Town of Salem - Arsonist

Day Four

The next morning there were two more carcasses strewn out on the floor of the town square. The usual peaceful melody of the town bells now seemed to mock the gradual massacre taking place. The Mayor was murdered, so instead a volunteer, Giles, stood up to identify the bodies.

"Last night, John Bridger- our Mayor- was found dead in his home. He had been shot," he motioned to the multiple bullet holes in John's body, "by the Mafia." A couple of inconvenienced groans from the crowd, a few gasps. Giles strode over to the second body and briefly nudged it with the tip of his polished brown shoes.

"Cosmo was also killed last night." He carefully inspected their corpse and nodded. "They were stabbed by a Serial Killer." The townspeople seemed to hold their breath together. "Cosmo was our Medium." The man swiped his finger across the tip of his tongue and paged through some of the papers he had in his arms before he tucked the wills into his pockets. "Wills will be available for viewing on the back of the lynching post. That is all." He pursed his lips before returning to his space.

Giles went to nonchalantly nailing the wills of the fallen mayor and medium to the back of the large log that hung the noose. They went alongside the wills of the perished Mafioso, Lookout, and Escort.

"Excuse me, sir." A man standing isolated in the plaza spoke up assertively.

"What is it, Avery?" GIles turned his head to look at them.

"Yesterday," began the individual, "we put the Lookout to death because we suspected that they were the Arsonist. The fellow who claimed second Lookout, by process of elimination, must be the Arsonist. Either that or he is not a town role." He narrowed his eyes at Prophet, who was strangely unshaken.

"Now, now... He could've been a Lookout who witnessed another Lookout visit Giles, and rushed to conclusions," Dexter objected calmly.

"However, if you had been listening, the 'Lookout' claimed that nobody other than Rascal had visited Giles when he had been doused. That is obviously a lie made to save his behind," retorted Avery, "for it it were true, Giles wouldn't have been doused, because Rascal was the damn Lookout!"

Without flinching, Dexter slightly raised his chin as to accept the evidence, sitting down on a bench behind Prophet.

"So, the solution seems crystal-clear." Garrett crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "All who vote Prophet up to the stand, say I."

Enough people agreed for the small jittery villager to be ushered up onto the execution platform.

"So, what do you have for a defense?" Avery stalked the platform like a predator prowling its territory, his dull hazel eyes cutting directly into Prophet's.

"Wowie," they gasped. "Never thought I'd be up here this early. It's quite a more different view than I expected. Kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies, being in front of a crowd." They talked as if they were a comedian being onstage for the first time rather than a liar giving a testimony to avoid getting hung. "But, uh... I-I still stand by my claims," they stuttered.

"The claims that have been proven false? Now, now, that's no way to keep yourself away from the noose, my friend," teased the confident townie, a snarky smirk crawling onto his face. The impish glimmer from Prophet's green eyes ceased as Avery held up his hand.

"All voters who decide guilty...say I for me, please."

About five people cheered. At further inspection, the guilty voters were Murr; a shorter man with slick black hair standing next to Garrett; Avery; a woman with black hair; and Garrett himself.

"Now...any innocent votes?" Once the man spoke, it went silent. Prophet gulped as he watched Avery tally up the results.

"5 guilty, 0 innocent, 5 abstain." A murmur stirred up in the swarm of people. Firebug's feeling of guilt calmed once he saw that if he were to have voted innocent, he'd be suspicious.