Kick the door shut

You kick the door shut. The detective rolls off you and braces herself, planting her shoe on the door to hold it. You jump up and push the nearby dresser to block it. You don’t know what’s going on, but it seems like the right thing to do.

The dresser’s in place. You step back, heart racing, unsure what to think. You expect someone to pound on the door from the other side, but no one does. For a second the dark, dusty attic is amazingly quiet apart from the noise of the rain on the roof.

Then the detective groans. Right! She needs help. You haul her to her feet. Her arm is bleeding pretty badly…

“Who is that?” you demand.

“She’s wearing a mask. I couldn’t see her face,” the detective says through gritted teeth.

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know.” She grips her arm to put pressure on the wound and stares at the door for a second. “I need to take care of this,” she adds, glancing at her arm.

Wow. You have just met this woman, but she seems very cool and tough. Like she just stepped out of a movie. There’s a first aid kit in every bathroom.

“This way,” you say, leading her back toward the ladder.

The detective looks torn.

“She’s stuck in there, right?” you say, pointing at the blocked door.

“I doubt it,” she replies. Right… there are lots of windows in the attic, and probably other ways back down into the house. “Hurry.”

You and the detective climb down, and in seconds you’re in the bathroom, helping her out of her coat. She rips the sleeve off her shirt, and you quickly bandage her arm. You aren’t great at stuff like this, but it’s an emergency so just tie it on there.

She immediately bumps past you and steps into the hallway to look both ways.

“What is happening?” you ask, grabbing her good arm.

“We’re in danger,” she replies.

“We have to warn everybody,” you say automatically.

“No,” she replies immediately.

“No?” You don’t understand.

“I don’t know who to trust.” She looks you up and down, then at her arm. She seems very suspicious. You notice the empty holster on her hip.

“Why wouldn’t you trust us?” you ask.

“CCL has always had crazy shit going on,” the detective replies, striding quickly to the part of the hallway that overlooks the foyer. She leans on the railing, looking down worriedly. “CCL girls graduate with a reputation for being killers. Not literally. Figuratively. In business, in finance…” she trails off. “They say you should hire girls with CCL on their resume because CCL girls will go farther than anyone else.”

“What? You think we’re murderers?” you ask in disbelief.

“I don’t know. But I found a dead body upstairs, and you girls seduced me to get my gun away from me,” she mutters. “So I’m not ruling anything out.”

“I think I know where your gun is,” you say.

“Where?”

“Olivia has it. It’s a Glock, right? They found it in somebody’s room. I’m not sure anyone took it from you,” you say.

The detective looks at you suspiciously but says nothing. The house creaks and the rain pounds on the roof. It seems like Amy’s instructions to stay in rooms are being followed. It’s still and peaceful. If you hadn’t just had that crazy experience, you wouldn’t even suspect that anything might be wrong.

Well, on a normal night there would always be someone having loud sex.

“Hey, if somebody’s trying to cut people, we have to do something,” you tell the detective bluntly.

That wakes her up.

“Yeah,” she mutters. “We might be able to get some backup.”

“How would they get here?” Aren’t the roads flooded?

“I have a friend with a cabin up here. I think she’s spending the weekend there.” The detective pats her pockets. “I must have dropped my phone upstairs.” She looks up at the ceiling.

“You could use my phone,” you suggest. It’s in your room.

“No, I don’t know her number. I need the contact.”

This is crazy. You could…

1. Try to go get the phone. The detective is wounded, but you are OK. You could probably get up there quick and grab it.
2. Or you could go look for Olivia and the gun. A gun might be nice to have. Olivia should be helping Amy search, so she shouldn’t be hard to find.
3. Or you could try to get some help here in the house by warning someone. The detective doesn’t want to warn everyone because she seems to worry that everyone is in on it. You know that it can’t be everyone because this is all news to you. Maybe there’s someone who could help.