Back at the house


    Everyone was there except for her investigation partner and his two new teammates. She had planned to talk about these crime files that day itself, so she waited until everyone was home.


    At night


    "Everyone, I have something important to tell you. Please gather in the living room," said Misty.


    "What are you, big brother?" said Trevor.


    "Yes, now shut up and come sit."


    Everyone came to the living room and sat there. "Okay, what is it, Misty?" said Trevor.


    "Well, here, you can read it yourself. Also, read it aloud," said Misty.


    "Yeah, just give it to me now," said Trevor. Trevor read the whole crime file to everyone. "Well, your Uncle is a little weird, his crime file isn''t that professional," said Trevor.


    "Well, it''s not supposed to be professional. He isn''t giving it to some judge or something. It''s just the little old me," said Misty.


    "Hmm, cute conversations, but can you tell us what the HELL is going on," said Vincent.


    "Yeah, who''s this Uncle?" said Mary.


    "Uhm, Officer Fred is this Uncle," said Misty.


    "HE IS YOUR UNCLE?!" said Ralph.


    "Not really my uncle but he was my parents'' friend, so I call him Uncle."


    "Wait, that''s not the important part here," said Alex.


    "Yeah, why didn''t you tell us that you were investigating with the police all these days?" said Cheng.


    "Yes, what if the police came here and took us in for questioning? I think everyone knows how brutal Nishille''s police are, especially you Trevor, but from what I understand, you knew what she was doing and went with it! It''s absolutely ridiculous!" said Vincent.


    "Woah, calm down, she didn''t go to the police, she went to the one person who is useful as well as trustworthy," said Trevor.


    "Yes, we get it, but you could have told us. Also with this information one of their threats would have vanished," said Alex.


    "It''s because I didn''t want the kidnapper to find out that I have connections with the police," said Misty.


    "Then why are you telling us now?" said Evelyn.


    "It''s quite visible, actually," said Cheng.


    "What?" Mary tilted her head in confusion.


    "You are so dumb, Mary," said Catherine.


    "If you are that smart, tell me what''s up, you lazy bitch," said Mary.


    "Well, from this particular information we can see that..."


    "That?"


    "That this person knows a lot about us, no they... "investigated" about us in advance."


    "Yes, they purposefully chose these 8 people because they are criminals. I thought they probably chose randoms, and everything they said that day was just a bluff, but turns out it''s not the case," said Misty.


    "Why did they choose criminals in particular?" said Mary.


    "I am not sure, there could be many possible scenarios."


    "There''s something else we are overlooking though," said Catherine.


    "Uhm yes," said Trevor.


    "The fact that 8 of us are literal criminals," said Meera.


    "We are gonna talk about it sooner, but not today. I can''t sacrifice my beauty sleep for that," said Alex.


    Mary looked downwards. "I mean I don''t think it''s that important. Most of the important points were talked about in the file. Plus it will be painful for the criminals."


    "I am sorry, Mary. Guess it''s not that important," said Alex


    The next day


    Catherine woke up late just like Everyday and sat there spacing out. "My life is going great these days. Well, except for a few things. Honestly it''s way better than the life I had with my father and..." her eyes widened. She calmed down. "Well, it''s all over now, don''t dwell into your past anymore." She did her morning routine and headed over to the living room. To her surprise, everyone was home today. "Wow, it''s a pleasant surprise."


    "Yeah, for us too," said Alex.


    "Since everyone is home today, let''s play a game," said Catherine.


    "A game?" said Misty.


    "Yes, you are not the only one allowed to give instructions, you know?"


    "Okay, so what are we playing?" said Trevor.


    "It''s a simple detective game. We are kind of private detectives at this point, so it''s the best kind of game for us," said Catherine.


    "Uhm, can you elaborate?" said Mary. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "I will ask questions to you, you know like those riddles, and you will have to answer that. To make it even more interesting, We will group into 5 groups consisting of 3 members."


    "Are you participating too?" said Misty.


    "Yeah, but one of you can create a question for my team." She saw Alex walking in the other direction. She held onto the back of his collar. "Hey, where are you going, you are in my team."


    "But....."


    "No buts," said Catherine with a scary expression.


    "Okay...."


    "Cheng, you are also in my team."


    "Tsk, bully."


    "Did you say something?"


    "I said I would love to join your team," said Cheng with a fake smile on his face.


    Misty teamed up with Meera and Vincent. Trevor with Evelyn and Vishnu. Mary with Akbar and Tony. Satoshi teamed up with Ralph and Annie.


    "Okay, Everything is set. Now, let''s begin. The first question is to Misty''s team. Mr.M was murdered in a hotel at 10 pm. There were 5 people who he had an argument with Last night. Each of them were called and asked what they were doing last night. The first person said that he barely left his room last night. The second person said that she went to sleep early yesterday. The third person said that she was putting her baby to sleep at 10 pm. The fourth person said that she was preparing for her college presentation the whole night and barely got to sleep. The fifth person said that he went to meet a client, came back to the hotel, watched some shows, and went to sleep. Now tell me who''s the culprit? You can discuss, and if somebody from the team already knows the answer you can just say that. Also, you do have to reason why that person is the culprit."


    "It''s the third person, because the police only asked about last night, but she said 10 pm which is the time he got killed," said Meera.


    "Bingo! That''s the correct answer."


    "Yay, our team got it," Vincent held his hand out, "so, where''s our price?"


    Catherine lowered Vincent''s hand. "There are no prices, you aren''t in elementary school anymore. We are playing this for fun."


    Vincent showed disinterest. "There''s no fun without a price."


    "Next is Trevor''s team. A precious jewellery was stolen from a famous museum. They tried finding fingerprints, but they couldn''t find any. There are 3 suspects, all are museum staff and they were doing their jobs when they were called. The 1st suspect is the security who was in charge of the CCTV. 2nd is the cleaner. 3rd is the receptionist. Who is the culprit?"


    "The cleaner, because there weren''t any fingerprints, and cleaners usually wear gloves," said Vishnu.


    "You are right!"


    "It''s Mary''s team''s turn now. Ms.x died on a Christmas morning. It was determined that she was poisoned. There are 3 suspects. As usual they were called and asked what they were doing at that time. The 1st suspect was the maid, she said she was cleaning the house. The 2nd suspect was her husband, he said he went for a jog and came back to find her dead. The 3rd suspect was her son, he said he was getting ready for college. Who killed her?"


    "So none of you know the answer, huh?" said Mary. They nodded.


    "Guess we have to discuss," said Akbar.


    "So you know, I don''t think it''s the son, because a child could never hurt his mother."


    "That''s not true Mary, but I still don''t think it''s him. I think it''s the maid, maids are popular for doing such stuff," said Tony.


    "That''s generalising, them, I think it''s her husband, he probably poisoned her before leaving for the run and acted like he knew nothing," said Akbar.


    They started arguing over that. "Seriously? Why don''t you think it''s true? A child''s pure love won''t allow him to kill his mother!"


    "Why are you so dumb, Mary?" said Akbar.


    "You are the dumb one, asshole!" said Mary.


    "Yo, watch your tongue, I didn''t curse you."


    "Guys, we need to answer the question," said Tony. They argued for the next 5 minutes.


    "Okay, time''s up, but since you guys were arguing I will give you two more minutes." They stopped arguing and tried to figure out the answer.


    Two minutes later


    "I think it''s the husband, because who goes on a run on a Christmas morning?!" said Akbar.


    "That''s wrong. It''s the son, he said he was getting ready for college, but it was Christmas and it''s a holiday. The fact you thought about Christmas and still couldn''t think of the fact that it''s a holiday is such a shame."


    "Next is Satoshi''s team''s turn. I will ask a moral question for a change. I got this question from my sister. A student committed suicide in a school. Whose fault is it? One, the kids who bullied him. Two, The teacher who ignored it. Three, the parents who didn''t let him change the school even after knowing about the bullying."


    Five minutes later


    "The bully I guess, because it all started with them, everything else wouldn''t have happened if he wasn''t bullied," said Satoshi.


    "You are right in a way, but that''s not the answer I want. I didn''t ask who was the bigger asshole, I just asked who was at the fault. It''s everyone''s fault, it''s the fault of the kids to bully him to the point that their victim gave up on his life, but it''s also the fault of the parents and teachers to ignore his cries for help. That''s the morally correct answer."


    "That''s just your perspective, I guess. The answer changes from person to person," said Annie.


    Catherine stiffened her eyes. "Hmm, then tell me your answers, Annie."


    "Well... I don''t really know. Also you got your answers, so.... there''s no point in... questioning me," said Annie.


    "C''mon Catherine, you know she''s shy, don''t force her," said Cheng.


    "So, next is your team''s turn, Catherine. Imagine you are stranded in a desert, there''s a rope on the left, and an oasis on the right. Tell me, how are you gonna escape the dessert?" said Trevor.


    "Let me guess, the answer should be... "stop imagining" how original!" said Catherine.


    Trevor got flustered. "You are... Right. I just wanted to get it over with!" They took that day as a day to cool off and decided to keep the investigations aside for a day.


    The next day


    Trevor left with Tony and Evelyn to investigate. They got in the car, Trevor took the driver''s seat, Tony sat on the passenger seat beside the driver''s seat, and Evelyn sat on the back seat, Trevor started the car. "So, where are we going?"


    "We are going to meet the man who was kidnapped by the second kidnapper," said Tony.


    "Well why? It doesn''t affect us," said Trevor.


    "Well... If this person is from our group, it will be dangerous for us, that''s why," said Evelyn.


    His location was saved in Car''s Map, so Trevor drove to the destination. When they reached his residence, they saw that his old and rusty house was getting a renovation. He was standing there and gazing at his house, he looked back and saw the trio standing beside the gate. He ran towards them. "What happened, why are you here?"


    Trevor looked at him with a confused expression. "Oh Trevor, don''t worry, we came here before, and our way of questioning wasn''t exactly... pleasing," said Tony.


    "Oh..." he said.


    The man stopped talking, and started thinking about something. "Hmm... I get it!"


    "What did you get?" said Evelyn.


    "Uh...uhm... I get it that you came here to question me again!" The man said.


    "Yes, and you can''t run away today," said Evelyn.


    "Yes, I was just really scared last time."


    "So tell us anything you know about them, Mr. Scott," said Evelyn.


    "This question again? I don''t know anything about them, if I knew, wouldn''t I have told the police?"


    "Yes Mr.Scott, we know that, we are not asking about the identity of the kidnapper, rather how they look, like their physique. Did they seem like a man or a woman to you. Were there more than one person. Were they cruel to you?"


    "It''s hard to tell if they were skinny or fat, or anything. When I tried to defend myself, I could feel that they filled their dress with something, so they looked like Santa Claus. I never heard that person''s voice either, so it''s hard to tell their gender. I only saw one person, I don''t know if there were other people who I didn''t see." Mr.Scott let out a big sigh. "Only thing I can say for sure is that this person is very evil, and will do anything to get their way. They love Chaos more than anything."


    "Thank you, you could have told this the other day itself instead of running away. Anyways, Let''s leave guys," said Tony.


    Tony and Trevor started walking towards the car, while Evelyn stood there still. ''An evil person?! Does that mean this 2nd kidnapper is more of a danger than us. Will they try to kill our boss to get their way? I can''t let my boss die. No, that won''t happen. In anyways, I have to find this kidnapper!'' Evelyn thought.


    "Hey Eva, what are you doing? It''s time to leave," said Tony.


    "Uhm Mr.scott, can we come here more often? I still have some questions, but since you are busy, later I guess." Evelyn walked back to Trevor and Tony and got in the car.