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Turney very much wished he was part of the audience, instead of the show. But he had no such luck. And instead, he stood there at the center of the stage in a Watson costume, beside Octavius, who was in his Sherlock Holmes one, just trying to cover up his bafflement at what had gone down. The vampire had really stolen his…tunic thingy, and made him scrub down and change. How did he even have the costumes ready?! Did the crazy bat just have random costumes lying around?
He eyed the glitter cork board on a stand nearby. There wasn’t much on the side currently showing, besides a shit ton of red glitter and a large picture of the body…but he had a feeling there would be plenty of things to see once the board was flipped. Turney knew he shouldn’t be shocked that Octavius would take the time to glitter when they had a literal murderer walking around on the property, but he was.
To the right and left of the board, sitting in folding chairs, were all the performers. There were sixty of them, three rows of ten on each side. No matter if they were paranormal or human, they all looked a variation of upset and nervous. Though, one man looked particularly so, when compared to the rest—as he should.
The only other personstandingon stage was the owner of the performance company, Jagger. The male looked…tired. Then again, how could one not be when one was with so many people. Not to judge, but how did someone keep up with that many relationships? It wasn’t even that Jagger was poly. As like, whatever worked. Whatever made people happy, as long as everyone went in knowing what they were getting into. It was just the sheer number of people that was boggling Turney’s mind. Like, Jagger had listed at least fifty names when they’d asked.
Turney couldn’t imagine sleeping with more than Octavius. He was pretty sure it would fall off if he tried. Not only because of overuse, but more likely because Octavius would cut it off if he dared. Not that he was interested in anyone else. His earlier attempts at trying to get over his feelings for Octavius had proven that.
Glancing out into the crowd, he sent a weak smile Scarlett’s way as she caught his gaze with hers.
* * *
Octavius smiledout at the crowd. “My wonderful guests!” He spoke loudly, drawing their attention, their focus, their adoring eyes… “As you saw before, there was a death. You witnessed the fall, but not the truth. For the truth was that it was not an accident…it was a murder!” As he saidmurder,the lights flickered on cue, paired with the rumble of thunder. He would have added glitter, but unfortunately, there hadn’t been enough time to set it up… Much to his sadness.
The crowd gasped. His smile widened at their reaction, instantly feeling quite pleased with himself.
“This story begins as most murders do…with a relationship. Many, many, many…” Octavius cleared his throat, “Many relationships. The individual who died, Kristof Berg, like many of his other coworkers, was in a relationship with the boss and owner of the Beyond Reality Performance and Acting company, Jagger Grandor. As we were investigating, we found some pettiness, some interesting…behaviors, and some downright nasty opinions. But none of those led to this murder. What led here was instead the reality that no matter what rules are in place, or the understandings that are spoken, there is one thing that is hard to control in a relationship, and yet sometimes is easy to hide...” He paused for dramatic effect…and then waited even longer.
He heard Turney sigh behind him. “And what might that something be, Octavius?” Turney asked, voice bright and very fake. But he still fell for the bait, so whatever. Who cared if the excitement was real or not.
“Thank you for asking, my precious zombie.” He sent Turney a winning smile before facing the crowd and strutting dramatically towards the edge of the stage. “That something, everyone, happens to be…jealousy!”
There were ‘ohhs’ and ‘awws’ this time.
“Because, unlike the others, Kristof’s involvement with Jagger instilled jealousy in the heart of one of his other lovers. And that lover happens to be—” He spun, storming forward. When he was feet away, he swung his arm out and pointed his finger right in front of Darien Flake’s face. “—you!”
“ME?!” Darien cried, eyes widening as he leaned back away from Octavius. “T-that’s not true! I didn’t murder anyone!”
The crowd gasped. It was so easy to hear his lies. At least, it was to Octavius. It was probably easy for most of the paranormals in the room to pick up on too. Which is probably why the crowd gasped.
Many of Darien’s fellow coworkers scooted their chairs back away, some of their expressions turning fearful, others angry.
“How could you?!” Jagger roared.
Octavius spun and faced the male who was storming forward, and cried out, “Wait! Before he no doubt confesses and rants about why, let me reveal how we discovered his crimes.”
The wind seemed to seep out of Jagger’s sails at that, and he nodded as he backed up, expression grim.
Smiling, he walked over and spun the board. Revealing a lot of glitter, extra pictures of the body, pictures of the two chandeliers, up close pictures of the broken lines, and more. The largest picture was of the second chandelier that had fallen.
“Turney and I had taken a breather, to explore our more carnal side.” Octavius giggled. “We fucked like bunnies.”
Turney gasped in horror. “THEY DON’T NEED TO KNOW THAT!”
The crowd laughed—even Jagger was smirking.
“Anyway, in the afterglow, as we were lying—”
“AGAIN! Too much unnecessary information!” Turney snapped.
He tossed a glare over his shoulder in Turney’s direction. “Would you stop interrupting! I’m trying to reveal what happened!”
Turney rolled his eyes and waved him on. Gosh, his boyfriend could be so dramatic sometimes!
“As I was saying, before I was RUDELY interrupted. We were lying there in the afterglow, when suddenly, the chandelier from above began to descend! Thanks to my quick thinking, I rolled us out of the way, right before the chandelier crashed down in the very spot where we had just been!” He raised his voice for effect, lights flickering again as another round of thunder went off.
The group gasped, as they should. Ahh—his friends and family were so cooperative!
