Rule 35 - Domino
Everyone is a suspect.
"Oh!" I froze at the door, Koi bumped into my back as I looked around the room. Taped on all the walls were photographs. "What's this?" My eyes found Swayze, standing with his hands in his pockets, looking bashful.
"Johnny let me take a box back with us. I thought if we can't take you on the road, why not bring the road to you?"
I went to the wall, pulling a picture loose. This was from that old toy convention. There was a beautiful woman, a bit older than me. Her name was Tanis. She smiled in this photo as I snapped a picture of her with her rare Talking Teddy Bears. She was a celebrity to the other collectors for how large her collection was and the pristine condition she kept them in. I loved how proud she was. I smiled down at the memory, and it wasn't until a single tear slid down my cheek that I realized how strong an emotion this single photo had elicited.
I looked up and around. All of these photos were my memories. I'd never gotten to see them all laid out like this. And this was just a small fraction of everything I'd captured during my time on the road. I spun around and found Swayze behind me. I threw my arms around him and kissed his chest.
"Thank you so much!"
Koi cleared his throat. "I hate to break this up, but we gotta go. I don't want to hear it from Marisol or Mattias if we miss that stupid meeting."
I pulled away from Swayze and nodded. He took my hand and I looked at it. I'd spent all day walking hand-in-hand with Koi at the park. We didn't do much, other than walk around and try not to lose our emotions, but still, people saw us. If I went out holding Swayze's hand now, people would know I was with both of them. Could I do that?
"We don't have to do this if you don't want to," Swayze said, loosening his grip. My concern must have been clear on my face. I shook my head and tightened my grip.
"No, I want to. It'll be awkward otherwise. Let's just rip the Band-Aid off."
I walked with both men, holding Swayze's hand, to the beach. There was a large bonfire going and all the people from the party were there, but I froze when I saw two other guests.
Monica and Carlos. My uncle and former Stepmother sat beside each other, holding hands, and wearing the same matching grim expressions. My heart hammered so hard in my chest that it hurt. Swayze squeezed my hand and bent down to whisper in my ear.
"Are you going to be okay, or should we leave?"
I steadied my breathing. "No, I'm fine. Let's sit."
Chairs were added to the circle and I sat between Koi and Swayze and across from Fabian and Mattias. Everyone else sat around us, chatting nervously. Most of them looked like they hadn't slept in days, or had been crying that long.
"Hi, everyone!" Mattias stood to address the circle. "So, we managed to cover our asses. Ruth's family and the media will never know a murder occurred. I know, everyone is taking this difficultly. Understandably so. We don't know who did it, but we do know that everyone in this circle has been cleared. If you tryto tell someone her death wasn't from the roller coaster, you will be taking the blame for her death."
Chitra bolted up. "What do you mean? You have no proof, you just said!"
"No, but we'll make some up," Marisol said from her seat. She looked almost bored to be here. "You don't think I could frame any one of you for murder?"
The circle grew silent.
"Now,” Mattias clapped, bringing the attention back to him. "We have to keep our cool, okay? No more sobbing and talking about Ruth. No more coming to find me to ask questions. I have no answers. If we figure out who did this, we'll handle it, okay? But everyone trying to play detective is going to make things look super suspicious and we can't have that. Got it?"
Mumbles of yeses sounded throughout the circle.
"Why are they here?" Beth pointed to my stepmother and uncle.
Uncle Carlos stood and cleared his throat.
"Yes. While we've squashed the death itself, we can't forget that someone did that to her. Someone who may still be here on the Risky property. We don't know who they are, where they are, or why they did what they did. We want everyone to be safe out there. We know the camp is normally a party palace, but until we find who did this, don't wander off."
Monica stood. "That means no woods, no after hours at the park, no golf carts after dark. None of it. And don't go anywhere alone."
"You came all the way down from your mansion on the hill to lay down some stupid rules?"All heads swiveled to Grace, who snickered at the older adults. "Seems a little pointless. If someone wants to kill us, they’ll just do it."
Gasps rang out, including one from my own throat. What was she doing? Fabian shot up and stepped in front of Uncle Carlos and his mother.
"It's fine. They just came because they wanted to give everyone a gift for their silence on this matter."
"A gift?" Mitchell slid his tinted glasses down his nose.
