They sat at the dinner table. Everyone's eyes were trained on Adrian.
“When we first arrived, I noticed something on the shoes of you lot. It was muddy, like mine was. I was kidnapped from an open field and it wasn’t difficult to deduce that you all were kidnapped from a similar place. Yet some of you claimed to have been kidnapped from indoors. Akiko, for example, claimed to be kidnapped from the airport. From the start, I knew there was something off about all of you.
“Then, for people threatened with death, all of you were very calm. Very calm. That was the strangest aspect for me. At first I thought the reality of the danger you all were in hadn’t sunk in. Then Tharonby died. Followed by Richard and Raven. And yet, you all were so calm. I didn’t connect it at first but I now realize the reason you all were calm was because you all thought you were the detective of this game and the rest of us innocent civilians you had to protect.
“And since you thought you were the detective that meant you never thought the next one to die would be you. After all, according to our hosts, she would kill the ten civilians and then the detective. To you that meant you would be killed last. After ten days to be exact. You thought you had plenty of time to solve the case. That’s why you weren’t worried about dying. I know I wasn’t.
“Then there were other odd signs. For instance Shanice, you don’t sound like a grocery store owner at all. In hindsight I should have easily seen that you were related to the police. The way you spoke on the first day – you sounded similar to a police personnel talking to civilians. Raj, you have pretty well-defined muscles for an assistant professor. Sure, you could have been going to the gym but my deduction was far simpler.
“Hwang, you suggested we use ammonia solutions to clean up Richard’s blood casually. As if you’d come across such situations before. Eun, your accent slipped earlier today when I was talking to you in the pool room. You thought I didn’t notice but I did. You were raised in America. California?”
“Yep. I used to be a policewoman in SFPD but I left the job after being shot in the chest. I opened up a private investigation agency afterwards. California is really expensive, you know?” Eun answered in perfect English.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” muttered Hunter. “Anyways, I work for the Brisbane PD. It’s a lovely city, you people should visit it one day.”
“The cat’s out of the bag huh? I am currently employed at Scotland Yard,” Antoine said.
“Sherlock Holmes eh?” Hunter chuckled.
“I help the police department in my city with difficult cases. Sometimes, they publish my photo in the newspaper,” Adrian said.
“Like six months ago when you solved that apartment case,” Raj interjected. “I am an inspector of the Mumbai Police. That’s why I have these muscles that Adrian noticed.”
“I work as a private detective in Dublin. I occasionally help the police too, much like Adrian,” Hwang said.
“Detective Shanice Miller for Toronto PD,” Shanice said. “Do I really sound like a cop Adrian?”
Adrian nodded.
“I am detective for police in Kyoto prefecture in Japan. Before that, I worked independently in Osaka,” Akiko said.
“I work for the NYPD,” Kel said, his Somalian accent gone. Instead, he now spoke in a neutral American accent. “Nice to meet a fellow officer of the law Eun. Too bad about Richard, I wonder where he was from.”
“You two are actually Americans?” Antoine asked.
“Born and raised. Although my mum was Somalian,” Kel said.
“Well, I concede then Adrian. You were right. Now what?” Hunter asked.
“For starters, I hope I don’t get killed like Tharonby. Although, since you were the one who started it, I assume you’ll be the one who’ll be targeted,” Adrian said, looking at Hunter. “But, our host lied to us so I think it’s only fair that they let us go in this instance. Besides, the game will be more interesting to you now.”
“By ‘you’, you mean the host?” asked Hwang.
“And what do you mean ‘more interesting’?” asked Hunter.
“Yes, I do mean the host. Because our host is one of us, here at the dinner table. And now that we know that we aren’t really safe like we thought before it’ll make the game more interesting to our host and challenging to us."
And challenging to me too, thought the host. Now they would be on guard at all times. It’d be difficult to kill them like Raven. Perhaps it’d be better to set traps for them like Richard’s.
The host smiled. Adrian. What an exceptional detective. He was correct on all accounts except for one tiny detail. Would he figure that out? He was scheduled to die after two days and was probably well aware of it now. Could he solve the entire case in that time?
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