A murder most odd
The Oddity office had never looked this ridiculous.
Jamie had spent the better part of two days transforming the newsroom into a 1940s detective office. Black-and-white newspaper clippings covered the walls, desk lamps cast dramatic pools of yellow light over old typewriters, and a corkboard in the corner was covered in photographs connected by an unnecessarily large amount of red string. Fake crime-scene tape stretched across the doorway, magnifying glasses sat on every desk, and somewhere in the middle of it all, Jamie had managed to find an old rotary phone that didn’t even work.
She stood in the middle of the room wearing a trench coat and fedora, holding her camera like she was about to solve the murder of the century.
“Tell me this isn’t the coolest thing you’ve ever seen.”
Daniel stared at her.
“No.”
“You didn’t even look around.”
“I did. That’s why I said no.”
Jamie rolled her eyes. “You have no sense of wonder.”
“I have sense. That’s the difference.”
Daniel’s gaze wandered around the room again, taking in the newspaper clippings, the fake evidence board, and the photographs of various office objects Jamie had apparently decided were worthy of forensic documentation.
“Why are there forty-seven photographs of the office?”
“Atmosphere.”
Daniel shook his head and grabbed his coat from the back of a chair.
“I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I absolutely am.”
Jamie grinned and reached behind her desk.
Daniel stopped. “No.”
She held up a clear plastic garment bag. “Yes.”
“Jamie.”
“You can’t escape destiny.”
“I can, actually. I’m very good at leaving rooms.”
“I bought this specifically for you.”
“That makes it worse.”
“You’re going to love it.”
“I already hate it.”
Five minutes later, Daniel emerged from the bathroom wearing a Sherlock Holmes costume complete with a deerstalker hat, magnifying glass and an absurdly long fake pipe.
The room went silent. Julia slowly looked him up and down. “Oh, this is fucking incredible.”
Daniel pointed at Jamie. “I hate you.”
Jamie was already taking photographs. “Smile.”
“I am going to kill you.”
“Great. Very in character.”
Theo looked at the hat. “Honestly, the hat is doing most of the work.” Daniel stared at him.
The Halloween party officially began at seven. Jamie gathered everyone around the largest table and handed out envelopes containing their characters, motives, secrets and clues for the murder mystery she’d spent weeks designing.
Ollie opened his envelope, skimmed the first page, and immediately raised his hand.
“Does my character have access to the snack table?”
Jamie stared at him. “That isn’t how this works.”
“It’s a very important question.”
“Why?”
“Because if my character is supposed to be at the party, he’d probably be eating.”
“You’re not supposed to play yourself.”
Ollie looked down at the page. “That’s disappointing.”
Across the table, Lena was studying her envelope with growing concern. “Do I actually have to lie?”
“It’s a murder mystery.”
“What if I accidentally give away my secret?”
“Then you’re a terrible murderer.”
Lena frowned. “I’m not the murderer.”
Jamie smiled. “That’s exactly what the murderer would say.”
Julia opened her envelope, read it for approximately three seconds, and slipped it into her pocket.
Jamie frowned. “You’re supposed to be suspicious.”
Julia looked up. “I don’t have to try.”
Daniel leaned over to see her expression. “What did you get?”
“None of your business.”
“That’s suspicious.”
“Everything is suspicious to you because you’re wearing a hat.”
Daniel touched the brim defensively. “This is historically accurate.”
Theo glanced at the costume. “No, it isn’t.”
Daniel slowly turned toward him. “You know what? I’m starting to think you’re the murderer.”
Theo shrugged. “We haven’t even received the first clue.”
“Exactly. You’re planning ahead.”
Jamie clapped her hands. “Okay, children. Enough.”
Daniel looked offended. “I’m older than you.”
“Then act like it.”
“I am.”
“You’re wearing a fake pipe.”
“And you’re dressed like a detective from a 1940s radio drama.” Jamie smiled. “Exactly.” She stepped toward the corkboard and pulled down the first envelope.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Murder at the Oddity Office.” Ollie reached for another chip. Jamie slapped his hand away. “Do not touch the evidence.”
“It’s a Dorito.”
“Everything is evidence.”
“That’s a stupid rule.” Jamie smiled triumphantly and turned toward the group.
“Tonight, one of you is a murderer.”
“Here’s how this works. Each of you has been given a character with a background, a motive, a secret, and information that only you know.”
Jamie continued. “Throughout the night, I’ll give you clues. Some will be useful. Some will be misleading. Some will reveal information about the victim, and some will reveal information about the people in this room. You can question each other, compare stories, make accusations, form alliances, lie through your teeth, or completely screw yourselves over by revealing something you weren’t supposed to.”
“The goal is to figure out who the murderer is before the final accusation. At the end, everyone will vote for who they think did it. If the majority identifies the murderer, the investigators win.”
“And if we don’t?” Lena asked.
Jamie smiled. “The murderer wins.”
Ollie frowned.
“Do they get a prize?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the point?”
“The satisfaction of victory.”
“Can the prize be snacks?”
“We’ll discuss this later.”
Jamie walked toward the corkboard, where a single sheet of paper had been pinned beneath the photographs and red string. She carefully removed it. “Now,” she said, lowering her voice dramatically, “before we begin questioning each other, we have our first clue.” She unfolded the paper. “Clue One: At approximately 8:30 p.m., the victim was found dead in his office. The cause of death was a single stab wound to the chest.”
Lena’s eyes widened. “Oh my God.”
Jamie continued. “The murder weapon was a letter opener found on the floor beside the body.”
Daniel raised his hand. “That’s convenient.”
“I’m not finished.”
He lowered his hand. Jamie read the next line. “The letter opener belonged to the victim, but earlier that evening, several people were seen arguing with him about a missing document.”
She paused.
Then slowly looked up. “Only one person in this room knows what that document contained.”
Everyone looked around the table, and the game began.
For the next two hours, what started as a murder mystery quickly became a full-scale investigation. Jamie turned the corkboard into a mess of photographs, notes and red string while Daniel insisted that everyone was approaching the case incorrectly. Theo kept trying to establish an actual timeline, only to be interrupted every thirty seconds by someone making another accusation.
Julia’s office became the unofficial interrogation room. Nobody had asked Julia if they could use it. At one point, Jamie dragged Ollie into the office and accused him of stealing a piece of evidence.
“I didn’t steal it.”
“Then where is it?”
“I ate it.”
Julia stared at him. “You ate the evidence?”
“It was attached to a cookie.”
“That was not a cookie.”
“It looked like one.”
“It was a clue.”
“Then why was it next to the cookies?”
Julia slowly looked at Jamie. “I’m beginning to understand why this investigation is going nowhere.”
Across the newsroom, Daniel and Theo were arguing over the timeline. Meanwhile, Lena had become increasingly nervous as the night went on. She accused Daniel twice, Jamie once, Theo three times and Julia whenever she couldn’t think of anyone else. Every time someone looked at her, she immediately asked what they were looking at. Every time someone left the room, she wanted to know where they were going. At some point, Ollie whispered to Jamie, “I think Lena might actually kill someone.”
Lena overheard him. “I can hear you!”
“See?”
“I am not suspicious!”
“You sound suspicious.”
“Because everyone keeps saying I’m suspicious!”
“That’s also suspicious.”
By ten o’clock, nobody was eating anymore. Julia had threatened to lock her office. Daniel had completely forgotten to make fun of anyone’s costume because he was too busy staring at the evidence board. Jamie looked at the clock.
“Okay. Final clue.”
Everyone gathered around her. She opened the envelope. “The murderer knew the victim’s schedule and knew exactly when he would be alone. They also knew about the missing document before anyone else.”
Theo immediately started talking.
“So that eliminates—”
“Wait,” Daniel said.
Everyone stopped. He was staring at the board. Jamie looked at him.
“What?”
Daniel didn’t answer, he looked toward Lena and then back at the board. “Say that again.”
Jamie frowned. “The murderer knew the victim’s schedule and knew when he’d be alone.”
“No. The other part.” She repeated it. “They knew about the missing document before anyone else.” Daniel slowly turned toward Lena. “Earlier tonight, you said you didn’t know what the missing document was.”
Lena nodded. “I didn’t.” Daniel’s expression changed. “But you told Julia that the document was probably financial.”
Lena froze. The room went silent. Jamie looked at Julia. Julia looked at Lena.
Daniel stood up. “You couldn’t have known that.”
Lena opened her mouth, Daniel smiled. “Oh, fuck.”
Jamie looked between them. “Daniel?” He pointed toward Lena. “It’s her.”
Lena’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You knew about the document.”
“I—”
“You knew when the victim would be alone.”
“I didn’t—”
“You’ve spent the entire night asking where everyone was.” Lena stared at him. Daniel took another step toward her. “And every time we got close to figuring something out, you redirected everyone toward somebody else.”
Theo looked at the evidence board. “The accusations.”
Daniel nodded. “She wasn’t being paranoid.” He looked at Lena. “You were keeping track of everyone’s alibis.” Lena’s face fell, and then she sighed. “Fuck.”
Jamie screamed. “IT WAS YOU?”
Lena threw her hands up. “Yes!”
Ollie looked genuinely betrayed. “You lied to us.”
“That’s the game!”
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