Meowselsworth |
The town once again gets agitated and angry, that anger turned towards Dan, and someone (though it's not quite visible who) pricks the baker with a lethal poison, at the town's disposal for a single execution.
Dan looks around the room once he realizes his fate, shaking his head sadly, "I was speaking genuinely."
"I didn't want any of this. The sheriff was my friend, over t' chess board we tested our wits. He knew me position and we had a wary truce."
"His death... were not my doing, someone went off script and killed him." The baker took his friend's death hard.
"I want to live in peace, make t' town prosperous. Help people out, I ain't wanna see none of you hurt."
Suddenly he slaps the table; "But no you just had to start out killing people, starting with t' German... The General... had to die... our leaders, they killed us in the war more than our enemies... I... never... like... that..." The baker gets more and more quiet until he falls asleep and his breath stops.
All eyes are on the baker as he says his last words. Jin's, however, bulge out at the sight of the scene, a piano wire wrapped around the detective's throat, cutting into his windpipe and leaving him dead and silenced.
Dan Haworth was lynched. He was the crime boss.
Jin was assassinated. He was the detective.
There is no guiding light, only paranoia...
2 mafia
1 vigilante
2 town
Clara Cheeseworthy |
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Clara sobs as Dan slumps to the floor and gives a cry of dismay at Jin's death. "Now what we gonna do, with no detective?"
She glares around defiantly. "Y'all may think ill of me, but Dan was a good friend ta me and Mama 'afore she died. He made sure we got bread every day, even if it was what he din't sell that day. Some days was all we had. He had a good heart. Guess I didn't know everythin' 'bout him, but he was a good guy in some ways." She sniffles. "I'll miss 'im."
Getika Littlemoon |
"Voted I have not the last couple times. Voting I never wished to do. When voted wrong I was so voted no longer. Lives gone are. Heal I do, kill people I do not." Getika looks to Coraline with nothing but sadness in her eyes, "Killed with votes I have but Mafia I am not." She puts her cheek on one of the hands lying on her knees.
Tina Wolfswift |
Tina lets out a cry of her own seeing Jin, and covers her mouth averting her eyes as tears run down her cheeks. She slowly makes her way over to Clara. "I don't think badly of you Clara... Mr. Dan was good to me and momma too especially after daddy disappeared. I knew how to make shoes, but I didn't know anything about running a shop the two of you helped me so much... he showed me how to run the front end of the store he was over helping so much until I'm sure he neglected his own shop sometimes. You helped me to sort out all the things I needed to order and where they'd come from, you even did the first few deliveries for free until I got my feet on the ground."
The young girl crosses her arms hands at her elbows hugging herself "The two of you saved me and momma without you we surely would have lost the shop, and starved. I'll never be able to thank two" She looks towards Dan's still form "He clearly had a darkness in him that he managed to hide from us, but he did have a good heart... I'll miss him too."
Thadius Lumpshire |
"Hard not tah, when Dan and Hamish twer so clearly Mafia. Dey was the most troublesome, Boss and his Butchah. Now we gotta find them other guys. Really, I guess gals. That too bad." Thadius rolls his eyes toward Tina.
"Say, Tina, how come you suddenly all out an' talkative when you was so squirmy before?"
Tina Wolfswift |
Tina looks confusedly towards Thadius when he asks about her being talkative "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, I've been talking to folks the whole time at least as much as the others."
She sighs softly, thinking the question must be a means of Thadius to focus attention on her rather than honest inquiry."I know you have it out for me Mr. Thadius... Before you kill me, I wanted to tell Clara... to give her some margin of thanks, and let her know she's appreciated. I'm pleased to have had her as my friend, she helped make me a better person."
"So if you're really looking for someone who's suddenly more talkative it seems to me that Ms. Coraline fits the question more than I do. She's been very quiet, usually only speaking up to vote, up until Mr. Jin died. If you're just looking for an excuse to accuse me please just do so. I'm tired of all the manipulating." she comes back over to her sister, and takes the native woman's hand squeezing lightly saying in a smaller voice "I'm so tired..."
Clara Cheeseworthy |
"Wal, if Mister Jin was right, two of the wimminfolk be mafier, right? Lessee, that's me, Coraline, Tina, and Getika. If'n we lynch one, we gots a fifty-fifty chance a' gittin a mafier. If'n we don't, the mafier gits a free kill, purt near." Clara shakes her head in confusion. "'Course, the Chicken is still out here somewheres. Could be any of us, I guess."
Clara's eyes practically cross as she tries to figure out what to do.
Getika Littlemoon |
"Accusations left are last resorts. Few we are with facts we do not have." Getika sighs as she squeezes Tina's hand back. She brushes back her hair and wonders about the situation while shaking her head, "Coraline talk much never has. Clara, talk much and decisive be. Tina talk sometimes, sometimes not. Myself talk when required I think it is."
The native woman looks about very confused as to what she should do.
Tina Wolfswift |
"Quite a number of people voted for Clarence, and changed their votes repeatedly. I voted for Clarence in order to tie, I did not him, and especially did not want Clara to die... unfortunately someone changed their vote at the last moment, and that made it that Clarence had the most votes. Before I knew what happened he had been killed. All of us here have voted for an innocent who was lynched. If my choice was to watch Clara die, or vote for Clarence, I'll never choose for Clara to die."
She shakes her head "Mr. Thadius, I would defend myself if I knew what you were talking about. I have not changed, I've always talked to the others, to Clara and Getika. She thinks about it for a moment, she did say quite a bit to Clara "Maybe I did talk a bit more... I knew you were suspicious of me, and you hold the most influence in those of us left. I... had things I wanted to say to the friends I have left..." She stops a moment rubbing tears out of her eyes. "I don't doubt you'll vote for me, so... I'm preparing to die."
"I do think you're right though change is suspicious, Coraline up until now has been silent and hidden in the background now she's so vocal and throwing out accusations. I think her change is much more significant than mine, and with less reason. I think she's hiding too much."
Tina votes Coraline
Meowselsworth |
As the judgment is passed, Tina seems horrified, eyes filled with tears. "No, no!" She looks towards Getika pleadingly, before the others approach to grab her an search her for information. She struggles, and then falls back, hitting her temple against one of the chairs, falling to the ground with her eyes still open.
Or at least, that's what some might think the reason she stayed back. In reality, the native woman was on the floor. There is no sign of what
killed her, but she is very certainly dead.
When they are searched, there seems to be nothing implicating Getika, but Tina has a letter. An offer that she couldn't refuse.
Tina Wolfswift was lynched. She was mafia.
Getika Littlemoon was assassinated. She was town.
Clara Cheeseworthy |
"She was... Miz Tina was one of 'em," Clara sniffles, "I cain't hardly believe it. But Miz Coraline? I cain't see you bein' no killer. But you, Mister Thadius, was always callin' fer blood. I tried ta believe Mister Jin, but mebbe he got it wrong, poor strangled feller. I voted agin' too many friends today. I cain't vote 'gainst Miz Coraline."
Clara votes Thadius Lumpshire.
Meowselsworth |
Wish Coraline's words, Clara looks horrified, backing away from the others.
"Alright, ya got me! But I got somethin' ta say before I go. Y'all talk about mafiers as if they's horrible folks. Well, my daddy hung 'em fer the Sheriff, jus' for money. Wut's that make him, huh? And when the mafier came ta git him, he was plum gone, left Ma an' me helpless. I begged for 'em ta let me an' Mama live. An' they did. I went and found Papa and made shore he wouldn't do nothin like that again, got his blood money, and showed 'em, so's they wouldn't come back agin. That's when they asked me to fall in with 'em, sayin' we could all help each other. It was still a struggle with just Mama 'n' me, but they did help. They was the ones that got me haulin' contracts when nobody else would give a girl a chance. An' when Mama died, they stuck by me, made sure I was took care of. Mighta bin quiet, but they was there."
"Mebbe there were a few favors traded now an' agin, or bad deeds done, but mostly we kept things runnin' smooth and left innocent folks alone. So mebbe I'm bad in yer eyes, but ask yerselves how much any o' you helped a pore girl and her sick mama when they needed it. Ya didn't, not even the preacher man. The mafier did. They got me on my feet and I bin nuthin' but a hard worker fer this town. So, 'friends', what's that make y'all? Worse'n mafier, ain't ya?"
With those words, Clara accepts her fate, closing her eyes for the end to come.
Clara was lynched. She was mafia.
The town wins!