Alright I started one, but I have to go to dinner, and I don't want the thread to die before I finish it because at this point it doesn't feel like it is going to come to a conclusion in short order (kinda hard to conclude a premise when all the protagonists are trying to stop it concluding)

Here's a START to such a story

Auric stared down at the body at his feet, doing his best to look surprised and horrified. Already his plan was falling apart. When he heard the scream and came running, he thought that Blanche had found a spider or something. Mr. Sable, wasn’t meant to be found dead until morning.

Blanche was back in the dining hall being comforted by the other girls, Rudy and Dr. Concord came and joined Auric in the adjoining breakfast nook where Sable lay bleeding. “Oh No!” Rudy exclaimed “There’s so much blood!”

“Not as much as you might expect” interrupted Dr. Concord, kneeling down to check the corpse’s pulse. “Upon initial investigation it seems to me that much of this bleeding may have occurred post-mortem” There was a pause, Concord motioned to rudy to help him turn the body, and the two men did so, at which point the Doctor began ripping open his shirt and feeling his chest.

“What are you doing?” Auric said, more out of genuine confusion than anything “And what do you mean post mortem” Dr. Concord was more than happy to reply “Post Mortem means after death. It seems to me that our illustrious host was killed, and that sometime thereafter his body fell here by the bay windows, breaking his skull and opening his skid. The incline here then provided all the motivation necessary for blood to flow downhill into the poor you see.”

“As to what I am doing” he continued “It’s purpose is twofold. I need a good sense of his temperature to determine time of death. And I now know it was recent. And I am looking for a bullet hole. Which, yes, here I’ve found one”

Meanwhile in the other room Blanche was almost ready to speak. Kelly continued to fan her while Sapphire, who had gotten her a glass of water that still stood untouched, looked on without amusement.

“I” she panted “I’ve never seen something so horrible in all my life. Poor poor Mr. Sable. He was such a nice young man, who could have done such a thing? Who would have done such a thing?”

“Done what thing?” Sapphire interjected. “Maybe he had a heart attack. What makes you so sure this was murder?”

The line was well delivered, even though when Saphire had first practiced it, someone had actually said the cue word “murder” instead of “such a thing” and to her dismay this was immediately jumped upon

“Murrrrda???” Blanch said with an even more exaggerated drawl than she usually presented “Why surely I never done said something like that!” Kelly piled on “She’s right. Nobody said ‘murder’ but you, it could’ve been an accident, or maybe he fell, we don’t know anything yet”

Rudy burst into the room. “No, It was murder alright” he paused for gasps that never actually came, as Auric and Dr Concord followed him into the dining room “And someone here did it! Nobody leaves this room until we figure out who it was. Doc found a bullet hole in Mr. Sable’s stomach. Someone shot him, and they will surely be looking to hide their guilt along with the murder weapon. But it’s not gonna happen. Not as long as we all stay here. If anyone leaves, we’ll know that they are going to hide the gun, because they are the killer”

“Well now that is preposterous!” Blanche shouted, forgetting her panic attack “He was wounded in the head, I saw it”

“Apparently that was Post Malone” Auric said “Post-mortem” corrected Concord.

“What the hell does he know?” Said Sapphire, eagerly joining Blanche’s side “Aren’t you like a Doctor of Philosophy of some shit?”

“I’m a Doctor of Kinesiology ma’am, and I’ll be the first to tell you that my preliminary investigation is anything but conclusive. But it is the best we have to work with in these circumstances. I cannot be sure when the contusions to the deceased’s head occurred, nor the precise time of death. Although common sense accords with my assessment that it seems to have happened recently, as we all saw Mr Sable alive at dinner this evening. And while I am certainly no mortician, I can tell you with some confidence that I know a bullet hole when I see one”

“Why didn’t we hear a shot then?” Kelly asked inquisitively

“I’m sure I don’t know the answer to that” replied the Doctor

“I do” said Auric after a beat. “I’ve done my fair share of hunting out in the bush, and more than a little target shooting too, and I can tell you that gunshots don’t sound nothing like gunshots. Especially not in enclosed places like this. No. The movies make it sound like they are bombs or fireworks or something. Real life guns are loud, but it’s more of a snapping sound, like a branch cracking. Most of you could have heard a shot from a room or two over and thought nothing of it.”

Rudy was the first to jump on this “It sure sounds like you know a lot about guns.”

“Yeah, I just said that” replied Auric” But if you are trying to intimate that I killed Sable, you’ll be disappointed to learn that I haven’t touched a gun for a week or so. You all know I came here from Australia, and they don’t take kindly to you bringing guns on the airplane”

“That’s not exactly true” Kelly snapped “I’ve seen people buy little safes to bring guns on airplanes. They have to get locked, and then you can unlock them again when you land”

“Well, I dunno what to tell ya. I don’t have one of those, they’re a pain in the ass, search my room if you want to”

“So what happened here?” The detective asked with a frown on his face, eyes scanning the room of people standing awkwardly around the bloody remains sprawled upon the once pristine couch.

“Uhhh, absolutely nothing, officer.” A portly man assured.

“Yes, quite a dull day.” A finely dressed lady affirmed.

“Kind of a weird question, man.” A scruffy looking fellow in an ill-fitting jacket added.

“Why are you even here?” A young woman questioned him.

“There has been a murder ma’am, and I am here to solve it.”

“Oh, there’s been no such thing.” A man in a wheelchair rolled forward, pulling a sheet from behind the couch and over it with the aid of the scruffy fellow at the couches far end. The sheet settled over the corpse, immediately staining various morbid shades of color.

“Preposterous statement, sir.” The well dressed woman scoffed.

The detective rolled his eyes and brought his radio up, “send the wagon.”

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“Quentin, please slow down.”

The empty roads only serve to enable the lad. Driving close to 100 mph, Quentin was convinced that he had committed a heinous crime. His only solution was to immediately ditch town.

“Quentin, please. They’re going to pull us over.”

Quentin’s silence is sickening. Marigold sits passenger seat, mustering up the confidence to talk better sense into him. She glances at the dashboard only to notice the speedometer further increasing in speed.

“Quentin.. please.”

There is no chance at reaching Quentin. 30 miles ahead, a sign bordering on to the next town makes an appearance. Marigold begins to think back to the events that took place only the night before. She whispers to herself:

“It was all my fault.”

The sun begins to set as Quentin turns on his headlights.

“We need gas.”

His first words spoken all night.

“Now you want to talk?”

“Marigold, don’t start.”

Marigold abides to Quentin’s rebuttal, too tired to push back. The two pull over to a nearby gas station to fuel up and grab some snacks when they encounter one of the attendants from last night’s Murder Mystery. Quentin spots the attendant first and attempts to warn Marigold.

“Wait, don’t get out of the c—-.”

Quentin is too late.

“Marigold? I uh, didn’t expect to see you here.”

An awkward silence takes place as Jade looks around suspiciously.

“Who’s in the car with you?”

Marigold takes a step back in order to cover the view of Quentin with her body.

“Jade, what are you doing so far from town on a week day?”

“I could ask you the same!”

She chuckles nervously.

The two exchange glances of mistrust before resorting to an awkward silence. Jade senses that Marigold is hiding something and proceeds to defuse the situation by heading into the gas station first.

“Well, see you inside.”

Marigold follows after hesitantly. Inside the gas station there’s a Clerk playing modern music. A song comes on that was played during the Murder Mystery. The girls look down to the side with guilt. Marigold attempts to redirect the focus to gas prices.

“Damn. We’re really in the trenches huh?”

“Tell me about it. These gas prices are absurd.”

The two exchange a glance once more. Jade looks troubled. She glances at Marigold guiltily before attempting to blurt out a confession of some sort.

“Marig————-“

“I— I’m getting a phone call! It was nice seeing you Jade! Get home safe again.”

“Wait. Don’t you need gas?”

“I—- I just remembered I had my card on me! I’ll text you?”

“Um.. yea? No problem.”

“Catch you later!”

Before Jade could respond, Marigold is out the door. She runs back into the car, successfully masking Quintin’s identity.

“We need to get the fuck out of here, now!”

“What the fuck happened in there?”

“Just drive Quentin!”

Jade looks out the window in despair. It is difficult to see all that clearly with the poorly lit station merging with the night skies. Though it is clear that Marigold did not end up getting her gas.

Flashbacks from the murder mystery begin to infiltrate Jade’s mind. She thinks back to her encounter with the Mikal, the deceased, in the kitchen pantry. She recalls splashes of blood, Mikal gasping for his life, and then everything goes blank. Jade begins to rub her arms in discomfort.

“Ma’am. Ma’am? Hello! You okay in there? Did you still want gas?”

Jade snaps out of her trance.

“Oh.”

Jade chuckles nervously.

“So sorry. Um, yes. Can I get $45 on Pump 4 please?”