So you’ve returned for another chapter? In that case, I won’t make you wait. As always, I will begin my retelling with one of my monologues. Just like this case is a direct follow-up to our last one, so too is this monologue gonna expand on the topic from last time.

We spoke about the topic of masks and how they’re used to distort oneself. This can be both subconscious and very purposefully chosen.

Similarly, I will be talking about a way to distort reality. I am referring to the subject of belief.

We’ve previously looked at belief in relation to deities, but the topic is much broader. In its most basic form, belief relates to everything. Everything we do is led by the belief that it’s the right thing to do. Even if we’re aware that we’re doing something bad or wrong, there still needs to be a belief to justify us going through with it.

We can be very aware of our beliefs, or they can be something we don’t even think about. And in its essence, belief doesn’t necessarily distort reality. It certainly shapes how we think about things, but I wouldn’t say that it always leads to a big departure from reality and facts.

But believing can certainly be a risky thing. Take, for example, an investigator. They investigate a case, find some evidence, and form a theory based on it. It is good if they have some trust in this theory and pursue it. But should the investigator believe in it too strongly, they might ignore evidence that does not align with their theory, or they might twist it in a way to fit their preconceived notions. This brings us to one of many instances where the perception of reality is being twisted.

There are countless examples to make, just take a look at conspiracy theories. They are a great illustration of how belief can be a slippery slope.

It starts out with buying into some lie presented to them. They truly believe what they’re told and try to convince others of it. But as they fail to convert others, they start to see these nonbelievers as enemies. They start shutting themselves off, building a bubble around them, where they are only met by agreement, furthering their belief. As you’ve no doubt seen before, these echo chambers love to warp the minds of those who shut themselves off. They then make them apply these negative feelings towards non-believers, to whatever group they want to label as enemies. And so, the people who might have originally just fallen for some dumb post talking about a flat earth or how the moon landing was staged have become loyal lapdogs who will believe anything their thought leaders tell them and attack anyone they're directed towards.

Although I personally have my reservations towards comparing them to dogs, as I believe it to be insulting to such lovely animals.

I think the main thing that sets this apart from the masks we mentioned in the last chapter is what they target. Masks and lies are mostly used to change others’ perception, while belief influences mainly how you see the world.

How this affects you is especially interesting. Believing an image of yourself can have many different forms, ranging from self-loathing to narcissism. And of course, how you see yourself affects how you see other things and people in relation to you, and dictates how you handle specific situations.

As you can probably guess, I didn’t choose to talk about this topic out of the blue. As always, it relates to the following case.

But for once, we pick up right where we left off last time.

Case #70: Inside the Vulture’s Nest

Friday, November 1, 12:50 am: Second Class Cabin, Scarlett Thunder (Front)

Xavier puts his hand on the door handle. He’s still standing inside the cabin he had climbed into after the confrontation between him, Moth, and Paradox.

Even though he’d already taken some time to calm down, he was clearly still struggling with what had happened that night. This much, not even his forced smile could hide.

The image of his arch-nemesis and Natsu’s doppelganger falling into the rushing river, disappearing between large rocks, flashed in his mind. He had a pained expression on his face, but did his best to hide it as he stepped out into the hallway.

“Oi, he’s over here!”

Xavier looked down the hallway, noticing Oscar.

“Lad, am I relieved to see you. I thought that twat got you.”

“I’m fine. I can’t say the same for Moth. He fell off the train, taking Timothy with him.”

“Bloody hell, didn’t expect that. So he’s croaked it, has he?”

“Seems likely. Although I can’t say for certain.”

“Guess, we’ll see if he makes another appearance. The bloke isn’t very subtle, that’s for sure.”

“Xavier, you’re okay!” Mika ran up to him and hugged him in relief. Almost making him fall backward.

“Easy there, I’m still a bit woozy from all the wind. But I’m happy to see you’re fine, too.”

“How about Paradox? Where are they?” Mika asked.

“So it’s true, you knew about Timothy’s true identity?”

“Yes, sorry for keeping it a secret. I thought they could help, and telling you who they were might have just gotten in the way of the investigation.”

“Don’t worry. That was probably for the best,” Xavier said.

“I’m relieved to hear that. So, where are they?”

Xavier didn’t know how to answer.

“Listen, Shrimpy, I don’t know who this Paradox is, but you’ll have to be strong.” Oscar hesitated. “According to Xavier, they fell off the train.”

“What?” Mika’s voice was quiet, and their eyes widened slowly.

“Jesus, you couldn’t ease them into it?”

“Paradox fell off the train?” Mika repeated slowly.

“Truth be told, they saved my ass. Moth had us at gunpoint. They reacted quickly and did the only thing they could to stop him. They backed him off the side of the train, but they were pulled down with him. Landing in the river next to the tracks.”

“Wait, they fell into the water? Maybe… maybe that means they’ll return like Sherlock Holmes.”

“What?” Oscar asked.

“Yes, that’s it. They’ll be missing for a while, but then they’ll come back. I’m sure.” Mika tried to sound enthusiastic as they said this, but their tone gave away their uncertainty. The smile they forced was another sign pointing to their belief having been shaken.

Xavier looked at them, worried. Seeing that uncomfortable smile made him feel like he was looking at a reflection of himself.

“Say, I couldn’t really get a good look at that bloke’s sodding face. You wouldn’t happen to be able to give me a description of him, would ya?”

“Moth’s face? No, I’m sorry. It was all so hectic, and I didn’t get that close to him,” Xavier answered. “Honestly, faces are a bit of a weakness of mine. I’m not good at describing them. I’ve had to give multiple descriptions for police sketches so far, and all I could say every time is that the culprit had a nose, two eyes, two ears, eyebrows, and a mouth.”

“Could have just said no, chap, instead of giving me your entire life story. But, oh well, ain’t nothing we can do ‘bout it for now, I guess.” Oscar gave him a suspicious look. “But should you happen to remember something, ya know who to talk to.”

Xavier nodded, avoiding eye contact. At that moment, his phone started ringing, and he quickly picked up.

“Is that Alice?” Mika asked.

“No, it’s Amy. Hold on, I’ll put her on speaker.”

“Hey guys, is everything okay on your end?” Amy asked.

“More or less. Moth is gone, and the train seems to be running smoothly,” Xavier reported.

“Good. Seems like the plan worked.”

“Is Lupin okay?” Mika asked.

“Yes. He’s a bit tired, but fine otherwise, I think. Alice took him with her. She quickly went back to get her helmet and taser. I can put her on when she’s back, if you want to talk to her.”

“No, that’s okay. I need to take a rest anyway.” Mika said goodbye and went back to the cabin. The others watched, concerned.

“Are they okay?” Amy asked.

“It’s probably best to give them some time. These last few hours were pretty stressful. It’s easy to forget that they're still a kid. These cases must be a lot for them,” Xavier said.

“Oh, hey Alice, you just missed Mika,” Amy said, as her doppelganger seemingly just entered the room.

“Are they okay?” Alice asked.

“They went to get some rest,” Amy answered.

“I see.”

“Lass, is the old codger with ya? I wanna hear the bloke’s voice, need to make sure he’s holding up without me.”

“Mr. Gallagher is checking in with the staff, trying to contact the higher-ups. We’re currently standing still.”

“Any idea when you’ll get moving again?” Xavier asked.

“Likely not any time soon. There might not be any new inputs from Moth, but the virus still blocks any other commands.”

“Bunnyboy, can you do me a favor?” Alice asked.

“What do you want?” Xavier replied.

“We’ll likely not make it to tomorrow’s or, I guess, today’s dinner. Could you still go there with Mika? They were really excited to meet all of these famous investigators, and it would probably help them relax.”

“Of course. I just hope we won’t get stuck, reporting the events to the cops.”

“Thank you.”

“Alice, would you mind talking in private for a moment?” Xavier asked.

“No problem. Amy, how about you head out for a second?”

“Sure, here, take my phone.”

Xavier stepped back into the cabin he’d climbed into before. He closed the door behind him and sat down on one of the beds.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Did you tell anyone about who Moth is?”

“No, I haven’t had the time. Why?”

“I wanted to ask if you could keep his identity a secret.”

“You know that’s not actually your boyfriend? Why would you protect his identity?”

“I know. Listen, Moth might be dead, or maybe he’s still alive. Either way, revealing his identity would reflect poorly on Natsu. Plus, as we’ve learned from the Abercrombie Academy incident, some people don’t bother differentiating between different versions of the same person.”

“You do have a point. But you’re aware, should he still be alive, keeping this a secret might cost people their lives.”

“I’m aware. Should there be a sign of his return, I will absolutely consult Toby on the matter.”

“Good. Just make sure not to forget that. Just remember. Moth is not the man you love, and you can’t fix him to become that. Please don’t see him as an opportunity to be reunited with Natsu.”

“Yes, I understand. Thanks for hearing me out.”

“Goodbye, Xavier.”

Alice ended the call, and Xavier sighed. Again, the last moment with Paradox and Moth flashed in his mind. The scared expression on Moth’s face. Despite the monster he clearly was, in that moment, he seemed just as human as Natsu.

Even knowing Moth wasn’t the version of Natsu Xavier knew, and was nothing like him, that moment felt like losing Natsu again.

When Natsu disappeared, Xavier could only ever see the aftermath. He couldn’t see him disappear. He couldn’t see what happened to him. That ambiguity of Natsu’s disappearance was what had been plaguing Xavier the most, and no matter how much he found out, there was always this uncertainty.

Xavier stayed the night in this cabin, not wanting to disturb Mika.

Friday, November 1, 4:30 pm: Fountains of Bellagio, Las Vegas Strip

Xavier was sitting next to Oscar on a bench, exhausted from all the police’s questions. The two were both used to it, but it was still a tiring part of the job.

A large crowd of tourists had gathered in front of them, trying to catch a glimpse of the water show that had just started. Xavier could only see the water when it peaked over the heads of the onlookers.

Mika was nervously jumping up repeatedly in the hopes of seeing over the crowd, getting a better look at the spectacle.

This was the spot they were told to wait at for their driver to get them. Xavier looked down at his phone. There was still some time left before their chauffeur would get there.

Oscar took the cigarette out of his mouth. “So, you think this dinner’s gonna be worth all the hassle? If ya ask me, this Scent guy is exactly the sorta bloke I think of when I imagine some twatty yank. No offence.”

“None taken. You know, my family, well, the people I’m related to, they're the same. Rich assholes, who think the world revolves around them.”

“I can’t say much about my relatives. Never had any, as far as I can remember.”

“You were taken in by Edward Doyle, isn’t that right?”

“Yeah, my old man adopted me when I was 16. Well, I had already lived on the street for a while. Never enjoyed living in a foster home. Not like living on the street was a hoot. I couldn’t just muck about, mind you. I had to get my daily bread somehow. That meant I did some things I’m not very proud of.”

“Do you ever wonder what your relatives were like? I mean the ones you never met?”

“What’s this about? I thought you met all your relatives,” Oscar asked.

“On my mother’s side, yes. But I never met my father’s side of the family. All I know is that they live somewhere in Venezuela.”

“Ever thought about visiting them?”

“I don’t even know where exactly they live.”

Oscar started laughing. “You having a laugh? You’re a bloody detective, just find out where they live.”

“Yeah, you might be right. Maybe I’m just worried. Currently, they are this blank slate. They might be great people, but what if they aren’t? I’d prefer not knowing them over learning that both sides of my relatives are assholes.”

“Well, you seem like a proper chap, so there must be at least someone nice related to you.”

“I mean, my grandaunt was always very nice. Ironically, that made her the black sheep of the family, go figure. But of course, she was the first one to die.”

“My condolences.”

Oscar put his cigarette back in his mouth. He and Xavier noticed Mika walk over to them. They repeatedly licked their bottom lip.

“Oi, what’s got you so glum, you little lizard?”

“I can’t see the show.”

Xavier stood up, looking at Mika. “How about I lift you up? On my shoulders, you can see over the crowd.”

“But I’m not a little kid, am I not too heavy?”

“Please, I’m an athlete, that’s no problem for me. Back in high school, I used to go to concerts with my girlfriend, and I would always lift her up like that. A strawweight like you is no challenge.”

Oscar stayed on the bench and watched as Xavier helped Mika up. The two got closer to the crowd and watched the fountain show.

Not long after the show had ended, a black vehicle with the logo of one of Richard Scent’s most prominent brands on it stopped near them.

“I take it you are Oscar Doyle, Xavier Diaz, and Mika Banda, right?” the driver asked, looking at some notes.

“Yes, that’s us,” Xavier answered.

“Great, hop in. I’ll bring you to the restaurant.”

While getting in the car, Xavier noticed the dirty tires with a prominent profile. They seemed to have been made for all-terrain traveling.

“Where exactly is the restaurant?” Xavier asked.

“Out in the desert. We’ll be driving for about an hour. It’s a very impressive building, not gonna lie.”

“Speaking of, I could barely find anything on it. I basically only know that it’s called Eagle’s Nest.”

“Ravo mentioned that. Seems strange for a bloke who’s this addicted to social media to not post anything. I even heard that he’s leaked secret information on other projects on multiple occasions,” Oscar mentioned.

“I can’t say much about that. I was simply hired for today as a chauffeur. I haven’t worked with Mr. Scent before.”

“I see.” Xavier leaned back in his seat.

“I heard them talk about what happened last night. From the little I heard, it seems to have been quite dangerous. I hope you’re fine.”

“Yes, we made it out unscathed,” Mika answered.

“Thanks for the concern, mate.”

“Just as a heads up, when we get to the desert, the road might get a bit bumpy. I put some paper bags out. And should you feel sick or have any other complaints, just give old Morton a shout. I wouldn’t want my passengers to feel uncomfortable.”

The three nodded.

As they left the city behind, Oscar looked outside, fascinated by the scenery.

“Gotta say, some billionaire twat inviting a bunch of people he barely knows out into the middle of nowhere for a dinner party seems a bit dodgy. Next thing we know, we get hunted down by him and his rich friends.”

The chauffeur chuckled. “I see, you’re imagining this turning into some situation akin to The Most Dangerous Game.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. I investigated a similar case back in England. Some distant cousin of the royal family and some dukes he invited ended up killing 16 people for sport. A bundle of bloody psychopaths that was.”

“You must have seen a lot in your career. I’ve read tales of the Doyle & Co. Detective Agency's successes.”

“Yeah, well, even for me, that was a lot.” Oscar shuddered. “One of the victims had 28 stab wounds, not something you want to look at.”

“That reminds me of a game series I recently started playing with Alice.”

“What kind of games do you play?” Oscar asked, confused.

“It’s a mystery game about 16 students having to kill each other, and your job is to solve the murders. Well, actually, in the first one, only 15 students are officially competing.”

“Didn’t Alice complain about Amy showing you movies that aren’t age-appropriate? There’s no way such a game is for 15-year-olds.”

Mika shrugged and began recapping the entire plot of the game, spanning most of the drive.

Friday, November 1, 5:00 pm: Hind Control Room, Scarlett Thunder (Back)

Alice leaned against the control panel. She looked out the window, seeing the landscape pass by.

“Dude, just answer my question!” she yelled into her phone.

Amy and Mr. Gallagher looked up in surprise. Amy was working on her laptop, analyzing some of the virus’ code she managed to extract, while Mr. Gallagher was sitting on a chair, solving crossword puzzles in a small book he had brought with him.

“Alice, I’m doing my best to explain this to you. I can’t judge what food is okay for him to eat if I’m not there,” Ralph answered.

“Didn’t you like run tests on him?”

“Yes, I did. But most of what I did was theoretical to find a perfect blend with all the nutrients he needs.”

Alice pulled a dog treat out of one of her pouches and handed them to Lupin, who was lying exhaustedly on the control panel. “I can’t keep giving him only dog treats. He needs an actual meal, or he won’t recover his energy.”

“You said you bought him minced meat, right? I think it should be okay if he just eats that for a day.”

“Good. Was it this hard to just say that?”

“You were the one who called me. You could at least say thanks.”

“Go back to studying seaweed.” Alice hung up and started unpacking the minced meat she had bought while the group was stuck in a small town, getting interviewed by the police. All the food Mika had brought on the train for Lupin was still in the storage room and thus inaccessible to Alice.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Mr. Gallagher noticed.

“Don’t worry, she’s just bad at showing her actual emotions. For Alice, this was actually very friendly.”

“Shut up, nerd.”

“See, she’s a classic tsundere. Well, platonically speaking.”

“I’m not a tsundere!” Alice protested.

“That’s exactly what a tsundere would say. You even nailed the exact tone.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not up to speed with youth slang. What is a tsundere?”

“It’s a prominent archetype in anime. A character who’s actually very warm and caring, but hides that side by overcompensating with often loud and rude behavior.”

“Interesting, that description suits Oscar as well. I guess that makes him a tsundere, too,” Mr. Gallagher said.

Amy started laughing.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, it’s just funny comparing Oscar to the typical tsundere.”

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t call him that when we get to him?” Mr. Gallagher asked jokingly.

“Probably best if you don’t. He probably doesn’t know what it means, but some of the others might.”

“Speaking of, how long till we get there?” Alice asked.

“A little over an hour till we get to the station.”

“Seems like we’re cutting it close if we want to make it to the dinner party,” Mr. Gallagher noted.

“We’ll definitely be late. Looking at the tracker, they are currently moving out of the city.”

“You can track them?” Oscar asked.

“She and Xavier have tracking devices in their phones,” Alice said.

“I made them myself, so I can assure you, they are accurate.”
“Your tech skills amaze me. How did you say you got this train running?”

“I managed to simulate the signal of Moth’s phone. Basically, the virus thinks it’s communicating with his phone when, in actuality, it’s receiving commands from my laptop. That way, I can overwrite the default commands and drive the train however I want.”

“I still don’t fully understand it, but it sounds impressive.”

“Don’t worry, no one understands her nerd talk. She actually has a computer instead of a brain,” Alice said.

“See, coming from her, that’s actually a compliment.”

“I see.”

“Don’t worry, it takes some time to learn how to decode the language of a tsundere.”

Alice flipped her off.

Friday, November 1, 5:45 pm: Entrance, Eagle’s Nest

It had been a while since Xavier had last seen a sign of civilization near them. The only thing he had seen was a spire in the distance. As the car came to an abrupt stop, it became obvious that this spire was the Eagle’s Nest.

“Here we are. I hope you’ll enjoy the evening, and we’ll see each other after dinner.”

“So you’ll be driving us back again?” Mika asked.

“Yes. But for the moment, I’ll return to the city. I was ordered to leave the premises during the event. But that’s probably for the best. I wouldn’t want to leave the car out in the sand for too long.”

 “Thank you for the pleasant ride, Morton,” Xavier said, while opening the door.

Stepping out, he could feel the warm wind tickle his nose and grains of sand grazing his skin. He quickly pulled out his glasses for some protection.

“Bloody hell. Five seconds here and I already have sand in my eyes.”

“You need to hold something in front of them,” Mika said. They were holding some strands of their hair in front of their eyes.

“Didn’t know hair could work as safety goggles. You’re a nifty one.”

“Thank you.”

Xavier looked up at the tall building. It consisted of a slim tower with a disk-like chamber, which likely contained the actual restaurant, resting on top. It looked like an off-brand version of the Chicago Sky Needle.

“This thing looks like a right deathtrap,” Oscar said, shielding his eyes from the sand and sunlight.

“It’s probably for the best that Amy isn’t here. She would have never wanted to go up there,” Xavier said.

Mika nodded in agreement.

“There you are!”

Xavier turned around, hearing a familiar voice.

“I’m glad you still made it,” Mr. Scent said, walking towards them.

“If I were you, I would increase the security on your train. Just something to think about,” Xavier suggested.

“Yes, I’ve already told my employees to look into it.” He looked over to the tower. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

“Who?” Xavier asked, confused.

“The Eagle’s Nest. He’s the embodiment of American craftsmanship.”

“Oh, that’s what you meant. I was confused because you said he.”

“Of course. All my creations are guys. Are you going to tell me that you won’t respect my tower’s pronouns? That’s not very woke of you.”

Xavier felt a piercing headache, having to listen to Mr. Scent’s nonsense once more. Looking around, he saw a few people gathered near the entrance. In the distance, he noticed something that could be a small house or a caravan.

“So, I haven’t seen you two in person. Let me guess, you’re Oscar, and you are Mika.”

Mika nodded excitedly. “Can we go meet the others?” Mika’s fingers were nervously fidgeting.

“She’s eager,” Mr. Scent noticed.

“They,” Xavier corrected him, calmly.

“Whatever. Don’t get so but hurt. If she doesn’t want to be seen as a girl, she should try not to look like one.

Mika looked hurt and humiliated.

“Oi, in that case, how bout you try not acting like a bellend, if you don’t want to be seen as one, twat.”

Xavier sighed. “Listen, I’ve told you on the phone. I’m only attending this dinner if you treat my colleagues with respect. So I’d recommend watching your mouth, if you don’t want us to go back home before ever setting foot in your tower.”

“Fine. How about I introduce you to the others?” Mr. Scent didn’t wait for an answer and turned around.

The three followed him over to the others.

“Some of the guests are equipped with my new state-of-the-art translation devices. The Korean chick doesn’t speak a single word of English, and some of the Germans’ English skills are questionable,” Mr. Scent explained.

Mika’s eyes lit up as they saw the other guests.

Xavier, on the other hand, noticed the lack of staff. There was only one security guard and another man, dressed in a suit, who was keeping his distance. Xavier didn’t think much of it. He wasn’t very used to these kinds of events, so he couldn’t tell if this was out of the ordinary. His family had attended many dinner parties, but they had rarely taken him with them.

Surprisingly, there were only a few other guests present. A group of three young women, about Xavier’s age, approached them.

“Hello, nice to meet you. We’re the Three Periods,” one of them said. The sound of her voice came from the device she was wearing, which resembled a headset with a built-in microphone.

“The three what?” Oscar asked.

“I told you it wouldn’t translate well,” one of the others said. She was the only one not wearing one of those headsets. “We mean period in the sense of punctuation. Our actual name is Die Drei Punkte. It’s a reference to a popular book series. I believe in English it is called The Three Investigators.”

“That’s right. But the German title is different and basically translates to The Three Question Marks,” Mika said excitedly.

“You know your stuff. I thought the series had already been forgotten in America,” the third woman said.

“So, I take it, you are the German investigators,” Xavier said. “My name is Xavier Diaz. I’m currently the head of the D&M Detective Agency, here in the US.”

“And I’m Mika. I’m a junior member of the agency,” Mika said proudly. “Oh, and I go by they/them pronouns,” they added, hoping to avoid another awkward interaction.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Melanie Victoria Träger, the head of our team. You can call me Mel for short. And these are my comrades.” Ms. Träger had hazel-brown hair poking out from under a beanie, a friendly yet observant look, and a tattoo on her left shoulder. It showed a symbol that resembled a mix between a two and a four, which was the symbol generally used to represent Jupiter.

“I’m Jenny Rasch. I’m the second in command,” the other woman wearing a headset said. She had long, messy, ginger hair, similar to that of Amy and Alice. Her arms and legs seemed bruised and were covered in bandages, and she was wearing rubber boots, as if she was expecting the weather to shift any minute.

“I’m sure you can already guess that I’m the third-ranking investigator. I’m Bridget Miller-Berger. And because you mentioned it, we all use she/her pronouns.” Ms. Miller-Berger had shoulder-length, blonde hair and wore a pair of large, cheap-looking glasses. She was the only one of the trio not wearing a headset.

“Always nice to see junior investigators. You know, we solved our first case when we were just 10 years old,” Ms. Rasch said.

“Guess it’s my turn to introduce myself,” Oscar said, while lighting a cigarette. “I’m Oscar, and I work for the Doyle & Co. Detective Agency in London. My colleague ain’t around, cuz he got lost during the train ride. Some right twat interrupted our trip. But we took care of that in a jiffy.”

“Yes, I heard Mr. Scent mention something like that. If I remember correctly, two of your members are absent for the same reason,” Ms. Träger said, looking at Xavier.

“Yes, that’s right. Amy and Alice are absent today.”

“Well, maybe we’ll get another chance to meet them sometime,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“How about we exchange cards? I’m sure you have ones too,” Ms. Träger suggested. She pulled out three business cards and handed them over. With a quick glance at the cards, she noticed something.

“Oh, I forgot to pack the new ones. These are outdated.”

Xavier looked at the cards. It listed the members and their phone numbers, the office’s address, and the promise to solve every case for free.

“What data is outdated? I can just note it down,” Xavier said, pulling out a pen.

“It’s the address. We recently moved to Hamburg. We used to live in a small town in Baden-Württemberg, near the Swiss border. That’s the address listed here,” Ms. Träger explained. She quickly told them the right address.

“Hey, Mika, I really like your jacket,” Ms. Rasch said, scratching one of her bandages.

“Thank you, my sister made it for me.”

“You know, there is a German movie based on a mystery book series, where one of the characters wears a similar jacket.”

“I know. The jacket is inspired by the one from Die Cleveren Füchse.”

“So you know it? It’s my favorite book series.”

“Mine too!”

“Did you hear they're making a Deadly May movie?”

“I don’t get why. No one likes the book.”

“I’ve heard the book is actually very popular, just not with the fans of the main series.”

“I’ll leave you to your book report and go introduce myself to the others,” Xavier said.

“I’ll tag along,” Oscar said, following him.

“I’m surprised you read Die Cleveren Füchse. As far as I know, the books stopped being released internationally in the 90s,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“I learned German with these books.”

“You speak German?” Ms. Träger asked, surprised.

“Ja. Laut meinem Opa bin ich ziemlich gut. Aber meine Aussprache ist nicht so gut,” Mika answered, happy to show off their skills to native speakers.

“Oh, don’t worry. My English pronunciation is pretty bad. Why do you think I’m using this translator?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“Me too,” Ms. Träger added. “But for all it’s worth, I think your pronunciation is mostly on point.”

“But your English is really good,” Mika noticed, looking at Ms. Miller-Berger.

“Yes, well, I have relatives who live in California. That certainly helps me pick up the language when I visit them or talk to them on the phone.”

“She always corrects us when we mispronounce something,” Ms. Rasch said, scratching her bandages again.

“Jenny, did you get hurt?” Mika asked.

“It’s nothing too bad. I’m just a bit clumsy. I regularly get banged up during soccer practice.”

“You play soccer? I guess that means you enjoy the soccer stories of Die Cleveren Füchse.”

Ms. Rasch chuckled. “Please, no one likes the sport stories, be it The Clever Foxes, The Three Question Marks, or any other mystery book series.”

“That checks out,” Mika said.

While Mika was talking to the German trio, Xavier and Oscar approached the other people. Mr. Scent was talking to the man, whom Xavier had assumed was a security guard. The two were ignoring the investigators and were focused on a phone call the security guard was making.

As the two investigators got closer to the man in a suit, he quickly said goodbye to Mr. Scent and the security guard, got in his car, and drove off, avoiding eye contact with the investigators the whole time.

“I guess he’s not one of the other investigators,” Xavier noted.

“But she probably is,” Oscar pointed to a mousy girl standing off to the side.

Her face was shrouded in shadows from her hood and thick, black hair.

Xavier could feel that she was observing them, and it almost seemed like she was mumbling something to herself.

“Hello, I’m Xavier.”

“Hi, I’m Oscar.”

She stared at them as if she hadn’t expected them to talk to her.

“I assume you’re one of the other investigators, right?” Xavier asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

“Min-Seo.”

“I’m sorry?” Xavier said.

“You wanted to know my name, right? I’m Jung Min-Seo.”

“Of course, sorry.”

Ms. Jung stared at Xavier intensely. Although maybe staring at him isn’t accurate. It seemed more like she was staring through him.

Xavier heard loud clapping. Everyone turned around to see where it came from.

“Great, seems like I got your attention. It is now 6 am. According to the schedule, now we should head up into the restaurant,” Mr. Scent said.

“What about the others? There are still some people missing,” Ms. Träger pointed out.

“Yes, I was just told that their car got stuck in the sand, so they’re running late. But you can already head up to the restaurant. Just take the elevator. There’s enough space for all seven of you.”

“What about you? Are you just gonna muck about down here?” Oscar asked.

“I’ll stay down here and wait for the last guests. What kind of host would I be if I didn’t personally welcome all my guests?”

“Are there stairs?” Ms. Rasch asked. “I don’t like elevators. They give me the creeps.”

“I’m sorry, you can only take the elevator. The only other way up is the maintenance route, which consists of some steel ladders. But you’ll be fine. Our technology is state-of-the-art.”

“Did Ms. Aoyama help you with the construction?” Mika asked, holding their hand up as if they were in school, trying to get the teacher’s attention.

“What makes you think that?”

“The headphones have the same style as her inventions. I assumed you worked together on them, so maybe she also helped with this project.”

“Didn’t ya say your company invented these translators?” Oscar asked.

“Yes, well, it was a collab. But no, she was not involved in building this tower.”

“Doesn’t a building like this need an emergency exit?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“The maintenance route doubles as the emergency exit. But I wouldn’t want to send my guests up the ladders.”

The group heard a ding and turned around. Ms. Jung was standing next to the entrance. She’d called the elevator, which had just arrived at the bottom.

“I guess I’ll manage,” Ms. Rasch said.

“Oh, could you do me a favor?” Mr. Scent asked. “When you’re up there, just step out of the elevator and don’t touch anything. I’ve prepared something, and I wouldn’t want you to get a head start over the latecomers.”

“What did you prepare?” Xavier asked.

“I wanted to make this a special evening. After all, I invited the world’s greatest investigators. And what better than a mystery for them to solve? I’ve arranged an escape room experience for you. That’s also why it will be dark when you get up there. I don’t want you to gather clues before it officially starts.”

“That’s not weird at all,” Oscar said sarcastically.

“An escape room with the greatest investigators in the world?! That’s awesome!” Mika said excitedly.

“That’s what I wanted to hear. I hope you’ll manage to solve it.”

“Of course we will. This is like a gathering of all the Super High School Level Detectives,” Mika said.

“If you’re gonna make a Danganronpa reference, use the official translation. Ultimate fits better in this instance, you’re the only high schooler here,” Ms. Miller-Berger said, smiling.

“I guess we should head up,” Xavier said, looking over to Mika, who could barely stand still.

“I’m sure it won’t take long for the others to get here,” Mr. Scent said. “And, I hope this doesn’t sound strange, but smartphones or tools aren’t permitted in the escape room. I’ll give them back to you after you’ve solved it.” Mr. Scent pointed to a large box that the security guard was holding.

The investigators started emptying their pockets. Some more hesitantly than others.

Oscar pulled Xavier aside. “Mate, this is starting to sound sketchy as hell. I was joking about the whole death game thing, but this is bloody suspicious.”

“I know what you mean. But he’s spoken publicly about inviting us here. Do you really think he’d try to harm us, if it’s public knowledge that he gathered us here?” Xavier said, not just to calm Oscar down, but also himself.

Frankly, I understand them. This situation certainly seemed suspicious, but that could just as well be a false impression. What Mr. Scent had said certainly makes sense, and Xavier’s line of reasoning only added to that. I’m not sure what I would have done in their situation.

Reluctantly, the two handed over their phones and Xavier’s backpack before following the others into the elevator.

 before the door to the elevator closed. As he said, the elevator fit all seven of them, but it certainly didn’t leave much room. They all stood close together, looking out the glass wall. The desert stretched to the horizon.

Xavier couldn’t take his eyes off the small structure he’d noticed in the distance.

Ms. Jung was still staring at Xavier, Oscar was putting out his cigarette by pressing it against the wall, Mika was nervously waiting for the elevator to reach its destination, and the German trio was huddled together.

“How are you holding up?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“I’m fine. Seems like my bad luck isn’t acting up,” Ms. Rasch answered.

“You know I don’t believe in bad luck, but even if it existed, there is no way it was strong enough to break an elevator,” Ms. Träger said.

“That’s reassuring,” Ms. Rasch said, awkwardly smiling.

“Hey, Mika, this elevator ride feels a bit like we’re headed to a class trial,” Ms. Miller-Berger said jokingly.

“Yes! But that wouldn’t be good, because that would mean one of us is a murderer.”

“What are you two talking about?” Oscar asked, confused.

“That game Mika told us about. Were you not paying any attention?”

“Mate, it was a lot of info to take in. When I was a kid, video games were just about moving some pixels from left to right. We didn’t have any elaborate stories like that,” Oscar answered.

“Don’t make yourself sound older than you are. You’re like in your mid-30s,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

A ding came from a speaker above them. It was attached to the wall of the elevator, next to a camera.

The door slowly opened. Mr. Scent had not exaggerated. It was so dark inside the restaurant that the group couldn’t even make out any silhouettes.

They slowly stepped out of the elevator and heard the door close behind them.

“So, what now? Are we just gonna faff about, until the others get here?” Mr. Dyole asked, trying to get used to the dark.

“Probably,” Xavier answered.

“Fuck that, I’m gonna look for a chair.” Oscar walked away from the elevator.

“You can’t see anything. You’ll just…” Ms. Rasch was interrupted by a loud crashing sound and the loud curses that Oscar was yelling.

Suddenly, the lights were turned on. The group was blinded by the sudden change.

Slowly, they could make out what was around them. The large, round room looked nothing like a restaurant. It resembled a junkyard. Piles of scrap were scattered around them. There was film equipment placed around the room, controlled by mannequins, all wearing only a single piece of clothing each.

Oscar had bumped into one of these mannequins. While complaining loudly, he was getting back up.

“Is this really meant to be a restaurant?” Ms. Jung asked skeptically.

“Maybe there are two floors? One for the restaurant and the other for this escape room?” Ms. Rasch said, trying to convince herself.

“Why did the lights go on?” Ms. Träger noticed.

“What do you mean?” Xavier asked.

“He said the lights were off, so we couldn’t look around before the others got here. But obviously, they aren’t here yet.”

“You’re right,” Xavier agreed. “Well, we might as well have a look around.”

The group stepped away from the pillar in the center of the room, which housed the elevator and emergency exit.

Looking around, they quickly noticed a car that looked to be in bad shape. Getting closer, they noticed someone sitting in the driver’s seat. It was clearly not a mannequin.

It took them only a few seconds to realize what they were looking at.

The man was hunched over the steering wheel, his face pale like a ghost, contrasting with his black hair and beard. He was wearing an old, black suit and tie, with a white shirt under it, that had taken on a grey shade, likely from regularly being exposed to smoke. The only color his body had was some dried blood on his forehead.

The entire group stared at the corpse in disbelieve.

Friday, November 1, 6:00 pm: Sunset Park, Las Vegas

Alice was sitting on the side of the lake, dripping some water on Lupin to refresh him. She had taken off parts of her Crimebuster and rolled up her pant legs, holding her feet in the water.

She had gotten back her luggage at the train station, where the front cars of the Scarlet Thunder were waiting, but she hadn’t bothered getting dressed.

“Here you go.” Alice turned around and saw Amy. She’d changed out of her costume and was holding two bottles in her hands, handing one to Alice.

“Thanks.”

“I made sure to get you your favorite,” Amy said, sitting down next to Alice.

Alice looked at the bottle of hibiscus and passion fruit iced tea. “Did I ever tell you what my favorite drink is?”

“It’s called paying attention. You’re an investigator, shouldn’t you be good at that?” Amy said jokingly.

“Thanks, I guess,” Alice said, hesitantly.

“Did I just hear you say thanks?” Amy chuckled.

“And I immediately regret trying to be nice.”

“Ravo is looking for a rental car, so we can get to the restaurant,” Amy explained after taking a sip from her sparkling water.

“Did you call to tell them we’re coming?”

“I thought it could be a surprise.”

“If you think that’s a good idea.”

“I do. But speaking of calling, do you mind if I make a quick phone call?”

“Be my guest. Who are you calling? Laura?”

Amy shook her head. “Laura and I haven’t spoken in a while. She’s been ignoring my calls.”

Alice wanted to say something, but she wasn’t sure what, so she just took a sip of her drink.

“No, I wanted to call Mom as soon as I got here.”

“Why? Not like she cares.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Just stating facts.”

Amy shook her head and got her phone out. She had to wait a while for her mother to pick up the phone.

“Hey, Mom, how are you?” Amy listened for an answer.

“Great. I’m good too, in case you wanted to know.” She paused.

“Well, I thought I could call you to tell you that we got here safe and sound.”

“Las Vegas. I told you last time we talked.”

Alice cringed, listening to Amy talk, and turned her attention back to Lupin, while continuing to listen in on the conversation.

“Anyway, I also wanted to ask you about the invite I sent you. You haven’t replied yet.”

“For my birthday. I sent you the invite three weeks ago because last year you said I shouldn’t send them too close to the event.”

“November 11, like every year.”

Alice let out a long sigh.

“Okay, just tell me when you know. Bye, love you.”

Amy’s mother ended the call.

“Did she seriously forget your birthday? And you want to tell me that she actually cares about you?”

“I forget birthdays all the time. It’s not a big deal,” Amy said.

“Wow, I’ve never heard anyone cope this hard.”

“I’m serious. It’s no problem. She’s not sure if she might have some plans for that day. She’ll call me when she knows.”

“Jesus, I’m starting to think I had the wrong impression of you.”

“What impression did you have?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Alice got up and dried her feet before putting her boots back on.

“Let’s go see if Ravo has found a car.”

Amy followed her back to the park entrance.

Friday, November 1, 6:10 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest

The six investigators were staring at the corpse inside the broken car.

“What is going on here?!” Ms. Jung asked, disturbed.

“I bloody told you! This bastard can’t be trusted!” Oscar yelled.

Ms. Rasch and Xavier ran back to the elevator, pressing the buttons and trying to get the door open. Unsuccessfully.

“That’s Mr. Bates!” Mika realized.

“What?” Ms. Träger asked.

“That’s Dave Bates, the investigator from New Zealand. I recognize him because he plays himself in his movies.”

“Test, test, can you hear me?” Mr. Scent’s voice echoed through the room, mixed in with some buzzing and distortion, typical for cheap speakers.

“What the fuck is this?!” Ms. Rasch yelled, trying to locate the speaker the voice was coming from.

“Please stop pulling on the door. It won’t open no matter what you do.”

“What kind of rich twat wankery is this?!”

“If you’d shut up, I could explain.”

The group listened intently.

“In May of last year, my wife was murdered on the set of her new movie. Mr. Bates, who previously investigated the murder, has graciously offered to play her corpse for this reenactment.”

“The fuck he did! You just whacked the bloke!”

“Please, I wouldn’t do that. I had some of my new business partners take care of that. But let’s continue the explanation. I’ve reconstructed the scene of the murder, and I want you to solve it.”

“I thought Mr. Bates already investigated it,” Ms. Träger pointed out.

“He did, yes. I just had to get you all here, so I could catch the murderer.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Xavier asked.

“Are ya trying to accuse one of us of the murder? Are you having a laugh?” Oscar asked angrily.

“Correct, one of you is the murderer. But I wanted to give him or her a chance to get away with it. So I came up with this game.”

Everyone was shocked.

“That’s a lie!” Mika yelled. “Everyone here is a passionate fighter for justice and truth. No way we would kill anyone.”

“I agree. I can’t sense anything about the others that makes them seem like murderers,” Ms. Jung said, in a quiet tone.

“Sorry to disappoint, but one of you killed my wife. How about I explain the rules? Like I said, I want you to solve this escape room. By doing so, you’ll be provided with the findings of Mr. Bates’ investigation and a chance to present your verdict. I want you to announce who you all think is the murderer among you. The murderer, naturally, can try to slow you down. You have two hours to solve this escape room.”

“And what if we don’t solve it?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“Simple, everyone but the murderer dies. I’ll have my men escort him or her out before I blow up the tower.”

“Is that seriously your plan? You can’t keep that a secret,” Xavier pointed out.

“I don’t intend to. I’ll just say it was a terrorist attack. The public always eats that shit up.”

“And what happens if we find the murderer?” Ms. Jung asked.

“You’re free to go. Well, everyone but the murderer. He or she will be executed by my men, as punishment for the murder of my wife.”

“Are you insane?!” Ms. Rasch asked.

“You don’t like it? I’m being very generous by giving both sides a chance. Well, I’ll leave you to it. Your time starts now.”

Above the elevator, a display lit up, showing a timer counting down from two hours.

“This can’t be real,” Xavier said.

“Do you really think one of us is a murderer?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“No way. We…”

“Can you really be so sure?” Oscar asked. “You barely know anyone here, how can you say for sure that none of us would kill?”

“As tragic as it is, we have to consider the possibility. We don’t even know what the motive might have been. With the right motivation, people are prepared to do anything,” Ms. Träger said.

“How can you say that?!” Mika asked, disturbed.

“A good detective is prepared to find the truth, even if it’s an uncomfortable one,” Xavier said.

“I remember hearing about the death of Mr. Scent’s fifth wife. I don’t remember the exact date, but I know they were filming in Hollywood,” Ms. Träger said.

“Yes, it was all over the news, but it was ruled as an accident, as far as I know,” Xavier said.

“How about we establish alibis? He said it happened in May,” Oscar said.

“Alibis for an entire month? How would we even back them up?” Ms. Jung asked.

“I can’t believe you’re seriously considering this!” Mika said, upset. Angrily, they ran away, disappearing behind one of the scrap piles.

“Poor thing. This is a lot for anyone, but especially someone their age,” Ms. Rasch said.

“I’ll go check on them,” Xavier said.

“Wait, I want to hear from everyone what they were doing during the time frame in question. Especially the Americans seem suspicious, considering the murder happened in the US,” Ms. Träger said.

“Are you seriously suspecting us?”

“A good detective follows every lead.”

“Fine. I didn’t leave New York state the entire month, but obviously, I can’t back that up. I think my partner and I had two cases to take care of during that month.”

“What about Mika?” Ms. Träger asked.

“Are you serious, Mel?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“Dile it back, the lil nipper would certainly not kill anyone,” Oscar said, upset.

“Anything is possible.”

“Mika lives in New Hampshire. Back then, they weren’t even permitted to leave their home, much less the state.”

“I sense that he’s telling the truth,” Ms. Jung said.

“Sorry, but I don’t really believe in that sort of thing,” Ms. Träger said.

“We can trust him. Why would he lie? If Mika is the murderer and they get away with it, Xavier would die too,” Oscar pointed out.

“Fair. Like I said, I only want to consider every possibility. Playing devil’s advocate, you get it.”

“But that means, Xavier, Oscar, and I have no way of proving our alibis. We have no one who can back up our stories,” Ms. Jung pointed out.

“Why are we wasting time with this?” Xavier asked. “Dick said, we’d receive the evidence by solving the escape room. Shouldn’t we focus on that?”

“I think he’s right. We can’t afford to waste time,” Ms. Rasch said.

“We should spread out and search the room,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

The rest of the group agreed and scattered.

Friday, November 1, 6:20 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (115 minutes remaining)

“Here you are,” Xavier said. He’d found Mika sitting behind one of the scrap piles.

“What do you want?” Mika had tears in their eyes.

“I wanted to see how you’re holding up.” Xavier sat down next to them.

“Shouldn’t you be trying to find out which investigator is a murderer?”

“I should, but I can’t stand seeing you this upset. Plus, I need my genius junior investigator to solve the case.”

“Mother was right, the outside world sucks.”

“What?”

“I spoke to her yesterday. She said that I would learn how bad the world outside the commune is. I said she was wrong, but she was correct. At school, I get bullied, Lupin’s going to die, Paradox might be dead, one of my idols is apparently a murderer, and I’ll never see my family and friends again.”

Xavier sighed and leaned back against the hard, jagged pile. “You’re right, life is shit.”

“What?!”

“Seems like no matter how happy you are, the next low is just waiting for you, I get it.”

“I thought you would try to convince me otherwise.”

“Have you ever heard someone wonder, what’s the purpose of life?”

“I’ve read that a few times, yes.”

“If you ask me, there is no purpose. And that’s what drives us humans insane. We’re so used to being something special that we think there needs to be a point to our existence. But that’s all bullshit. We get pooped out one day, eat shit for years, and then die.”

“So, there is no point in staying alive? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Nope. There’s no reason to throw your life away. Just make the best out of it. Focus on the fun parts and deal with the bad parts with the help of others.”

“But what am I supposed to do? Talking can’t change the fact that Lupin is going to die. And if I tell Alice the bullying is still going on, she will probably beat them up, which would make it worse.”

“She would probably do that, you’re right. But that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to anyone. Your grandparents are always there for you, as am I, Amy, Ralph, Sasha, and all your other friends.”

Mika sighed.

“Listen, how about we solve this case together? Yes, one of your idols being a murderer would suck, but it’s better to come to terms with that than never seeing your loved ones again. And don’t you think that someone like that can’t be allowed to call themselves an investigator?”

“You’re right. I can’t allow them to get away after abandoning their duty of fighting for justice.”

“That’s what I like to hear. And remember, you can talk to me if this gets too much for you.”

Mika nodded determinedly.

The two returned to the group. Everyone seemed busy, searching the room.

“Oi, I found something!” Oscar was holding up a phone.

Xavier quickly ran towards him. Mika was about to follow him, but noticed something else.

They were passing by the director’s chair. A mannequin was sitting in it. Unlike the other mannequins, this one had eyes. They seemed to be made of glass and were bulging out of the mannequin’s face.

Without hesitation, Mika poked the eyes. As they pulled back their hand, one of the eyes fell out of the socket.

“Oops!” Nervously, Mika picked it up from the mannequin’s lap. They wanted to put the eye back, but noticed how deep the hole was. It went in far deeper than the eye went. Sticking their finger in, they felt a bumpy surface at the end of the cylindrical space. They quickly measured the socket. It was about as wide as three of their fingers.

They put the eye in their pocket and took another look at the mannequin as a whole. It was holding a CD with “Suburban Justice” written on it. Next to the chair was a thick rope attached to the floor. It went up to the ceiling, where it was holding a lighting fixture in place.

“Did you find anything?” Ms. Rasch asked. She was on the way to see what Oscar had found and had noticed Mika staring at the mannequin.

“This dummy is suspicious. I managed to remove one of its eyes. Also, it was holding this CD. And look at this rope. Doesn’t it look important? None of the other lights are being held in place like that.”

“Good catch. Let me see, maybe I can untie the knot. I was once part of the Girl Scouts, so this is right up my alley.”

Ms. Rasch tried for a bit, but had to quickly admit defeat. The two walked over to Oscar, where most of the investigators had gathered.

“What did you find?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“This mannequin had a phone in its pocket. But it needs a password to unlock,” Oscar explained.

“Maybe there is a hint on the case or the screensaver?”

“No, we already checked. They're both just black. No symbols, patterns, images, or texts,” Ms. Miller-Berger explained.

“We removed the case. There were four Uno cards in it. Red 3, Blue 5, Yellow 6, and Green 8. Before you ask, we already tried every combination of the four numbers and colors, and they’re not the correct password,” Xavier said.

“Has anyone else found anything?” Oscar asked.

“I found a locked fridge behind one of the piles. Looks like you need some keys to open it,” Ms. Miller-Berger reported.

“I searched some of the other dummies. One of them has a latch in its back. We need a key for that, too,” Ms. Träger said. “But, I also found some stuff in the backpack of a mannequin.”

Ms. Träger pulled out two things. “This is what I found. A small mirror and what seems to be a handheld recording device. It uses cassette tapes, but I couldn’t find any.”

“I’ve seen that before. Mr. Bates uses one like that. It can both record and play tapes,” Mika explained.

“Strange bloke. What decade does he think we’re in?” Oscar asked.

“We’ll probably have to look for a tape. Has anyone else found anything?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“Mika found some stuff over by the director’s chair,” Ms. Rasch said.

“Yes, a rope that we might have to get loose, this eye, and this CD.”

“Maybe we can find a sharp object in the piles of scrap to cut the rope,” Oscar suggested.

“I already checked the piles,” Ms. Miller-Berger said. “Everything was welded or glued together, probably so we couldn’t take anything we weren’t meant to.”

“I’m starting to get annoyed with this twat’s stupid game!”

“Only now?” Xavier asked.

“Mika, can you show me the CD you found?” Ms. Träger asked.

“Sure, here.”

“Thank you. The title is the same as the movie they were shooting.”

“Do you have any idea what to do with it?” Xavier asked.

“I saw that there was a control panel for all the tech. There was a CD port. It might be worth a shot inserting this CD.”

“Let’s go,” Ms. Rasch said. The group walked over to the controls and inserted the disk. The machine started to make sounds, and a screen lit up.

“Look, it displays a handprint,” Xavier noticed. Instinctively, he put his hand on it, but the screen turned red as soon as he did. He pulled back his hand, and the screen turned back to normal.

“Seems like it wants someone else’s handprint,” Mika said.

“Maybe it only reacts to the killer,” Oscar suggested, placing his hand on the screen. It turned red once more.

“Do you really think it would be that easy to find the killer?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“It’s worth a try. Not like the killer can refuse. That would make it pretty obvious,” Xavier said.

“Someone should go get Min-Seo,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“I’ll go!” Mika said.

“She’s over by the car. Just tell her she’s needed. Not like the lass has been much help so far,” Oscar said.

“Okay.”

Mika ran off.

“That leaves three of us who haven’t placed their hand on it,” Xavier said, looking at the trio.

“Sure, I’ll give it a try,” Ms. Träger said. She placed her hand on the screen and received a negative response right away.

Her partners did the same, with the same effect.

“How would Mr. Scent even have our handprints?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“Maybe he only has the one of the killer. They might have left it behind at the crime scene,” Xavier said.

“Fair.”

Friday, November 1, 6:35 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (100 minutes remaining)

As Mika got closer to the car, they heard Ms. Jung mumble something. She was sitting on the hood of the car, staring at the corpse through the broken windshield.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to communicate with the spirits. Maybe they can help us.”

“You can do that?” Mika said, surprised. “I heard rumors that you have some special powers, but I was not expecting that you could talk to ghosts.”

“You believe me?”

“Why not? I’ve read many stories about investigators with special abilities.”

“Thanks. Normally, I’m just treated like a liar or a weirdo. But I think you might be overestimating my abilities. It’s not like I can hear their voices.”

“How do you communicate with them?”

“They can hear me, that’s no problem. And I can feel their presence. It’s like a sixth sense. Understanding them is the difficult part. I have to sense what they want to tell me, which works best if I’ve spent more time with them.”

“What ghosts do you spend time with?”

“There is a young boy who’s always by my side. His name is Soo-Hyun. He was the victim in the first case I ever solved. Since then, he’s been with me. I have no trouble understanding him because of that.”

Mika looked around. “Hello, Soo-Hyun, I’m Mika.”

Ms. Jung smiled. “He has trouble understanding English, but he says hello.”

“So, can you speak to Mr. Bates’ ghost?”

“No, I can‘t feel his presence. But I searched his body and found this.” Ms. Jung was holding a razor blade and a small cassette tape.

“Could you take a look at the corpse? There’s something stuck to his temple, maybe you know what it is.”

Mika looked at the corpse. They were uncomfortable seeing one of their idols in this condition.

“Oh, I see it. Looks like a small camera lens, or something like that.”

“I don’t assume you have an idea of what to do with it?” Ms. Jung said.

“No. Oh, but we might have found a way to progress. We need you over by the control panel.”

“Okay, I was about to head over there anyway.” Ms. Jung climbed down from the hood.

“Mika, before we go back to the others, could I ask you something about Xavier?”

“Sure, what do you want to know?”

“Has he lost someone dear to him?”

“You mean, has someone close to him died recently?”

“Maybe not recently. See, a while ago, maybe a bit over a year ago, I started feeling a strange presence. It wasn’t like any of the spirits I’ve met, and no matter where I went, it was always there, even though it didn’t feel like it was following me. But today, the strangest thing happened.”

“What happened?”

“This constant presence somehow grew stronger. It’s hard to explain, but imagine this presence has eyes everywhere, spread out evenly across the world, watching everything at the same time.”

“That sounds kinda spooky.”

“I can see how you’d feel that way. But the strange thing is, while these eyes are normally equally spread out, there is a sort of cluster, following Xavier and even you around.”

“So we are being watched by a ghost?” Mika asked, looking around as if they were trying to spot this unseen presence.

“That’s the thing, it doesn’t feel like any ghost I’ve ever interacted with. I sadly haven’t met anyone with the same sixth sense as I have, so I can’t draw from someone else’s experience and have to figure everything out myself.”

“Oh. Well, there was someone dear to Xavier who disappeared, but we’re still investigating the case. We don’t know for sure if he’s dead.”

“I see. Thank you for indulging me.”

The two walked back to the others.

Friday, November 1, 6:40 pm: Side of the Road, Desert (95 minutes remaining)

Alice leaned back in her chair. “Could he not have held it in till we get to the restaurant?”

“What’s the problem? Can’t stand being in the car for a little longer?” Amy said teasingly.

“No, because it’s like a sauna in here.”

“You can wait outside. It’s starting to cool down.”

“Still too hot.”

Amy grabbed something from her bag. “Here, take this.” She handed Alice a fan.

“Why are you being so nice?” Alice asked suspiciously.

“People can be nice without a reason.”

“Sure.”

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Here we go.”

“Why did you pick Inazuma as my codename?”

“Didn’t I pick that over a month ago?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t sure when to ask.”

“Well, there is no deeper meaning. I just like Inazuma Eleven, and I thought you did too.”

“Is that really it? I mean, I like the show and the games, but it feels like there’s more to it.”

“Fine, do you really want to know why I picked that codename?”

“Yes.”

“That show taught me never to give up. Well, not like I’m doing a good job following that message, but I digress. You remember when you lost your confidence, after the zoo case?”

“Of course, not like I can forget something like that.”

“Well, it made me happy, seeing you regain your confidence afterwards. And I thought maybe that nickname could be a reminder never to give up.”

“Aw, that is so sweet!”

“Stop looking at me like that, or I’ll beat you up.”

“Okay, sorry.”

Alice looked out the window. “You certainly deserve the name more than I do.”

“What do you mean?” Amy asked.

“Seriously? I’m a quitter. I’m broken beyond repair. It honestly feels shitty having to see a better version of yourself every day.”

“Where is this coming from?”

“I’ve been having nightmares for weeks, reminding me of something that happened in the past. I can’t even fall asleep without alcohol anymore.”

“And you think that makes you a worse version of me?”

“What, are you going to tell me that you’re haunted by your past?”

“I guess. I keep dreaming of this one thing that happened to me. When I was 16, I was playing something on my computer.”

Alice looked surprised, hearing this.

“I heard the door open behind me. Linus was standing there, holding something behind his back. He was staring at me, stammering about how much he hates me for having an easy life.”

Alice was staring at Amy, shaking.

“He then pulled out a knife and ran up to me. I managed to dodge the attack and barricaded myself in the bathroom until my parents got home. I never brought it up to him after that, and never told my parents.”

“So that’s how it happened. But that wasn’t your fault,” Alice said, trying to calm down.

“But I never tried dealing with it. And now it keeps tormenting me at night. Alice, did the same thing happen to you? You seemed to know where I was going with this when I started.”

Alice hesitated. “Yes, the same thing happened to me. Can we please stop talking about it?”

“Sure. But it felt good, finally opening up about it.” Amy looked out the window. “Oh, looks like Ravo’s coming back.

Friday, November 1, 6:45 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (90 minutes remaining)

“Oh, good, there you are. Min-Seo, could you place your hand on this screen?” Xavier asked.

“What does it do?”

“No blooming idea. We haven’t gotten it to work.”

“Fine.” Ms. Jung placed her hand on it, just for the screen to turn red.

“That only leaves Mika,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

Mika placed their hand on the screen. Like for everyone else, it turned red.

“What are we supposed to do?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“Hold on, not everyone is here! Don’t tell me that bloody bastard put us in here without the killer.”

“You’re right!” Ms. Rasch said.

“Amy, Alice, and Ravo aren’t here because of the case from last night,” Xavier said.

“Yuki and Taro Aoyama are also missing,” Mika added.

“And I don’t think I have to mention that Mr. Bates is currently unavailable,” Ms. Miller-Berger added.

“Oi, wanker! Did you forget to put the killer in here?!”

“Stop screaming, geez,” Mr. Scent said through the speaker. “The killer is definitely one of you. And you can solve the escape room even without the absentees.”

“I guess that solves that,” Xavier said.

“Maybe we need to drag the corpse over here and scan his hand,” Ms. Rasch said.

“No, he’s buckled in with no way of getting him out,” Ms. Jung said. “But I found a razor blade in his pocket.”

“Are you suggesting we cut off his hand?!” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“Jesus, that’s morbid!” Ms. Rasch added.

“I don’t know what kind of messed-up things this guy wants us to do!” Ms. Jung said defensively.

“You might be onto something,” Ms. Träger said.

“What?!” the group yelled in disbelief. Even Ms. Jung was confused.

“Calm down, I don’t think we have to cut his hand off. But we might have to remove another hand.”

“Oh, you’re talking about the mannequins, right?” Mika asked.

“Exactly. I’ll go check the mannequins. Could someone lend me a hand? No pun intended.”

“I’ll come with you,” Ms. Rasch said.

“Who has the tape recorder?” Mika asked. “Min-Seo found a cassette.”

“Here, I was holding everything we found,” Xavier said, handing them the device.

Mika quickly inserted the tape and started playing it.

“My plane landed on a rainy day, fitting the gloomy atmosphere of the case I was called in to solve,” someone with a deep, scratchy voice, like that of a chain-smoker, said on the recording. The accent made it obvious that this was a recording of Mr. Bates.

“My first impression of the set was less than pleasing. I would say it was a tragedy waiting to happen, if that wasn’t the reason I had been hired by one of the richest men in the world.”

“Did he record this when he was investigating the murder?” Ms. Jung asked.

“He always does that. People call him the monologuing detective because of his dramatic tone and all the recordings,” Mika explained. “He even records his own audiobooks to add another layer of authenticity.”

“Not sure who would want to listen to that bloke’s growly voice.”

“Have some respect, the man is dead,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“The recording ends here,” Mika noticed.

“What? There has to be more,” Oscar said.

“Maybe the original recording was spread out over multiple tapes,” Xavier suggested.

“Are you sure there is nothing more on this tape? Maybe there’s just a break in the middle,” Ms. Miller-Berger wondered.

“I think waiting for that would be a waste of time,” Ms. Träger said as she and Ms. Rasch returned to the group. “But Mika can keep playing it until we find another cassette. Who knows, maybe there is more on there.”

“Did you find something?” Xavier asked.

“Yes, the mannequin with the latch in the back has a removable hand. Or rather had, seeing as I’ve taken it with me.”

“Let’s give it a try,” Ms. Rasch said, grabbing the hand and putting it on the screen.

The screen turned green, and a clicking sound could be heard, coming from the car.

“Look, the hood opened up!” Mika noticed.

The group walked over and looked into the freshly opened compartment.

“Seems like we found the second cassette,” Mr. Dyole said, grabbing the tape.

“There’s more,” Ms. Jung said, pulling out a loose cable.

“How about we give the tape a listen?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“On it!” Mika said, grabbing the cassette and switching it out with the previous one.

“As I walked through the set, my eyes were drawn to the ceiling. My nerves told me that at any point, one of the light fixtures could come loose and end my career. I started to get impatient, looking for the director. He was the first witness on my list. He’d seen the tragic end of the victim with his own eyes.”

“Recording over!” Mika announced.

“Still no hint as to who might be the culprit,” Ms. Miller-Berger noted.

“Yes, but it seems to hint at where to go next,” Ms. Träger said.

“True. We should probably have a look at the director mannequin,” Xavier agreed.

“You do that. I’ll have a look at the control panel. I think that’s where this cable is needed,” Oscar said.

“I’ll come with you,” Mika said.

“Right, with two pairs of eyes we’ll be done in a jiffy.”

The two walked over to the control panel and started searching.

“Here, I found a spot to plug it in,” Mika said, looking at the bottom of the control panel.

“That takes care of one end. But there’s another bloody end.”

“Maybe some of the tech has to be connected with this.”

“Yup. But what?”

Mika’s face lit up. “I have an idea. Most things in here are immovable, right? So it has to be something in reach. I just plug the cable in, stretch it, and walk in a circle while holding onto it to see what it can reach.”
“Show me what you can do.”

A lot of the technology was just barely out of reach. Only a softbox and a camera were close enough.

“Seems like we have a winner,” Oscar said. “Give me the cable, I can plug it into the camera.”

As soon as Oscar inserted the cable, a part of the camera opened up and revealed a videotape.

“Great, now we need to find a way to play this bloody thing. Is there a tape player in the control panel?”

Mika shook their head. “I haven’t seen one.”

“Let’s head back to the others.”

Friday, November 1, 6:55 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (80 minutes remaining)

“This is truly a face only a mother could love,” Ms. Miller-Berger said, staring at the mannequin.

One eye looked like it was about to pop out, while the other was missing. The rest of the face was totally expressionless.

“Jenny, you investigated this thing with Mika, right? Can you walk us through what you two found?” Ms. Träger asked.

“Well, I only got here after they were done investigating, but they told me what they found. Obviously, the CD was here. Besides that, as you can see, one of the eyes can be removed, revealing this empty space. We also noticed this rope, as mentioned before.”

“Yes, the one with a light fixture attached to it,” Xavier said.

“Hold on.” Ms. Rasch looked over to Ms. Jung. “Could I have the razor blade?”

“Sure.” Ms. Jung handed her the small blade. Ms. Rasch walked over to the Rope.

“What are you doing?” Ms. Träger asked.

“The tape mentioned the lights falling down. I can cut the rope with the razor blade.”

“Good idea,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“I think we should take some steps back. We don’t need another dead investigator,” Ms. Träger said.

It took some time for Ms. Rasch to cut through the rope. With a loud crash, a single light came rushing down, shattering on the floor.

“Be careful, there’s broken glass scattered across the floor,” Xavier said, as the group came closer.

Ms. Rasch lifted the light up. Something long fell out and landed on the floor.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Looks like a flashlight, or maybe a laser pointer,” Xavier said, picking it up. “Weird, I don’t know how you turn it on.”

“Can I see?” Ms. Träger took the object and looked at it. “The back end looks strange, almost like you can plug it in somewhere.”

“Maybe that’s what the cable is for?” Ms. Jung suggested.

“Nope, we already found a use for it,” Oscar said. He and Mika had just gotten to the group. “By the way, we got this tape.”

“We should keep an eye out for something to plug this device or the tape into. For now, we should try finding out how to progress,” Xavier said.

“The recording mentioned how the director saw what happened, but from this angle, he can’t see the corpse. Maybe we need to make it so the mannequin can see the corpse,” Ms. Jung said.

“But both the corpse and the mannequin can’t be moved,” Ms. Miller-Berger said, trying to move the mannequin.”

“The recording specifically mentioned eyes. Maybe we just need to move the eye to the corpse,” Xavier said.

“That makes sense. I haven’t mentioned it, but there is this weird device crafted onto the corpse’s temple. It looks like a small camera. Maybe we have to show the eye to it,” Ms. Jung said.

“Let’s try it!” Xavier and Ms. Jung walked off to try their theory.

“Hey, could you give me that thing you found?” Mika asked.

Ms. Rasch gave them the long device.

“Hm, it’s about three fingers thick. I wonder if it’s supposed to go there.” Mika turned to the mannequin and pushed the device into the eye socket. With a click, it snapped into place.

“Our theory was incorrect,” Xavier said while walking back. As he got closer, a red dot appeared on his chest.

“What’s this?” Xavier asked.

 “I got the laser to work!”

“So it was meant to go into the mannequin’s eye socket?” Xavier said.

“Which would technically make it its new eye. I found a mirror. Maybe if we use it to redirect the laser into this camera you mentioned, we can progress,” Ms. Träger said. Xavier handed her the mirror, and she got to work, carefully redirecting the red beam into the camera, or rather, the sensor.

As the light beam touched the lens, the glove compartment opened up.

“Good job!” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“There are nine weird-looking keys in here,” Ms. Jung said, picking up the keys. All of them were numbered from 1 to 9

“Bridget, didn’t you mention a fridge that needed multiple keys?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“Yes. I can show you, if you want,” Ms. Miller-Berger answered.

“Lead the way, comrade.”

The group followed Ms. Miller-Berger across the room.

“Here. But it only has eight keyholes. How are we meant to know which keys go in which hole?”

The rusty fridge in front of them looked rather bland. There were eight keyholes, arranged in two rows of four above each other. The only other notable thing about the machine was the label. It said Coo1est 3zers, with one word above the others.

“That label seems strange. I’ve never heard of it, and this is a fridge, not a freezer,” Xavier pointed out.

“And then that weird spelling with the numbers. It has to be a hint,” Ms. Rasch said.

“Maybe we don’t need to fill every hole,” Oscar said. “How bout you put key one into the fourth hole in the upper line, and key three in the first on the bottom line?”

“I see what you mean. You’re using the location of the numbers in the words,” Ms. Rasch noticed.

Ms. Jung did as she was told, but the fridge didn’t unlock.

The others started to suggest different combinations, but none seemed to work. Mika remained silent. Their eyes dashed from the keyholes to the keys, to the label, and back to the holes. Excitedly, they started fidgeting with their fingers. “I think I got it!”

Everyone turned around.

“Something similar was in a video game series Alice and I have been playing. What was it called again? Ah, yes, we need to use the digital root,” Mika said.

“What’s that supposed to be?” Oscar asked.

“I can tell you that,” Ms. Träger said. “It’s a mathematical concept that is used to reduce multiple digits into a single one. So, if you had, let’s say, 24, you would add them together, getting the digital root of 6. Should you have a number like 57, where you receive 12, you just repeat the process, getting 3.”

“Exactly,” Mika said. “I think we need to use four keys that have the digital root of 1 and four that get 3.”

“Do you know the combination?” Oscar asked?

“I’m sorry, I’m not good at math. Normally, the game does it for me, or Alice helps me.”

“Don’t worry about it. Mel, can you do it?” Xavier asked.

“Sorry, I might know the theory behind it, but I’m actually very slow with math. But Bridget is great at math. I’m sure she could do it. Right, comrade?”

“I’ll give it my all, but there are many possible combinations.”

“That’s all we ask of you,” Ms. Jung said.

Xavier looked over to the timer. 55 minutes remaining.

Friday, November 1, 7:20 pm: Near Eagle’s Nest, Desert (55 minutes remaining)

“That tower is terrifying. Honestly, I’m happy I’m not up there,” Mr. Gallagher said as the car got closer to the Eagle’s Nest.

“Someone seems to be overcompensating,” Alice said, staring at the building. “Weird, feels like I’m getting a deja vu.”

“Could you stop, please?” Amy asked.

“What’s up?” Mr. Gallagher asked.

“Something’s not right. Xavier’s tracker isn’t in the tower. It’s somewhere over there.”

Mr. Gallagher and Alice looked in the direction Amy was pointing.

“Seems like there is some small building there,” Mr. Gallagher noticed.

“I think that’s actually a caravan,” Alice said.

“Don’t you think this is weird? Why would he be over there and not in the restaurant?”

“You’re right, something seems off,” Mr. Gallagher agreed.

“Let me check something.” Amy opened a program on her laptop and looked through some analytics. “Just as I thought.”

“Spit it out!” Alice said.

“My laptop is picking up a ton of signals being exchanged between that caravan and the tower.”

“So?”

“I can try intercepting it to see what’s going on. Just give me some time.”

“Good idea. We’ll keep a distance from the buildings, so we don’t get noticed.”

Amy nodded and got to work.

Friday, November 1, 7:30 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (45 minutes remaining)

“No, that’s not it either,” Ms. Miller-Berger said frustratedly.

“How long is this going to take? I’ve had enough of just mucking about,” Oscar said.

“I’m stressed, okay! Fuck, no matter what I try, it won’t work.”

“You know, slowing us down like this makes you look right sketchy.”

“Do it yourself if you can do it better!” Ms. Rasch said angrily. “Just give her time.”

“We don’t have time, lass!”

While the two got in a shouting match, Xavier decided to look around the room once more. He walked over to a catering area. There was water, a fruit bowl, and some other snacks. Ms. Träger was there, writing something down.

“Where’d you get the paper and pen?” Xavier asked.

“They had some here. Probably to take notes for the puzzles.”

“I assume that’s what you’re doing.” Xavier caught a glimpse of what she was writing. It was a long list of numbers.

“I’ve written down every single combination of four keys. I’m now looking for all the ones with the digital root of 1 or 3.”

“Impressive.”

“I’m almost done.”

Xavier waited a minute until Ms. Träger put the pen down. “I got it!”

“Finally! Bloody hell, this took forever.”

Xavier and Ms. Träger walked back to the others.

“The only possible combination is 1234 and 6789. None of the other combinations work without getting in the way of each other.”

Ms. Jung put in the keys, and finally, the door unlocked. Ms. Träger gave Ms. Miller-Berger a suspicious look before turning to the fridge.

Inside the fridge was a screen and a VCR.

“Here, let me put in the tape,” Oscar said. As soon as the tape was put in, the screen lit up and showed a single image.

“Wow, that’s surprisingly high quality for a tape recording,” Ms. Rasch noticed.

“It’s likely not coming from the tape. The tape probably just activates the screen,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“How about you stop talking bout the quality and look at what’s on the bloody screen?”

“It looks like it’s a picture from after the incident back in May,” Xavier said. “See, the car has already crashed. There’s smoke coming from the hood, and the windows are broken.”

“I think it’s more than that,” Mika said. “Look around us. The mannequins are arranged exactly like the people in this picture.”

“You’re right. But how does that help us?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“Maybe this is like a big spot the difference puzzle,” Ms. Rasch said. “Maybe we have to change something about the recreation so it lines up with the picture.”
“But what?” Xavier said.

“The mannequins are wearing different outfits, but I don’t know where we could get the right clothes,” Ms. Träger pointed out.

“Speaking of clothing, look at this muppet,” Oscar said, pointing to a person only seen from behind. They were wearing a hat and a scarf, potentially to hide their face.

“What about them?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“They do seem a bit suspicious,” Ms. Jung said.

“Hold on, that person is represented by the mannequin with the latch. The same mannequin whose hand was needed to unlock the car hood.”

“Seems like this could be our killer,” Xavier said.

“That’s not what I was talking about. Look at the scarf. It’s in the colours of the French flag. Or I guess it could also be the flag of the Netherlands. Either way, a strange find in the US.”

“I don’t think anyone here is French or Dutch, right?” Xavier asked.

Everyone shook their head. Oscar looked at everyone’s face intently.

“Well, guess that was a waste of time. Sorry bout that. Now that I think about it. During that time, the Europa League was held, so this might just be a football fan.”

“Oh, you’re right!” Ms. Jung said.

“What? Are you talking to me, lass?”

“Sorry, I was talking to my assistant. He noticed something. Have a look at the license plate. What does it say?”

“It says FLT180,” Mika read out.

“But that is not what’s on the actual license plate. That one says L01T8F.”

“Good catch! Maybe we can rearrange the numbers and letters,” Ms. Träger said, looking over to her colleagues.

The group walked over to the car. Just as Xavier wanted to follow them, Oscar held him back.

“Oi, lad, have you been keeping an eye on the others?”

“I was mostly focused on the puzzles.”

“Well, I’ve been trying to see how everyone acts. You know what I noticed when I pointed out the scarf?”

“Did someone react suspiciously?”

“Not just one. Two of the German lasses. Jenny and Bridget both got nervous right as I pointed to the person in the picture.”

“They did mention they lived in Baden-Württemberg, which borders on France, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Not just that. There is an airport right on the intersection of Germany, France, and Switzerland. It’s possible that the killer came to America from that airport.”

“And it wouldn’t be too absurd to imagine that they sell French merchandise at the airport, especially during soccer season.”

“So, what do you think of my theory? The killer is one o’ them. She got to the airport, but realized she should hide her mug, so she bought a scarf at the airport.”

“She would likely not bring a scarf with her when going to California, so it’s certainly possible that she would have been forced to improvise.”
“Let’s keep an eye on the two,” Oscar said, before the two returned to the others.

Friday, November 1, 7:35 pm: Near Eagle’s Nest, Desert (40 minutes remaining)

“I’m in!” Amy said triumphantly.

“Great, what did you pick up?” Alice said, looking over at the screen.

“Seems like the specific signal I’ve intercepted is camera footage.”

“Hey, there’s Mika!”

“Oscar and Xavier are there too. But what are we looking at? This does not look like a restaurant.”

“Look, now they’re going somewhere else,” Alice pointed out.

“Except for Xavier and Oscar. Let me see if I can pick up the audio.”

Amy pressed some buttons and turned the volume up all the way, but they couldn’t make out what the two were whispering about.

“Maybe I can hear them better with my headphones.” Amy pulled out her headphones and listened intently. It didn’t take long for her face to turn as pale as a sheet.

“What are they talking about?” Mr. Gallagher asked.

“They mentioned something about a killer.”

“That certainly doesn’t sound good. Do you think we could watch from another angle? This angle seems not to be very informative.”

“Yes, there are multiple angles. I just picked the one that showed the group. Seems like this one shows where they went.”

“What are they doing with that broken car?”

“Oh my god!” Amy yelled out.

“What?” Mr. Gallagher tried to see what had surprised her.

“In the car. Look, there’s a corpse.”

“Oh, shit! That’s Dave Bates. I recognize him from the movies,” Alice said.

“Yes, that’s definitely him,” Mr. Gallagher confirmed.

“What is going on?” Amy asked, disturbed.

“Amy, do you think we can talk to them? Like, is there an intercom you have access to?” Alice asked.

“That might be a separate signal. I can try getting us access to it, but I don’t know how long this will take.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea. Think about it. If we can gain access to both video and audio, the people behind this also have access. If we start talking to the others, we make our presence known, which would not only put us in danger, but also the other investigators,” Mr. Gallagher explained.

“You’re right, but what should we do?” Amy asked.

“Hello, just checking in,” Mr. Scent’s voice blared from the laptop. “Just saying that there are 35 minutes left, so you might want to speed up, if you don’t want to get blown to bits. And congrats to the killer. It seems to be going well for you. Bye-bye.”

“What was that?” Mr. Gallagher asked.

“Seems like that confirms our suspicions,” Amy said.

“But it also means that we need to hurry.”

Alice grabbed the laptop and started clicking through the different camera feeds.

“What are you doing?” Amy asked.

“What I’m best at, finding a way to break into a rich guy’s place.”

“Are you sure that’s a smart idea?” Amy asked.

“Hear me out, I’ll walk you through this.” Alice switched to a camera angle that showed the pillar in the center of the room. “Look, here’s the elevator entrance. But if I switch to this angle, there is another door. That implies that there is another way in, besides the elevator. Additionally, all the cameras film the inside of that one room. None of them shows the outside. That means I can sneak up to the tower without getting spotted. Then I just get in through the second entrance and get the others out.”

“You could still get spotted, even without the camera. This is an open desert with barely anything to hide behind,” Amy said.

“Then we’ll just have to cause a distraction,” Mr. Gallagher said. “And if possible, that distraction should not alert them to us being here.”

“You’re right. Any ideas?” Amy asked.

“Yes. They have Xavier’s and likely Oscar’s phone in the caravan. We just keep calling them. Not sure how long that will distract them, so you’ll have to be quick.”

“I’ll go as fast as I can.”

“Good. We’ll wait until you’re a bit closer, and then we’ll start the distraction,” Amy said.

“I’ll also alert the police. They likely won’t be here within the time limit, but if we’re successful, they can back us up during the escape.” Mr. Gallagher got out his phone.

“Well, I’ll get going.”

As Alice opened the door, Amy grabbed her arm. “Alice, please be careful.”

“Don’t worry. Did you forget that the Crimebuster is the ultimate infiltration tool?” Alice smiled and put on her balaclava and helmet. She closed the door and started sneaking towards the tower.

Friday, November 1, 7:40 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (35 minutes remaining)

“Hello, just checking in. Just saying that there are 35 minutes left, so you might want to speed up, if you don’t want to get blown to bits. And congrats to the killer. It seems to be going well for you. Bye-bye.”

“Did he really call us just to remind us?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“He’s most likely trying to freak us out. I bet he’s having a great time watching us panic. He’s probably watching this with one hand under the desk,” Ms. Rasch said.

“What does that mean?” Mika asked, watching Ms. Jung arrange the magnetic numbers and letters on the license plate.

“I don’t think I should elaborate on that,” Ms. Rasch said, looking at Mika. She noticed how Mika was shaking. They repeatedly opened and closed their hands in quick succession.

“Hey, we’ll get through this,” Ms. Rasch said.

“Promise?”

Ms. Rasch hesitated. Before she could answer, she heard a clicking sound.

“It’s done. Looks like the trunk got unlocked,” Ms. Jung said, opening the trunk. She pulled out a sheet of paper from the otherwise empty trunk.

“Oi, what have you got there?” Oscar said as he and Xavier got back to the others.”

“Glad you decided to join us,” Ms. Träger said.

“What does the note say?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“Looks like a threat,” Ms. Jung said, showing the sheet of paper. It had “Find the killer or else” written on it.

“Seems like it was written using newspaper clippings or something similar,” Xavier said.

“Yes, the letters seem to be printed on some coated paper,” Ms. Träger said. “If you would indulge me, I might have an idea of what to do with this.”

“Go on, we don’t have all day!” Oscar said, getting uneasy and searching his pockets for a pack of cigarettes out of habit.

“The way I see it, there are two possible options as to how a hint could be hidden behind this message. Either this is an anagram, but with this many letters, it seems too elaborate. But the other option would be that there is a message on the other side of the clippings,” Ms. Träger explained.

“So what? You’re gonna rip the bloody things off the paper?”

“No, if you give me just a little time, I can remove them safely, with the things we have here. I’ll put the note in a bowl filled with water. I’ll add some lemon zest. The acid will help break up the glue faster and because…”

“Just get on with it, will ya?”

Ms. Träger nodded and walked over to the catering area, followed by her colleagues.

“So, is there anything we can do while we wait?” Mika asked.

“Is there nothing else in the boot of the car?” Oscar asked, getting closer to the car.

“Looks empty,” Ms. Jung said.

“Then ya haven’t checked properly. Don’t know what the cars in South Korea are like, but this model should have a compartment for the spare tire, which you clearly haven’t looked at.” Oscar pulled up the trunk’s carpeting, and under it, a large compartment, in the shape of a tire, was revealed.

“Looky here.” Oscar picked up the object inside it. It was a small, metal box, locked with a number dial.

“Good job,” Xavier said.

“But we don’t have a code, so we still have nothing to do,” Ms. Jung said.

“That’s not true,” Mika said. “Maybe we missed something. It can’t hurt to look around instead of waiting for the others to get the next hint.”

“The nipper is right. There’s 30 minutes left, and we can’t waste a single one by just mucking about.”

“Can I have the box?” Xavier asked. “I’ll bring it over to the others. Should they get a hint for the passcode, they can test it right away.”

“Here, take it.”

The four scattered, starting to search the room.

Friday, November 1, 7:45 pm: Back Entrance, Eagle’s Nest (30 minutes remaining)

Alice sighed in relief as she made it to the tower. As she’d assumed, there was a locked door on the back side of the tower. Fortunately, that meant that she was hidden from view, as the tower stood between her and the distant caravan.

“Looks like the distraction worked,” Alice said, looking over to the small monkey sitting on her shoulder.

Lupin had barely any energy left. He was draped limply over her shoulder, showing no reaction to her.

“Don’t worry, you’ll soon be reunited with Mika.”

Alice pulled out her lockpicks and got to work on the keyhole.

She’d only been at it for a few minutes when she was startled by a sound. It sounded like a car engine roaring in the distance.

Carefully, Alice poked her head out from behind the tower, certain that she would soon be joined by the enemy. To her surprise, the car was not headed her way. Instead, it rushed towards the rental car Amy and Mr. Gallagher were in.

Alice watched as the rental car started turning around to escape, but mid-turn, it suddenly stopped.

“Don’t tell me they're stuck!” Alice said, worried.

The criminals’ car quickly closed in on the rental, and two people got out. It was hard to tell from this distance, but the men were holding guns as they opened the doors of the rental car.

Amy and Mr. Gallagher were escorted to the other car, held at gunpoint.

“Fuck! Okay, I need to focus. Seems like Dick’s goons currently have no intention of killing them. I just need to work fast, to put an end to this mess, before anyone gets harmed.”

Lupin let out a worried squeal.

“Don’t worry, I won’t allow any more bloodshed on my watch. Never again.”

Alice got back to work. The lock seemed more troubling than she’d originally suspected, but after a few more minutes, she’d done it.

Opening the door, Alice entered a narrow space, reaching all the way to the top of the tower. The only thing leading up was a series of steel ladders.

“Good thing I’ve overcome my fear of heights. Remind me to thank Blair for her help with that when I see her again. I guess I can add it to the list of things I owe her for, which by now probably fills up multiple pages.”

Alice started climbing up the tower. The creaking of the poorly constructed ladders echoed through the room.

As she’d almost reached the middle, she started hearing a beeping from above. There was a metal platform coming up, connecting to the two ladders.

“What the hell?!” Alice said as she finally managed to see what was on the platform.

Right away, she noticed the origin of the beeping. A large device with blinking lights and an imposing presence. It didn’t take a genius intellect to understand that this was an explosive, based on what Mr. Scent had mentioned in his message.

Next, Alice noticed what was much more surprising. A woman and a young boy were gagged and tied to the railing, staring at her in confusion.

Alice pulled a pocketknife from one of her pouches and approached the two. They seemed nervous.

An understandable response, if you ask me. Just imagine you get tied up in a dark room next to an explosive, then a masked stranger appears, and the first thing they do is pull out a knife. I’d be quite frightened. Not that I could do anything about it.

Alice noticed the concerned look. “Don’t be scared, I’m on your side.” She quickly took off her headgear as a sign of trust.

The two calmed down and watched as Alice cut through the thick ropes. Their hands freed, the two managed to remove the pieces of cloth that were keeping them from talking.

“Thank you very much, miss. We must have been tied up here for over a day,” the woman said, respectfully bowing, before turning to the bomb.

“Aunty, you wouldn’t happen to be an investigator?” the boy asked. Judging from his looks, he must have still been in elementary school.

 “Aunty? How old do you think I am?”

“I’m sorry, I guess I don’t have a reason to keep up the façade of an innocent little kid.”

“What? Who even are you?”

“Apologies, in all this chaos, we almost forgot to introduce ourselves. I am Taro Aoyama, and this is my mother, Yuki Aoyama. We are private investigators. Dare I say, Japan’s greatest private investigators?” Taro said in a smug tone. “But I’m surprised you could not tell. I’d expect a fellow investigator to have done research going into today’s meeting.”

“Taro, be nice. I’m sorry, his advanced intellect brings about a feeling of superiority, which can sometimes come across as rude.”

“So Detective Conan over here has an advanced intellect? I guess that explains why a Japanese elementary student has such a good grasp of the English language.”
“Is this meant to be some sort of joke? Unlike that fictional detective, I’m not some shrunken-down fool. I truly am this intelligent, despite my age. And as a small correction, I do not attend elementary school. I’ve recently graduated from 11^th grade, and many universities have expressed interest in me attending their classes once I graduate from 12^th grade. Even international schools are interested in my skills and reputation. Oh, and while I’m at it, saying I have a good grasp of the English language is a gross understatement. I’m fluent in Japanese, English, Mandarin, and Latin.”

“Of course you’d speak Latin. Only the most pretentious and obnoxious people learn a dead language. And from what I can tell, you’ve got both in spades.”

“You prove to be quite the simpleton. Don’t you know Latin can be vital for researching old documents or information related to the medical field? Both can prove handy during an investigation.”

“Why are you even giving me crap for not recognizing you as an investigator? From your shocked look when I got here, you clearly didn’t recognize me.”

“Yes, I admit, that was foolish. In my defense, you are dressed in all black in a dark room. I could merely recognize a silhouette. But given a few seconds to ponder, I recognized you from the picture Mr. Scent posted a few months ago.”

“Are you two done arguing like little children? I think we have more important matters to attend to.”

“He started it.”

“Very mature, off-brand Batman,” Taro said. The two stared angrily at each other.
“Both of you, stop it!”

“Sorry. How come you ended up tied up in here?” Alice asked.

“An oversight on our part. When we received the invite from Mr. Scent, we were intrigued by the prospect of meeting other world-class investigators,” Taro explained. “Although we might have overestimated their skills,” he added in a teasing tone.

Alice grabbed her taser in a threatening motion, although the boy genius didn’t seem fazed.

“While we liked the idea, we were suspicious of Mr. Scent. Saying he has a sketchy track record would be an understatement, and he’s never shown interest in investigators. On the contrary, in your case, he was outright hostile,” Ms. Aoyama said.

“You can say that again.”

“That is why we decided to inspect the place a day before the dinner. Finding the location was easy enough, but as we got here, our investigation was interrupted, as some of Mr. Scent’s men spotted us.”

“To get captured by such boneheaded fools. What a cruel joke.”

“They took everything we had on us, including the translation devices we had brought along in case some of the investigators couldn’t speak English. They then tied us up in here. And the rest you know already.”

“Yes. Well, good thing I found you. But if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go save the others.”

“Hold on. I’m sure there are cameras up there. Should they see you, they will detonate the bomb. It appears to be remotely controlled and not set to run on a timer. We have to disarm it first, before making another move,” Ms. Aoyama said.

“If I remember correctly, you’re a scientist, right? Can you do it?”

“What is she supposed to do, chew through the steel? Looking at what you’re carrying, I’m sure you have some tools on you. Would you care to share them with the people who can actually put them to use?”

“I don’t care if you’re a kid. If you don’t shut up, I’ll cave your head in.”

“You remind me of a saying I’ve heard. What was it again? Ah, yes, you’re all bark, no bite.” Taro looked at Alice with a wide grin.

“Fuck you. I could probably just grab you and toss you down, pipsqueak.” Alice walked to Ms. Aoyama and handed her the tools she was carrying. Only the crowbar she kept to herself.

Ms. Aoyama got to work, trying to disarm the bomb at record pace, with some assistance from her son.

Friday, November 1, 7:45 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (30 minutes remaining)

Xavier was approaching the catering area with the locked box in hand.

He could see that the trio of investigators had quickly gotten to work, making their plan a reality. The fruit bowl, made of glass, was filled with water and presumably lemon zest, and the note was floating at the top.

The three were awkwardly waiting for something to happen. Ms. Rasch seemed bored and leaned against the table. In an instant, she appeared to be slipping, pushing the bowl off the table.

Just before it hit the ground, breaking into a million pieces, Xavier jumped forward, skillfully catching it. In the process, he spilled some water, but nothing more.

“Good catch, that was a close one,” Ms. Miller-Berger said, still surprised.

“I’m so sorry, I was not paying attention. I…”

“Knock it off!” Ms. Träger said, cutting Ms. Rasch off midsentence. “I know exactly what you two are doing!”

“What do you mean? Jenny’s just clumsy, that’s nothing new, so don’t yell at her.”

“Please, we all know she did this on purpose. And speaking of messing up on purpose, can you explain why it took you so long to figure out such a simple puzzle?”

“I told you, I was under a lot of pressure, and there were over a hundred ways to arrange a set of four keys.”

“That’s true. I can attest to that because I took the time to write them all down. And you know what I realized? There is only one combination with the digital root of 1, 1234. There is simply no way you would not realize that any quicker.”

“I-I…” Ms. Miller-Berger stammered.

“Clearly, one of you is the guilty party, and the other one is trying to protect her. To whichever one is not guilty, let me ask you this. Why would you protect her, knowing damn well that you yourself, plus five other innocent people, will die?”

“What is wrong with you? Do you not have any faith in your comrades? Do you really think one of us could be a murderer?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“No, I don’t, I believe both of you are. No matter which one killed the actress, by getting in our way, there will be blood on the hands of you both. With the only difference being that one of you dies and the other gets to live with the shame and guilt.”

Xavier was staring at the trio. Unnerved by the infighting and unsure of what to believe. What Ms. Träger was saying made total sense, but it still felt wrong.

“I think the note should be soggy enough to remove the clippings,” Ms. Miller-Berger said, trying to change the subject.

Ms. Träger insisted on doing the work herself. Laying out the wet clippings, it became obvious that there was indeed something on the back. There was still some glue stuck to some, but most of the motive was visible.

Even before arranging them properly, it was clear that it showed a photograph with something written on it.

Ms. Träger started arranging them, while the others watched.

“I have a question,” Xavier said. “I know we put the topic of alibis aside, but I still wanted to give you the chance to tell me. After all, you should be able to back each other up.”

“That is generous, but ultimately just wishful thinking. Naturally, I had considered it too, before making any accusations. Unfortunately, May was the one month we took a week of, that we spent apart from each other,” Ms. Träger explained, without even looking up from the strange jigsaw puzzle. “And before you ask, let me tell you what we were allegedly up to. I spent my days off in Switzerland, hiking. There were a few points of interest, such as the famed Reichenbach Falls, which any enthusiast of detective media would recognize. I assume I don’t have to give you a more detailed list, so I’ll move on. Jenny went on vacation in Spain, but due to her interest in technological detox, she avoided using her phone, even refusing to take pictures.”

“I wanted to enjoy the moment and didn’t think it was necessary to document my trip. How should I have known that I’d end up needing to prove my alibi for that week?”

“And lastly, Bridget. She had originally planned to visit her family in California, but as she told us then, she had to cancel due to a family emergency.”

“What kind of family emergency?” Xavier asked.

“My grandfather died. I wanted to be there for my mother and didn’t feel like going on a vacation. I did tell them at the time.”

“That is true. You did mention that your grandfather had passed away when we asked you,” Ms. Träger said.

Xavier looked down at the paper clippings that were now properly arranged. “Jesus, fuck!” he let out, seeing the grotesque image.

The motive that Ms. Träger had assembled was a selfie of Mr. Scent posing with the corpse of Mr. Bates.

“He’s not one for subtlety,” Ms. Träger said.

“Or decency,” Ms. Rasch added.

They collectively directed their attention to what was written on the picture. It was a series of numbers formatted in a strange way. It is best if I write this down in the same way it was formatted on the clippings.

111

22

33333

444

“Is this the code for the box?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“I’ll give it a try,” Ms. Rasch said, starting to put in the series of 13 numbers.

“Seems too long,” Xavier pointed out, while Ms. Rasch was still in the process of testing the code.

“That’s because we’re not reading it correctly!” Ms. Träger realized. “It’s actually really easy if you know the way it works. What we’re looking at is an eight-digit code.”

“How?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“There are three ones, two twos, five threes, and three fours, which means that the code is 31225334.”

“Oh shit, that makes total sense,” Xavier said. He turned the box and put the code in quickly.

“To be fair, it is a type of riddle I’ve seen before, so I was quick to pick up on it. There wasn’t much skill to it.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. After all, you might have saved us a lot of time,” Xavier said, while opening the box. Inside were a key and another cassette tape.

“Hey, everyone, get over here!” Ms. Miller-Berger yelled.

Quickly, the rest gathered around the catering area.

“What did ya find?” Oscar asked.

“A key and another cassette. Here, Mika, you can get that ready.” Ms. Rasch handed over the tape.

“Sure. Oh, and we didn’t come back empty-handed,” Mika said.

“That’s right. There’s a safe in one of the piles of rubbish, and we found this magazine.” Oscar held up a magazine that was labeled “Scent of Gossip” with the cover story below labeling Richard Scent as the sexiest man in history.

I know I haven’t gone too in-depth on how he looks, but I promise you, he’s nowhere near deserving that title.

“Seems like the wanker had a busy evening, all the pages are stuck together except for two.”

Oscar opened the pages in question. They had barely any text on them, and were mostly covered in more pictures of the corpse as if Mr. Scent was bragging about what he’d done. Similar to the numbers before, the text had been formatted in a strange way.

 

Death at set of

exciting new movie. The

unbelievable tragedy

took place on

Saturday, May 13. A

cloudy day,

haunted by the

live ending incident. Some believe it was an

accident, but

now one of the world’s greatest

detectives has been hired to find out more.

 

“Is that supposed to be an actual article?” Xavier asked.

“No idea,” Ms. Jung said.

“Should I play the tape?” Mika asked.

“Go ahead, I’ll just go check something,” Ms. Träger said, grabbing the key and walking off.

“Oi, can ya take this?” Oscar asked, handing Ms. Jung the magazine, before she could even answer.

“What am I supposed to do with it?”

“Just hold on to it. I don’t wanna carry around Dick’s wank pages.”

“You don’t seriously think they're stuck together because of that, do you?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“I don’t know what that nonce gets off to.”

The familiar humming of the tape started playing, distracting everyone from the strange topic of discussion.

“I had decided to follow the lead further. Could it be true? A young investigator might be behind this? An agent of justice corrupted by greed? One thing was sure. She had certainly been hired by a competing studio to spy on the competition and maybe cause some trouble. But would she go as far as to kill? Truly, the questions were swirling in my head, and only further investigating could satisfy my hunger for knowledge.”

“Hold on, don’t tell me we missed a bloody tape. Wasn’t he about to interview the director?”

“I think we’re only getting what’s necessary for us. Mr. Bates records 6 hours of monologues per day on average,” Mika explained.

“I guess that wouldn’t fit in the time limit,” Xavier said. “How does he find that much to talk about? I sometimes struggle filling a few minutes for my videos.”

Mika just shrugged.

“Guys, look, the key fits!”

Everyone hurried over to Ms. Träger, who was standing next to the one-handed mannequin.

Behind the latch on its back was a screen belonging to a tablet.

“What now?” Ms. Jung asked.

“Ah, seems like you found the tablet,” Mr. Scent said, applauding them loudly. “Now, obviously, you still need the code for the tablet, but I can tell you what you’ll need to do once you’ve unlocked it. You will use the camera function, and one after the other, you’ll record yourself saying who you believe the killer to be. If more than 80% of the innocents vote for the murderer, they win. Well, I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got company to entertain. Oh, and just in case you’re not aware, maybe speed up. There are 20 minutes remaining.”

Friday, November 1, 7:50 pm: Caravan, Near Eagle’s Nest (25 minutes remaining)

“Hey, watch where you’re touching!” Amy said as she was being pushed inside the caravan.

“Hey bastard, how about you don’t make this more uncomfortable for her than it has to be?” Mr. Gallagher said, entering after Amy and the man, holding her.

“Or what? Will you do something? I’m so afraid of the tied-up, old, overweight, crippled, black guy.” The man started laughing and grabbed Amy harder.

This was quickly followed by him whimpering after Amy had kicked him in the crotch.

“Fucking bitch!” The man with a pained expression on his face pushed Amy to the ground.

“Nice company you keep around you. They really fit you,” Mr. Gallagher said, looking at Mr. Scent.

He was sitting behind a desk with multiple monitors. The caravan was filled with all sorts of technology. Everything was branded with his companies’ logos on it, even the things that were definitely not made by his companies.

“Sit down, big guy, and enjoy the show. You should thank me. If it weren’t for me, my guards would have shot you on sight.”

“That’s horseshit, and you know it! Were it not for you, none of this would be happening right now.”

“You say that, but it’s all that German girl’s fault. She was the one who killed my wife, and now she has to suffer for it.”

“And what about the others?” Amy asked.

“Well, if they really are such great investigators, they’ll be able to survive. And if not, then they deserve to die, seeing how they’ve failed their duty.”

“What are you even talking about, you madman?” Mr. Gallagher asked.

“Oh, that’s right, I haven’t even told you what game we’re playing.”

He proceeded to run down the rules in a sickeningly gleeful tone.

After he was done, the two just stared at him.

“So, what do you think?”

“You’re deranged, that’s what I think!” Amy said with a shocked expression.

“Oh, hold on for a second. Seems like they’re finally getting to the good part. I’ll have to make a quick announcement. And don’t even think about trying to call out to them. Should you do that, I’d have to blow up the tower early.”

He started informing the people inside the escape room of the tablet’s purpose. The whole time, Amy felt like she should do something, but she knew that any action on her side would be a death sentence, not just for her, but also for Mr. Gallagher and everyone in the tower. So she just sat there, hoping that everything would end well.

Friday, November 1, 7:55 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (20 minutes remaining)

After Mr. Scent had ended his announcement, the group just stared at each other.

“80%? How much is that?” Mika asked.

“Why don’t you tell us, Bridget? You’re our math genius. And I’m sure you’d want to redeem yourself after that poor showing from before,” Ms. Träger said, giving her colleague an accusatory look.

Ms. Miller-Berger sighed. “Five people make up 83%, so that’s the number of people needed for a conclusive vote.”

“So even if one innocent person votes incorrectly, we’re still in the clear,” Xavier said.

“Seems like you lot aren’t too happy about that,” Oscar said, looking teasingly at Ms. Rasch and Ms. Miller-Berger.

Ms. Jung cleared her throat, getting the attention of the group. “Could you please help me for a second?” she asked, holding the open magazine and a pen in her hands.

“What do you need?” Xavier asked.

“I’m not very good with the Roman alphabet, or any language besides Korean, for that matter. Could you please tell me if this is an actual word?” She showed them the magazine. Below the strange text was something written in pen. The eleven letters formed the word Deutschland.

“Yes, it is!” Mika said excitedly. “It means Germany in German.”

“Seems like that confirms our suspicions, don’t it?” Oscar said, looking like he was about to lunge at the two suspects.

“Wait, how did you come up with that?” Ms. Rasch asked.

Xavier stared intently at the magazine, realizing what Ms. Jung had figured out. “She put together the first letter of each line,” he explained.

“I see.”

“Wait, but where do we use the code? The vault doesn’t use letters,” Mika said.

“Of course! I almost forgot.” Xavier pulled something from his pocket. It was the phone they had found in the beginning. He tried the password and successfully unlocked the phone.

“Can we use it to call for help?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked, trying to catch a glimpse of the device.

“Nope, looks like the only thing I can do is play this video,” Xavier answered, holding out the phone so everyone could see the screen.

He pressed play, and a series of images flipped by in such a quick succession that it was seemingly impossible for a human to make anything out.

“Jesus, I think I’m gonna have a seizure!” Ms. Rasch said, averting her eyes.

The others were clearly uncomfortable with the rapid changes, too. Mika was staring at the screen, blinking at a rapid pace as if they were imitating the screen’s sudden changes, naturally, nowhere near the same speed.

“Oi, can you slow it down a smidge? How’s anyone supposed to comprehend that jumbled mess?”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Bloody wonderful. Now that’s a right load o’ tosh. I should’ve known this bloody twat couldn’t put together a functioning puzzle.”

“Do you really think the escape room is just rendered unbeatable by such an oversight?” Ms. Miller-Berger asked.

“Ain’t that what you wanted? No person can see what that video’s about,” Oscar said, upset.

“I think they're mostly images of the corpse, the incident from last year, and newspaper articles about it,” Ms. Jung said. “Although I can’t make out the details.”

“Hold on, you can see what’s in the video?” Ms. Träger asked.

“Yes. It’s my sixth sense. It makes me more observant, not just to the presence of spirits, but everything else too.”

“Go on then, can you make sense of any of it?” Oscar asked.

“Could you play it again? I think I spotted something the first time.”

Xavier played the short clip again. He was paying even closer attention than before, trying to pick up on anything suspicious.

“Yes, I’m certain. Some of the images are just one color.”

“You’re right!” Xavier realized. Amidst the different images, mostly composed of bleak colors like tones of grey or brown, bright colors popped up every now and then.

Xavier played it again. “I think I saw green and then blue, but it’s hard to keep track after that,” he said.

“If I’m not mistaken, the complete order would be green, blue, green, red, red, yellow, blue.”

“That’s the code!” Xavier said triumphantly, getting something else from his pocket. He held out the four Uno cards. “These are the same colors. We just need to translate them into numbers.”

“Red 3, Blue 5, Yellow 6, and Green 8,” Mika said.

“So the code is 8583365,” Oscar said.

“Let’s go try it on the safe,” Ms. Jung said, walking off, followed by the others.

Friday, November 1, 8:05 pm: Top Room, Eagle’s Nest (10 minutes remaining)

A few clicks on the number pad later, the safe door was unlocked. Inside what was hopefully the final tape. On the back of the safe, it read MMMCMXIV, written in red paint.

“Is that the password for the tablet?” Ms. Jung asked.

“If not, then we have a problem. We’re cutting it very close,” Xavier said, pointing to the timer in the center of the room.

“I don’t think it’s a password, I think they’re numbers,” Mika said.

“Oh, like Roman ones? Can ya read ‘em?” Oscar asked while Mika was inserting the new tape. They simply shook their head.

“I can read them. But I think our priority should be the tape for now,” Ms. Träger said.

Mika started the newly obtained recording.

“And so this mysterious incident comes to an end. Bridget Miller Berger had been hired to spy on the studio’s newest production, hired by a studio recently acquired by Wimbley Productions. From there, things must have escalated, inevitably leading to the tragic murder I was hired to solve.”

Everyone stared at Ms. Miller-Berger, who fell to her knees, crying.

“Why would you do this?” Ms. Träger asked.

“That don’t matter right now. Let’s go over to the bloody tablet and finish this. We can’t waste time yacking on about a murderer’s motive.”

“In case you forgot, I’m the one who can read the numbers, not you, so I get to decide, and I say we listen to what my comrade has to say,” Ms. Träger said.

“Are you yanking my chain?”

“I’ve dedicated my life to finding the truth and nothing but the truth. And part of that is learning everything about the case.”

“Are you trying to get us all killed?!”

Ms. Träger ignored him and looked at her crying colleague. “Why did you do it? Just for the money?”

“Just for the money?!” Ms. Rasch repeated, clearly upset. “You seriously haven’t got it yet? We’ve told you so many times, but of course, you don’t care.”

“What do you mean?”

“You insist on solving cases with no compensation. We’re not kids anymore, this isn’t charming, this is just idiocy! Not all of us can get a job working whenever we feel like it. We can’t get by like this.”

“You have jobs on the side, don’t you?”

“Yes, but they pay horribly, because we need positions that allow us to leave at a moment’s notice. You expect us to drop everything whenever you get a new case.”

“So you’re telling me I’m the only one passionate about the fight for justice?”

“Of course, we like solving cases, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get compensated for it. Not to mention how you have no respect for our private lives. You know how often we’ve had to cancel our plans. Bridget’s boyfriend broke up with her because of it, and I have no idea how long my girlfriend and I can make this long-distance relationship work, which we only have to deal with, because you wanted us all to move across the country in the hope of getting more cases we wouldn’t be compensated for,” Ms. Rasch said angrily, putting her hand on Ms. Miller-Berger’s shoulder.

“Why wouldn’t you just quit?” Ms. Träger asked.

“Because we didn’t want to ruin our friendship with you and because we still like solving cases, just not under these circumstances. But seeing how quick you were to turn your back on us, I’m not even sure if you see us as friends, if you lose your trust in us at the flip of a dime.”

Ms. Träger got quiet, looking at her colleagues. While everyone was quiet for a second, the only audible thing was the tape that Mika was repeatedly playing, as if to hammer in the tragedy of the reveal.

“Are you done?” Oscar asked. “Listen, I get you kids are all bout the magic of friendship or whatever, but that don’t help us here. She did it, and if we don’t confirm that in the next 7 minutes, we’re dead.”

“No, I don’t believe that she did it!” Ms. Rasch said.

“Jenny, please stop. I don’t want you all to die. I have to accept my punishment.”

“So you really did it?” Xavier asked.

“It was an accident. I was looking through some files that were placed on the control panel. I must have touched something without noticing, which caused the accident to happen.”

“See, she admits it. Now let’s go!” Oscar said.

“No, I will never accuse my best friend of murder!” Ms. Rasch said.

“If you wanna act like a right daft lairy, be my guest. We only need the five of us.”

“You’ll have trouble finding four innocent people to agree with you,” Ms. Träger said.

“Are you bloody serious?!” Oscar looked around. Xavier and Ms. Jung looked uncertain, still in disbelief. Ms. Träger was standing determinedly with her colleagues, and Mika was sitting on the ground, still replaying the tape over and over again.

“Didn’t you say you swore to fight for the truth and nothing but the truth?”

“I did, and I’m doing just that. Bridget only stated what might have happened. She was still unsure. Additionally, Mr. Scent said we had to find the murderer. Even if the things are as Bridget said, she didn’t commit murder. This boils down to manslaughter if anything.”

“Rubbish! Do you really think this rich bellend cares about such a nitpick?”

“That’s not all,” Xavier said.

“What?”

“This whole setup is strange. If Mr. Bates found out that Bridget killed the actress, why was she never arrested? Why did Mr. Scent wait over a year and then hold this weird competition?”

“Those would all be valid questions if we weren’t dealing with a massive bellend. Who knows how he thinks?”

“But I can’t sense anything about Bridget that would point to her having caused the death of that poor woman,” Ms. Jung said.

“Listen, lass, I respect that you have your own way of going about things. But I don’t believe in your hocus pocus, so can you just look at the facts?”

“Okay, then, how about this? Why would he kill Mr. Bates if he was the one who solved the case?” Ms. Jung said.

“I don’t know, he’s a twat! Or what, are you trying to say that Bates is actually the murderer and Dick killed him out of revenge and then put us in this game for no reason?”

The group remained silent. Oscar looked up at the timer while the tape played in the background. 4 minutes remained.

“Shrimpy, can you shut off the sodding tape?!”

Mika looked up. “But I’ve heard it before.”

“Yes, we all have! You don’t have to keep playing it over and over again.”

“No, I don’t mean today. I’ve heard it before today.”

“Wait, what?!” Xavier said, confused.

“Yes. Well, not all of it. Only the part about how the situation escalated into a murder. It’s in an audiobook. I think it was either The murdered Diva or Distrust on the Race Track. It’s been a while since I last heard them.”

The others stared at Mika with their mouths wide agape.

“Mika, are you absolutely certain?” Ms. Rasch asked.

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Then it all makes sense. The reason all of this happened is that Mr. Scent didn’t get the desired result. So he held off on reporting Mr. Bates’ findings and asked the same of him. And he held this entire game, just as a way to get world-famous investigators to confirm what he believed to be true. He couldn’t show us the actual evidence, so he intentionally misled us and even faked a statement, just so we couldn’t come to the correct conclusion,” Ms. Träger said.

“And no matter the outcome, he would have killed us all because we would have naturally revealed what had happened here,” Xaviere added.

“What are you doing?! You have the answer, just go to the tablet and finish the game!” Mr. Scent yelled through the intercom. His microphone was peaking in the process. “I swear on my mother that I will follow the rules and let you go.”

The group ignored his plea, looking at each other for a plan.

“So, what are we going to do? We have no way out,” Ms. Rasch said.

“Maybe we can force open the elevator shaft and climb down?” Ms. Jung suggested.

“Are ya daft? Even if we didn’t fall to our deaths, the bloke would just blow us up.”

“He’ll do that no matter how we try to esc…” Xavier stopped. Loud noises echoed through the room. Creaking, scratching, banging, all culminating in a loud crash.

They stared over at the pillar, where the sounds had come from. A shadowy silhouette, clad in black, stepped out from behind it.

“Shark?!” Oscar said, surprised.

“How about we shut this shitshow down?” Alice asked, looking around the room, trying to find one of the cameras.

“What are you doing here?!” Mr. Scent yelled through the intercom.

“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re the one who invited me.”

Alice looked over to the investigators. She locked eyes with Mika. “Everyone, please follow me in a single-file line out of the building. Do not panic, this is just an exercise,” she said, trying to take her eyes off Mika.

“Stay right where you are, or I’ll detonate the bomb!”

Alice held up her left hand in the direction of a camera, holding the crowbar behind it, gesturing an extra-long middle finger. “Hey dipshit, next time don’t put the bomb and the famous inventor next to each other, it throws off the whole feng shui. Also, the bomb has already been disarmed.”

Friday, November 1, 8:15 pm: Caravan, Near Eagle’s Nest (0 minutes remaining)

“Fuck!” Mr. Scent jumped up from his chair. “What am I paying you for? How could this happen?!” he yelled at his men. “God dammit, you know how much this escape room cost me? Just the assholes designing the puzzles cost me thousands.”

Amy and Mr. Gallagher were sitting closely together against a wall, their hands tied behind their backs. The two were observing what was happening, trying not to catch the criminals’ attention.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I can’t let…” Mr. Scent glanced over at Amy.

“Give me that!” he rudely took the gun from one of his three goons and walked over to Amy.

“Hey, you in the Eagle’s Nest. You better not move, or this bitch gets it!” He aimed his gun at her and kicked her in the stomach. She let out a pained scream, loud enough for the microphone to pick it up.

The people inside the Caravan could see the investigators on one of the screens, stopping and contemplating their options.

Amy started to slowly stand up, her hands still behind her back.

“Hey, stay on the ground!” Mr. Scent said in surprise.

“Alice, you started this rescue mission, so you’d better see it through to the end. Don’t you dare quit because of me,” Amy said confidently.

“Did you not hear me? I’ll blow your brains out if you don’t sit back down!”

Amy stared deep into his eyes. “I don’t think you’ll shoot me. You don’t have what it takes.”

Mr. Scent was clearly surprised by this. He tried to keep eye contact, getting pulled into what boiled down to a high-stakes staring contest.

“You act all big, but you’re just a fucking wimp. I bet you weren’t even the one to kill Mr. Bates. You had to hire a killer because you couldn’t do it yourself.”

“You don’t know anything,” he said, his eyes starting to show his nervousness.

The henchmen were watching nervously, unsure of what to do. “Sir, the investigators are all leaving!” one of them said.

“Seems like your little hostage plan isn’t working too well. So what? Aren’t gonna get rid of me, tough guy?”

Mr. Gallagher was surprised by the sudden change in Amy’s demeanor. She had taken on attributes that seem more prominent in Alice, while that side appears mostly suppressed in Amy.

“If you had what it takes, you would have already pulled the trigger. I think you might be suffering from completion anxiety. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Many men suffer from it. Maybe that’s the reason you’re already on your 17th partner,” Amy said in a taunting tone, accompanied by a fierce look and a confident grin.

For just a second, Mr. Scent looked down at his nervously shaking hand, which was holding the gun. Uncomfortable with Amy’s stare.

This was the moment Amy had been waiting for. She lunged forward, revealing that Mr. Gallagher had managed to untie her while they were sitting next to each other.

She pinned the surprised man to the ground and wrangled the gun from his hand, quickly pressing it against his temple.

The henchman standing near Mr. Gallagher was about to take aim, as Mr. Gallagher revealed another surprise. He pulled his left arm out from behind his back. The prosthetic was still tied to it, but he’d removed it from his right arm. Over the years he’d figured out exactly how he’d have to move his body to remove the prosthetic without using his other arm.

Using the rope around his wrist, he swung the prosthetic like a nunchaku, smashing it into the henchman’s shins.

With a pained scream, he dropped his gun and nearly fell over. Before he could pick his weapon back up, Mr. Gallagher had already taken it and aimed it at him.

The last armed henchman stared nervously around, trying to think of what to do.

“How about you drop the gun?” Amy said, still in her confident tone. “Even if you manage to shoot one of us, the other will kill you and your colleagues here. Is this rich asshole really worth all that?”

The henchman still looked unsure.

“Dude, drop the weapon. If they kill this guy on our watch, the Red Eye will come for us,” another one of the goons said.

Slowly, the man put down his gun and kicked it over to Amy. Mr. Scent attempted to grab it, but Amy easily outpaced him, without even having to loosen her hold on him.

“Now, I’m sure you’re not lacking in rope. Could you please tie each other up?” Mr. Gallagher demanded.

Friday, November 1, 8:25 pm: Outside Caravan, Near Eagle’s Nest

Amy stepped outside to get some fresh air, just as the other investigators got to the caravan.

“Amy, you’re okay!” Mika said cheerfully, running up to her and giving her a big hug.

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

“That was really impressive,” Xavier said, patting her on the back.

“Thank you. But, could you…” Amy gestured for them to back off. Just as they did, Amy vomited on the sand.

“That was so terrifying,” she said, letting out a long sigh. She looked up and noticed Alice.

“You did great, Inazuma,” she said, giving her an awkward thumbs up.

“I have no idea how I did that. I’m pretty sure I just blacked out for half of that. I think at some point, I just started quoting Curse of Chucky.”

“You do have the red hair for it,” Xavier said.

“It wasn’t something he said. Someone said it to him,” Amy corrected him, slowly calming down.

“Oi, is the old codger inside?” Oscar asked Amy.

At that moment, the large man stepped outside the caravan. “Get over here, you crazy idiot.”

Before Oscar could back away or protest, Mr. Gallagher had already grabbed him to give him a hearty embrace.

“Let go! Who wants to be hugged by a stinky codger like you?” he said, sounding upset, but his face clearly showed that he was just as happy to see his partner again.

“You know, Edward would be so proud of you,” Mr. Gallagher said.

“Why? I was in the wrong. He’d probably lecture me about my shortcomings for at least three hours, had he been here.”

“Yes, you were wrong, but that isn’t the point. You were taking the initiative to save as many as you could. And your pushback was necessary to unravel the truth.”

It took Oscar a second to process this. “I guess I had a good pair of teachers,” he said, awkwardly looking away and scratching his neck.

The group started to split up, some going inside the caravan to check on the criminals, others went to get the rental car, while others stayed near the caravan to wait for the police to arrive.

Xavier walked over to the trio, who were sitting next to the caravan. “Are you three okay?” he asked.

“More or less, thanks,” Ms. Rasch said.

“I just feel awful. All of this happened because of me,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“Don’t say that. Clearly, your involvement didn’t lead to any deaths, or Mr. Scent wouldn’t have had to jump through all these hoops,” Ms. Träger said.

“I think it would be for the best if we keep the espionage thing a secret,” Xavier said. “After all, the film never ended up being completed, so your interference had not much of an effect.”

“I agree,” Ms. Träger said. “And about what you two said in there. I want to deeply apologize. I wasn’t fair to you. You’re absolutely right, this isn’t just a silly hobby but a job, and you should get compensated for it. From now on, we’re getting rid of the no payment clause. And if we’re not dealing with an emergency, you should not feel pressured into sacrificing your free time. I had no right interfering with that, and I’m sorry for the harm I’ve done.”

“Thank you,” Ms. Miller-Berger said.

“Apology accepted. I’m looking forward to solving many more cases with you two,” Ms. Rasch said.

“I’m happy to see you’re working through this,” Xavier said.

At the same time, Mika was standing by themselves, looking around for someone.

Alice slowly walked up to them, holding Lupin in her arms. She nervously cleared her throat.

“Here, I’ve been keeping an eye on him. I assume you’ll want to keep him with you again.”

“Thanks.” Mika grabbed Lupin and cradled him in their arms. The little monkey seemed just as exhausted as he had been for a while now.

The air between Mika and Alice was uncomfortable to say the least.

Finally, Mika broke the silence, looking at Lupin. “Is Lupin going to die?” they asked in a serious voice.

Alice was unsure what to answer and hesitated.

“Does that mean it’s true?”

“Yes, it seems like it,” Alice answered weakly, avoiding eye contact.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you would never lie to me?”

“I thought… It’s just that… I’m sorry.” Alice walked away, feeling guilty. Mika watched as she disappeared behind the caravan. For a second, they considered following her, but they just stayed behind until the police finally arrived.

Saturday, November 2, 10:15 am: Lobby, Crystal Palace Hotel

All the investigators were awake by now. They had slept in the rooms Mr. Scent had rented for them. He’d likely done so to make it more convincing that he had nothing to do with the bombing.

It had taken most of them a while to fall asleep, but one person took especially long. After Amy had fallen asleep, Alice was tossing and turning in her bed, eventually going for a walk that lasted into the early morning hours. As she returned to her bed, she was covered in a distinct alcoholic stench.

In the morning, the lobby was flooded with reporters who had caught wind of what had happened the evening before and who’d found out where the investigators were staying.

The investigators had gathered off to the side, observing the crowd.

“So, what now?” Amy asked, looking over to the horde of reporters.

“They won’t leave unless we address the topic,” Ms. Aoyama explained.

“I agree. It would probably be best if a few of us took the lead on this,” Mr. Gallagher said.

The group quickly agreed that the people with the most experience dealing with the press would take charge. That included Xavier, Ms. Aoyama, Mr. Gallagher, and Ms. Träger.

The others were offered to stay behind, but somehow everyone ended up stepping up to the crowd, even the ones you wouldn’t expect. Mika and Ms. Jung, the two who were clearly uncomfortable with large crowds, did their best to deal with their fear. Mika had Lupin hidden under their jacket and was holding Amy’s hand for comfort, while Ms. Jung tried her best not to stand out among the other investigators.

Alice was hiding how tired and hungover she was behind the Crimebuster.

“Hello, everyone. We have decided to address the topic at hand,” Ms. Aoyama said.

“We’ll be answering questions, but keep in mind that there are many things we can currently not disclose to the public. I hope you can respect that,” Mr. Gallagher said.

The four took turns answering questions for a while.

The reporters were mainly interested in getting information on the high-profile culprit, but there were also some other questions, less related to the actual case and more about the agencies present.

“Okay, I think we have said all that we can. We’ll take one more question, and then we will ask you to please leave, as you are disturbing the business and the guests,” Xavier said, trying to keep up a professional tone.

“Yes, you in the back,” Ms. Träger said, pointing to someone whose hand barely stood out of the crowd. The rest of their body was obscured by the other people.

“I wanted to ask you, seeing how this was a collaborative effort by some of the world’s most talented investigators, do you intend to continue working together? Could this potentially be the beginning of a collective of international detective agencies?” For a moment, Amy felt like the voice had a familiar quality to it, but she shook off the feeling right away.

“Thank you for the question,” Ms. Träger said. “It is not unthinkable, but at the moment we…”

Out of nowhere, as if they’d cast aside all of their social anxieties, Mika jumped in front of the crowd, getting everyone’s attention.

“Of course, we’ll be working together whenever we can. We’ve all dedicated ourselves to fighting for justice, so all the criminals out there better watch out, because we are the International League of Sleuths!” Mika announced.

“Did I miss something?” Oscar asked, leaning over to Amy.

“Just let them have this,” she answered, smiling.

After some final pictures had been taken, the crowd scattered, and the investigators gathered in another room. They talked some more, deciding to make the International League of Sleuths, or ILS, a real thing, at least in theory, serving more as a promise to help each other should the need arise.

Most of the investigators headed back to their hotel rooms, packing up their stuff to leave as quickly as possible, wanting to get away from the bad memories.

“So, I guess that just leaves us,” Xavier said, looking at Amy, Alice, and Mika.

Behind him, someone tried to get his attention.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you there, Min-Seo.”

“Don’t worry about it. I get that a lot.”

“So, are you staying here for another night?”

“Oh, no. But I wanted to quickly talk to you, in private.”

“Sure. You guys can go ahead,” Xavier said. The three headed back to their bedrooms.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“As you might know, I have a sixth sense and can feel the spirits around us. There is an especially powerful presence that seems very fond of you. I just wanted to tell you this, in case you’ve lost someone dear to you. That presence might be them, and they are still with you, even from beyond this realm.”

Xavier didn’t know what to say.

“I know this can be a lot to take in, but I just wanted you to know. It can be quite the tragic existence for a spirit, being able to see their loved ones, but not the other way around. I like to acknowledge their presence as a sign of respect.”

“So, does this mean that this person you’re talking about is dead?”

“There are still many uncertainties, but that is what it seems like.”

The two said their goodbyes, and Xavier slowly made his way back to his room. He had a burning feeling in his chest. Clearly, he had many conflicting feelings. He was happy to finally get news about Natsu, but obviously, the implication that he might be dead was not what he’d hoped for. It was like his entire world was falling apart around him, and he had no idea what to believe.

Saturday, November 2, 11:00 am: Xavier and Mika’s room, Crystal Palace Hotel

“It has to be somewhere in here!” Mika said, digging through their backpack. Amy was sitting on Xavier’s bed, having been kicked out by Alice, who wanted to take a nap.

“What are you looking for?”

“Ralph gave me a special sunscreen for Lupin. He needs some fresh air, but I don’t want to expose him to the sunlight like this. He has very sensitive skin.”

“Can I help you look for it?”

“No, but thanks.” Mika flung one piece of clothing after another away.

“You know you’ll have to clean all that up again, right?” Amy pointed out in a friendly tone.

“Yes, I know, but this is the best way to find the sunscreen quickly.”

“If you say so.”

Mika hurled away the pants of their Halloween costume. As they hit the ground, a jingling sound came from within them.

“What was that?” Amy asked.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Mika picked up the pants and pulled out a key ring.

“Here, look,” Mika showed it to Amy. She froze as she noticed the cute, plush turtle dangling from it.

“Where did you get that?” she asked, concerned.

“Oh, Paradox dropped it. Wait, did you know Paradox was on the train with us?”

“I’ve been told. So, are you saying these keys belong to Paradox?”

“I would assume so. I don’t know what to do with them, but maybe you do.”

“Thanks, I’ll take care of them.” Amy stared at the turtle while Mika continued looking for the sunscreen.

It was the very same turtle she’d given to Laura at Time’s Gate.

And thus we arrive at the end of another case. A very special one at that, ending in a more or less official bond between talented investigators all around the world.

But naturally, there are still many questions out there, and they will all be answered in due time.

As for the next case, which is awaiting us in the near future, I can tell you that memories can be a troubling thing. Both the bad ones and the ones we can’t access.