A/N: You all are awesome! Sorry I couldn't get this up sooner. We just got home a little while ago from NJ and the drive was frightful with all the heavy rains. I hope you all like the conclusion of this little mystery. I'm leaving to possibly continue this as a full fledged story in the future

~ Jules ~


Murder Mystery Dinner - Part Two

Twenty-Five Minutes After the Game Started:

She watched, hidden behind one of the large, Grecian columns that was artfully positioned throughout the large, decorated dining room, as the young man approached. Well, it wasn’t really a dining room... more like a ballroom if you wanted to get technical about it. Then, realizing where her thoughts had taken her, the calculating female squeezed her hands into fists, frustrated with her own wandering mind. The woman knew she had important business to take care of, and that meant she shouldn't be focusing on the semantics of the space she occupied but rather on cornering the little hacker and finishing their early discussion, so he would finally see the error of his way.

People were always telling her to mind her own business, but, luckily for her, she never listened to other people. She needed to protect those who were important to her, and she would do it at any cost. And, since she never paid much attention to unsolicited advice, she learned how to eavesdrop quite well, which meant it didn’t take much skill for her to see what had been on Spinelli’s Murder Mystery card. Ironically, his paper made the awkward computer wizard the 'killer' in tonight’s scenario, a job, no doubt, he never thought he would achieve. Not for lack of trying, that’s for sure - for the woman knew how much the young man wanted to be like Jason, but Spinelli was always failing in his attempts. His love for his roommate was ultimately going to be his downfall.

Why couldn’t he just listen to reason and realize that exposing too many secrets was not in the best interest of others? She had hoped to have cornered him in some obscure room in the Castle to finish their discussion from earlier, but that was not meant to be, so now she had to quickly convince Spinelli not to ‘spill the beans’ before the other guest who must be the 'victim' arrived.

Unfortunately, convincing Spinelli of anything quickly was not an easy feat to accomplish. Taking a deep breath, the woman knew it was now or never. It had to be done tonight, and this might be the only chance she had to get the young man alone for the rest of the evening. It was time to reveal her presence.

Stepping away from the column, she watched as the hacker finally realized he was not alone.

“Valkyrie, how nice,” he said, smiling. “I guess this would make you my 'victim.'”

Moving forward as if stalking her prey, which, really, if they had been role playing correctly according to the 'game,' it should have been the other way around, Carly didn’t smile back as she said, “sorry, Spinelli, but I’m not the 'victim' here.”

“Uh, then what... then what are you doing here? Even you wouldn’t want to interfere in tonight’s festivities.”

Continuing to slink forward, the blonde smoothed an imaginary wrinkle from her designer gown before replying, “no, you’re right. I don’t want to interfere in this little game.” Flicking her wrists in a dismissive manner, she continued to talk. “You and I have unfinished business to discuss, and it couldn’t wait. But you already know that, Spinelli.”

Backing up as she continued to move forward, Spinelli reached up towards the front pocket of his tuxedo’s jacket. “You can’t convince me not to give Stone Cold the information on this flash drive. I’m sorry, Valkyrie, but my mentor needs to know what information I discovered about his family’s company.”

“Spinelli, Jason does not need to know anything about what you have found. The purpose of your little treasure hunt was not to dig up dirt on the Quartermaines but to make sure Brenda had no more ties to Jason. Just because she married Sonny, that doesn’t mean that Jason hadn’t left her anything from their sham of a marriage a few years back. That witch can not have any more hold on my best friend. It’s bad enough she managed to marry my ex-husband... although I’m sure that won’t last for long.”

“Why do you think that the Divine One and Mister Sir will not last?”

Flicking her wrist again at his silly question, there was annoyance laced in her voice as Carly said, “Spinelli, Sonny and Brenda do not matter right now, alright? What’s important is that Jason does not learn about what you uncovered.”

“Oh, but great Valkyrie, I disagree. It is of the utmost importance for me to disclose what I have discovered to the great Stone Cold.”

Getting frustrated, Carly stamped her stiletto heel before screeching, “Spinelli! Jason does not need to know the truth about Alan’s will. How that even came up in your search is beyond me, but, just because you found out that Tracy forged his father’s will, that does not mean we have to tell anyone.”

“But... but we both know Jason has a secret progeny, and the Little Stone Cold has a right to his inheritance.”

Grabbing the young man’s lapels and shaking him hard, the blond forcefully replied, “Spinelli, let me say this one more time for you: neither Jason nor Jake need to know what’s in that will.”

“Valkyrie, what worries you so much about this information that it makes you so voracious in your attempt to keep it from Stone Cold?”

Letting go and spinning away from the hacker, Carly shook her fists at her side. “It’s that little twit Elizabeth that I’m worried about. If Jason finds out about the will, then Elizabeth finds out, and, once she does, you know that money hungry muffin is going to pounce and use this information to try and worm her way back into Jason’s life. And that, that can never happen.”

“Uh, Valkyrie. I never thought of the Maternal One as being a gold digger.”

“Oh, that’s because she has you fooled, Spinelli, by her goody-goody angel routine. Trust me on this one, Elizabeth is like a dog in heat. If she thought she had any chance of getting Jason back, she would do whatever it took to make that happened. I mean, she managed to get knocked up by him, and, no matter what either of them say, there was no way that was an accident. That slut knew exactly what she was doing.”

Moving to lightly touch her shoulder, Spinelli calmly said, “I’m sorry, but this is one time I cannot do your biding. When Stone Cold comes back, I will have to reveal all that I have found.”

Spinelli then moved towards the table that held the note on which his murder weapon was written, but, as he picked up the thin piece of paper, Carly reached for the hacker’s arm in an attempt to try and stop him once more and convince him to give her the flash drive and not tell Jason all that he had found.

“No Spinelli. You are going to give me that flash drive now. Jason must never know....” But, as she grabbed the man’s sleeve, the computer hacker must have slipped on the slick soles of his dress shoe which unceremoniously slid on the finely polished tile floor of the dining room, causing him to fall, his head harshly hitting the edge of the table before which he stood. Unable to stop his tumble, Carly watched in horror as she heard his skull loudly crack as it hit the ceramic floor.

Then, from behind her, she heard a familiar voice say, “oh my god, Carly, what have you done?”

Turning on her heels, she quickly stalked over to the new arrival, grabbing their arm. “Listen to me, Sam. If you want to hold onto Jason, and I know you do, then you will tell no one about this... and I mean no one. So help me, if you screw this up, I promise you that you'll kiss your little mob life with Jason goodbye. Now, help me figure out what we are going to do.”

Sam never offered a single protest.