"Now that we all know that crap about me, let's investigate the situation further." I suggested, "Let's go check on the dead bodies. I think we were a bit too soon to get out of there."
"Why?" asked Jon.
"It might be important." I responded.
"Okay, I guess." replied Jon.
I led everyone back to the room where Lucas found the dead bodies of Daniel, David, Cameron, Dexter, and Elijah. Previously, I had not paid a lot of attention to the bodies. I didn't get a chance to see them up close. Upon further inspection, I noticed bumps on their heads.
"They must have all been struck by blunt objects." I said to myself.
Scanning the scene, I found even more stuff. First, I found a knife stuck in Cameron's side.
"They might not have died instantly," I said, "they may have lived a little bit past the blows to their heads."
"Ron," said Jon, "there's a pool of blood over here."
"Could someone have moved the blood?" I suggested.
"It seems likely." responded Jon.
"Hey," said Jason, "I found a rock with blood on it."
"Alright, time to collect my thoughts." I thought to myself, "Okay, bumps on their heads… blood rock… got it."
"Okay," I said, "it is very likely that the rock was the blunt object that got all five of them. Can anyone analyze the blood or find prints?"
"I can." answered Charles, "but I'll need the fingerprint and blood data of everyone involved."
Collecting that data took a while, but once we were done, we gave it to Charles.
"Okay," he said, "I was unable to get the blood results. However, the only prints on here belong to somebody named Donovan Fortune."
"Oh no." I said.
"Did he really?" asked Lucas.
"Where'd we even get his print data?" asked Jason, "He's not even here."
"He must have provided it earlier." suggested Jean.
"Oh well," I said, "it's much too soon to be jump to conclusions. There's an investigation to be done. Does anyone have a flashlight?"
After I asked, Jon tossed me a flashlight. I shined it over at the pool of blood and noticed some streaks coming out of it.
"Alright," I said, "I can tell something was moved from here."
I walked over to the bodies and noticed that one of them was holding a note. I didn't pay attention to which body it was, but I just pulled it out. All the note had on it were only two noticeable letters: E and A. The rest of them were too faded. All I could tell was that this note was written in blood.
"Okay," I said, "time to think."
"Hmmm," I thought to myself, "the blood is in a different spot… so that must mean… the bodies were moved!"
"Guys," I said, "I've got it! Where the blood is now… that's where everyone was killed!"
"But how did all that blood come out?" asked Jason, "There's hardly anything on the bodies."
"You missed it?" I asked, "The proof is over there."
I pointed at the ears of one of the bodies; the ears had quite a bit of dried-up blood coming out of it.
"He- David, must've been hit really hard." I said, "Now there are only a few things left to piece together."
"Alright," I thought, "Death wasn't instant… so that dying message… I got it."
"I've figured it out." I said, "For at least a few, death definitely wasn't instant. We can tell by the knife in Cameron's side and the dying message I found."
"Dying message?" asked Jon.
"Some letters are faded," I said, "and for whatever reason they were killed on one side of the room and moved to the other. Our investigation in this room seems to be complete now."
"So, what next?" asked Lucas.
"Time for me to ask questions," I said, "Lucas, what was it like when you found the bodies?"
"After I tripped and fell, I quickly got myself up. Then, I ran toward the elevator."
"Hold on!" I interrupted, "Anything interesting before or after you got on the elevator?"
"The only thing that caught my attention was an open room," answered Lucas, "so I went inside. It didn't take me long to notice the bodies."
"What did you do then?" I asked.
"I was in shock. I stood there for… I don't really know how long, but I was there until you guys came in."
"Am I correct to assume that nobody came in right before us?" I replied.
"That's right." answered Lucas, "Nobody came in. The bodies remained the way they were."
"Can you describe the way they were?" I requested.
"The bodies were just lying there," responded Lucas, "There wasn't anything that stuck out."
"OBJECTION!" I shouted.
"Ack!" exclaimed Lucas, "Not so loud!"
"S-sorry." I responded, "Anyways, you missed one important detail!"
"And that is?" asked Lucas.
"The knife in Cameron's side." I said.
"…!" responded Lucas.
"How could you not notice something so obvious?" I asked.
"Um," said Lucas," I examined the bodies before everyone got here. That knife was not even there!"
"Are you sure you didn't just fail to notice it?" I asked, "It was dark and all."
"I examined thoroughly," responded Lucas, "there was no knife then."
"Alright," I said, "we've found a new contradiction."
"What does this mean?" asked Iris.
"The worst." I answered, "This means one of us planted the knife as a red herring."
"Oh." she responded.
"Who to question next?" I muttered, "Wait a minute. Lilith, tell me about your movements before you lost consciousness!"
"As soon as I stepped outside of the portal, someone struck at me." said Lilith.
"What can you tell me about your attacker?" I asked.
"It was too dark to see who it was," answered Lilith, "but it was a woman."
"Anything else you can point out?" I added.
"Not really," answered Lilith, "Anyways, I dodged the first strike and then ran in the opposite direction of Lucas. Then, I was struck from behind and I woke up here, alone."
"So you woke up before Lucas came to room 508?" I asked.
"It seems so." replied Lilith, "I got myself up off the ground and looked around the room. I saw that woman from before. However, her face was covered."
"Anything you can tell us about what she was like at the time?" I asked.
"She was in the middle of dragging something from one side of the room to the other. I went to attack her, but she knocked me out a second time."
"Is that all?" I asked.
"That's it." she said.
"Okay, I said, "I'm going to think about this for a bit. Specifically, who planted the knife and is possibly the killer."
"I feel uncomfortable now." commented Iris.
"You'll be fine," said Jason, "if you're innocent, that is."
"Hmmm… based off of Lilith's testimony I believe I can conclude that the killer is female," I said, "and the one who planted the knife must have been one of us. Erica has been missing, so it can't be her. I know it couldn't have been Lilith either. We can also eliminate Iris, since we found her tied up, which points us to our culprit."
"Who is it?" asked Jon, "Oh, wait – are you really saying what I think you're saying!?"
"I probably am." I said, "Our killer is… Jean!"
"…!" responded Jean, "You can't be serious, Ron."
"Do I look like I'm joking?" I asked.
"I guess not," she said, "but I didn't do it."
"Lilith's testimony revealed the killer's gender," I said, "and the testimony we got from Lucas tells us when the knife was planted. Putting everything together, it all points to you."
"I wasn't the only one who could've planted the knife." she said, "Any of you guys could have planted it."
"That may be," I said, "but recall Lilith's testimony. During that time, Lilith had her eyes directed at you and Iris was tied up in another room!"
"Any you trust Lilith's testimony was accurate?" responded Jean, "She could be lying because she is the killer!"
"Lucas," I said, "did you notice your sister back-?"
"Not until you found her," answered Lucas, "but she had to have been out for a while."
"And that doesn't prove a thing!" responded Jean.
"You're right," I said, "it doesn't. And you probably planted someone else's prints on the knife, but that doesn't matter right now. What does matter is that you've been lying to us!"
"Are you gonna keep spouting nonsense," said Jean, "or are you actually going to prove something?"
"Well, it looks like I'm out of ammo here," I said, "but let's see what happens when I change my weapon."