Saturday September 15, 1923 - 12:04am
The storm rages outside.
Driving rain carried by waves of wind beat at the windows in an arrhythmic pattern. It doesn't seem to be passing nearly as quickly as it came. The group stands around in uncomfortable relative silence, for what silence there can be in such a storm; on the whole, uncertain how to proceed.
One of the waitstaff goes behind the bar and grabs a bottle of whiskey from the top shelf. The reality of the situation has begun to sink in and everything, even the grabbing of a bottle of booze, seems to mean all that much more to each of you now. That movement, while familiar to you all to varying degrees, is eerily surreal in the aftermath of the shooting and in the midst of the loud storm. All of the sounds blend into the sounds of storm, all becoming one, and the mix puts you all on edge as to what your ears might be hearing, each sound causing a turn of the head to make sure someone isn't drawing a gun.
"Free shots for now." The waitperson breaks the uncomfortable silence with a startling phrase. "Come get one, or two, or a few," their voice also becoming one with all the other sounds and everyone is hesitant to make a move. "I know I'm having at least two on the house - right now." With that they pull out a bunch of shot glasses and uncaringly plop them on the bar, the all familiar sound of the glass on wood is comforting, somewhat. They fill one shakily and take the shot just as shakily. Then they fill it again and take another shot. Then they proceed to fill the rest of the shot glasses at indiscriminate depths for the rest of you.
As they do this those who want a shot make your way to that area of the bar and take one, and those that want a refill quietly ask for one, or two, and all of you mull around dodging each other for several minutes while you focus on your drinks and let reality sink in a bit more while you simultaneously down the alcohol that helps numb your mind to that same reality.
A few more minutes pass and a good portion of the group has loosened from their shots and you all relax, at least slightly, and with that the overall tension in the room relaxes, at least slightly. No matter how inebriated any of you were before, you're all still a good deal more sober than you were a half-hour ago.
A deep voice speaks "I hate to inform you all of this, but, we have less than a half hour until he comes back out here wanting to know what we've decided."
"He doesn't
really
expect us all to figure out which of you did this, does he?" The desperation in the voice is clear.
"I think he does." Responds another of you.
"Oh, gods! What are we going to do?!" One of you exclaims.
"Well, I guess we do what he said and try and figure out who killed...what was her name?" Another of you asks.
"Justina! My GOODNESS, pay attention! Get your wits about you! We're all going to need to do just that if we want to figure this out!" chimes in another.
"Figure
what
out? Just find out whoever here has a gun!" Suggests one of you.
"Wait, just having a gun doesn't mean you shot her!"
"I agree" - another of you in the crowd lets your voices be heard - "with both of you, really - but no one can force any of us to do anything and I'd think trying to force a killer to reveal their gun is rather foolish, so, let's make sure we all remain calm while we go about this, whatever we do, shall we? That is going to be crucial."
"Yes, agreed!" says another of you. "Now, who did this?!" Whether the person speaking now is one of the several who has spoken yet or not at this point none of you can tell, and soon another voice,
"Yes, who? Tell us! Geez, I'm sure asking just like that is going to get us an answer!" Someone says sarcastically.
"Come on! It could have been any of us, quit acting like it
couldn't
have been you."
"Oh sure!!! Like that's even what I was doing! Of course that's what
you'd
say!"
"Oh sure! And YOU kno---"
"Hey hey hey!!! Calm down! We're going to get no where fast being like that, and then who knows what the guy upstairs is going to do to us if we don't decide! He could just kill us all! So let's try and stay reasonable, shall we?"
You all stare blankly at the person who said that for a moment and then look around at each other. Almost in unison you all step towards the bar to refill for another shot.
A minute or two passes and then one of you speaks, again.
"Okay, which of us knew her? On any level, personal or professional? Let's start there, shall we?"
"Wait, what is that going to tell us?"
"We don't know unless we ask, do we? Why? Did you know her?" The starter of this portion of the conversation responds.
"Ummm..."
"I'll take that as a yes! I bet you did it! Look at the guilt on your face! Quick! Grab them and check for a gun!" Says someone else.
"Hey! Let's at least agree on it as a majority, shall we?" Objects one of you.
"Let's just tell him we refuse to this and see what happens, he's not going to kill us for
that
! Then maybe we can get out of here if we just wait it out?" The voice is desperately hopeful.
