Jinni spent most of the day in her room. As long as everyone knew that's where she was, she had an alibi. It was when she left . . .

After dark, she put her ear to the door. The lights were out, and everything was quiet. Dead quiet.

She slipped out her door and closed it behind her. She made her way carefully through the long hallways, lobby, and towards the emergency stairs. A sign said "Employees Only," but there was no one to enforce that rule. So she continued past several doors, labeled with their different functions. She stopped in front of the one marked "Security."
There might be a security tape with a video of the murder. I hope no one else has seen it . . .

There was a crash further on, like a box of tools falling down. Jinni looked desperately around for a place to hide.

Finn woke up to silence. The room's lights were still on, but the window revealed it to be late at night. He was an excellent sleeper, but even he could not sleep for a whole day straight. After using the restroom, he headed downstairs and into the kitchen.

He got a bag of cereal from the pantry and entered the dining room. After flipping the lights on, he went over to the table and pulled off the sheet, revealing Red's face. While eating, he examined all of the marks from the stick. He sniffed the air and then the cereal. Despite the scent of decay, they somehow smelled similar. They both smelled of almonds.

Sighing, Finn covered her and headed into the lounge. Sitting down on the cozy couch, he continued to eat while thinking over the few things he saw. The boy sighed. Tomorrow he would have to be awake longer if he wanted to figure out this hotel's mystery.

David peeked out the door of his room. Nobody. He slipped out and went down the stairs. He stopped at the door marked "security" and took a deep breath. If the killer was in there, he was going to be in for a big surprise. He eased the door open and looked inside--nobody. He closed the door behind him and went to the security cameras. David hadn't brought the matter of the cameras up during the day for fear that the killer would destroy the evidence. He typed through the computer systems, only to find that the cameras had been shut off the night of the murder. Crud. Someone knew what they were doing. He groaned and left the room.

There was a shadow on the wall from further down the hall, and he panicked. He ran in the opposite direction and crashed into a box of tools, knocking them to the floor with an astounding ruckus. Ah, man! he thought, terrified. He kept running--right into Jinni Taylor. He stumbled back, staring at her. " Jinni ?"

Alan was walking down the hall, but when he saw someone down next to the security room he knew he was too late. Sighing when he heard the crashing sound-- Someone's not a trained thief --he went down to the dining room. He lifted the tablecloth covering Red's face and bowed his head slightly. What a terrible waste of life. He frowned a little when he smelled something--off. Almonds. Perhaps she had been wearing almond perfume? Shrugging, he went into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie.

Munching on the cookie Alan went into the lounge and saw Finn. He smiled. "Hello," he said, sitting beside the boy. He figured something had robbed him of his power of speech; it couldn't hurt to be nice to him. "I see we both had the same idea."

After everyone had drifted off to their rooms, Denzil and Mrs Jackson went for their nightly conference. The previous night, they had sat in Denzil's room but on this occasion, Mrs Jackson led him through the door marked "Employees Only" and from there, into her apartment.

Despite the fact that the hotel boasted luxury accommodations, the staff quarters fell way short of that description. Mrs Jackson's apartment was tiny. The kitchen and bathroom were little more than walk-in cupboards and the combination bedroom/sitting room was also rather cramped.

She made tea and sandwiches for them both before they began up-dating each other on what they had discovered during the day.

Denzil sank into one of the armchairs, feeling wearier than he ought to. He sipped his tea and munched on his sandwich before asking the burning question that was on his mind.

"That business with the phones is just bluff, right? An excuse to get a look at their phones. You can't really get them working, can you?"

Mrs Jackson gave a sly wink. "Bit of both really. There is a way to switch networks and I'd hoped that I could patch into one of Andy's private networks, but no go. Whoever's in charge of this sick social experiment knows what they're doing. I can't even connect to the internet on my laptop".

"So, did you find out anything useful from looking at their phones?" Denzil asked, taking another sip of tea and reaching for another sandwich.

She shook her head. "Nothing related to the murder, if that's what you mean. Young David seems to be having girlfriend problems and Alan communicates with his gang members from time to time. Dick's phone is full of all sorts of junk. He should have a clear-out if you ask me. He did get a message from some relative of Jinni's, saying she'd lost her number. Looks like he tried to reply, but by that time communications must have been cut off. Greg seems to make notes of almost everything. Red only had one message, to her uncle, apparently, says she found the person she was looking for and has them cornered. Not sure what to make of that, whether it has anything to do with her getting bumped off. Missy ain't got a phone and I've yet to get a look at Finn's, Jinni's and the mystery person's."

Denzil sighed and leaned forward, elbows on knees. "I'm not convinced that a beating with a stick was the cause of death. A contributory factor, but I smelled almonds on Miz Red as well, and you know what that means".

"Cyanide?" Mrs Jackson asked, her eyebrows raising.

Denzil nodded. "Uh-huh" he said. "As for the prints, it seems like almost everyone's touched that stick at some point. It's been passed around like a baton in a relay race. Yours and mine are the only ones not on it, and there are some more prints which don't match any that I got from the plates and cutlery. Did you have a chance to check out the security video yet?"

"No go there either" she replied, fetching her laptop from the side table and starting it up. "Cameras weren't working. No big surprise. The puppet-masters have got us all at a disadvantage".

She grabbed the napkins containing Denzil's notes and began typing, adding them to the notes which she had previously made.

"While you do that, I'm gonna take a walk around" Denzil mentioned, putting down his empty mug and plate. He heaved himself up and nodded politely at her before leaving the little apartment.

It found sleeping to be quite difficult. The lights in its room remained on, and the door was locked with a chair in front of it. Atop the chair sat its blood red robes. It wondered if it even needed the robes to hide itself when everyone was studying everyone. But, if it revealed its appearance, someone might want to kill it. That thought made the poor being shudder and continue to gaze at the robes. Too much danger. Too much fear. Too much sorrow. There was simply too much. Hopefully, it would all end.

Greg crouched over his desk, the lights blazing. His notebook was spread out and another notebook sat beside it along with several loose papers. With his phone also bright and filled with typed up notes, he had the entire table covered with the past two days' events. nearly everything he heard was written down. Nearly everything he saw was recorded. Greg gritted his teeth and adjusted his notes, filling in the blanks with more facts. Nothing could slip by him. Not a single detail!

"I see we both had the same idea," Alan said. Finn glanced at him and the half eaten cookie in his hand. Finn nodded and pulled out the notepad. Compared to his notebook, the size was convenient, however he liked the ability to write pages if necessary.

'I was really hungry.' he wrote before taking another handful of cereal from the bag.

"A kid like you should be eating more. Especially now with a murderer about. Don't want to lose your strength," Alan said in a tuneful way that mimicked some song. He was almost envious of the musician.

'What song are you thinking of?' Finn wrote. Alan had to squint his eyes to read in the small amount of light that came from the lamps. When he read the note, a soft frown grew upon his face.

"Hotel California again," he admitted. Finn scribbled down the lyrics, and Alan nodded. "Despite all that is going on, this is a lovely place... I hope Red enjoyed her time here."

Finn nodded but then shook his head. He was asleep for the most of the past two days and really did not know Red. He dared scribbled down, 'Did you kill her?'

Alan read the words and sighed.
"I wonder."

Denzil had not got far in his wanderings when he saw Jinni walking along one of the corridors. Knowing that the young woman had been avoiding him, he hung back, waiting to see what she would do. Surprisingly, she approached him.

"I've been meaning to come and see you, Mr Investigator" she said.

"Alrighty then, let's talk" Denzil answered. "What do you want to tell me?"

Jinni paused before speaking. "First, I want everything I say to be off the record. No notes. Understood?"

Denzil had not expected her to be so forthright in her demands. However, talking off the record was better than not talking at all. "That's fine with me" he agreed.. "So, tell me what's on your mind. You saw something, didn't you? Something you weren't meant to see, perhaps?

Jinni shifted from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable. "I was walking around the hotel during the night of the murder. I saw Red, talked to her, even touched her club. Then she left the room. When I saw her again . . . she was dead."

"I had the feeling you'd seen something" Denzil remarked. "So what did you talk to her about? And why did you touch the stick?"

"We talked about a lot of things . . . I don't know, where we lived, relatives, our jobs, things like that. She just happened to show me her stick, and I touched it. I didn't think it could be used for murder."

Denzil was not entirely convinced by her innocent act, but he kept his thoughts to himself. "So you didn't think it at all odd that she would carry such a thing with her? I mean, how many other people do you know who routinely carry sticks? Seems to me like she knew she was in danger and brought the stick for protection. The big question is, protection from whom?"

She shrugged. A heavy silence hung in the air between them.

"Is that it?" Denzil enquired. "Nothing else?"

"I've told you . . .everything I know" she insisted. "And none of it will do you any good, because I don't have proof."

"Never mind proof for now" Denzil said. "But if you want to help, you could let Miz Jackson have a look at your phone. It might turn out to be the lucky one that works. Will you do that for me?" He gave what he hoped was a friendly smile.

She shrugged again and handed over the phone.

Back in Mrs Jackson's apartment, Denzil held up the phone triumphantly. "This is Jinni's" he told her. "I managed to persuade her to let you look at it".

"Good work, Comrade" the old woman replied with a broad grin. She took the phone from him and went through her usual procedures.

A few minutes later, she held it up to him. "No go on the network, but you might find this interesting".

He took the phone from her and read the messages.

The first was an incoming message from a B Taylor, asking "How r things going?"

Underneath was Jinni's reply "Not good. Dick didn't want to stay overnight at the hotel, now I wished I'd listened to him. The man you wanted me to give the papers to isn't here either. I'll meet him when - if - I can."

"Very interesting indeed" Denzil remarked. "So someone else is supposed to be here but hasn't showed up yet".

"Maybe they have" Mrs Jackson suggested. "Could be that person in the robes. Only because he's in disguise, she doesn't recognise him and so she doesn't realise that it's him she's supposed to be giving the papers to. I wish I could get a look at those papers. I've still got my skeleton keys, you know. I could get into her room".

"Miz J, you're a devious woman!" Denzil exclaimed. "It's a pity you blew your cover as a cleaner. You could have gotten into all the rooms easier that way and had a good look around. No-one would look twice at a hotel maid making the beds and bringing fresh towels. As things stand, it's gonna be tricky. Maybe best to wait til daytime, when everyone's up and about. Then we'll have a go at searching the rooms".

"Worth a try" she said, patting his arm and giving a mischievous grin.

Alan read the words again, sighing. Had he inadvertently killed Red? Blown her cover? Suddenly, he didn't feel so hungry anymore. He stuffed the last of the cookie in his mouth and made his way upstairs. "Good night, Finn," he called over his shoulder. He felt exhausted.

Alan went up the stairs, mulling over the events of the day. He slipped into his room, seeing the lights on in his neighbor Greg's room. There was a strange acrid smell in the air, and he gagged. There was something... Oh no.

Alan ran to Greg's room, banging on the door. "Greg!" he yelled. "Fire! Get out!"

David had run away from Jinni. It was an instinctive reaction--what if she thought he was prowling around to kill someone?--and he knew it had probably made him look super suspicious. But he couldn't help it anymore. Maybe tomorrow he would clear it up.
He saw Alan bolt out of his room and start banging on Greg's door. "Greg! Fire! Get out!"
David ran up as Alan slammed the door opened. Alan shoved him back. "Don't look," he said quickly. "Don't look!"

But David had looked--and seen Greg's burned body. "Oh my gosh," David gasped, stumbling back. Two bodies in one day. What were the odds? He almost vomited at the sight.

Alan pushed him against the wall, staring him in the eyes. "Go," he said. "Get the others, and get them downstairs. I'm going to find Denzil. Don't tell them what happened yet--let Denzil do that." David didn't move, couldn't move. "GO!"

Finally, David went to do as he was told while Alan sought out Denzil.

Jinni had gone back to her room shortly after talking with Denzil. She had tried to sound convincing, without sounding suspicious - and had surely failed. And she lost her phone in the process. Well, a lot of good it's done, anyway.

There seemed to be a commotion down the hall; she carefully opened the door and peered out.
Clouds of smoke were puffing out of one of the rooms like a smokestack. Alan was yelling, David was running madly down the hall.
"Murder! Murder! Everyone to the lobby!"

Another murder.

Dick's door opened across the hall and he tumbled out, looking sleep. "What's goin' on?" He sniffed the smoky air. "What in blazes . . ."
"Come on!" Jinni snatched his hand, and ran for the stairs. "It's best to stay together. Everyone's being picked off, one by one."