The atmosphere during dinner was tense. Tharonby had died behind shut doors during the night when they were all asleep but Richard had died in front of their very eyes. It had managed to rattle even Adrian who was usually desensitized to deaths. He couldn’t imagine how the others must be feeling.
The steak had been prepared by Antoine and was surprisingly delicious.
“I used to share my room with a chef in Cardiff. He taught me how to make this,” he’d said.
“I don’t know who to complement, you or your friend,” Hunter commented.
“I think it’s only fair to complement Antoine since he made this by himself,” Shanice said, putting a piece of steak in her mouth.
They didn’t talk much after that. Adrian welcomed the silence. He didn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment. He wanted to think. Every moment he spent not thinking about the case was a moment some poor soul got closer to their death.
Raj and Hunter seemed suspicious of him.
Nobody had any alibi for Tharonby and Richard’s death. Tharonby had been killed sometime during the night and Richard’s weapon had been fixed sometime during the night too. Just how did their kidnapper expect Adrian to solve the case?
He was bound by a set of rules that clearly favoured the kidnapper.
Some game, Adrian thought.
As with the previous night, Hunter took on the task to clean the dishes. Antoine volunteered to clean the grill as he had been the one who had cooked in it. Raven and Adrian decided to help pass the dishes to Hunter.
They cleaned as they had eaten: in relative silence with Hunter doing most of the talking.
“Who do you think will die next?” he had asked.
“Don’t put it bluntly like that,” Antoine said.
“Sorry. The detective’s doing all he can though. Probably.”
“‘He’?” Raven asked.
“Or she. Sorry, it just slipped. Hey, anyone of you want to share a drink tonight?” Hunter asked.
I could use a drink, Adrian thought. But this wasn’t like his usual cases where the murder had already happened and all he had to do was catch the culprit. No, here he needed to prevent murders as well as catch the culprit.
“No thanks,” he answered. “I’ll go ask the others if they want to.”
With that, he left the kitchen.
He found Akiko and Kel reading books in the library. Raj, Hwang, and Shanice were playing pool in the pool room. He told all of them to go to the kitchen if any of them fancied a drink. Kel and Hwang declined, Kel being a non-drinker and Hwang not feeling like drinking that night. Everyone else left to join Hunter, Raven, and Antoine in the kitchen.
While Kel opted to stay in the library and Hwang joined him there, Adrian chose to retire to his room. He took a brief shower and brushed his teeth before changing his clothes and laying down on his bed. Raising his head, he threw a glance at his table where his lists were. Deeming them useless at the moment he put his head back down and lay staring at the ceiling.
Even if he managed to, and he would, uncover the identity of the host, what then? Would the host let them go?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
He would also have to think of a way to escape just in case. Using the tools in the kitchen, he could make an explosive device to blow apart the walls. Or a blow torch to melt either the iron bars on the front door or the metal grills on the window. But he couldn’t do them before he solved the mystery. He wouldn’t.
He wouldn’t leave without discovering the identity of their mysterious kidnapper. His ego wouldn’t allow him to.
He couldn’t escape by himself and leave the others here. Sure, he could escape and call the police but everyone would be dead by the time they arrived.
He could not risk trying to have everyone escape together either. For their host would surely kill them, and him, later.
He was in no mood of dying young.
The bell rang.
Ten o’ clock.
It would ring again in an hour signalling everyone to retire to their room. Well, he was already retired for the day. He could go down and talk to the rest for an hour but he wasn’t in the mood.
How could he? Another death was coming tomorrow and he could not prevent it.
He would instead use it to get one step closer to their host.
Author's note:869Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2dJHtgT5x
I have altered the ending of Chapter 18 which, in turn, caused some changes in Chapter 19. The changes are fairly short. It'd be helpful if you read the previous two chapters. :)869Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RLFnTbhMP
