---

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Location: Château de La Lune:
Skills: N/A

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Brendan was deep in thought as he absentmindedly followed Millicent away from where they'd been talking to Felix. All this new information that Brendan couldn't quite make sense of yet swirled in their mind. Others were being blackmailed? Renee's death wasn't an accident? These rich folks only had one boat? And someone else had taken it to go? They were stuck here? They were all stuck here. Unless the killing was done by the guy on the boat or someone with another way to traverse the ocean, whoever killed Renee would be stuck with them too. Was there another way for whoever killed her to have gotten off the island? Could a mermaid have done it and then escaped into the sea? Brendan hoped that was the case, the murderer was a stranger who'd immediatly left and they'd all be fine. Well, not all of them. Not Renee. Brendan's chest felt heavy again. She'd been so kind! Who would do this? Brendan wanted to know at least as much as they wanted to get away from this stupid la loo chattuo place. They looked up and stopped as Millicent did too. What were they to do next? They could try to talk to other staff, like Elenore, but would they be helpful? Maybe it would be easier to just...

Finally Millicent spoke, seemingly reading Brendan's mind as she suggested they search Renee's room. As much as Brendan wanted to do that, he was a little scared of that, honestly, but at least he didn't have to be alone. Anything in the world was better then being alone. Right?

Brendan nodded in agreement, ready to follow Millicent as she suggested they also talk to Sam and Ralph. He'd felt ready to do just about anything that was suggested to him at this point, as long as it wasn't alone.

---

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---

The staff had left the lounge. The smell of breakfast still lingered, breads, fruit, and drinks were still arrayed for anyone who desired them. Supposedly later it would all be cleaned up. In the lounge a few of the nominees were left, awkward and uncertain about how to proceed. They all knew secrets and clearly wanted to talk about it, but were nervous about talking about it. This nervousness was from a degree of paranoia. Someone knew their dark secrets. Who and how that person knew about their secrets the gathered nominees didn’t know.

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Ralph was fully confused. Thankfully Rhiannon asked one of the questions that bothered him. What in the world was Sam talking about? Also, the doctor wanted them to all go outside, around noon. Maybe if they all took a walk they could talk openly about the blackmail, and what he and Rhiannon had learned.

Ralph rubbed his forehead. Maybe that was the point. Was there more concern about if the house was safe for such conversations? He had been circumspect because of the presence of staff and he didn’t know if they were trustworthy. He imagined someone hiding in the walls and listening through paintings or something.

---

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Sam jolted slightly as Constance joined them for the briefest of moments. It seemed Tony wanted them all to go outside. While Sam could see the merit in such an idea, namely getting away from potential recording devices, the weather itself didn't exactly lend any ability or want to do so. Sam had had a similar idea, though sneaking everyone down through the basement and into the burned down church would be a bit more difficult, but he doubted the location itself was bugged. Maybe they'd even find Miguel around there, who knew? He'd wanted to meet them all in his room later, preferably after he'd spoken to Juliane in private. But at least outside in the storm he could pitch his idea about the burned down location as a hub for safety.

Sam's thoughts were snapped as it seemed Rhi had finally picked up on what he had been trying to say this whole time. He smiled at her before nodding slightly with a softly hummed ‘Mhm' to keep discreet. ”Im thinking the extra information that was received in our welcome packs might help to explain the how or why the church had burned down. Was it accident? Or malicious intent? Currently its unknown, but I think if we all work together that maybe we can figure that answer out.”

---

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Rhiannon frowned while Sam talked. The distraction was working, though, and Rhiannon started to eat their muffin while trying to decipher how everyone got something in their welcome packages that was along the same lines of information.

”Clearly someone wants us to know this information…And with Renee…It doesn’t feel like an accident. Maybe she was getting close to figuring it out?” Rhiannon zoned out for a moment, trying to recall if there was anything that Renee had mentioned while they had been together the night before. Nothing was coming to mind, but perhaps something would be jogged later.

Rhainnon continued to eat their mutilated muffin, looking around at the group of people who remained at the table in a whole new light.

---

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Constance was use to just letting her mind run through whatever show she was working on when she worked on, the moves going through her mind as she stretched each muscle group, and focused and keeping herself flexible for her ballet moves. However, that was not the case today. There was no show on her mind, only the fact that she was trapped on this little island now, and dealing with an increasingly frustrating situation, and knowing that someone knew her secret and was trying to use it against her. The only solace was knowing that she wasn't alone in this situation.

However, did that mean that they would all work together? All the blackmailer had to do was incentivize someone, right? If they all had secrets, and ones worth being blackmailed over, wouldn't it be all too easy to get a group of strangers to turn against one another with a snap of the fingers?

She didn't like that thought and stopped in her stretches as it drifted across her mind. True, she trusted Tony, but what did she truly know about him? What did he know about her? Or what did she know about Sam for that matter? She had decided to trust him, but why? Because he seemed so innocent?

Maybe she was jaded from all the years of auditions, and having to try to be the best; maybe it was her mother. She shivered as she swore she could hear her whispering into her ear. "Constance, there is no use trusting anyone but yourself. Everyone else will just let you down in the end." She ran her hands along her arms and shook the thought from her mind.

It seemed that exercising was not helping. Maybe a shower was the real ticket.

---

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Location: Château de La Lune:
Skills: N/A

---

---

Brendan waited with Millicent to see if any of the people they wanted to talk to would show up. They wanted to just skip right to searching Renee's room. The prospect of being caught was scary, but the anxiety now of waiting for those moments almost seemed worse. They found themself wanting to call Superfetch, but who knew if the call would go through? Brendan still could not remember where their phone was anyway. Half their brain was racing to make sense of things, and half of it was just trying to turn off completely. Maybe Millicent could think enough for both them of them and they could just go in autopilot and follow Millicent's lead. It was a tempting idea, but probably not good to cease thinking for oneself right now, assuming there was a non-mermaid killer still among them.

Brendan's mind kept returning to the notes. Did everyone have them? Did staff? They should have asked Felix. What were other people's notes about? Were they all the same thing as Brendan's? Was that the real reason they'd been chosen? What was Millicent's? What was Renee's?

Or did Renee not have one? Was she the note-leaver? Was that why? Brendan was so close to asking Millicent about her note. The only hesitation Brendan had was knowing that if they asked Millicent what hers was, she'd probably ask Brendan what theirs was.

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The next step in Tony's very loosely formed plan was a meeting with all of the nominees together at the same time. There was some risk of the La Lunes noticing and catching onto what was happening, but he believed it would be worth the risk, at least to do it once. A lot of the guests didn't seem likely to be as proficient at discussing secrets in such a way that wouldn't attract suspicion from any eavesdroppers. Not enough to plan out the things they needed to plan, anyway. Frankly, Tony wasn't certain if even he could be discreet enough for that. He's been around plenty of people that could effortlessly have entire conversations that sounded completely different to everyone else that didn't know all the codewords and such, but Tony never really had the need to be that good at it. Not until now. So despite the attention it might bring, one meeting where they could all speak openly would be worthwhile.

Sitting at the desk in his room, Tony checked his watch. It was just past 11 am; there was still an hour until the meeting. And there was still plenty to do in the meantime. He'd made clear that he thought the meeting should happen outside if possible - standing in an open area was the only way to be certain they were not overheard, even if it would also look the most suspicious - but he had to admit, begrudgingly, that if the weather was still as bad as it sounded, gathering in the middle of the pouring rain might well be too suspicious. Constance's proposed alternatives, while certainly far from ideal, were decent. The patio would be a perfectly normal place for them to be, and the museum would make sense too - it would be only natural for the nominees to want to explore and learn more about their hosts. The only issue was that there was every chance that any conversation in either place would be overheard. Or if too many of their guests were heading to the museum, the La Lunes may very well decide that the group should have a tour guide, which would effectively kill the meeting before it even started. But if there was to be anywhere safe enough, those were decent candidates.

Glancing at his watch again, Tony decided to go see for himself how the conditions outside were. If outside wasn't going to be an option, they would need to decide which alternative spot they were using, sooner rather than later. With that in mind, Tony headed out through the hallway, towards the ballroom stairs.

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Outside the weather seemed to consider calming down. What had been a heavy downpour most of the prior night and into the early morning hours had become a softer rain. The lake’s surface behind the house was still tumultuous from the wind.

La Lune family and staff moved around the mansion. Some of the family had long found their preferred nooks within the home and settled in for the day. Others were busy bustling about doing whatever their normal pleasures were.

The foyer was clean and Renee’s body had been put away somewhere that people wouldn’t see it by accident. Time marched on. It was getting closer to noon. Olivia and Felix entered the room. As Olivia started cleaning up the remnants of lunch, Felix turned to the stragglers in the lounge.

“Do you need anything?” He asked.

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”I don’t thank you though,” Ralph said. He had looked extremely confused prior to the staff entering the room, now his face was set into a carefully neutral smile, likely his customer service face.

He looked at Sam and Rhiannon. ”I’m thinking of getting some fresh air soon here. What about you two?” Ralph stood up. Wishing he could flee into his room, but he had a balcony room. Maybe if Sam was ready to leave the lounge he could go into his room.

---

---

Location: Château de La Lune:
Skills: N/A

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---

Brendan waited to see if the people they were waiting for would come. Should they go look for them? Should they skip right to searching Renee's room? Brendan wondered how much trouble they would get in if caught. They also wondered if there was anywhere else they could snoop through. They might as well, since they were already at it.

“Are you ready?” Brendan asked. They didn't care what they were doing, just as long as it was something.

Millicent nodded. If they were to have any hope of figuring this out the best bet was Renee’s room. Snooping through the other’s room could help but it seemed a lot of them were now turning out to be allies. "Yes, let’s go quickly. If we get caught, we could come up with something.” What that would be she did not know yet.

Brendan nodded as they started to try and figure out where Renee's room was. “Right. If we get caught, which we won't, because I'm like a panther, but if we do, we'll just improv it. I've played that yes and game. I'm great at it.”

Millicent chuckled a bit, but she had to give it to him. If anyone could pull off acting, it would be Brendan. Or Ivanna. ”Perfect. Let’s head over there.” Millicent started to make her way to the rooms, hoping the family and staff would be distracted.

Renee’s room was mostly clean. Her bed was made, as if she had never slept in it. Her luggage was the only major sign that she had been in the room. It was open on the floor with some clothing tumbled out over the edge. A makeup bag was set next to it. The desk in the room had the standard stack of papers that everyone had been greeted with. Renee’s had been disturbed as if she had looked through them.

Brendan glanced back at Millicent, as he glanced around, stepping quietly as possible towards the desk. “Where should we look?” he whispered slowly and quietly, “The desk? I got that weird blackmail note there…Did you? Where was it?”

Millicent took in the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but it was hard to know if Renee was the type of person who presented as organized and was secretly messy. ”I got mine on my nightstand, but it could be anything or anywhere. Check the trash. I’ll search her luggage and make-up bag.”

Brendan nodded as they moved to check the trash and the desk.

Among her clothing in the luggage, Millicent finds her phone. It is off. Possibly dead, or maybe after realizing the lack of signal Renee had shut it off. In the trash, Brendan finds a torn up piece of paper. It has a few colors and lines and just a couple lines of text. There is something handwritten on the paper, but without putting the pieces of the paper together it would be impossible to tell.

Brendan collected all the pieces of the paper, really searching through careful not to miss any, as they went over towards Millicent showing her. “Here's something she tore up,” he whispered, “We should try to put it back together once we're out of here.” He said.

”I have her phone. It’s either dead or off but we can see if we can find anything. Maybe put her sim card in one of our phones. There’s no signal but maybe she has some old texts or other information on there that could be useful.” Millicent stood up and made her way over to the bed, checking underneath it. Perhaps something fell or Renee put something there to hide it.

Brendan watched as Millicent searched. “Anything? Should we get out of here?”

Millicent returned, shaking her head. "Nothing. I think the phone and that paper are our best leads. Let’s get somewhere more private. We can go to my room maybe.”

Brendan nodded, ready to follow Millicent and get out of there.

Millicent led Brendan to her room, letting him in. She sat on the bed and put Renee’s phone on her nightstand. ”Let’s do the note first. It was torn up so I imagine it says something important.” She spread her blanket out to allow them a space to solve the puzzle.

Brendan gently dumped out all the paper scraps that they’d found, flipping them all to be face up as they tried to figure out how to re-assemble it. “I guess it’s just like any puzzle…start with the edge pieces?" They said as they sat gently on the bed across from Millicent.

Millicent, with the aid of Brendan, put the pieces together slowly. Edges first and then to the middle. As she worked she noticed the words forming. Test. Father. Eventually the letter was complete.

On it was a DNA test with results. There was also something added. “YOUR FATHER IS HERE”. And it was a 99.99% match.

“If this is to be believed, Renee’s father is here. That could be her secret. I don’t quite see how this connects to her death, but maybe someone here didn’t want that getting out? If Eleanor is still the prime suspect, maybe one of her children is Renee’s father and she doesn’t want it getting out and have it sully the La Lune name? Rich people have done crazier things.”

Brendan stared at the paper, “Her dad is here, on the island? Unless he was that one dude that took their one freakin’ boat…does her dad know she’s her daughter? Why’d they need a test?” Brendan shook their head, trying to concentrate. “Okay. How old was she? Who’s even old enough to be her dad? And where’s the other parent? I guess it’s not out of the realm that a crazy rich grandma would murder her normal un-rich granddaughter…I’m not caught up on the ways of crazy rich murder ettiquite…either that, or whoever found out really didn’t like the dad?” Brendan tried to think. “Or could her dad have been Felix? Someone working here? Or competing…” Brendan trailed off, overwhelmed with possibilities.

Millicent went over all of the possibilities and it was a lot. ”We can speculate all day and get nowhere. We need more evidence but this is a huge step. We should also let Sam and Ralph know what we found. And maybe the others since it seems we keep adding more people to this motley crew. Let’s see if the phone works.”

Millicent turned it on. Thankfully it was not dead, but the battery was low. And it was, of course locked. A picture of a meadow was her lockscreen. Millicent tried four random numbers but it didn’t go through. She did notice, though, that it took a fingerprint. ”So her phone works, but I won’t be able to get in unless we figure out her code and that could take a long time and we may get locked out permanently. Good news, it takes her fingerprint also. Bad news, that means we would need to go to her body.”

“Maybe it’s her birthday? It was on her test, right? We can at least try it. If that doesn’t work maybe…1234? That’s a fan favorite?” Brendan sighed, Millicent was right. Trying to guess would be hard and could get them locked out of the phone for who knows how long, though Brendan still wondered if there was any way to guess it. “I suppose we could try and see if anyone knows hacking stuff, but we should be careful who we trust …assuming the killer is human and still on the island, they might… Brendan shuddered. They looked back at the phone. “It said her birthday was 19/8…so…1…9…0…8?” They typed into the phone, hoping this would work.

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”Maybe? I'm not really sure what caused what, but that's what I'm thinking it is.” Sam replied back to Rhi. His plate was empty, his cup long since dried up, and he was still sitting here in only his boxers and socks. They were all planning on meeting outside later anyways, so it probably helped to talk all together rather than to have to recap each person individually over and over again. So with that he stood up, locking eyes with Ralph for a brief moment before turning his attention over towards Felix. ”I'm fine as well, just going to go freshen up a bit.” His response polite and cautious. He didn't know what side of this Felix stood on, and he couldn't risk being seen as suspicious. Not unless he wanted the same swift exit Renee had met.

So Sam made his way over towards his room. Closing the door behind him softly with a light ‘click’. He pressed his back against the cold wood and tilted his head back. He had to think, had to find a way to survive all this…then again, maybe it'd be better if he didn't? He didn't feel as though he had much waiting for him back home anymore, and whatever darkness had befallen earlier this week seemed to be following within the shadows of his mind. Sam propped himself off the door and went straight for his bag, grabbing a higher tech EMF than the one he'd let Ralph use. They normally reserved this equipment for off camera use anyways, checking spots ahead of time where mundane things could trigger an EMF reader to fake a reading. That way they could avoid those areas, or if it did go off they'd know why.

Sam changed a setting on the device, changing it from EMF to RF and began to walk the room. Scanning near walls, plants, his bed, anywhere he may believe a camera or microphone would be placed. Given his knowledge in the field beyond Ghost Hunting, he could probably pinpoint the best locations to grab audio undetected. AV and Sound Tech Theater nerd at your service. But he didn't find anything, which led him to believe…he was being paranoid. He let out a sigh as he made his way to the joint bathroom, device still in hand just to be safe, when as he was about to place it down on the counter, he could hear muffled talking coming from Millicent’s room. Two voices, but he couldn't make out what or who's. He'd have to ask his (bath)roommate about it later. For now he turned on the hot tap and began to take his shower.

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Constance finished up her work out and looked at herself in the mirror of her room. She knew she probably needed to clean up, but when she looked at the time she had about a half an hour before meeting up with the others. Where had the time gone, she had to wonder? She opted for a quick freshening up, and washed her face and made sure that she smelled nice and was clean of any sweat before donning a fresh set of clothing.

Thankfully rain rarely bothered her, so even if they needed to walk about in it, she was ready. Real Londoners didn't complain about the rain, unless it was truly the worst. She tugged on a pair of boots, a warm skirt, and a nice sweater, and plucked a scarf and coat out of the wardrobe. She tugged her hair up into a bun and then looked herself over once more before double checking to make sure she had her wallet and phone on her. She was feeling a bit paranoid, so she didn't want either off her person.

She went to head out of her room and downstairs, to where they were going to meet up, knowing that while she might be early, at least she would be fashionably so.

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Entering the mezzanine above the ballroom, Tony sees that Elenore is down there, sorting through decorations and placing them at bar tables around the room. She’s engrossed in the work and doesn’t give Tony more than a passing glance as he passes through the room. Getting ready for the ball tonight, if he had to guess. He makes his way down the stairs, then passes through the large doors that lead to the solarium. Inside, he sees a young woman pacing back and forth, seeming upset. She stops and looks up at him with a hopeful expression, which dies as soon as she recognizes him. She’s one of the younger La Lunes; Jeanne, if memory serves him correctly. He was hoping that nobody would be in here, but oh well. ”Oh, I didn’t think anyone would be here… are you okay?”

Jeanne shifts from one foot to the other. “I’m alright. I just was hoping you’d be Miguel. Have you seen him?” The young woman chews on her lip, the hope building back up.

Miguel? That was the nominee that left dinner early. Now that she mentions it, Tony realizes that he hasn’t seen him since then. How had he not noticed this? A troubled look forms on his face. ”No, I haven’t… I didn’t realize until now, with everything that’s been going on, but I haven’t seen him since dinner… not in the foyer, not at breakfast. Have you looked anywhere for him?”

“I checked his room, and the basement, which he said he was going to check out. I’ve also checked all the other public areas like the library and the bar. I even went to the pool.” The hope died in her eyes again. “Do you think he left the island? I don’t even know how he’d do that.” She spoke quickly and irritated, not necessarily at Tony, but at the situation.

First Renee being dead, now Miguel being missing… things just seemed to keep getting worse. ”Unless I’m misinformed, there’s only one boat and it’s being used to get help from the mainland. He’d have to be insane to try swimming that distance, especially in that storm, so I don’t see how he could’ve left…” Tony tried to come up with a reasonable explanation, but he was falling short. ”Surely he must be here somewhere. But why on earth would he be missing for this long? I don’t understand… Have you told anyone else about this?” he asked. He was trying not to jump straight to the grim possibilities, but he couldn’t see any alternative.

“No, I haven’t. I mean I was popping into rooms and stuff and I asked a few family members if they had seen him. No one has seen him since dinner though. We were supposed to meet up. We were going to go ghost hunting but he never showed up. Last night I figured it was because his stomach was bothering him, then this morning he still didn’t show up.” Her exasperation was becoming panic.

This latest situation was yet another puzzle for Tony. Everyone is apparently claiming to have not seen Miguel since dinner. Either that’s true, or someone’s lying. If it’s true, what reason would he possibly have for disappearing? The only possibilities that seemed plausible to him were grim. But if someone is lying… those possibilities were even grimmer. The one positive aspect of this news is that Jeanne seems genuinely scared for his wellbeing. It’s not impossible that she’s lying, but if she is then she’s one of the best actors he’s ever seen. Besides, that would just be way too needlessly elaborate of a scheme, and for what purpose? No, surely not. Which means that whatever is going on around here, Jeanne is not involved, and might even be able to help with unraveling these mysteries. That warranted further consideration.

Tony blinked, then realized that he should probably stop silently contemplating. ”I’ll ask the others if any of them have seen him, and if I find anything out I’ll let you know. If you find anything else, let me know; I’m sure we’d all like to help make sure he’s safe. One tragedy this weekend is already too many.”

Jeanne nodded. “Yeah, I will. Thank you.” She shifted, “Renee...” she trailed off. “Renee seemed nice. Whatever happened to her is messed up. It’s like grandpa.”

Tony started to nod in agreement, then paused in realization of what she just said. ”...What do you mean, ‘like grandpa’?”

“Vorace. Technically he is like my great grandfather. But he died by falling down the stairs.”

Tony wasn’t sure what to make of this latest development. He wouldn’t exactly be the first old man to have a bad fall down a flight of stairs, and two is not enough for a pattern… but what if? Jeanne has given him a lot to think about. ”Some dangerous stairs,” he commented dryly. ”In any case, I’ll go ask around. Let me know,” he reminded, then turned to leave. Realizing he had been too distracted to do the one thing he came here for, he glanced outside. Better than last night, but still not great for an outdoors meeting. Great. At the door, he paused. After a moment, he looked back over his shoulder at Jeanne. ”Be careful,” he warned quietly.

“You too.” Jeanne went back to her pacing.

Tony nodded, then left. Heading back upstairs, Tony tried to figure out what the hell to do now with everything he’d just learned.

---

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Perhaps it would be more thematic if a clock somewhere deeply chimed that it was noon. There was no clock, or at least none that chimed the hour. Those sorts of noises had been silenced by someone who thought them annoying or inappropriate. Nothing alerted anyone that it was noon. Some still made their way to the Foyer. There, they might decide what to do, where to go. The other nominees were spread throughout the house. Several of the nominees had found some interesting and possibly important information. The good doctor, can good be used for a man being blackmailed, had learned that this was not the first death in the house on those stairs. Millicent and Brendan had learned that Renee, too, was being blackmailed. A curious blackmail, though. How is one’s father to be used in such a way? Who was the mysterious man? Why had Renee torn up the results? Many similar questions were now being posed. All followed by the most important ones: Had Renee been killed, if so, who and why?

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In the lounge, Felix and Olivia gathered the leftover remnants of breakfast and disappeared with them. Sam had gone to get dressed. Ralph and Rih were already dressed, so they didn’t have to do that. Rih followed Ralph as he headed back down through the ballroom into the foyer. It was clean and smelled strongly of cleaning agents. He froze and wondered if Sam’s pictures would be enough. Would the police miss information that would have solved Renee’s death because no one was willing to have a dead body sitting in the foyer until they came?

Constance was in the room, but Ralph’s interaction with her had been almost negative interactions. He only thought he knew her name because of the board when they first arrived. Renee, as she looked at the board, flashed into his mind. She had been so excited to be here. Ready for an adventure, win or lose. He hadn’t even thought of the award ceremony since the night before.

”Uh, hi. I’m Ralph.” He introduced himself to her. Ralph offered his hand to shake.

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Constance looked over as a few of the others started to arrive and offered a small smile. She didn't see Sam or Tony yet, but there was still time. She was sure that the others would start filing in as the time ticked on. She had noticed that there was no big clocks chiming in the house, which seemed odd to her. An old mansion like this, and no big grandfather clocks chiming the hours? Oh well, maybe none of the La Lunes like the noise. She could understand that. Her practice room at home was sound proofed so that she could only focus on the musical pieces she was working on the routines and ballets for.

She snapped out of her thoughts and offered her hand and shook it softly with the man before her. "Constance. Sorry I didn't introduce myself last night... it's been... weird." She remembered him now. The pilot, right? She didn't have too much of an opinion about him, but well... they had been at dinner together and then at drinks. But he had seemed close to Renee so maybe he didn't have the best opinion of her. She couldn't blame him.

"So... who do you think will be next to show up?"

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Rhiannon became listless again as they followed Ralph around the La Lune mansion. They wanted to get to the bottom of Renee’s death, but what if it really was an accident? Rhiannon felt this strange sense of limbo. They didn’t know how they were supposed to be feeling in this moment. Angry wasn’t working, and depressed wasn’t much better. The staff seemed to be trying to keep everything normal, and the family didn’t even seem to notice someone was dead and another person was missing.

Rhiannon was pulled from their thoughts when they heard him speak and another voice answer. Rhiannon looked up to see Constance, the other dancer. Rhi nodded to them before looking confused.

”Show up for what?” Rhiannon asked, having forgotten any conversation or plans to meet up and talk outside with other members of this weird prize.

---

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Location: Château de La Lune:
Skills: N/A

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Brendan typed in the code staring at the screen, anxious both about what would happen if it went through and if it didn't.

The screen unlocked. Opening to the home screen of the phone. The background changed, this time instead of a meadow, it was a selfie of Renee with a man about her age. They were smiling.

Millicent eyed the screen for a moment, her eyes resting on the man with Renee. It was clear the two were close. A boyfriend? Fiance? Husband? Brother? Either way, it was a person whose life was going to be altered by what happened here.

"Nice work. I suggest checking texts first. See if she was talking to someone about coming here. Perhaps we’ll recognize a name.”

Brendan stared at the screen in shock for a moment, amazed it had worked. They looked up at Millicent and nodded. They opened her texts, hit with a slight wave of anxiety. Not that Renee would have anything all that bad, right?

There were several chat logs, many labeled with names or relationships. The most recent text log was just a number. It started with a +33.

Millicent scanned the names, but the first one was the most recent. "Check the most recent. It stands to reason she spoke to them either before she got here or when she was on her way, possibly even when she was here if she got any signal.”

Brendan nodded. Above all they were glad they weren't alone right now, looking through the phone felt wrong, but they had to know. They clicked on the unnamed text thread, also checking when the texts were sent.

The most recent text was sent mere hours ago. It was sent to Renee, a single word. Richard. There were a couple of older texts in the chat. Dating back prior to arriving on the island. The first text was from the unknown number. “I know what you’re looking for.” Renee had responded, “What?” Then there was nothing until that last text in the early hours of the morning.

Millicent read it and read it again. Richard. "Could be Renee looking for her father. We know her father is here and that could be why she came here, or at least one of the reasons. And the name Richard. Perhaps Richard is her father? Or someone who knows who it is.”

“Then that would mean Richard is here? Is anyone named Richard? Or, like, Richie or Rick or Dick or whatevers short for that? I don't think I met anyone named that…unless he's using a fake name? But would someone do that? Just use a fake name and go to an island?” Brendan looked back at the texts. “It's just those three from this person…if Richard is her dad, though…then either two separate people were trying to get in Renee's head about her dad, or… we have the blackmailers cellphone number?” Brendan had no idea which was more likely. Who else would Richard be though? Was there anyone else Renee would have been looking for?

Millicent thought back. Was there a Richard here? No one she had talked to was a Richard or anything close. It could be someone was hiding their name, but that seemed tedious at best. She closed her eyes and ran through the previous evening.

Conversations during dinner and drinks. Did anyone mention someone who was not present? She recalled who she spoke to, who she was near, whenever there was a chance to hear a conversation.

And then she remembered. It was a brief conversation, one that she paid little mind to in the moment, but now she was able to piece it together. George, during drinks, mentioned a Richard who was interested in selling the vineyard and moving to the UK.

Richard. Richard La Lune.

She gripped Brenden’s arm as she remembered. ”There is a Richard here. We haven’t spoken to him, but he’s here. He’s the patriarch. Holy shit. If we are right, Richard might be Renee’s father! And that gives motive to her murder to anyone in the La Lune family. Think of the scandal! An illegitimate child to a prominent figure. Not only that, but what about wills? Who gets the money, who gets the vineyard? And does Richard know? Christ, if this does turn into something, we just found a secret worth killing for.”

“Renee was related to the La Lunes??” Said Brendan, “Shit, do you really think they'd invite her here to kill her? But then what's with all the blackmail, why are other people getting notes? And why'd they invite so many other people to the island when they did it?” Brendan thought for a second. “Unless they didn't know until they got blackmailed too, and that's why they killed her…if even the La Lunes are being blackmailed…is Felix being blackmailed? And the other workers? We have to find out who's number this is…it must be someone still here, right? No one left except that one guy…”

Millicent thought a moment. ”It could very well be that who Renee’s father is in connection to the La Lune family and who is blackmailing the rest of us are two separate events. Perhaps one of the La Lune family members found out and invited her and invited the rest of us to cover up their intent to harm her. Or Renee was invited by someone who wanted this information out and that’s who she was talking to. Or it could be one of the other guests here who figured it out. Perhaps Renee confronted someone and that’s how she wound up dead. Either way, you are right. Figuring out who has that number should be the next thing. We should also let Sam and Ralph know about this too. But regardless, I think we uncovered a major clue.”

Brendan nodded. They hoped they could trust Sam and Ralph. “Yeah. Maybe one of them found something too. I wonder how we find out who has that number, without like, calling it from a dead lady's phone.” Said Brendan.

”Well, maybe someone good with technology can reverse engineer it somehow. Otherwise, yeah I don’t know what other option we have.” Satisfied with what they had for now, she stood up. ”Maybe we should keep the phone somewhere safe so we don’t have it with us. It would look bad it we were caught with it.”

Brendan nodded. “I am good at hiding phones, but I have been less successful at finding them later. Where's somewhere no one will look? We won't lose it if we both know where it is, right?”

”I’d suggest one of our rooms, but somewhere less obvious. After all, someone got in to leave us those messages. And somewhere the staff won’t think to check or somewhere they will use. The maids clean everything, after all.”

“Where don't maids and snoopers look? We at least have experience with the latter…Where didn't we look in Renee's room? Do you have any magician-y secret compartments you brought?” Said Brendan

”No, I didn’t come here expecting to have to perform. But in my experience, the most obvious place is often the one that gets overlooked. If Sam is on board, perhaps we can hide it in our shared bathroom. Either way, perhaps we hold on to it for now.”

Brendan nodded, “We’ll find somewhere. No one who sees it is gonna know it’s her phone anyway. Should we go find Ralph and Sam?”

Millicent nodded. Those two were the only ones she trusted fully so far outside of Brendan. Miguel was still missing. Was he connected to this? Millicent was certain the La Lune family, including staff, was somewhat responsible. Either they got them here with the intention of spilling their secrets or Renee got in the way and had to be taken out.

Brendan walked out into the foyer, waiting for Millicent to follow, so they could look for Sam and Ralph, hoping they could trust them.

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Sam supposed that, to a degree, he had always been a bit superstitious. Even before all the paranormal investigations, he had some superstitions given to him by the theatre department he worked with. Before that he had some given down by his mother, although he'd never given them much thought or even viewed them as such. Looking back at it now? As he stood there in the shower allowing the heat and steam to aid in relaxing both his muscles and mind, he could see how the supernatural had followed him all his life. He was always told that hair held memories, it held your story. You could see within a hairs strand when a person had gone through a rough patch, you could also see when they did better, but above all that, it held on to energy.

When Sam was a little kid, he could recall his mother telling him on particularly bad days to sit by the tub as she sat in it and he leaned his head back. She'd wash his hair and tell him to tell her about everything that went wrong that day, and as he did he needed to imagine it all washing away with the water. Afterwards she'd give him a single braid along the side of his hair, telling him the next day would be better as she wove the hair. To this day Sam still washed his hair out on harsh days, maybe it was because he hadn't on that night that all this still felt so stuck. Then again, maybe it was because he wasn't ready to let go of what happened, that he hadn't washed his hair. For now, he needed to do better, for Renee's sake…and for Corey's.

He stood there letting what felt like all the negative energies of the last 24 hours wash away as he whispered to himself every bad thing that had happened since arriving at the island. Once he'd finished, he stepped out and grabbed a towel to dry himself off, quickly scrunching his hair to squeeze some water out before wrapping it around his waist. Sam wiped the fog away from a portion of the bathroom mirror as he stood there, speaking the same words his mother had whenever she'd braid his hair. He wasn't as good at braiding as she was, but he figured it'd still do the job well. He put on a white short sleeved button up alongside a baseball cap and light washed jeans He made sure not to leave any wet spots on the floor this time, though he could still hear a bit of commotion coming from Mills room. Sam knocked on the bathroom door gently before speaking up. ”Hey, you ok in there?”

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Walking back to his room, Tony checked his watch again. 12:00. Lovely, he grumbled internally. This whole meeting was my idea, and now I’m late. Oh well, it couldn’t be helped, and at least the things he had learned from Jeanne were probably worth the delay. From the brief bit he had seen while in the solarium, the weather outside still wasn’t amazing. It wasn’t quite terrible either, though, and although he wasn’t sure how the others felt, he would be willing to deal with it. It would hardly be the worst setting for a secretive meeting he’s had.

Returning to his room, he went to his luggage and quickly scanned through what he’d brought on this trip. Most of it was formal wear, but as it turned out he had managed to squeeze one navy sweatshirt in. It would have to do for this excursion. He double checked his appearance in a mirror briefly, then left his room.

He started walking down the hall - hopefully everyone was already outside or about to be - when he remembered. He still hadn’t run into Millicent, and he didn’t know if anyone had, so she still didn’t know about the meeting that they were now late for. Maybe she’s in her room? But then he realized another thing: he had absolutely no idea which room was hers. Fuck. Well, he did know which room belonged to Constance, and that her bathroom-mate had been Renee. That narrowed it down at least a little bit. So, feeling a bit stupid for not paying more attention to the room assignments before, he started knocking on each unknown door, waiting a few moments to see if anyone responded, then moving on to the next, and so on.

Three doors later, and no luck yet. As he turned to head to the next door, he saw the person he believed was Ivanna walking away at the end of the hall, seemingly heading towards the foyer. Somehow, he hadn’t even noticed which room they’d come from. Stupid, he chastised himself. Paying that little attention, anyone could sneak up on you and do whatever they wanted. He should’ve been much better than that. He had to be. Shaking his head at his own carelessness, he moved on to the next door - the Turkish Rose room, it said - and knocked.

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Ralph shrugs. ”No worries. We haven’t really talked yet.” He looked at Rihannon, confused. ”For the nominee meet-up. We were all going to go on a walk together. Get some fresh air. Chat with each other.” He emphasized chat. Hoping that Rih would understand what he was getting at.

He could hear doors upstairs opening and closing, and someone knocking on doors. He glanced at his watch; it was after the agreed time. He shifted. Hoping that the others wouldn’t take too much longer, but here came the guy that Millicent had been hanging out with earlier. Ralph realized he didn’t know his name. Hopefully, that’d be something they could figure out on this walk. Who was everyone? What everyone knew. They should be able to talk about it all openly and honestly on this walk. What he really hoped, though, was that the rain had calmed down.

He opened the front door and looked out. It had not. It pattered away. From here, it didn’t look too bad, but they’d be wet after only a few moments outside, soaked through, unless they had rain gear. He looked at a door near the front door and opened it. Inside were several jackets and a couple of umbrellas. ”Perfect.” He pulled out the umbrellas and held one out for Constance or Rihanna to take.

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As Brendan left to head to the Foyer, Millicent stayed behind a bit. Things were coming together. Her suspicions from the start were validated, though that wasn't something to be happy about. After all she hadn't wanted Renee to die or for Miguel to go missing. But things had been weird since she set foot in this place.

It stood to reason that Renee's father was a member of the La Lune family, likely the patriarch. She doubted any one of the staff would be willing to murder for their employer, no matter how much they are paid (though the rich are very odd), so that meant it was a family member, either the one who did it or is helping the person (one of the invitees).

Millicent began to make her way out of the room when she heard a voice from the bathroom. It seemed Sam had made his way back in. This was not the ideal place to talk though. "I'm fine. I need to update you on some things though, so let's talk in a minute."

Not long after she heard a knock on her door. Confused, she walked over and opened it, only to be face-to-face with the good doctor. She did her best to hide her annoyance. "Hello Tony. To what do I owe this intrusion?"