Dinner Party (Pt. 4)

Having everyone stare at her made Evelyn a little uneasy, so she started to read:

"Dear Evelyn,

You were invited tonight because you know all the secrets of the other three guests here tonight, which is the reason you are the only one to receive a letter. You know the secret that each of them was arguing about tonight in the living room, who killed Mr. Cain. You know the truth about Mr. Cain and what actually happened to him. You were the only person who knew, or at least you thought you were the only person who knew. I figured out very easily what happened to Mr. Cain by reading your gossip column in the newspaper. Mr. Cain never died. He is still living to this day. You thought only you knew this, but in fact, I also know this secret. I also know where Mr. Cain is.

Allow me to explain the story of Mr. Cain, Evelyn, as I feel like you do not remember. The night Mr. Cain supposedly died, he visited you at the paper. He asked for your help to expose his wife's drinking problem, but you said no. Everyone already knew about Toni's drinking problem and it was not juicy enough to put into the paper. He did not cooperate with you and threatened to tell the whole world your secret. You quickly decided to help him, but you wanted to expose something much larger than Toni's drinking problem. You wanted to expose Toni's affair. Mr. Cain did not like that. There was no reason for the whole town to know what goes on inside their house. You told Mr. Cain he could cooperate, or he could pay the consequences. He did not cooperate, so you hit him in the head with a stapler, the first thing you grabbed.

I bet you are asking yourself how I know this? Well, you see, Evelyn, you thought you were the only gossip in this town, but I know more information than you will ever know. I could end everyone's life in this town, but I leave that job up to you. Writing a gossip column is for amateurs, and I am no amateur. I know that Mr. Cain is not dead. No, you never killed him, just knocked him unconscious. He was out long enough for you to take pictures of his body. You published the pictures in the newspaper making it look like someone had murdered him. You made it look like Toni had murdered him. This was the biggest moment in your life because more and more people started asking what happened and you were the one to publish the stories about his murder. The whole town turned on Toni and you made over $100,000 on your gossip column.

So I have mentioned Mr. Cain many times, but have not said anything about where he is now. After you finished taking pictures of him, you locked him away in your basement, however; you never tied him up. I found him when I was strolling past your house one night. I decided to take him. He thought I was setting him free, but I tied him up and have kept him in a hidden location. I don't know how I am going to expose him to the world. If you do what I say in this letter, I will finish Mr. Cain off and no one will know what you did. If you do not, I will send Mr. Cain into the town square with a letter telling everyone what you did and a few things you did not do, but I will blame you for them. I suggest you follow the rules I am about to give. They will not be fun, but if you do not want your reputation ruined, then you will do what I say.

Rule #1: Toni thinks that her husband killed himself to get away from her. You have to reassure her that someone killed him. If you want to fully protect yourself, then tell her that you have evidence that Steven killed him. (In this envelope there are pictures that show Steven dragging a body away. This body is not of Mr. Cain but has a similar body, and Toni will believe you.) She has been wanting to get closure for years about her husband's supposed murder and since she hates Steven, she will be relieved to hear this news.

Rule #2: You have to publish a story on how Steven executed the murder. This story will ruin him. You must include the fact that he is mentally insane so that when he tries to deny everything, everyone will just think he is insane. You have the biggest influence in town, so everyone will listen to you.

Rule #3: You have to kill Jonathon by the end of the night. He is the creepiest man in town. Trust me when I tell you that you will be doing a service for the town. Make it look like he accidentally killed himself at the manor.

Once you have completed all three of these things, you may leave and go home. You can choose to leave town and never return, or you can go back to your job in the gossip column. If you decide to not complete these three things, all of your secrets will be announced across town. If you do not end up taking your own life, the people of the town will try to kill you.

Good luck, Evelyn. Don't disappoint me,

Alaric Beckett"

Reading this name sent a shiver through Evelyn's body. Alaric Beckett was the most notorious and mysterious man in town. No one ever met him. There were many rumors about what he looked like. Three years ago everyone decided he was not a real person and was made up. He became the town's legend.

Evelyn felt uneasy and did not know if what he said was true. She could not help but feel that there was a catch to all of these rules she was to follow.

After Evelyn opened her letter, everyone looked at her waiting for her to say something.

"Well, what did it say, when can we leave?" asked Toni in a fit of rage.

"Uhm. It didn't say anything important. Just how sad Jane and Gregg are that they are missing the party. But they said to finish our food then make ourselves at home around the house," Evelyn quickly made up.

They all started to eat their food in silence. No one said a word during the entire meal.

After they finished eating, Patricia entered the room. "I am instructed to tell you all to now go to the living room and enjoy the complimentary drinks that are prepared in there.

They all instantly got up from their seats and went into the living room.