Three more names had been crossed out.
The clock read 2:40 exact. Over the last 15 minutes Una Persson and Shirley Ujest related how they were with each other the entire time listening to **Johnny LA’s **music near the stage, and Rand Rover removed all doubt that he had been connected to the crime.
“So, where were you?” Twickster asked Rand Rover as he sat in the front.
He narrowed his eyes. “Where were you?” He asked, trying to sound like he was making a point
“I already said where I was. Where were you?”
“Ah, THAT is the question, so to speak!” He said, sounding like he just said something smart and then crossed his arms over his chest as if he made a point.
“I’m sorry, what?” Twickster asked.
“Precisely.” Rand Rover said, nodding for reasons only he knew.
“So, where were you?” Twickster asked again, with somewhat growing amusement in spite of herself and the situation.
“Yes, yes…” Rand Rover said, looking smug, like he was talking to someone in his own little world.
Someone laughed in the back. It sounded like Gfactor.
“Seems like it.” He said as he put his arms back down.
Twickster paused for a minute, then asked, “Rand Rover, did you kill Idle Thoughts?”
Rand Rover shook his head quickly, then focused on a fly buzzing around the room. He watched it as it landed on his arm. Then reached over and quickly slapped it with his other hand. He put his hand up to admire his handiwork.
“But the real question is…” He said in almost a whisper, “That the question of the question is not an answer to the question of the whole point, of course.” He nodded again, as if that should explain everything.
Twickster crossed the name Rand Rover off the list.
“I was thirsty most the night, so I just hung around the punch bowl the entire time. Lord Ashtar saw me there and I talked to Shodan a bit as he was waiting for you to return from the bathroom”
Alice in Wonderland put her hand behind her head. She looked tired and her cheeks had tear streaks on them. Her eyes were half open and minor veins stood out in them.
“Did Lord Ashtar see you before or after you spoke to Shodan?” Twickster inquired.
Mr Bus Guy looked up from a semi-doze. “Wuza?”
“Go back to sleep.” Guin whispered.
“Before.” **Alice **replied. “About five minutes before.”
“Yup, it’s true.” Lord Ashtar said from the side of the stage. “We waved to each other.”
“Well, then, I think we can cross you off the list.” Twickster smiled.
“Really?” She seemed surprised. “That easy?”
“Of course that easy!” **Sapo **spoke up again from his world in the corner. “Seeming as she doesn’t even care to question right or in detail, just crossing names off left and right by asking, ‘did you kill him?’. Seems like a simple no makes you free and clear of the crime.”
Twickster turned to him to what seemed like the hundreth time that night.
“Well, Sapo,” She said through clenched teeth. “I guess it just takes a lot less clues for me to be sure of a person’s innocence. The main agreement we have is that Idle Thoughts entered the bathroom at 9:10, was presumably killed 15 minutes after, which would be about 9:25, and was found at 9:40. Now, if Alice was taking to Shodan while I left to see if I could use the facilities, then Idle would have already been dead, because when I got back, Marley found him only about ten mere minutes later. Therefore, when I reached the bathroom, he was already dead as well. Now, if Lord Ashtar saw Alice about a full 15 minutes BEFORE Marley found Idle, That would have been right around the time of the actual murder. So if Alice was out here at the time the murder took place, then how could she have done it, hmmmm?” She fell silence and let all that soak in.
Sapo considered all this a minute, then his eyes slowly narrowed. “Seems to me,” he said, “that again, you have proved that you know an awful lot about this crime for someone that proclaims their innocence.”
Twickster bit her lip. She felt a dull throb in her forehead that would eventually form into a headache. Sapo went on. “In fact, you are so observant, I’m surprised you haven’t had time to notice our missing guest.”
“Huh?” Twickster had forgot about TubaDiva for the moment, then suddenly it came back to her.
“Come now, Idle Thoughts invited forty of us here. Forty of the most well-known Dopers. Present are only thirty-nine. Surely he didn’t forget to invite one of the actual admins…, so the question is, where is TubaDiva?”
Everyone looked around the room as if to confirm that one of them was, in fact, missing. Twickster found herself surprised that no one had noticed earlier TubaDiva not being there.
And still, Sapo went on. “Now isn’t that unusual? Makes you wonder if there’s more then meets the eye.”
Muffin spoke up. “I think you’re a little paranoid there, Sappy. There are so many reasons why a person could miss a party.”
“Very true.” Twickster picked up. “Anyway, she could not have done it. Nobody saw her tonight. What, do you think she came in here invisible and killed him then slipped out like the wind?”
“While I hardly think she would have used those impossible methods, I’m not ruling her out as a suspect.”** Sapo** said with a sarcastic look on his face. “I mean, was anyone really paying attention? There is a remote possiblity that she could have slipped in unnoticed, bumped him off, then left without a word to a soul.”
“Maybe we should concentrate on the people here.” What Exit suddenly spoke up.
Sapo looked at him with a sense of wonder, as if suddenly seeing him for the first time. “Yes, What Exit, why don’t we concentrate on the ones present? Like you, the last one to ever see him alive? Tell me, where were you at the time of the murder?”
What Exit turned to face Sapo. “For your information, I was talking to Marley at the punchbowl for most of the night.”
“Ah yes, our beloved Marley. The only OTHER person directly associated with Idle’s death by being the one who found him.” Sapo said, all this will a certain air of happiness.
“Fuck you, Sapo.” Marley spoke from the right side of the stage and happy he could now say that with his on-board moderator shoes off. “Sorry, buddy, but both our stories match each other. I spoke with What Exit all night. He left for the bathroom about 9pm and came right back here and we continued to talk. So don’t give me any of your guilt trip bullshit. It don’t work on me.”
“Hear, Hear.” Green Bean spoke up. Everyone turned to look at her and she blushed, embarassed.
Marley and What Exit were crossed out.
Bricker and CarnalK were sitting side by side in the back. **Twickster **questioned them carefully and carefully crossed their names out ten minutes later.
By 3:45, only six names were still on the list.
Eludicator
MsRobyn
ElvisL1ves
ivn1188
Hal Briston
Muffin
And me, **Twickster **thought. Sapo won’t let anyone forget that.
She looked at the room with all the people bunched in. All of a sudden it seemed too full. Too stuffy. Everyone just sat there, and the air had a kind of a thickness one could feel.
Twickster sighed and looked toward the back where Shodan and Little Nemo still sat. Shodan was on the verge of falling asleep.
She decided to make a decision right now. Clear the room. Get the innocents out of here. She wouldn’t need but a couple of big guys if they found the killer anyway.
“All right,” she announced. “I’ve decided most of you have been here long enough. So to the delight of Sapo and others. I’ve decided to let the crossed out names leave.”
A buzz spread though the room, the ones who had not yet been crossed out looked uneasy.
Twickster continued. “However I wish that Shodan, Little Nemo, and a couple other’s would stay behind to help with the…the…” She paused, wondering how to finish. “criminal.”
Many people stood up at once. There were stretches, cracking knuckles, popping joints. They started to move toward the collected assortment of backpacks, purses, and knapsacks that were all set on one table in the back.
Sapo got there first. He was so anxious to get out into the fresh air. He’d just about had enough of the hot, crowded room. He fished through the bags, looking for his backpack with the green stripe. There it was.
Others were going through the pile, picking out their belongings, going through them to see if everything was still intact and accounted for. Sapo didn’t bother. He grabbed his pack and turned to Twickster.
“Well, Twick, it’s been real. Really good time I’ve had, but I hope all the rest here remember…”
It happened so quick that at first nobody recognized the things that dropped out of the pack. They fell to the floor with loud thumps. Everyone froze and stared at the three items that now lay on the floor at Sapo’s feet.
A butcher’s knife, a gun, a bottle of poison.
Sapo looked down at these things with a hypnotized stare. His brain didn’t function at what he was looking at, at first. MeanOldLady broke the deathly silence.
“Holy shit.”
**Sapo **looked at her with an incredulous look. He seemed very dazed. “Wha?”
“Whoa.” Kaylasdad gasped. Everyone was looking at Sapo, now, with hard, accusing looks. He spun around and saw they were in a half circle. They all backed away at his sudden movement.
“**Sapo.” **That was Little Nemo.
“But…but…” Sapo tried to form the words but they didn’t seem to want to come out.
Muffin peered over the crowd. “God, what, did you poison him first?!”
Sapo found his voice and pulled it out. “NO! What the fuck?!! This is a set up! I didn’t kill the son of a bitch!”
Everyone backed up a bit more.
“How did you do it, Sap?” **Johnny LA **was asking. “Did you trick Mr Bus Guy in his handicapped state and leave him to kill **Idle **off?”
“You are all wrong! YOU HAVE GOT THE WRONG GUY…those…those aren’t mine…I didn’t–”
“Shut up, you filthy murderer!” Pbbth cried, then burst into tears.
Little Nemo and Johnny LA started moving toward him very slowly. Sapo noticed this and backed up. “You stay the hell away from me, you hear? You’re all crazy. You’ll stay away if you know what’s good for you.”
“Give it up, Sapo. This can go easy or this can go hard.” Little Nemo took a careful step forward again.
Sapo moved quick. He bent down, faster then anyone could guess he could and picked up the gun. He raised it to meet Little Nemo.
They all gasped. Sapo held the gun at Nemo, then switched it to Johnny, then back to Nemo as if he couldn’t make up his mind. “Stay back! You’re all making a big mistake. Now listen to me, you’ve got the wrong person, so you all just stay back.”
“Put the gun down, Sapo.” Little Nemo said in a soothing tone.
“The hell I will. I won’t be taken in like this. You all just stay away. I’m leaving here tonight the innocent man I am.”
Little Nemo focused on something behind Sapo and gasped. “Oh my God! Idle Thoughts! You’re alive!”
Sapo turned around to see what Little Nemo saw and Nemo saw his chance. He lunged forward. Sapo turned back and fired the gun on instinct. Nemo jerked to the right as the bullet entered his shoulder. Johnny LA ran forward and tackled Sapo to the floor. He wrestled the gun away as Guin and Una saw to **Nemo’**s wound and Vinyl Turnip ran to the phone to dial the police.
Johnny LA pulled Sapo to his feet. His eyes were wild. “You’re ALL MAKING A BIG MISTAKE! YOU’RE ALL CRAZY! I KNOW WHO KILLED IDLE THOUGHTS! I KNOW WHO REALLY KILLED HIM! IT WAS…IT WAS…”
To
Be
Continued…
