The Other Detective - Book 3 (Riverdale Season 3)

The Great Escape - Part 1

"So you've confirmed? So my dad played G&G in high school, huh? Of course. It makes so much sense," Jughead said as they sat at the table that they had been using to play, everyone else having left.

"All of our parents did."

"And Mrs. Cooper's story matches up with details in the school."

"They swore each other to secrecy, but, Jug, while they were playing, one of them killed their principal back then, Felix Featherhead, either accidentally or on purpose, but he had blue lips, just like Ben and Dilton, which is why all of this has to stop."

"Betty, the fact that our parents played G&G just corroborates what I've come to believe. That we have been playing this game a lot longer than we know. And off board. Think about it. The Hot Dog rescue? What was that if not a quest?" Aminity and Betty shared a look before Betty put her head in her hands. "The Serpents, the Ghoulies, what are they if not warring tribes? Might as well call us orcs and goblins."

"Okay, you're not making any sense and you're also not listening to anything that I'm saying."

"Not to mention, you sound insane," Aminity added.

"We have nine suspects that are all real, tangible leads. One of our parents could be a murderer, so let's go investigate them."

"You're not seeing the big picture. Eldervair, the realm of Gryphons and Gargoyles, is an anagram."

"For what?"

"Riverdale," Aminity figured out and he nodded.

"The whole game is an analog for Riverdale. The game only exists in Riverdale. That's why we couldn't find it on the web."

"Okay, well, that is a weird coincidence."

"It's not a coincidence. It's all connected. It's all one big narrative that's still being written and played," he told his girlfriend

"Okay, you need to calm down, Jug. Who- Who's telling you this?"

"The game."

"And you're defending that you're not crazy?" Aminity checked.

"The more I play, the more familiar I become with Eldervair and its rules, the more I see the patterns. The more I understand him, or her, and how we'll catch the Gargoyle King. This game is their psychology. It's their imagination. It's how they view Riverdale."

"My mom was right. This game messes with your head."

"That's one way of putting it."

"No, no. This is the clarity I needed," he continued. "This is the truth. G&G's myths, they're our stories. They're our parents' stories. Simple logic, Betty. Aminity, how do you catch a game master? You become a game master yourself. That's what I'm doing and in the end, when I prove that I'm at his level, I'll come face to face with him."

"Fine. Fine," Betty stood. "As long as you're safe down here, that's one less thing for us to worry about, so you- you keep playing. Aminity and I are going to go figure this out starting with our nine suspects." They both took one last look at him before leaving the bunker.

***

"Hold up," Josie said after Betty and Aminity finished talking. "You're telling me that my mother was a rule breaking, anti apartheid activist in high school?"

"And that she and my dad were together back then?"

"I don't buy it," Reggie said after a minute. "There's no way my old man hung out and did, like, cosplay with a group of lameass nerds." Kevin and Josie looked at him with annoyance.