forgot, there were so many things going on in my head."


    Midnight


    Misty was sleeping in her bedroom, suddenly she heard a knock on her door, she opened the door to see Trevor. "Misty, I got the footage, I also got extra footage which I''m sure you will like."


    "Extra footage?"


    "Yes, come out, I''m a man and you are a woman, we shouldn''t be in our rooms with each other."


    "You have time to think like this, even at times like this."


    "I was just saying."


    Trevor put the laptop on the coffee table, and they both sat on the couch to see what would unfold. It was 2 am, and Satoshi was sitting in the dining room. He stood up when he saw a person coming towards him, the face of the person wasn''t visible, they were wearing a hoodie. It was shown in the footage that Satoshi was talking with the person for about 30 minutes. The hood was down at a certain point, but the face was still not visible as they were facing the opposite side of the camera. Trevor paused the footage, "hmm, this person has hair length over their neck. It''s too bad that the rest of the hair is covered."


    "So our culprit is someone who has hair down the shoulder," said Misty.


    "That''s every woman minus Mary, and Alex and Cheng from men."


    They continued to play the footage, the talk turned to an argument, after 45 minutes of talking Satoshi was heading back. He looked like he was determined to do something. His determination was so strong that Misty and Trevor felt that even through the screen. Then, the culprit took out a gun from their pocket, it looked like the killer was calling out to Satoshi before pulling the trigger. They both stayed silent when the footage was over.


    "Well, now I will play another footage, it''s footage of the same time but different place," said Trevor. The living room was shown in the footage, Vishnu was standing in the entrance still. "He... probably must have seen what happened." He started running and fell to the ground.


    "Huh? What?" Misty''s eyes widened. "I remember now, Vishnu had a stab wound on his heels," Misty gulped, "so this is why..."


    "A trap made by the killer..." Trevor played the footage again, the hooded killer came closer to him and stabbed him in the guts. Vishnu was crying in the footage asking something.


    "So this was the extra footage?"


    "No, I have something else to show you. To be honest, I don''t want to show it to you, this will make the 85% to 90%."


    "You know, even if it''s hard for us to accept, if that''s the truth, it should be unveiled, Satoshi was our friend too. In fact, I want the one who killed him to suffer. Vishnu''s murder may have happened in the heat of the moment, which is bad in itself, but as you can see Satoshi''s wasn''t." Misty remembered her first real day at the house.


    Misty was standing outside, thinking something. "Well, sorry for what happened today," she heard Satoshi''s voice and looked back. He scratched his head. "We suspected you for no reason."


    "Well, I would be more concerned if you didn''t suspect me, only the real kidnapper knows that I couldn''t be the one, so they wouldn''t freak out."


    "But everyone freaked out though, are you saying nobody is the kidnapper?" Satoshi smiled


    "Well, the kidnapper had to act like they care, because you all were making a fuss. The kidnapper knows damn well that they would be suspected if they don''t act that way."


    "How is your stay in my house," said Satoshi.


    "Like Catherine said, it''s not a house, it''s a mansion, there''s no way I would have a complaint staying here. Uhm... are you annoyed by us staying here?"


    "If I was, I wouldn''t have allowed you to stay here, will I?" Satoshi took a breath in. "In fact I''m happy that I got to meet you all. I have been living miserably till now. I lost contact with my friends, and my employees hated me because I was a little strict. I''m so glad I get to take a break from that. I''m thankful to God for creating such a scenario, I got to meet a bunch of weird but wholesome people who I could make friends with."


    "If you are going to be too nice, I will make sure to not leave even after the case is solved."


    Satoshi smiled. "Well, I don''t mind that as long as you don''t have any ulterior motives."


    Present


    "I don''t know if you have ever noticed, but he really treasured us all even though we just met. The fact that someone could kill such a guy is beyond me," said Misty, "show me the footage you are talking about.”