dramatispersonae

ROOM 7

[You enter a pleasant sitting room: there are nine plush comfy chairs in a semi-circle in front of a crackling fireplace, and a table set with various finger-foods and two carafes, one of water and one of wine. It'd be a very nice room ... if not for the dummy lying facedown on the floor with a giant butcher knife sticking out of its back and a little bottle by one of its hands, marked with a tiny skull and crossbones. There's a hangman's noose around its neck, though the other end looks rather frayed.

The pleasant voice of a woman -- not the persona -- begins to speak:]

Hello and welcome. I wish it could have been under better circumstances, but today has some interesting circumstances. As you can see, my good associate, Mister X, has met an unfortunate end. I've reason to believe it might be one of you! Shall we see if I'm right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, well, you tell me then, smart guy. Why was he killed?

Could've been a botched robbery or an inheritance problem. Or someone could've loved him a little too much.

Love huh?

[looks at the noose and the knife again]

Kinky.

I'll say.

[watching him inspect under the table]

Huh, so the frayed end could have just been a sucky rope and his fat ass; but somebody definitely cut the other end, right?

Sure. More importantly, someone tried to hide the rope.

Hmm...so somebody pretty sneaky then.

Pretty much proves it wasn't me, then.

Well, it wasn't hidden very well.

...You implying something?

Maybe. It's too early to say.

No, I think if you're gonna start down that road you gotta at least be man enough to say it outloud.

So, what-- you're going to say that if I were for some reason invested enough in this loser to kill him, I'd go to all the trouble of hiding the rope but I wouldn't hide it well or even remove the fucking noose from his neck?

yeah that'd be really clever wouldn't it! Nobody will be able to tell he was hanged now.