An Evening with Mr. Boddy: chapter 3

Mr. Boddy looked very satisfied and pleased with himself, not even concerned with the others clamoring about him. Peach looked at Lavender worried. Why would he want them there, unless Slugworth was after them both. Mustard and Plum tried to fight with Mr. Boddy while Mr. Green wanted to break it up, but he was pushed away. Mrs. White then stood in and kneed the man in his 'goody goods'. Peach helped Mr. Green up and then looked at Mr Boddy.

"Was that necessary, Mrs. White?" Green glanced at the woman in black.

Mr. Boddy glanced at Peach. "You're the one old Wonka's gonna share his factory with after you get married!"

Peach hid her left hand slightly. She looked worried a little. Lavender wasn't that strong, but would help protect Peach.

"You know that candy maker?" Mr. Green looked down to Peach in curiosity.

"Yes..." she says softly. She figured she might as well not lie to them.

"It's a long story." Lavender added.

"Wait, wait, the police are coming!" Wadsworth got everyone to shut up. "Listen! Blackmail depends on secrecy. You've all admitted how he's been able to blackmail you. All you have to do is tell the police, he'll be convicted, and your troubles will be over."

Boddy was in a lot of pain now as he tried to make himself stand up. "It's not so easy, you'll never tell the police."

"Then I shall, I have evidence in my possession and this conversation is being tape recorded." Wadsworth told him sharply.

"Tape recordings are not admissible evidence!" Mr. Green argued.

Peach was shocked. She see sent a look to Mr Green. "Actually, it is... As long as we can provide proof ourselves." she says softly.

Yvette was sitting, drinking in the billiard room.

"Oh..." Mr. Green felt foolish.

"Pretty sad to let a woman beat you in argument." Professor Plum chuckled.

"How long until the police come?" Lavender was a little on the edge of her seat.

Wadsworth checked his watch. "45 minutes. Tell them the truth and Mr. Boddy will be behind bars."

Mr. Boddy was leaving yet again, but he only assured this time he was going to get his bag and come right back.

Peach patted Mr. Green's arm. "Don't worry, I just know my stuff." she says sympathetically. She nodded to Wadsworth.

"Rather clever surprise guests we have, hm?" Wadsworth sounded impressed with Miss Peach's skills.

"I'm pretty smart for my age, topping a lot of people in my classes in school." Lavender added, though unintentionally sounding like she were boasting about her intelligence.

Scarlet sent Lavender a look. Peach blushed and looked aside. She wasn't trying to sound clever, she just had an automatic reaction.

Mr. Boddy came back with his bag. "Who guess what's in here?" He chuckled darkly.

"The evidence against us, no doubt." Mrs. White commented.

Mr. Boddy handed everyone boxes, even Lady Lavender and Miss Peach and explained the purpose of the boxes.

Lavender looked a little worried. What was she being given? She didn't even know this man. Scarlet looked at the box. Peach bit her lip. She already undid the ribbon, even braver than Miss White. Mr. Green saw that he had a slightly rusty lead pipe. Lavender grew nervous as she took out a few white, tiny, round pill-like items that could dissolve in water.

Scarlet found a candlestick. Mustard found a wrench. Peach looked at what she had. Mrs. White took out a noose, much to her surprise. Professor Plum took out a revolver.

"In your hands, you each have a lethal weapon," Mr. Boddy told the others as they looked at their 'gifts'. "If you denounce me to the police, you will also be exposed and humiliated. I'll see to that in court. But... If one of you kills Wadsworth now... no one, but the nine of us will ever know... He has the key to the front door, which he said would only be opened over his dead body. I suggest we take him up on that offer. The only way to avoid finding yourselves on the front pages is for one of you to kill Wadsworth. Now." He turned the lights off instantly, making it impossible for anyone to see.

A gunshot was heard with a scream and a crash. Peach also gave a shocked scream at the gunshot. Lavender decided to turn on the lights as she felt the switch and it was all clear again and Mr. Boddy was in the middle of the floor, dropped.

"Stand back, give him some air!" Plum demanded, then went to check on the man. "He's dead..."

"Who had the gun?" Mrs. White then asked.

"I did." Plum replied calmly.

Peach looked at the body in shock. Her eyes were wide and she looked pale. Mustard glanced at her. There ended up not being a gunshot wound, so Professor Plum couldn't have killed Mr. Boddy due to him being the only one with the revolver and there was no bullet hole shown anywhere.

"I heard the gun though." Lavender spoke up, slightly confused.

Mustard reached out to steady Peach. Peach swayed a little bit.

"Well, one of us must have killed him." Mrs. White was just as confused.

"Well, I didn't do it!" Mr. Green called out instantly.

Mustard guided her into the seat. Peach covered her eyes with a hand. Peacock went up to the door.

Professor Plum grew alarmed when Mrs. Peacock went to take a drink. "Maybe he was poisoned!"

"Is that what these things are?" Lavender took out the tiny pebble-like items in the palm of her hand. "Thought they were aspirin."

Mr. Green went to Mrs. Peacock to try to relax her from her screaming and even resulted into slapping her across the face, which shocked everyone. "I-I had to stop her from screaming!"

Mustard looked shocked. Peacock was whimpering a little. Peach shivered slightly.

"Was the brandy poisoned?" Plum asked.

"I don't know." Mr. Green shrugged, giving the glass to Miss Scarlet to examine it.

Suddenly Yvette screamed. Scarlet examined it. Mustard looked at the door, following then. Peach stood up about to join them all to see Yvette. The others ran to the source of the sound of the scream, coming from the billiard room.

"It's locked!" Lavender cried out.

Wadsworth slammed his hand on the door. "Open up!"

"It must be the murderer." Plum theorized.

"Why would he scream?" Mr. Green glanced in confusion.

Yvette opened the door but stumbled back, tears in her eyes. Mustard looked. Peach looked at Yvette too or tried. The doors were finally open.

"You're alive!" Wadsworth called, surprised.

"I was scared... I drank the cognac too." Yvette whimpers.

Peach was still shaken up about the death. She made sure her hand was touching one of their arms as she peeked into the study. Scarlet and Mustard went to Yvette.

"Does anyone know how he died though?" Lavender asked.

"There's no sign of evidence or conclusions." Mr. Green replied calmly.

Peach looked away to look at the others.

"This is terrible!" Wadsworth cried. "Absolutely terrible! It's not the way I intended!"

"Not what YOU intended?" Mrs. White asked, puzzled.

Peach looked at Wadsworth. She was still worried about what Slugworth had wanted her and Lavender for.

"Are you not the butler, Mr. Wadsworth?" Lavender asked.

"I'm not the butler, but I'm a butler, in fact I was his butler." Wadsworth explained, a little saddened.

Peach looked at him and friendly patted his arm.

"So, if he told you to invite us all to his house, why did he arrive late?" Plum demanded.

"I invited you," Wadsworth started to explain. "In fact I wrote the letters, it was all my idea."

"Were you the one trying to blackmail us?" Lavender asked.

"Certainly not," Wadsworth quickly declined.

"I think you had better explain." Mrs. White snapped.

"Please sit down, everyone." Wadsworth told them to.

Peach sat down away from the body, not wanting to be close to it, kinda woozy. Lavender made sure Peach would be okay, then couldn't find a seat, so she sat on her knees in the room.

"When I said that I was Mr. Boddy's butler, this was both true and misleading," Wadsworth explained. "I was once his butler, but it was not his untimely death this evening that brought my employment with him to an end."

Peach looked at him.

"What does that mean?" One asked.

"When my wife decided to end her life..." Wadsworth continued softly. "She too was being blackmailed by this odious man who now

lies dead before us. He hated my wife for the same reason that he hated all of you. He believed that you were all thoroughly... un-American."

Suddenly Mr. Green crashed in the middle of the floor due to leaning on a serving table. He got himself up and adjusted his glasses. "Sorry..."

Katie nodded, she understood why he would be after her... she was British.

Wadsworth continued to explain, then found himself, nearly breaking down and crying. "Well, we all make mistakes..."

Mrs. White frowned in sympathy. Lavender blinked, then walked over, offering the hanky that was in her dress and gave it to the man to soothe him. Peach would've done too, but she would've fell if she stood up and tried to walk. Wadsworth quietly thanked the youngest guest then dabbed his eyes before continuing his dramatic and sad explanation. Peach looked sad, but then confused by what a socialist was.

"How could we possibly find out which one of you did it?" Mr. Green questioned.

"What do you mean which one of you did it?" Professor Plum glanced at him.

"Well, I didn't do it!" Mr. Green sounded defensive once again.

"Well, one of us did," Wadsworth replied. "We all had the opportunity, we all had a motive."

Lavender put a hand to her face, looking around, but she automatically ruled out Peach as the murderer, knowing that the girl would never hurt anyone like that. Peach looked sick at the fact of someone else killing another. Mustard denied too.

"Maybe it wasn't one of us?" Lavender suggested.

All eyes were now on her.

"Who else could've done it then?" Plum gawked at her.

Peach looked at them quietly. "What about the cook?" She asks, softly as her voice was faint.

Everyone else's eyes then widened. "The Cook!"

"To the kitchen!" Lavender cried, running with the others, then saw Peach behind a little. "Coming?"

"What if there's someone else dead? I couldn't stomach another murdered person." she says weakly.

"Would you like me to stay with you while Lady Lavender inspects the others?" Wadsworth offered, seeing how Miss Peach looked like she was going to be seriously sick.

Peach looked at him and nodded softly.

"Go on then." Wadsworth told the younger girl.

Lavender nodded, then left the study to go to the kitchen with the others.

"Are you alright, dear?" Wadsworth asked her delicately. "You look rather flush."

"I can't stand dead bodies... They make me feel ill..." she says softly, trying to be polite. She would never be rude on purpose.

"Ah, it's alright, dear..." Wadsworth soothed. "I must tell you though, I didn't intend for this evening to involve corpses."

"I could tell, sir..." she says softly. She used her hankie to wipe her face lightly.

"Hopefully that's the last of it." Wadsworth gently patted the girl's back.

The others were heard struggling as they were coming by, though with another body.

"Incoming!" Lavender called for Peach to hear.

Peach looked queasy and covered her eyes. The others had brought the cook in from the kitchen to show she had been killed as well.

"Mrs. Ho!" Wadsworth stood straight up.

Lavender went with Peach to comfort her. Peach hugged Lavender, hiding her face from any gruesome sight.

"It's okay... I know how you feel a little..." Lavender whispered to her friend as it looked like Mrs. Ho had literally been stabbed in the back.

"Why did there have to be murders?" Peach whispers.

"It's okay... Your nee-bear is here..." Lavender attempted to soothe, even though she had to be called Lady Lavender, she would still use the term of endearment to soothe her sister figure.

Peach hugged her gently, but tighter.

"Look!" Plum pointed, which made the others drop Mrs. Ho.

"What?" Mr. Green asked.

"The body's gone!" Plum called out.

Lavender looked over Peach's shoulder to see that somehow Mr. Boddy was removed from the room. How was that possible?

Peach looked iller than before, even paler turning ever so slightly green. "Where's a bathroom?" She asks Wadsworth, quietly.

"Down that hall and the second door on the right," Wadsworth told her. "Would you like someone to go with you?"

Katie started out the room, feeling very queasy. But she nodded about the 'escort'.

"Want me?" Lavender offered, due to how close she was with Peach, unlike everyone else who only knew her as a stranger.

One of the others offered and followed. Peach didn't do it to be rude, she just didn't want to throw up. She headed to the bathroom and opened the door. Lavender hoped Peach would be okay, she hated to see her in any kind of pain or sickness. Peach found the door and opened it all set to run in.

As she was going in, it looked as though Mr. Boddy had been in there and he had been trying to grab her. Peach blinked, shocked and was about to scream. The person still had their weapon and killed him. Looking at Katie they put a finger to their lips. She shouldn't say who it was. Once it was done both the killer and Katie shouted, as she struggled under the dead man's weight. The killer also wore black leather gloves to hide their fingerprints on any sort of evidence for the murder spree.

"Miss Peach!" Lavender got herself to yell out, worried and feeling lost without her.

"C-Calm down, it'll be okay, you're an adult now, act like it..." Mr. Green attempted to settle her, but he was nervous around women sometimes, no matter what age.

Peach screamed in shock and fear. The killer made as if to help her. But cried out too. Lavender huddled against Wadsworth as she was nervous and worried for what could be happening to Peach.

"You two are close, huh?" Mr. Green was the only one who sounded sympathetic.

"We're like sisters, I feel so lost without her." Lavender confirmed, much to some other's annoyances.

"Someone, help, he's attacking Miss Peach!" The person cries.

"Come on!" Lavender called, running with the others.

Peach was struggling under his body. The person was trying to help her. The others came to Peach instantly, but the killer had vanished and the woman was still in poor distress. Peach struggled and tried to get the dead body off her. The others helped get the corpse off Peach and placed him down on the floor, confused of how that could had happened.

"Well, he's dead." Mrs. White remarked.

"Mr. Boddy dead again..." Wadsworth murmured.

Lavender moaned, this was gross and overwhelming in her mind. Peach looked shaken and whimpered slightly. Peach looked a bit better than Mrs. Peacock who was about to pass out.

"She's going to faint!" Wadsworth cried.

"Somebody catch her!" Plum pointed.

Peach was staring at the now official dead body. She didn't dare move in case she too fell down.

"What's that on your hands?" Lavender couldn't help but notice something red on Mr. Green's hands.

The man looked down, then shook slightly. "I DIDN'T DO IT!" He didn't mean to yell, he was just panicking with the serious case of death in this house.

Wadsworth went to check for injuries for Mr. Boddy. Peach looked at Mr. Green. Mr. Green wiped his hands, looking in the face as though he were going to live up to his name.

"Well, he's certinately dead now," Wadsworth told the others. "Why would anyone want to kill him twice?"

Peach slid down the wall.

Lavender went to comfort her. "I'm so sorry this had to happen..."

Peach hugged her. Lavender hugged Peach and looked at the others as they were discussing how Mr. Boddy could have died twice.

"Maybe Mr. Boddy killed the cook!" Mr. Green spoke up.

Peach shivered slightly.

"Why would anyone wanna kill the cook?" Lavender wondered.

"Food wasn't that bad." Scarlet deadpanned.

Mustard glared at her and called her out for making jokes. "If I was the killer, I'd kill you next!"

Peach buried her face in her friend's shoulder. Lavender continued to hold onto Peach.

"Here, I'll lock up the weapons and we'll put the corpses aside, poor Miss Peach is getting hysterical about this evening." Wadsworth suggested, then took out a key, signaling everyone to hand their weapons to him to lock up.

Peach's weapon hadn't even been removed from the box it had come in.

"Here, I'll take this too." Wadsworth decided to also collect Miss Peach's box and put it with the others, then put the key in his pocket.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Lavender demanded.

"Putting the key in my pocket."

"Why?"

"Well to keep it safe, obviously!"

Peach looked worried slightly at the arguing too.

After arguing a bit with the others, Wadsworth had a new idea. "We'll throw it away!"

The others agreed and decided to go out the front door and dispose of the key.

"Are you two coming?" Mr. Green looked to Peach and Lavender with genuine concern.

Peach looked at Lavender for confirmation.

"What could happen?" Lavender asked, helping Peach up onto her feet. "I'll be right here."

"So will I." Mr. Green added, seeming to be very comforting towards the two girls.

Peach held to her friend. Lavender kept Peach close as they came after the others.

"They're okay, Miss Peach is just a little queasy about this evening." Mr. Green assured the others.

"Shall we move on then?" Wadsworth asked as he still had the key in his grasp.

"Are you alright, dear?" Mrs. White asked Peach calmly.

"I feel a little ill..." Peach says softly. She didn't want to worry anyone more than necessary.

"It's okay..." Lavender held Peach close, comforting her.

Wadsworth then opened the door to throw out the key, but there had been someone else at the door before he could do it. Who was that guy?