Sixteen Minutes to Midnight

Chapter 4

"So are you suggesting that I was responsible for the death of Master Gerald?" inquired Dmitri.

"Hey, the three of you might have all been in cahoots," I said, pointing to the black singed corpse-thing that sat slumped against the back of the fireplace, resting atop a pile of charred logs. "Maybe you were all in it from the start. Maybe. Not definitely, but there's always a 'maybe'."

"Well, you do have good reason to assume it is us, so as much as I hate to admit it, we could technically be 'guilty', if you will. But we should look at it from another perspective before we hastily make judgment."

"How so?" I asked.

"Perhaps someone stole the key from us."

"How many pairs of keys are there?" asked Gilbert.

"There is one pair for each of us - a master set that allows us to open all the rooms, including the dumbwaiter, except for the master suite. Master Gerald has his very own set of keys, the one that grants full access to every room in the mansion. Only he is in possession of it...speaking of which, where is it?"

"Anybody want to volunteer to handle the burnt body?" I asked.

Wilbur took out a cigarette and lit it. "Sorry," he said, "I keep telling myself I'll break the habit but sometimes, you know, you just have to light one up." There was a puff of smoke as he exhaled, followed by a thin wispy trail that skirted across the room.

Nobody volunteered, so Dmitri took it as his responsibility (he still served for Gerald, however posthumous it may be). He put on some gloves and patted down the body, but the keys were nowhere to be found. "Perhaps the keys were burnt in the fire?" I said.

"No, that would be a stupid thing to do. The keys must be too valuable to simply burn away. Besides, if the murderer had them," said Renault, "he would have full access to the house. And you know what you said about the 16 minutes thing, eh."

"Please don't remind me," piped in Donna. Darren was, meanwhile, prodding the dumbwaiter and inspecting its interior along with Sandra. They were playing detective, I guessed, so I let them have their fun, if you could call it that, while I did the talking.

"So the murderer could have taken the keys from Gerald, and then burnt the body? That's...a smart move, yeah."

"We cannot rule out the possibility that the keys may have burnt, though. Perhaps it is best to keep both options open," added Gilbert.

"And what of the boatman?" asked Anita, suddenly. Oh yeah, the boatman. Alonzo had reported him to be missing, according to what Dmitri had told us. "Why don't we all go down to the docks?" asked Naomi, "we might be able to find out something."

We all agreed, although some of us stayed back. In total, Alonzo and I, along with Dmitri, Naomi, Anita, Renault, Gilbert, Shannon, and Darren went with us. As for Sandra, Jeanne, Wilbur, Glen and Donna, they stayed back, because apparently the walk was too far and we could always just tell them what we saw. I sighed. You just can't get some people to do some things. Ultimately, I couldn't force them and we all made up our own choices.

The walk was brisk, Alonzo talked to me about his trip down here at the early hours of the morning, carrying his breakfast for the boatman, Mr. Carlyle, only to discover his cabin looked ransacked and he wasn't there. That was the general gist of the events that had transpired, so when we got there, I immediately began speculating and forming my own theories about what COULD have possibly happened.

"I think that that the murderer disposed the body in the sea," said Shannon, clutching Gilbert's hand tightly, "it seems like the easiest thing to do."