“I say, might I have a refill, Mrs. Wash?” Professor Plum Pudding asked, his empty glass floating up in the glow of his magic. With only a small tirade under her breath, White Wash leaned over and tilted the lemonade pitcher over his glass until it was full. She set it down on the end table and relaxed back into her wicker chair with a dramatically loud sigh.
All six of them were spread out on the mansion’s front porch, taking in the relaxing summer sunset. Behind them, trunks and steamers were piled high by the door in preparation for their departure in the morning. Another fantastic week at the Body mansion was coming to a close.
“This is nice,” Peacock Poppycock sighed, kicking her legs so that the porch swing kept rocking. Next to her, Green Mail hummed in agreement and sipped from his own beverage.
“The past week simply flew by,” Colonel H. Mustard said, stretching his wings. “I almost don’t want this night to end!”
“Well some of us can’t wait!” White Wash muttered under her breath.
Scarlet Letter rolled her neck to work out a kink. “Have you noticed how well we're getting along today? Nopony’s raised their voice…”
“Or raised a revolver!” the Colonel cut in, and everypony shared a laugh. They fell back into companionable silence until the front doors ground open and two ponies stepped out.
“That's all taken care of!” Mayor Mare said cheerfully, tapping a hoof against a scroll poking out of her important-looking saddlebags. “I’ll get this to the town hall records straight away. A pleasure talking with you as always, Home Body! I hope to see you around town more often, now. You shouldn’t spend all your time cooped up here!”
“I’ll try!” Home Body laughed, showing her down the front steps. He waved after her as she disappeared around the bend and then turned around to appraise his guests. “What’s this? Enjoying the air?”
“Do join us!” Scarlet suggested, pointing to an empty chair next to hers. Their host gratefully took the seat and White poured him a glass of lemonade. The next minute passed in relative peace.
“So… had some business to take care of?” Peacock asked, her curiosity only matched by the rest of the guests.
Green tapped his nose knowingly. “Making a few donations to the local government, eh? I understand, say no more…”
“No,” Home said with a wave of his hoof, “Nothing like that. I just had some documents to update.”
“You’re not in trouble, I hope!” Peacock said, concerned. The others all added their own mutters of support.
Home felt a tear come to his eye and hastily wiped it away. “Everything is fine, nothing to worry about. It’s just… well, you all are my best friends in the whole world!”
“Hear, hear!” Mustard cried, raising his glass high.
“And you all mean the world to me,” he paused and held his glass in his maid’s direction as her mouth popped open. “Yes, even you, Mrs. Wash. I value your company just as much!”
White closed her mouth and suppressed a smile.
“Now I know we sometimes get a little carried away with ourselves…”
“What, us?” Plum said in mock innocence and a thrill of giggles ran around the porch.
Home smiled as he continued. “But we’ve stayed close through it all. And I just wanted to make sure that whatever the future holds, you’re all taken care of. So I had the Mayor update my will.”
Silence suddenly fell on the porch as six pairs of eyes focused rather sharply on their host.
“I’ve made sure that each of you will get an equal share of my millions,” Body went on, oblivious to the change in the atmosphere. “I don’t want any of you to feel I’ve played favorites!”
“How generous…” Green said softly.
“Well, save for my faithful maid!” Body said slyly, giving her a nod. “I’ve left the whole mansion to you! On the stipulation that you continue to host parties for everypony!”
“How thoughtful…” White muttered thoughtfully.
“Of course, you’ll have to hire your own maids!” Body chuckled, pleased at his own joke. He blinked as he noticed that he was the only pony laughing. “Oh, don’t worry about me. It’s only a precaution. I'm not planning on dying for a very, very, very, very long time!”
Home Body was dead the next morning.
They all discovered the body together when they came downstairs for breakfast. Now all six of them were bunched together in the hall, staring through the open doorway into the room where the body lay sprawled. It appeared that he’d been killed the previous night, sometime before everypony had turned in to sleep.
Scarlet Letter was the first to speak, clearing her throat in a determined manner. “Well, I suppose we should call the authorities.”
“Right away!” White Wash said harshly, “I can’t wait to see which one of you ponies they arrest for this!”
“Implying that you aren’t the murderer!” Mustard retorted, poking her in the chest.
“It couldn’t have been me!” White proclaimed. “Home was my employer. Without him, I’m out of a job!”
“But into a nice fat inheritance!” Green Mail accused.
“The same applies to all of us,” Plum reminded him before any more threats could be made. “Each of us were just placed in his will, so we all have a motive.”
“So the murderer could have been any one of us,” Peacock huffed. The six of them eyed each other warily, nopony willing to be the first to make a move.
The Colonel cleared his throat. “Well, I suppose nopony is going to just admit to the crime. Did anypony set hoof in this room last night?”
Everypony shook their heads negative. It also came out that each pony had been watching the hall from the rooms they had been in, the tension causing them to pay closer attention to everypony’s movements than usual. Nor did either of the unicorns teleport last night, as all of them would have heard the pop of them appearing or disappearing in the quiet mansion.
“Well, I was in the library with Scarlet last night looking for a book to read,” Mustard went on, “Didn’t set hoof outside until I went upstairs to bed. Although I recall you left sooner than that, didn’t you?”
“Only because you kept tapping the lead pipe against the table while you read, and it was giving me a headache!” Scarlet snapped. “I went to the lounge to read in peace and quiet.”
“And you needed the wrench for that?” Mustard asked pointedly.
“As if I was the only one carrying a weapon!” Scarlet shot back. “Besides, nopony saw me leave the lounge after that, right?”
Everypony grumbled no.
“I spent the night in the kitchen with White Wash!” Green Mail put in, “I was showing her how to make a key lime meringue pie just like my Mam used to.”
“Not the whole night,” White said sourly, nervously wringing the rope in her hooves. “As soon as the pie was done you cut off a huge slice with the knife and ran out instead of helping me with the dishes!”
“I wanted to eat it while it was fresh!” Green said defensively. “And I only took it to the dining room. Nopony saw me go anywhere else, did they?”
Everypony grumbled no.
“That just leaves Peacock and I,” Plum said, “And the two of us were in the billiards room playing darts all night!”
Peacock coughed politely. “Um, I was, but you weren’t. You left after playing barely half an hour, remember?”
Plum swallowed uncomfortably. “Well, uh, the way you were holding the revolver was making me nervous. And I didn’t have any more money to lose to you at billiards. So I went to the study to… study.”
“And why did you take the candlestick with you?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.
“It was getting dark! I needed its light to see!” Plum Pudding said quickly, looking at each suspicious eye in turn. “Besides, everypony saw me go straight into the study and nowhere else, right?”
Everypony grumbled yes.
“Well, that counts us out. So it must have been either Mustard, White, or Peacock!” Green Mail shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at the three of them.
Mustard huffed in indignation. “Except everypony was watching the hall all night. Did anypony see us leave the rooms we were in at all?”
Everypony grumbled no.
Peacock huffed out an exasperated sigh. “So I guess none of us did it.”
But she was wrong. One of them had murdered their host. And only you can figure out who it is before they get away with it!
Who killed Home Body? Where? And with what?
And here's a map if you need it.
