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"Mystery at Thraves Manor"

It was a dark and stormy night, as the horse-drawn carriage rattled relentlessly through the muddy dirt track. The horses galloped onwards reluctantly, but not too slow for fear of the whip. Pb looked around the carriage at his silent companions for the journey. On his side of the carriage, was Your Honour the Judge, who was sitting to his left, and ssxpro the vicar, on the right. On the other side of the carriage, nearest the front, were two others. He knew them both well. In fact, he knew everyone here - by name at least. The two others were Wookiee the merchant banker, and Ant the gentleman farmer.

Ant broke the silence.

"It was kind of Grix to invite us all to his mansion for the weekend, wasn't it?"

"Very good of him indeed." replied ssxpro. "It's always nice to spend time with friends"

"Friends maybe, but that er-no will be there again. I can't stand him." Wookiee said.

"Oh, at least try to put your differences aside this once." ssxpro replied, in his Christian way.

"Easy for you to say" Ant said. "Since he bought that land near me, and let it go to waste, I've had no end of trouble from vermin, not to mention foxes."

"Well, Grix does associate with all sorts of strange types." YH said. "He really needs setting straight, if you know what I mean."

The group remained silent, each searching for a quick way to steer the conversation back to more jovial topics, but to no avail. Silence descended upon the carriage again. The remainder of the journey to Grix's mansion was spent listening to the rumbling of the wheels over stones, and the rhythmic beat of horse hooves.

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The carriage finally came to a halt at Grix's place. The rain had eased off, but the sky was still dark, and the clouds overhead hid any stars that might have been about. One by one, they descended from the carriage. Wookiee went to ring the bell, whilst pb approached the driver.

"How much will that be, my good man?"

"Two, pounds, ten shillings and tuppence, sir"

"Here's three pounds. Keep the change, and I bid you good evening."

"Thank 'ee kindly sir."

With a crack of the reins, the driver started up the coach again, and headed off back toward the horizon. As the noise of the hoof beats faded into the background, pb was aware of the sound of bolts being moved. He turned back to the doorway, in time to see it open. FantasyMeister the butler stood in the doorway.

"Good evening, sirs. Lord Grix has been expecting you. Please come this way."

FM showed the group inside, where they removed their damp coats, and were shown into the lounge, where Lord Grix and Lady Sniper were waiting. As they walked into the lounge, past the open door to the kitchen, pb noticed Goatboy the chef, sharpening a carving knife with a precision bordering on obsessional. He was either very keen on his job, or.... No. Keep things simple - forget about work for a while. What a curse it was, to have a detectives mind, pb thought. A detective he was though, so he would have to live with that.

They walked into the room, to commence the ritual formality of the greeting. Wookiee approached first

"Good evening Grix! How are you? And Lady Sniper! You look simply dazzling!"

Pb smiled as Grix and Sniper replied with the mandatory murmurs of appreciation. Wookiee carried a torch for Sniper, and had done for quite some time. He was bitterly jealous of Grix, pb knew that for sure.

Duke er-no was here, as they'd expected. He exchanged menacing glares with a few of the group. He had a few enemies, and he knew it. Sheepy was here too, he was Grix's eldest son, and heir to the estate.

After the greetings were over, the group sat down for small talk, and tea and biscuits. FM the butler took the guests away one at a time, to show them which rooms they were staying in.

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"This will be your room, Mr pb sir. It's normally where I stay, but as there's so many of you staying this weekend, I've been relegated to the servants quarters, with Meka the gardener, and the like."

Pb watched the mans face. He was clearly trying to hide a grimace. Pb knew that FM had been Grix's servant for many years now, yet he'd get cast aside so early. No wonder FM looked so bitter. Pb doubted he'd like Grix very much if he were in that situation, either.

"I trust you can find your own way back downstairs?"

"Yes, thanks." said pb "That will be all, thankyou."

FM turned and left, and Pb remained to look around his room. It was about time he changed for dinner, he thought. He walked down the corridor towards the bathroom, but paused when he though he heard shouting. He leant closer to the door, and caught a few sentences from the heated argument.

"No way! I can't do that! There will be trouble!"

"Grix, you selfish dog! I warn you, you'll regret this!"

It sounded like Ant was arguing with Grix, but what about?
There was a noise on the stairs, and pb decided it would be best for him to move on, so he headed into the bathroom, just catching a glimpse of Goatboy carrying a fuse box with him as he walked up the stairs. Whatever for?

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The guests were assembled for dinner. Grix was at the head of the elegant oak table, with Lady Sniper sad one side of him, and Duke er-no the other. Wookiee was sitting next to Lady Sniper, and then there was Sheepy next to him, and finally ssxpro on the end. On the near side, YH was on pb’s left, next to er-no, which left Ant on the end at this side of the table.

Pb gazed around at the magnificent dining hall, and the paintings of the ancestors of the Thraves family which lined the wall. Each ancestor, it seemed, had a larger portrait than the preceding one, presumably to satisfy some sort of egomania that ran in the family. He allowed his eyes to wander, and soon found himself staring at the beautiful chandelier in the far distant ceiling, it’s crystals glittering like a thousand stars.

"Louis XIV" said Grix, noticing pb’s interest. "My great, great, great grandfather had it brought here."

"It is wonderful, isn’t it?"

"Yes. Widely considered to be one of the most expensive around these parts." Grix replied, with a faint smile.

The polite table inevitably continued, until the starter arrived. At long last, and much to the delight of the assembled guests, it was brought through. A lamb appetiser in orange sauce. FM delicately laid it down on the table, and placed the carving knife next to ssxpro.

Suddenly, all the lights went out. Panicked voices rose, despite Grix’s insistence that everyone remained calm. pb thought he heard YH rising from his chair, as Grix told FM to fetch some candles. There was a coughing sound from Grix's direction, and an 'ouch' from Wookiee. Moments later, FM walked in, carrying a bunch of candles which illuminated the room rather well.

There was a spine chilling scream from lady Sniper.

pb turned, and was almost sick with what he saw. Grix had been stabbed with the carving knife. The handle protruded from his back, and the tip of the blade was just visible poking through the font of his blood-soaked shirt. Blood was still dripping down over the tablecloth. Sheepy was standing right behind Grix, looking horrified. Shocked mutterings emanated from the diners, with the exception of Sniper, who was still screaming, almost loud enough to wake the dead, and probably wishing she could. Wookiee was inspecting the cut he seemed to have acquired on his head, trying to stem the flow with his napkin.

There had been a murder here, and as a detective, pb was damned if he was going to leave before finding the answer to everyone's question:

Who killed Grix Thraves?

(This is where you, the reader, can guess the killer, and put forward your theories - just like a good horror story or movie. So, until the next instalment is posted, happy sleuthing!)

Either:

A). Grix killed himself.

or

B). It was an accident, he fell on the knife.


Or something.

I know, naturally.

But I'm dead, so I can't say anything.

I remember this.

I thought that I'd replied to it somewhere along the line...
Maybe not.

Whodunnit then?

VenomByte wrote:

>I'll, uh, tell you all who it was later.

Now are you the one hoping that the thread will drop off the bottom of the page? ;-)

I got the shock of my life seeing this thread popped back up to the top here.

Do you *really* want to know who did it? I can remember who it was, but I can't quite remember how everything else fitted into place now. I did have a couple of later installments lined up, but I got distracted halfway through writing the second one.

I'll, uh, tell you all who it was later.

So who did do it?

It was er-no which is not me as I am er-no!

er-no has gone for a while he is in Newquay!

:D

I think that Grix Thraves had a proposition for thw people who had assembled because he was running out of money, ans needed cash to pay off gambling debts. He couldnt pay the servants any money, hence the conversation.
I think that the goatboy put the lights out so that he could get some valuables and run away.
When the lights went out, Wookie then took the knife and went around the table, going to kill Er-no but misssed and got Grix instead, because Sheepie had got up at the same time to help YH but bumped into Wookie and he cut his arm and then the knife went into Grix

Pb heard the wrong person. he thought it was YH but the sound of someone getting up came from Sheepie, accross the table.


Theres my ideas for you to laugh at!

Hope it was me.

Knives are nice and shiny

Grix isn't dead. He infact used a fake prop knife to feign his death so that his son could take over his estate. Once unburdened by the estate management, Grix could then go on to play Skies of Arcadia on the DC without interruption.

Either that, or an irate novelist had been hiding in the dining room fireplace, waiting for a powercut.