Murders of the Past

Sweet Revenge

Outside the chocolate factory...

"Argo, eager as I am to accompany you to Mr. Alastor's next party, I confess a chocolate factory is a most unorthodox venue!" Isaac says as they follow the red pathway to the factory's front doors, "but Mr. Alastor himself is an unusual man. He never attends his own festivities... or least we've not met him yet. However, we have encountered two murders at two consecutive soirées, leaving us no choice but to investigate this chocolate extravaganza."

"And that is why we have come to Rochester Chocolate's factory!" Argo said, smelling the heavy aroma of chocolate, vanilla and other sweets in the air.

"I didn't realize the factory belongs to the Rochester family! The Rochesters are very prominent in Concordia..." he states nervously, "making me uneasy about infiltrating the party under false pretenses. Mr. del Lobo did an exquisite job forging these invitations for us, but if one of the Rochesters realizes-"

"Friends, Concordians, Candy Men... welcome to Rochester Chocolates! I am Rockley Rochester, owner of Rochester Chocolates!" a cheerful man in a bright outfit greets them, "prepare yourselves for a feast, for we are the music-makers. We are the dreamers of dreams... and today, my domain was chosen to host the wildest party you can imagine!"

"Mr. Rochester, thank you for having us," Isaac smiles tightly, "we are-"

"Yes, yes... the pleasure is all mine, I'm sure," he brushed them off, "now I'll take your tickets... and you may enter and behold my chocolate river!"

Rockley leads them into his factory through the grand doors. Argo and Isaac immediately found themselves in a candy fantasy land that looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale. There were red licorice trees and colourful mushrooms of various sizes, and fake grass covered the floor. Around the room were lollipops, gumdrops, cotton candy- the place was COVERED in candy as far as the eye could see. And through the land ran a chocolate river that Argo won't lie; he wondered what it would be like to swim in.

But judging by the man floating face up in the water, he might want to stick to the small cove behind his house.

A young man in a red suit was floating in the melted chocolate face up, and his cheeks were stuffed with chocolate. Honestly, he looked like a chipmunk that had stuffed its cheeks and died. Argo carefully approached the river's edge and sat beside it to drag the body to the shore using one of his crutches. As he was fishing the body out of the chocolate, Caspian quickly flew over the candy-covered land and spotted a red crystal bowl overflowing with samples on a mushroom top and some broken yellow pieces near it in the grass.

"I say, Argo, this man has taken to swimming in the Chocolate River! Horribly unsanitary!" Isaac wrinkles his nose in disgust.

Argo grabs the collar of the man's shirt once he is close enough, "this man isn't swimming; he's deceased!"

"My god, you're right!" he realized, crouching to help pull the body onto dry land, "furthermore, the man's mouth appears to be overflowing with pink-covered chocolates. No doubt the poor fellow didn't do that to himself! I dare say it appears this man was force-fed chocolate until he choked!"

"I enjoy chocolate as much as the next person, but this is excessive!" he quips, wiping his hands on the grass.

Isaac uses his handkerchief to clean the chocolate off his hands, "not only do we have another murder... but this makes the third of Mr. Alastor's parties where someone has been killed. This cannot be a coincidence! The murderer must be someone at this party right now!"

"Tarnation! Jack Goodwin's been overdoing it on the sauce again, I see!" Rockley mocks, joining them at the river's edge, "I told him there was to be NO swimming in the river!"