The CBB :: View topic - 2006 Advent Drabble-CSI Gornetz Platz Part 2 01/01/07 p8

2006 Advent Drabble-CSI Gornetz Platz Part 2 01/01/07 p8

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The CBB -> St Clare's House

#1: 2006 Advent Drabble-CSI Gornetz Platz Part 2 01/01/07 p8 Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 5:22 am
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Here is the link to the earlier part: Read this if you dare!

Early post today due to complaints yesterday! Wink

*Yawn*

Summary

SOC 21!!! Twenty-one times I’ve been called out here to this muttering school and the area around it! 21times! What is it with this place? Anyway, back to business I suppose. This time the deceased was an ex-pupil and ex-mistress, identified as Bridget (Biddy) Courvoisier, nee O’Ryan. This time it was the middle of the night!

Scene

Well at least this one looked reasonably peaceful if you discounted the expression on the face. Scared is putting it mildly. She had been found by her husband, one of the doctors at the San, when he came in from work, and it was Dr Courvoisier who formally identified the body. She was lying in bed would you believe - a death in a bed! How very unusual. It looked from her position as if she’d been hiding under the bedclothes as she was curled up in the middle of the bed, not lying properly like a normal human being. (A personal thought - are these people in any way normal?) She was wearing a pair of what I understand are called baby-doll pyjamas, frilly nylon things with the bottoms not much more than a pair of knickers, and the top a strappy thing that flared out from the shoulders. It would probably just about cover the knickers if she was standing up. The colour was a fetching shade of line green.
In her hand was a page torn from a book, only a scrap really, but the words read as follows:
“And then, as the Banshee bent over her, Biddy died. “
A chair was pulled round to the side of the bed positioned so that the occupier could speak to the person in the bed. Fibres were found on the chair, and a scraping of mud down one of the legs. A small glass stood on the bedside table with dregs of liquid in it, and there were some screwed up chocolate wrappers in the waste paper basket.
According to Dr Courvoisier the house had been locked as usual when he arrived home. None of the children were awake, not even the latest baby asleep in a carved wooden cradle under the window. Nothing was disturbed, and it looked as if Frau Doktor Courvoisier knew her visitor.

Processing
Fibres were removed from the chair by the bed.
The mud was removed from the chair leg for analysis.
The doors and furniture were dusted for finger prints.
The page from the book was taken to match with other books in the house.
Photographs were taken of the entire scene.
When daylight came the ground outside was checked for footprints in the snow - unlikely as it had been freezing hard for days.

Evidence collected
Fibres
Mud
A few smudged fingerprints
A torn page from a book
Photographs - we have more of these than Vikki has of Gathers!

Pending
Analysis of the fibres
Analysis of the mud
Page from a book identified as one written by Miss Constance Maynard, but which copy of her book remains be to identified.

Last edited by Advent Drabblers on Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:39 pm; edited 15 times in total

#2: Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 5:59 am
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What a nice way to start a very stupidly early morning!

Thank's AD's

#3: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:47 am
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Poor Biddy!

#4: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:52 am
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Nice to see you take your consumer feedback seriously Wink

Poor Biddy.

A lot of them seem to know (and not suspect) the last person they see alive. Hmmmmm.

#5: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:57 am
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And yet by now you'd think they'd be suspicious of everyone approaching them!

I still have absolutely no suspect in mind, either for the murderer or the Mystery Drabbler.

#6: Author: Liane, Location: Manchester

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:03 am
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This is great guys, thanks!
I loved Rachel's interview Laughing

#7: Author: arky72, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:27 am
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What time did you lot get up???????? Too early.....

#8: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:25 am
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Much, much too early. But we bow to demand! Laughing

#9: Author: Ruth B, Location: Oxford, UK

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:27 am
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Thank you Advent Drabblers!

#10: Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:22 am
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Pat wrote:

Much, much too early. But we bow to demand! Laughing

Am guessing that the Mystery Drabbler was this morning's poster as even if you do bow to demand (which I doubt) you wouldn't get out of bed that early for us lot!

Mystery Drabbler however being new to the demands of Advent Drabble readers may be more likely to cave to pressure!

who knows!!

*wonders off trying to decide if anyone will make sense of this*

#11: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 12:34 pm
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Pat wrote:

Much, much too early. But we bow to demand! Laughing

Who demanded that time in the morning then?!

#12: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 12:47 pm
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Well you said that 8.40 was too late! So it had to be posted before any of us travelled didn't it?

#13: Author: leahbelle, Location: Kilmarnock

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:11 pm
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Thanks, drabblers!

#14: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:25 pm
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Background Report 21

Name
Bridget Courvoisier nee O'Ryan

Age
34

Main Residence
Aldersnest
Gornetz Platz
Berne Canton
Switzerland

Other Addresses
None registered

Family Relationships
Mme Courvoisier is survived by her husband, Dr Eugen Courvoisier and by her three young children, who include the obligatory twins. I am recommending that the medical ethics panel looks into matters at the Sanatorium as not only do they prescribe drugs without telling the patient, but the incidence of twins and multiple births would lead me to suspect that they are experimenting with fertility drugs in high doses.

Other Significant Relationships
Mme Courvoisier was well known to the Platz community, having been both a pupil and a mistress at the Chalet School. I learned that she was a foundling, and was brought up by the school, being adopted by the Guide Company. This was not an official adoption and has no legal standing, however since she was of age when she married the marriage does have legal standing. Her real family were known to the select of the Platz community, ie the Maynards, Matey, Mary-Lou Trelawney and Miss Wilson (as her former Guide Captain) having traced Mme Courvoisier a few years back. In fact, it seems that Con Maynard was in a relationship with Paddy O'Ryan, Mme Courvoisier's brother, despite him being 18 years her senior.

Employment
Mme Courvoisier had been a History teacher at the school and was considered an inspiring teacher because she used methods she called argueing from cause to effect. The school thought this was unique, but they obviously did not pay close attention as these methods are standard ones, thus the frequency of exam questions such as 'Discuss the causes of the First world War'. Since marriage she had, very unusually taught for a further term or so and then resigned when pregnant. Her most recent employment was as an author for a series of erotic novels known as Black Lace. Her editor was her brother and it was he who induced her to write. Miss Maynard did not write for the company, despite her relationship with Mr O'Ryan, her Mss being rejected on a frequent basis.

Other Notes
Apart from the contents of the bedroom leading me to believe Mme Courvoisier researched her novels very thoroughly, there was nothing unusual to be found in the house. The garden was another matter. It was a large garden, but seemed to be almost entirely a mud pit. In one corner was a large hut, and streaming in and out was a herd of stomping hippopotami. The unusual seems to be commonplace here. Maybe if I stop looking for the normal things like clues, we will stumble across the murderer dressed as a manky cat and eating light bulbs.

#15: Author: Lottie, Location: Humphrey's Corner

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:30 pm
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I love the

Quote:

herd of stomping hippopotami

Thanks, Advent Drabblers.

#16: Author: arky72, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:11 pm
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*chokes*

love the hippopotami!

#17: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:36 pm
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Thanks, I think.

#18: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:42 pm
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Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. I'm sorry to hear about Biddy but it's good that she was reunited with her brother in later years.

#19: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:25 pm
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Advent Drabblers wrote:

Maybe if I stop looking for the normal things like clues, we will stumble across the murderer dressed as a manky cat and eating light bulbs.

*splutters*

#20: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 5:28 pm
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Laughing

at Biddy writing Black Lace.

Laughing

at the fertility drugs. It'd never occurred to me that that might be what all those "doses" were ... *shoos bunny away*.

#21: Author: Xanthe, Location: London

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:07 pm
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Quote:

In one corner was a large hut, and streaming in and out was a herd of stomping hippopotami.

Possibly their bathroom where they do to brush & floss carefully.

*expert in the ways of stomping hippopotami* Wink

#22: Author: Katherine, Location: London, UK

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:45 pm
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Quote:

. . . They obviously did not pay close attention as these methods are standard ones, thus the frequency of exam questions such as 'Discuss the causes of the First world War'.

Wonderful!

#23: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:49 pm
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Witness Reports 21

Rosli Blumentahl, ‘coadjutor’ for Mrs Maynard

I’ve been looking after Herr Doktor Graves children ever since Frau Graves was found dead like that. Someone had to and Frau Maynard said that she could spare me to help out. It’s nice to be looking after children again. Frau Maynard’s are mostly grown up, and I seem to have become more and more of a maid of all work, which wasn’t what I was employed for. In fact I’ve been looking for other work recently, and all these murders have made me look a good deal harder! Anyway, as you know the Graves and the Courvoisiers share a house, with the Courvoisiers having the upstairs. Frau Courvoisier had just had another baby, so she was spending time in bed like all these pampered women do. Most people are up and about and looking after their own children very soon after the birth, but not this lot. Weeks they spend in bed! Mind you, it does give people like me a job, so I suppose I shouldn't say anything.
I heard a knock at the Courvoisier’s door, and then footsteps running upstairs, so whoever it was knew where the key was kept. I was watching out of the window when they left again, and it was Fraulein Con Maynard. No one else called that I saw before I went to bed.

Doktor Eugen Courvoisier, doctor at the San

I came home from work later than I’d intended, as things kept cropping up to detain me. It was very quiet, and I thought Biddy was asleep, so I tiptoed upstairs in case I woke her. Everyone seemed to be sound asleep, even the new baby for once! Biddy herself I couldn’t see at all, until I saw the lump in the bedclothes. Poor Biddy. What did she do to deserve this?

Mary Constance Maynard, daughter of Dr and Mrs Maynard of Freudesheim

I popped over to see Auntie Biddy to show her my book that’s just been published. It’s a collection of ghost and horror stories, and some of them were stories that Biddy told her friends after lights out when she was at school. That’s why I brought her one of the first copies. I was so excited – it took away some of the nastiness of what’s been happening up here. But that’s all come rushing back now she’s dead. It can’t have been a natural death can it? Not with all the others.
I don’t like the books that Biddy writes, and I’m not going to try and write them myself any more.
Biddy’s brother? I don’t know who told you that! He’s old enough to be my father! And yes I know my family seem to go in for older men, but I don’t! So there! Put that on your needles and knit it!

Lady Margaret Russell, Founder of the school

I am beginning to wonder why I agreed to spend Christmas with Jo and Jack after all these murders. Anyway, I was out for a moonlit walk last night, since I’d brought my nailed boots and big scarf, and it was so lovely. You wouldn’t think that anything awful had happened. There was no one about - or so I thought. But up by the Adlersnet I saw something moving. A figure came out of the upstairs flat and closed the door, and then vanished. It was roo far to see anything more.

#24: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:10 pm
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Thanks, Carolyn, MD and Pat. I'm surprised that Madge still chose to come to the Platz!

#25: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:59 pm
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Forensic Report

Post Mortem

Examination - *Yawn* 2am this one arrived - and the SOC Officer wants it all processed immediately! Why? It's not as though we're going to discover anything that'll help solve the case, is it? The body's not going to have a written confession stencilled to its backside now is it?

Right, gripe over. Body of a white female 153cm tall, weight 48kg. Tiny little thing. Mature woman though - had a number of children. Black hair and striking blue eyes. Minor bruise on right wrist.

Time of Death - Body had been dead about two hours when I saw it - therefore time of death probably just after midnight

Cause of Death - Hmmm, well this woke me up - it took a very long time to establish cause of death - no evidence of any wound, internal organs healthy, no trauma or injury. Thought I was going to have to write it up as another willed self to death - like the one yesterday - when some blood work returned - adrenaline levels were off the scale - had the woman frightened herself to death, after all? Was this the only non-murder in a string of murders? No, you jest don't you? Only after a minute and painstaking search by not only myself but all eight of the team - hey if I have to be up at this ridiculous time so have they - discovered the cause.

The right hand was examined and, beneath the nail of the right thumb was the tract mark of a hypodermic needle. Further evidence showed that the victim was injected with a large quantity of Adrenaline - it would have stopped the heart immediately. Likely the murderer held onto the hand against Mrs Courvoicer's attempts to free herself. And with a San, Matrons and Nurses about it's probably not difficult to get hold of Adrenaline - and any reader of detective fiction would probably know the method.

Results

No fingerprints were discovered other than those of the victim and family
Fibres identified as being from the hemp plant - fresh.
Mud was actually manure, hippo manure - analysis of same brought conclusion firstly that the hippos' diet had too many curries in it and secondly that at least one hippo is pregnant.

Oh and DNA machine had finally ascertained the meaning of 'total equipment failure' - it has collapsed in a heap.

Report dictated by A Christie

#26: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:27 am
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Needle under the fingernail - *screams*
And here I thought it was banshees. Or possibly hippopotami in the bedroom.

I trust you Advent Drabblers staggered this posting. Wouldn't want you suffering from sleep deprivation this close to Christmas....

#27: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:34 am
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Advent Drabblers wrote:

No fingerprints were discovered other than those of the victim and family

Well that sounds highly suspicious to me!

Thanks, Advent Drabblers Very Happy

#28: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:40 am
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Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. That definitely sounds very painful.

#29: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:43 am
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Scene of Crime Report 22

Summary
I think I can safely say that Christmas has been cancelled for my team, with a killer on the loose who has been striking everyday for over three weeks now all leave has been cancelled indefinitely. There was another one today of course, our days are now spent wondering not if, but when. Today’s was teatime. In the chapel, or rather in the lych gate leading into the garden area around the two chapels. Helena Entwhistle who discovered the body identified it as one Ruey Richardson, another of the extended Maynard brood.

Scene
The body was dressed in nailed boots, hiking breeches, good quality jumper, coat, hat and gloves, nothing extreme and for a change nothing associated with school uniform or school inbred habits. She looked like any other young middle class woman heading to church for, well for whatever she had been heading there in the middle of a Friday afternoon. That is she looked respectable apart from the sharp knife sticking out of her neck, and the blood dripping down onto the stone seat. It made a beautiful contrast, the stone grey, the red blood and the white snow and for a still moment there was a peaceful hush. Then I shook myself and remembered the screaming woman who needed a slap but was more likely to get a sedative. Joey Maynard was behind me.
Mrs Maynard dealt with in the usual manner I surveyed the scene. There were lots of footprints going to and from both chapels, but one set heading towards the Catholic chapel had what appeared to be specks of blood in them.
The deceased’s pockets revealed a purse with a small amount of loose change, the usual credit cards, a UK driving licence, and a packet of mints. There was very little else discovered in the area around the body, but there was a small posy of wild flowers trampled on the floor next to the gate.

Processing
Sedatives given to Mrs Maynard as per usual
Photographs as per usual
Body removed to morgue as there is an autopsy backlog as per usual
Specks removed from footprints and sent for analysis
Mints eaten.
Flowers bagged and removed.
Identification of knife. The handle makes it clear that it was specially made, but not for cutting up sugar as suggested on the label.

Evidence Collected
Photographs
Body
Knife
Possible blood specks
Purse and contents
Flowers.

Pending
Analysis of blood specks
Christmas

Last edited by Advent Drabblers on Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:53 am; edited 1 time in total

#30: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:48 am
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Advent Drabblers wrote:

Identification of knife. The handle makes it clear that it was specially made, but not for cutting up sugar as suggested on the label.

Poor Ruey

Thanks, Advent Drabblers

#31: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:22 pm
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Background Report 22

Name
Evelyn Ruhannah Richardson, known as Ruey.

Age
22ish, give or take a few years.

Main Residence
Freudesheim
Gornetz Platz
Berne Canton
Switzerland

Other Addresses
None registered

Family Relationships
Miss Richardson has two brothers and some distant cousins, the Rosomonds, who also seem to be related to the Maynards in some way, or to the Russells, or both, it got way too complicated to follow. I did gather that Miss Richardson is not related directly to the Maynards, even though they were her legal guardians, and for one all the paperwork for this was signed and correct. It is worth noting that her father was the noted space explorer Prof George Theophilus Archibald Baynard Richardson. While he was originally seen as a 'mad scientist' type, recent discoveries have proved that he was not only the first man to step foot on the moon, but also the first man to orbit Mars, a journey he never returned from. It also appears that while Mrs Maynard knew of the more recent discoveries, a newspaper cutting detailing them was discovered in her safe, Miss Richardson and her siblings had not been informed of this. Pity it only made the scientific press and was squashed down in a conspiracy from NASA, otherwise Miss Richardson may have discovered anyway.

Other Significant Relationships
Miss Richardson did not make many close friends at school outside of the circle that surrounded the Maynard triplets, although she seems to have met up with a 'Francie' several times according to her appointments diary, all in London during term time weekends. This has been hidden from the Maynards as her letters to them with the same dates recount her spending the said Saturdays studying and playing sports. This is obviously someone, male or female she felt they would disapprove of.

Employment
Miss Richardson was a student at Bedford, planning to become games mistress at the school once Miss Burnett had married a doctor. Well there is a vacancy for that position now, but I don't think Miss Richardson will be filling it, not dead. Even the Chalet School would draw the line at that, no matter that she was an old girl and a ward of the Maynards.

Other Notes
Miss Richardson had a room at Freudesheim, which contained a lot of sports paraphernalia, some old clippings about her father and the general miscellaneous baggage of life, clothes, books, luggage and a small teddy, hidden under the bed and clutching a violin. His label said Spike, but why a teddy with such a fearsome name should look so scared and hide is another matter...unless he knows something about this case.

These murders are getting to me. Did I really suggest that a teddy bear could know something?

#32: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:16 pm
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Advent Drabblers wrote:

These murders are getting to me. Did I really suggest that a teddy bear could know something?

The teddy bears know everything *nids wisely*

#33: Author: leahbelle, Location: Kilmarnock

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:50 pm
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Maybe the bear did it!

#34: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:31 pm
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I didn't know Spike had a violin -- or that they made knives for cutting sugar. (nor for cutting Sugar, I hope.) Poor Ruey!

*baffled, as usual*

#35: Author: JustJen, Location: sitting on the steps

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 5:18 pm
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Quote:

Sedatives given to Mrs Maynard as per usual

LOL!

#36: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 6:55 pm
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Witness Reports 22

Mrs Helena Entwistle, eldest daughter of Mrs J Maynard

I was on my way to the chapel to make sure that it was all ready for Christmas. We have to go ahead for the children’s sake, but it won’t be the same this year. Not after all these murders. And we still have no idea who’s done them! It’s so frustrating and very worrying.
Anyway, as I said I was going to the chapel - the Catholic one - and I found that I couldn’t open the gate. It was getting dark - about time for Kaffee und Kuchen - so I couldn’t see very well. At first I though it was a bundle of rags, but then I realised that it was another body. I didn’t want to look, didn’t want to find out who it was this time, but I had to. I climbed over the gate as I couldn’t open it and discovered that it was Ruey Richardson. Her real name was Ruhannah, but no one ever used it for obvious reasons - well I mean, would you? Then I went to Freudesheim as that was the nearest phone and called for you lot again. Mamma came in as I was talking on the same errand. She said she’d found the body and that’s how she’d got the blood on her. She said she’d tried to take the knife out; a bit silly that. Now her fingerprints are going to be on it! But that’s Mamma for you! Act first and think afterwards.

Mrs Josephine Maynard

I suppose Jack gave me something again! I wish he wouldn’t. I was only screaming because I’d realised that I’d touched the knife and the body and was all bloody. How would people believe I hadn’t done it? I’m getting a bit fed up of those little doses to be honest. Anyone would think that I can’t cope with everyday life. Mind you, this isn’t everyday life is it? Well it is at the moment, but you know what I mean. Murder isn’t normal is it?
Ruey was dead when I found her you know. The gate was jammed but I pushed through and found that it was Ruey jamming it. That’s when I got the blood on me. Trying to see who it was and if they were really dead. I didn’t see anyone else and didn’t know that Len had already found her until I got home.
I’m not happy about you digging about in the safe, but I suppose you have to. I kept the cuttings back from Ruey and her brothers because they were upset enough when he vanished, and I didn’t want to rake it all up for them again.

Ethelberga Pumpernickel, aged 10

Please, the flowers were mine. I wanted to take them into the pretty church and give them to God. It was all I had. But I saw these two people in the gateway. I don’t know who they were. One was taller than the other, but they were both wearing woolly hats and I couldn’t see whether they were a man or a woman. I saw the smaller one fall over in the gateway and I hid behind a tree. I was scared. Then the other person left and went away up the hill away from me. I went up to the gate, and I could see the other person lying on the ground. I dropped my flowers and ran away.

Miss Victoria Kirkum, a visitor to the Platz.

Please call me Vikki, I don’t answer to the full thing!
Well, I’m visiting Interlaken for a holiday. It’s so exciting being in Chalet-land - the school you know, not the country, though that’s fantastic too. I was spending the day on the Platz, taking one or two photos too, well, maybe a few more than that! I still can’t get over seeing the school you know. Anyway, I’d heard about all the deaths (who hasn’t? It’s all over the hotels down in Interlaken you know) and I was getting upset, as now I’d never get to take photos of those people to show the rest of the CBB. Anyway, I’d found the chapels, and had been wandering around them taking photos, when I heard voices, not shouting or arguing, just talking quietly, so I couldn’t tell what they were saying or anything. Then someone shouted ‘Noo!’ and there was silence. I didn’t dare move for a while as I was afraid it was another murder, and I was right. When I peeped round the corner I saw Mrs Maynard bending over the body. But it really was ages after the scream, and I’m sure that she couldn’t have had anything to do with it…. Not Mrs Maynard!

Spike

Well I know of course, as all the toys that get caught up in this saga are magic. So I know who’s doing the killing, AND I know who the Mystery Drabbler is. But I’m not telling! It’s not safe to tell. So far none of us toys has been hurt, and I don’t want to be the first. It’s very scary up here. Then there’s the MD - someone said MAD - Mystery Advent Drabbler! Now the identity of the MAD is almost as scary as the identity of the murderer. So now you know why I was under the bed - it’s the safest place to be!

#37: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 7:02 pm
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Poor Spike - will he go into a witness protection scheme now?

#38: Author: Elle, Location: Peterborough

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 7:04 pm
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I still have no idea about anything, but who cares? This is fab and I am enjoying it so much.

Thanks.

#39: Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:07 pm
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AM reading avidly but stuggling to keep up with posting atm.
I am wavering between 2 people for the MAD (3rd person as an outsider!)but no ideas whodunnit Very Happy

#40: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:35 pm
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Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. I loved Vikki's report!

#41: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:44 pm
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Forensic Report

Post Mortem

Examination - *Hic* Right, the SCO, OCS, SOC occifer said this was an emergey. He stormed into the restraunt and interrupteded our Christmas do - said he wasn't getting any break so why should we? Well we deserve some fun, you know? Not xactly a barrel of laughs in here, you know! *Hic*

Anyway - victim white female, early twenties. No extinguishing marks, dark hair and eyes.....closed. Ahem, right, Body appeared perfectly fine except for this ruddy great tooth pick in her neck - I mean that's pretty excessive - sugar's eh?

Time of Death - When heart stopped I expect, like everyone else's time of death - did you know that, in the end, all deaths can be classed as heart failure? Read that somewhere - s'not really true though - suppose the person donates their heart to another - won't fail - could mean the person never really dies - ooohhhh, how philofofical, pholi*hic*sop, filo pastry...*bugger it!* deep.

Cause of Death - Well there was this bloody great knife sticking out of her neck - but otherwise I couldn't say, I'm sure.

Results

Analysisis of specks of blood confirmed they were blecks of splood - pretty obvious really.
Footprints were from standard hiking boot - slim foot.
*Hic!*
Sleepy now....nightnight.

Report dictated by Al Coholic

#42: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 12:19 am
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*giggling wildly*

That's got to be the best report I've ever read!!!

*crosses another name off the list of suspects*

Thanks Advent Drabblers.

#43: Author: Tara, Location: Malvern, Worcestershire

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 12:36 am
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Oh, wonderful! Far too many choice bits to pick quotes. My suspect is still in with a chance - but I've got to go and 'do' Christmas now, so will have to wait to find out!!!

Many thanks, Drabblers Three, this has been excellent.

#44: Author: Liane, Location: Manchester

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 8:55 am
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That post mortem was fantastic!
Thanks you three

#45: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:36 am
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Tara wrote:

Oh, wonderful! Far too many choice bits to pick quotes. My suspect is still in with a chance - but I've got to go and 'do' Christmas now, so will have to wait to find out!!!

Many thanks, Drabblers Three, this has been excellent.

Oh we are far from finished yet.
Laughing

#46: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:45 am
—
Scene of Crime Report 23

Summary
I made my way up to the Platz before the call came in this morning. Well it was inevitable that it was going to come. And it did, just as my car was reaching the Sanatorium at one end of the Platz, my mobile rang and told me that today's body was at the school once more. The girls have been kept at school as many of them are either witnesses or suspects and the staff certainly are, keeping the girls here ensures that the staff have to remain. I can't imagine that any of them will be wishing to celebrate anyway. Oh yes, the body had been identified by the Matron as Lucy Peters.

Scene
The body was discovered in bed, but not her own bed, a bed in the school sanatorium. She had been having nightmares and disturbing the other girls at night, not unusual given the current events, but the school appear to think this is somewhat 'weak' of her. The Matron was muttering something about spineless jellyfish and I can only presume that the stress was getting to her as it is obvious to everyone that jellyfish don't have spines, being invertebrates so why she felt the need to carry on about them is anyone's guess.
The body was laid on top of the eiderdown, and dressed in standard long pyjamas and slippers. These clothes showed considerable signs of disarray and in many places had holes. The body was covered in small bruises and there were also many small wounds of the same shape. It was not immediately apparent what had caused these wounds until we discovered a sharpened poking stick in the corner of the room.
The bed itself was a standard school bed, the room contained four other beds, all surrounded by curtains, as was the case in the dormitories. The curtains were drawn around Lucy's bed, but the other 3 were open to the room. On the nightstand next to the bed was a glass that was almost empty and a jug containing what looked like water. There were two books in the cupboard underneath, one entitled 'Embroidery for Young Children - simple starter projects.' and the other 'The Black Vampire Dog of Caerphilly'.
The door from the room lead into a small corridor with another similar room, a treatment room, an office, a bathroom, a sluice room and a storeroom leading off it. The door was unlocked, as was the door at the end of the corridor that lead into the main school. The curtains were drawn tightly and the windows fastened from the inside.
There were other minor finds in the room.

Processing
The body was removed to the morgue and the bedding was bagged and sent for processing.
All the beds in the room were removed and taken to the labs to be reassembled. They will be useful in some way I am sure, the team are very tired.
The poking stick was removed carefully to the labs for finger print analysis, wound comparison and blood analysis.
The books were removed for the sake of it.
All the door handles were dusted for prints. As if that is likely to be useful.
The glass and contents and jug and contents were removed for analysis, bet the contain a sedative jellybaby.

Evidence Collected
Poking stick
Bedding
Beds.
Books.
Glass and jug.
White fibres taken from door frame
Small piece of tinsel found under bed
Bottle of Shampoo found in bathroom
Packet of jellybabies discovered on chair.

Pending
Discovery of why there was a poking stick in the school Sanatoruim.
Report on bedding.
Fingerprint analysis
Wound tract analysis
Blood analysis
Books to be read and embroidery projects tried
Analysis of glass, jug and possibly water contained therein.

Most Urgent
Finding an excuse not to attend the School's Christmas play that despite everything they are performing this afternoon.

#47: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:51 am
—
Thank you, Advent drabblers!
*ponders choice of literature in san, the rest being too gory to ponder*

Crying or Very sad

that this is the last installment I can read at its proper time. Still, catching up will be exciting...

#48: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:00 pm
—
Background Report 23

Name
Lucy Peters

Age
16

Main Residence
The Chalet School
Gornetz Platz
Berne Canton
Switzerland

Other Addresses
Der Apflestrudel
Gornetz Platz
Berne Canton
Switzerland

Family Relationships
Lucy was adopted, legally by the Peters when she was a baby. They have no other children and no other relatives. It is totally irrelevant, but Mrs Peters is the daughter of famous cellist Nicholas Wychcote. What is more relevant is that she is renown in the community for her wonderful embroidery, and it is indeed something quite elaborate.

Other Significant Relationships
Her close friends at school were said to be Felicity Maynard who died on the second day of this horror and Carlotta von Ahlen. However it seems that there has been a cooling off this term between Carlotta and Lucy, and even these deaths have not reconciled their differences.
There was also a correspondence of a highly illicit nature being conducted between Lucy and Felix Maynard, mainly connected with calling each other sickly sweet names, talking about kissing and arranging how to meet. This correspondence was conducted via a third party, Rosli, whose identity I have agreed to keep secret from her employers.

Employment
Lucy was still at school, a member of the same form as Felicity Maynard and Carlotta von Ahelen. She knew she would be a prefect by reason of her friendship with these two, it was common knowledge in the form. She worked hard at most of her lessons, but never came higher than 3rd in anything and sometimes lower. She got her lowest marks for sewing and literature, and her highest for maths and art. She took ballet lessons alongside Felicity, but was never as obsessed about them according to their teacher, and there was never any question of her doing a ballet scholarship audition. She was basically a second fiddle, a companion, but either someone hated her enough to want to kill her, or she knew something. If only I knew which.

Other Notes
Her dormitory cubicle was at first glance as tidy and normal as all the others, however closer inspection revealed that there was a a secret. On top of a cupboard was a tank containing two tortoises, their names were written on the side, Wendy and Bob and they looked very hapy and content with lettuce, salad and lots of dandelion leaves. They showed signs of trying to escape, but were obviouly well cared for. How they had escaped detection in the frequent Dormitory checks I am not sure, maybe they were moved from place to palce as Lucy thought safe.

#49: Author: arky72, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:07 pm
—

Quote:

Other Notes
Her dormitory cubicle was at first glance as tidy and normal as all the others, however closer inspection revealed that there was a a secret. On top of a cupboard was a tank containing two tortoises, their names were written on the side, Wendy and Bob and they looked very hapy and content with lettuce, salad and lots of dandelion leaves. They showed signs of trying to escape, but were obviouly well cared for. How they had escaped detection in the frequent Dormitory checks I am not sure, maybe they were moved from place to palce as Lucy thought safe.

#50: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:12 pm
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Oh, I am so sorry....I forgot to change my log in. Embarassed

Good thing I am not the MAD!

#51: Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:04 pm
—

Carolyn P wrote:

Good thing I am not the MAD!

Not The MAD no, but mad, yep definately Very Happy

#52: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:27 pm
—
Pot calling the kettle, Kate? Twisted Evil

Last edited by Pat on Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:47 pm; edited 1 time in total

#53: Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:34 pm
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Why would the Pot be calling the kettle Kate, everyone knows it's name is Harry?

#54: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:00 pm
—
Witness Reports 23

Carlotta von Ahlen, friend of the deceased, and daughter of Freida von Ahlen, nee Mensch, a friend of Mrs Maynards

Lucy and Felicity and me have all been friends ever since we came to this school. Well me and F’licity have been longer ‘cos our mothers are friends, so we’ve known each other for ever really. Lucy fitted in with us, and it’s nice to be known as a Triumvirate, like some of the old girls were. We haven’t really stopped being friends, but she kept trying to do that stupid needlework, and she’s about as good at it as I am! And I don’t know how upset she was when F’licity got killed, ‘cos she didn’t cry at all, and I think in some ways she was sort of relieved - she hasn’t been to ballet since you know.
She hasn’t half been having bad dreams recently, really bad ones, waking up screaming some nights. That’s why Matey took her to the San, so we wouldn’t get woken up too. She wouldn’t allow visitors either, so I haven’t seen Lucy since she was moved. And now she’s dead too, so I won’t ever see her again.
Yes I know about the letters, she told me. She knew I fancied him too.

Rosli Blumentahl

Frau Maynard mustn’t ever find out I did it. You must never tell, please. But Felix asked me to take his notes to Miss Peters so I did. He’s a really nice boy you know. I never read any of the letters; I couldn’t as they were sealed, and they had silly letters on the back too, like SWALK, whatever that means. He sent them to me, and I took them to Miss Peters as he was away at some school in England most of the ter. It was easier in the holidays of course. Miss Peters used to blush a bit when I took them, but she always had one ready to go back, with the right stamps on for England. I couldn’t take the last one because she’d been taken to the San. Like a fortress that place is, no one can get in without Matron Lloyd’s say-so. So I had to take it back to him.

Mr Felix Maynard, one of a set of twins

Lucy was sweet and innocent, a really lovely girl, and why anyone would want to kill her like that I don’t know. I just got back from school in England the other day, and wrote straight away, but she was already stuck in the San. Not even mamma could get anything past Matey, and she’s a favourite of the old dragon. I did manage to wave to her through a window yesterday though. There was nothing more between us than a few kisses you know. She wasn’t ready for more yet.

Wendy and Bob

Chomp…...….chomp……...…. Chomp…...…… chomp.

Gottlieb Grinklehofer, Swiss Tortoise Protection League

Of course we will take the so dear tortoises. They have been looked after well, yes, and must be carefully managed over the winter. They should have been sent into hibernation, you understand, but as these have not they must be kept warm and fed so that they will be good in the Spring. They are a little cramped, but we will give them plenty of good room, and they will be fine.

D, Starsky, Interlaken Police

Why is it always me who has to take these statements? I’m tired of it, and tired of these deaths. And the statements never give any real idea of who did these murders, do they?

Last edited by Advent Drabblers on Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

#55: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:39 pm
—
That's left me feeling really sorry for Lucy, even without her being dead, she was having a rough time! Thank you ADs.

#56: Author: Woofter,

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:07 pm
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Hehehe, loving this AD's thanks! Very Happy

Does this just run till tomorrow?

#57: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:16 pm
—
Poor Lucy.

Thanks Advent Drabblers

#58: Author: Elle, Location: Peterborough

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 7:52 pm
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Fab.

The downside of being back at my parents is the limited internet access, the upside is the fact that I get to read several installments in one go. Hurrah!

#59: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:00 pm
—
Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. I'm glad that the tortoises have got a new home.

#60: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:45 pm
—
Forensic Report

Post Mortem

Examination - It seems there was a problem with the report produced by my esteemed colleague yesterday - for some reason the people at Headquarters felt the report did not give sufficient detail and clarity to allow then to solve the case - like it would make any difference! However, in the intersts of fair play, this report will be extremely detailed and, I hope, ensure that our esteemed and learned colleagues in the Police Force will be able to solve this case of multiple murders. *Yeah right!*

The victim is that of a white female adolescent, bone growth and dental records place age at approximately sixteen years. The victim was not virgo intacta - far from it - she was about ten weeks pregnant. I read in the SOC report that the girl had been suffering from nightmares - perhaps this was the reason why - did anyone at that School actually ask her the question? Perhaps the reason she was murdered was because someone discovered this and was so appalled at her deviation from the correct behaviour for a Chalet girl. Hmmm, chalet girl - isn't that someone that runs a small chalet for tourists wanting to go skiing? Is that where all these girls have ended up after they've left school?

Enough of this, that is work for the Detectives - my work is here, performing the autopsy - something that, I should say, must be performed by a highly skilled medical practitioner, one with a medical degree, probably a second one specifcally on patholgy, years of experience and knowledge - not a barely trained lab rat - thank you very much! Who does that SOC fellow think he is? What did he expect? Insisting someone to perform an autopsy when it was obvious that they'd had a little to much to drink - we're just lucky Al didn't slice off his own thumb.

Anyway, back to the plot - traces of sedative in bloodstream and also alcohol - both taken orally as some still in stomach. Reason why the body was laid peacefully on the bed when discovered is because she was probabl;y doped up to the eyeballs - and yes Mr Pedantic SO bloody C officer that is a professional opinion.

Victim had small scar on left hand - possibly caused by embroidery scissors and, written in ink on her left knee was the phrase 'I HATE BALLET' - likely it was written by victim herself.

Time of Death - Body discovered just after nine-thirty, nothing much in the stomach - just some milk. Decay of body would suggest had been dead between three and four hours so can state time as 0552 hours precisely......What. you don't think it possible to be that accurate? Who's the blasted pathologist here?

Cause of Death - Multiple stab wounds, penetrating injuries, wood splinters and imminent tetanus. Counted 257 separate wounds - calculate at least half of them inflicted after death - perhaps the murderer just couldn't stop - 'I've started so I'll finish' type of thing. Some of the wounds seriously damaged underlying organs, so much so that, had she not died straight away we'd be seeing her in a couple of weeks with peritonitis, burst appendix, ruptured liver and immiment tetanus - I've said that before? So what - I thought it was funny so I said it twice.

Results

OK who dreans up all these damned investigations? Anyone would think they just do it to seriously annoy the pathologist.

Discovery of why there was a poking stick in the school Sanatoruim - no idea - perhaps it was a secret sect of deadly morris dancers?
Report on bedding - warm, comfy.
Fingerprint analysis - you are joking?
Wound tract analysis - wound tract analysis? Have these people been watching too much TV? I suppose this is so I can say the wound had to be inflicted by a left handed woman of above average height? When actually all I can say is that the wounds were of varying depths but even the deepest of them could have been inflicted by a right or left hand and someone of not even average strength
Blood analysis - yes, there was lots of it - mainly red too.
Books to be read and embroidery projects tried -Ok well this one is sensible - we pathologists must keep our sewing up to scratch - can't have all the bits falling out when we've finished with them.
Analysis of glass, jug and possibly water contained therein - real big surprise this - water contained a sedative - like saying the ocean is wet.

*God I need a drink!*

Report dictated by I M Sober

#61: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:43 am
—
Laughing

It sounds as if the investigators are finally cracking up. Can't say I blame them. Do we get the denouement today, or will this go on after advent? Thank you so much Advent Drabblers, it's brilliant! Very Happy

#62: Author: janem, Location: Ash, Surrey

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:58 am
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Well my suspect is still alive and by Easter may well be the sole inhabitant of the Gornetz Platz!

#63: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:45 am
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Scene of Crime Report 24

Summary,
It’s Christmas Eve and I’m back out at that school again. Would you belive that so many deaths could happen in one small area? It’s like the Midsomer Murders! Anyway I didn’t need a formal ID this time as it was the school Matron, Miss Gwynneth Lloyd. She’d actually been found by a former pupil - and don’t they hang around the place? - a Miss Mary-Lou Trelawney.

Scene
There have been some odd deaths up here over the last week, but this is one of the strangest, for the body had been dyed green! Not just any green either, this had a distinct shade of limeyness about it. A lime-green woman, what will we find next?
Miss Lloyd was in her room, lying on the floor on her back. She was fully dressed in her Matron’s uniform, and even the angel’s wings of her cap were arranged nicely spread out behind her head. She wasn’t quite lying to attention, but not far off. Beside her was an overturned upright chair that would normally have been neatly under the desk - indeed I had seen it there myself more than once. There was an empty bottle standing on the desk, with the cork lying beside it, and a medicine glass with dregs of liquid in it a few inches away. The rest of the room was exactly as I had seen it last - spotlessly clean and rigidly tidy with nothing out of place. I would expect that even her drawers followed this pattern. Her bed was made, wonderfully smooth with crisp hospital corners and not a blemish or a crease to be seen. Nothing had disturbed the pristine smoothness of the counterpane.
The room that opened off her bedroom (and also opened onto the landing outside) was used as a dispensary for everyday medicines. There was the usual paraphernalia in there. An examination couch, a set of scales for weighing pupils, an eye chart and so on. A large cupboard along one wall was standing open, though the key was in the lock suggesting that this was usually safely locked up. Inside were bottles of medicines of all sorts; a pestle and mortar that had been freshly washed; iodine; a jar of sulphur; a jar of saffron; (I have no idea why they should be in a medicine cupboard, but then nothing about this school is normal!); a huge jar of olive oil (very low quality stuff and not good enough for cooking); and an equally large bottle of cod-liver oil (and I pity any poor child made to swallow any of that stuff!).
Under the shelves were a number of drawers containing dried herbs and other substances used in the preparation of patent medicine, all neatly labelled.
Along another wall was an enormous cupboard which was locked. Upon finding the key on the bunch belonging to Matron Lloyd it was found to contain hundreds of boxes with the names of girls neatly printed onto the top of each. Investigation showed that these were the tuck boxes belonging to the pupils, and many and varied were the contents! The usual chocolates and sweets, jars of jam and marmalade, cakes, biscuits, crisps - you name it, it was there. One has to wonder if the school feeds these girls properly. And these were just the left-overs at the end of term..
Again umpteen photos were taken, though I have no idea when all these will be looked at. The bottle was carefully corked and bagged; the glass was sealed to preserve the liquid drops and bagged.
Both rooms were dusted for fingerprints.
The floor was dusted for footprints, and a number of images found, some belonging to the dead woman, and a number of others of varying sizes.

Processing
Analysis of the contents of the bottle
Analysis of the contents of the glass
Fingerprinting of both
Analysis of the contents of the drawers next door to see if anything there accounted for the green colour

Evidence Collected
Fingerprints
Footprints
Liquids in glass and bottle
Food from tuckboxes for personal sustenance in a trying time.

Pending
Results of analyses
Possible matching of fingerprints to those found at other murders scenes.
A break form all the murders
A quiet Christmas.

#64: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:52 am
—
So that's the REAL reason why Wendy and Bob aren't coming to stay with me after all!

Laughing

#65: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:29 am
—
Thank you Advent Drabblers!

#66: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 12:46 pm
—
Thanks, MD, Carolyn and Pat. I'm sorry to hear about Matey. I am laughing at the thought of myself being a deadly Morris Dancer! I know it wasn't specifically about me, but it still made me laugh!

#67: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 12:52 pm
—
Background Report 24

Name
Gwyneth Lloyd

Age
172

Main Residence
The Chalet School
Gornetz Platz
Berne Canton
Switzerland

Other Addresses
None registered

Family Relationships
Matron Lloyd had no living relatives, and although it is reported that her sister died only a few years ago, leaving a brother-in-law and nieces and nephews for Matron, we have been unable to trace them and no correspondence from them was discovered in her room. Why she would have invented a family is unclear, but is unlikely to be connected to her death.

Other Significant Relationships

Matron was not a member of the teaching staff, nor was she exactly 'domestic' staff, but was in most people's views much more important than either of them. She ruled the staff, pupils, old girls and Platz with an iron rod that was discovered in her office, standing next to the desk and decorated with an angel's wing cap. It seems unlikely that she had any close friends, but she was reported to have a soft spot for Joey Maynard and for one of the founders of the school, the one who is always forgotten, Mddle LaPattre. She died during the war, and it will be unlikely now that we will discover if that had anything to do with these current cases.

Employment
Matron had been employed by the school since it's Austrian days. Before this she had a varied experience. According her own notes she trained with Florence Nightingale, was a VAD during the first world war, and worked in a lunatic assylum before taking up her position at the school. She knew the correct way to do everything.

Other Notes
The details of her room have already been described in great detail in the scene of crime report. However a few things are worth noting. The most obvious was a life size rag doll. I say life size, but it was bigger than 2 of matey who was a wiry woman. The doll was 5 foot 6, had brown eyes, with dirty glasses, shoulder length brownish grey hair, and a tattoo of a celtic band around it's left wrist. It was labelled neatly in all it's clothes with the name Katarzyna. The other unusual thing was sat neatly on her desk, again labelled and was her Last Will and Testament, written several days ago when she seems to have decided to review it in light of the recent events, a very sensible precaution, but only what I would expect from her. This was unusual in
that it left all her posessions not to the school, nor to a worthy cause, but to be split jointly and equally between Joey Maynard and Mary-Lou Trelawney on one condition, 'that they ensure my beloved Katarzyna is burried in the same coffin as me.
It is worth noting that she died a very wealthy woman.'

#68: Author: Helen P, Location: Crewe, Cheshire

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:15 pm
—
She was 172? Laughing

Thank you ladies!

#69: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:08 pm
—
& she trained with Florence Nightingale Laughing

!

Are we going to see Joey and Mary-Lou bumped off too? *Smiles sweetly Laughing

#70: Author: Miranda, Location: Perth, Western Australia

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:12 pm
—
I can imagine that having worked in a lunatic asylum would be very useful for coping in a CS environment Laughing

ETA Although obviously a stint in a police academy may have come in more useful here... Poor Matey.

#71: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:27 pm
—
Forensic Report

Post Mortem

Examination - Hmmm, Christmas Eve and I get a call - 'Not busy are you?' - well apart from the fact that it's physically impossible - what does he think? Me not be busy Christmas Eve - the one day of the year when I am horrendously busy - but, being the really good person that I am, and wanting to pass on Christmas cheer...

*Silent Night, Holy Night *

Will you lot shut up? I'm trying to finish this blasted report! Anyway, victim was white female, 5' 3" tall, about 8 stone - yes of course I use Imperial measures - I am somewhat old-fashioned you know? Renowned for it. Age - now that's a difficult one - normally the state of the bones tells us the approximate age - within five years or so, but this woman is off the scale - either she is really old (and our levels go up to age 95 - or, more likely, the machine has caught some sore of virus from the DNA machine. To continue - well the green appearance of the body stumped me for some time, I'll admit - could think of no poison that could cause a body to turn such a spectacular shade of green - eventually though I worked it out - the body hadn't turned green - it had been painted green - all over (we're talking everywhere here). The paint was a lead based paint obtainable only from England - and before you get excited no, it wasn't lead poisoning. The murderer did, however, give the victim the poison, wait for her to die, then calmly undressed her, painted her and dressed her again - the SOC officer mentioned that the woman was lying almost at attention - that's your reason.

The body, apart from being such a lumious shade, had very little in the way of distinguishing marks upon it - there was a a series of letters and numbers stencilled on her arm - not a number indicating she had been incarcerated in the concentration camps - she was in England at the time - no this was very perplexing - KLONE 523,399 - no idea what it means.

*God Rest Ye Merry Gentle...*

Look haven't you got homes to go to? Push off will you, I'm busy. No I'm not going to donate to a good cause - I've got a rather important job on tonight and will be doing some donating of my own!

Time of Death - Victim discovered around 2pm, had not been seen at lunchtime apparently. Was removed to mortuaty by 3.30 pm and stomach was empty other than a small amount of whisky. Estimate therefore that victim died around 1230hrs.

Cause of Death - Rather easy to discover this once the blood work returned from the lab - victim died of cyanide poisoning, cyanide salts having been ingsted rather than inhaled - death was quick.

*We Three Kings of Orient are, one in a taxi, one in a car,*

Yes very funny - consider me laughing my socks off - now get lost, I should already have left for the Antipodes - I am soooo late.

Results
Analysis of bottle showed it contained whisky, a good brand,
Analysis of glass showed it also contained whisky - but with a little addition - potassium cyanide salts had been added to the whisky - would suggest victim was having a drink with her murderer.
Only fingerprints were those of the victim

Report dictated by S. Claus aka St Nicholas.

#72: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:07 pm
—
Thanks, MD, Pat and Carolyn. I was surprised to read Matey's age and the information about her family.

#73: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:31 pm
—
Witness Reports 24

Miss Mary-Lou Trelawney

No, no, no, no, no!!!!!!!! Not another one! I can’t stand this anymore. Everyone’s being killed! It’s like a new holocaust - all the people I knew from school are dying! And I know that I’m a suspect! You can’t hide that from me! But it wasn’t me! It wasn’t! I couldn’t do all that!
(Several deep breaths later, and mutterings about spineless jellyfish - what’s with these people?)
OK. Let me start again. I’m staying at the Maynards for Christmas, and popped over to school to see Matey. She’s been the one stable thing in all these deaths - always there as she always was. Only this time it was different. I knocked on the door as you always have to when you go to see Matey. The door wasn’t quite shut so I knew she was there; she always locks it when she goes out. When there wasn’t an answer I pushed the door slightly to see if I could see her. That’s when I saw her feet sticking up in the air! It was such a shock, especially as they needed new soles. I mean! Matey was always so immaculate, you just didn’t think of her having anything out of place. When I saw her feet I pushed the door right open and there was the rest of her. Lying on the floor on her back like she was when you arrived. I didn’t go in - we’ve all learnt not to go near the bodies haven’t we. I just ran for the phone.
When I heard about the Will it was a shock. Why should she leave it to me like that?

Fraulein Rita Meta Maiden, house maid (ex-parking metre attendant)

That’s it! I’m leaving - now! They can work out what they owe me, but I’m not staying here any longer. I was downstairs finishing off the cleaning. Anyway, I was getting on pretty well if I do say so myself, when I heard this almighty thump from upstairs. Right over my head it was. I thought the ceiling was coming in on me, but it didn’t. Something had fallen over that was clear. It was followed by an odd drumming noise. I suppose it was Matron’s feet on the floor, but it went on for a few minutes. Then I heard someone running downstairs - Miss Trelawney I think. She was on the phone when I went out into the hall anyway.

Mrs Josephine Maynard - again

Not Matey! I thought she was indestructible! And the Will! Well! You could have knocked me down with a feather duster. I never thought she had that much money. I haven’t seen her for a few days to be honest, we’re tending to keep to ourselves a lot more these days, though even that isn’t stopping the deaths is it? I’ve had strong words with Jack about the doses - I want to know what’s happening, and not be left vulnerable to anything that might happen.
I’m going to miss Matey a lot. She was one of the foundation Stones of the school, and always there. Like a rock you know. If I ever find out who killed her…..

Katarzyna, a doll

Not again! Please, not again! Can’t stand it again!
These mutterings are all that could be understood from this witness)

D Starsky

See? What did I tell you? Nothing of any use to anyone!

#74: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:30 pm
—
Matey was a clone Shocked

?

(I am v glad Santa uses imperial measures as I will never understand metric ones.)

There's something rather appropriate in her having been killed by a dose in her drink Rolling Eyes

#75: Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 6:55 pm
—
Oh dear! It's never going to end!

Stuck in Advent Drabble Hell with the matey clones, to be recycled every year!

I will get you all back for this you know, one day, when you are least expecting it!

Other than that - Thank you - i think!

#76: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:13 pm
—
Thanks, Carolyn, Pat and MD. I am looking forward to finding out who did it when the time comes.

#77: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:18 pm
—
LOL - brilliant.

For explanation of the 'clone' and why Kate should be buried in the same coffin, you need to read 'Holocaust' in the archives - if you have a strong stomach Shocked

I still don't know who dunnit

Confused

#78: Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:54 pm
—
So when does it finish? Very Happy

Thanks drabblers

#79: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:17 pm
—

nikkie wrote:

So when does it finish? Very Happy

Thanks drabblers

Well not quite yet!

Watch this space as they say. Twisted Evil

#80: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 10:39 pm
—
*giggles madly!*
Thanks youy three!
(love Kate the rag doll by the way!!) Laughing

#81: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:15 pm
—
Christmas Day

There is something very disconcerting happening. There has been no murder, no body, no strange occurrences. This is somehow more disturbing than the last 4 weeks have been. A body has been discovered, a murder committed every day since the beginning of the month, then today, nothing, zilch, nada, neyt, just a normal Christmas Day.

We are sill no closer to discovering who is behind these grisly deaths. There are 24 people who are no longer suspects, although at some point over the last few weeks most of them have been suspect. However this community is one of the strangest and most frightening I have ever come across, and remember that I trained in Las Vegas, Sunnydale and Ambridge.

It is now evening and all day I have been waiting for the phone call that will recall me to the Platz to attend the discovery of another body, and it has not come. Will my evening be disturbed by the phone call that I feel must come today as it has everyday? The team have not been able to take Christmas holidays, how could we allow it with a multiple murderer on the loose, but they were able to attend Mass this morning and have been given a few hours this evening to visit their families. Hopefuly those few hours will not be disturbed by the dreaded phone call we are all expecting.

#82: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:55 pm
—
Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. I wonder why there wasn't a murder today.

#83: Author: ibarhis, Location: Dunstable

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 11:50 pm
—
Because the rogue clone has been deactivated?

#84: Author: arky72, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:16 am
—
bah.

I still don't know who did it or who the MD is and it's driving me nuts!

#85: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
—

Advent Drabblers wrote:

However this community is one of the strangest and most frightening I have ever come across, and remember that I trained in Las Vegas, Sunnydale and Ambridge.

*sniggers*

So...who did it?

#86: Author: Woofter,

Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:35 pm
—
I know come on tell us. Who was it???

#87: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:51 pm
—
All in good time Woofter, all in good time!

Boxing Day

There has still been no telephone call. No further bodies discovered. Maybe it is over. Maybe we can breath again. Maybe we can sleep again. Maybe the lab can have time to catch up and process the evidence already collected.

Now, with a breathing space I can reassess the evidence, look again at the victims and the suspects. All the victims had some connection to the peculiar community of the Gornetz Platz, mainly to the school, but in the case of at least one victim to the Sanatorium ( and the two are inextricably linked in any case.) Having said that they are as wide a variety of people as possible, male and female, staff, pupils – both current and ex, domestic staff and various hangers-on. Their connection with the Platz is the only connection between them, there is no prelidiction shown by the murderer to young girls, old men, blondes, brunettes, glasses or any other oddity. Apart from the oddity of being involved in the Gornetz Platz.

As for suspects, well with 'Matey' being ruled out on Christmas Eve - and did anyone else think her funeral was performed rather too quickly? Who gets buried on Christmas Day for goodness sake? Well obviously Matey does - very strange affair altogether - why on Earth did she want to be buried with that Katazyna doll? Anyone would think she never wanted to be parted from her. Anyway, we are now left with Mary-Lou Trelawny, the TV archaeologist who seems to have followed in the footsteps of another suspect, Josephine Maynard, nee Bettany for having a pathological obsession with her old school. Both seem to think it their duty to meddle in other people's lives and model them according to their own ideas, some of which are very odd. Murder would fit either of them.

Then there is Nell Wilson. An enigma,

When I'm with her I'm confused
Out of focus and bemused
And I never know exactly where I am
Unpredictable as weather
She's as flighty as a feather
She's a darling! She's a demon! She's a lamb!

She'd outpester any pest
Drive a hornet from its nest
She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl
She is gentle! She is wild!
She's a riddle! She's a child!
She's a headache! She's an angel!
She's a girl!

Oops, sorry. Went into Christmas TV mode there. Still it does sum up certain parts of Miss Wilson, and there is her continued snubbing by the school, the appointment of Miss Annersly above her, the co-head that was in reality a deputies position, the shunting her off to the finishing branch, which gives her motive to take revenge on the school.

Then there are the two remaining Maynard Triplets. Again they are strangely unaffected by the deaths, which include two of their sisters, but they also have strong reasons for wanting to take revenge on this community which has moulded them throughout their lives into the leader and the invisible dreamer, neither of which actually suits the triplet the role has been given to.

Then there are all the other people who have been connected to the case in one way or another, the Russells, Jack Maynard, Carlotta von Ahlen, other members of staff, Anna, Rosli, and many others...any one of them could have motive.

But who did it?

So, do you, do you think you know, do you want to make any odd guesses just for the fun of it...you never know you might solve it totally by accident! PM your guesses to Advent Drabblers (so we can all see and don't have to remember to tell each other) by midnight on 30/12/06. We will post to say who, if anyone, got it right and may list some of the wrong suggestions without saying who made them.

Several people have also guessed the Mystery Advent Drabbler, we will be saying who if we can remember all their names, but you also have until that time to make a guess for that person.

No prizes, just fun! Twisted Evil

#88: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:43 pm
—
Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. I definitely liked the song!

#89: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:39 am
—
No more deaths? Crying or Very sad

Thank you Advent Drabblers. I'm no nearer guessing who dunnit - you keep killing off my suspects Wink

#90: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:25 pm
—
Thanks, Advent drabblers. Isn't Advent over now?

#91: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:36 pm
—

Jennie wrote:

Thanks, Advent drabblers. Isn't Advent over now?

So would you like us to stop here and not reveal the ending? Twisted Evil

Anyway the dates of advent change according to which calendar you use. Cool

#92: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 8:26 pm
—
27th December

Nell Wilson put down the pen with a sigh. She was pretty sure she had covered everything, budget, staffing, teaching, planning, training, recruitment, discipline, equal opportunities, future growth, and an awful lot more besides. Last time she had not been acting head, Nancy Wilmot had been appointed instead, but this time, this time was surely her chance. It was not as if she were new to the role after all, there had been the year back in England, and of course her work at St Mildred's, but she knew that she had still been considered subordinate to Hilda even then. She had put a lot of work into the forthcoming meeting with Lady Russell. The last few weeks she had hardly slept, not from fear of being killed, that hardly figured in her plans, but from the sheer hard work of making sure that she had everything at her fingertips, could quash any objection, could finally become Head of the Chalet School.

Mary-Lou was also sleepless. She had known all along that she was right to come out to the Platz holiday after holiday, to keep her involvement with the school, to remain 'the spirit of the school', 'the proper Chalet Girl'. She was never wrong, especially where money was involved. She had made a pretty penny by knowing rather a lot about people and how to handle them, but that was nothing compared to what she was about to inherit. She had plans for that money, but knew that even her most ambitious plans would barely eat into her part of Matey's money.

#93: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:05 pm
—
Hmmmm....
The plot thickens!

Thanks you three!

#94: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:11 pm
—
Well most people would have a reason for murdering at least one of the victims....

But who would be murdering them all? Unless it was a gang?

Nope - no closer!

Thanks Advents Drabblers

#95: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:46 pm
—
Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. It was interesting to hear from Nell and Mary-Lou.

#96: Author: leahbelle, Location: Kilmarnock

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 10:48 am
—
This gets more and more intruiging!

#97: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:00 pm
—
Madge and Jem
Madge and Jem Russell were getting ready for bed, both lost in their own thoughts. Inevitably these concerned the spate of killings on the Platz, and the resulting staffing shortages. Madge heaved a sigh as she brushed out her hair.
“What’s the matter my dear?” asked Jem solicitously.
“What do you think Jem? All those people dead. Twenty-four of them! Hilda, Matey, Nancy, Margot….all of them gone so suddenly. Who could have done it? Who would have wanted all those people dead?”
“I have no idea Madge. But it’s no use fretting my dear. Best leave it up to the Police; it’s their job to find that out after all. “
“And apart from everything else, how are we going to teach the girls next term with so many of the staff gone? That’s if we have any girls let that is! Can you see any parent wanting to let their child continue at the school after this?”
“Won’t that depend on whether they catch whoever did it? Besides which, my dear, the girls are all still here if you remember. The Police won’t let them go home until they solve the case you know. As for staff, well we must advertise. I’m sure that there are any number of well qualified people who could fill the vacancies.”
Madge giggled quietly. “Can you see the advert?” she said.
“Vacancies at the Chalet School
Staff required for the following subject areas:
Religious Studies and Sixth form English
Maths
Geography
Music
Games
In addition:
Secretary for both the chalet School proper and St Mildred’s
Matron
Nurse
Oh! Nearly forgot! Headmistress, of course!”
"Won't we give that to Nell?"
"Well, I don't know, do you really think she is suitable after..."
"You may be right, we can let her apply through the usual channels and see who else there is."

Joan Baker

Joan Baker sat in her hotel room, thinking deeply. She had come to the Platz to talk to the Head about a reference for a job, as she wanted to make sure that whatever was said did her justice. She was very aware that she had never been considered to be a ‘real’ chalet School girl, whatever that meant, and she didn’t want that perception to prejudice her chances at what was really a very good post in an international business. She had arrived on the last day of November, and had been going to contact Miss Dene when the first murder had happened. Now she was contemplating her future in the light of the recent happenings. They would need a competent secretary at the school, and one who was familiar with the special nature of the school at that. She already knew how rare was the fluent command of three languages, and she believed that she would stand a good chance if she cared to apply.

#98: Author: Liane, Location: Manchester

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:05 pm
—

Advent Drabblers wrote:

"Well, I don't know, do you really think she is suitable after..."

After what?
Thanks you three, I'm really enjoying this.

#99: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:38 pm
—
Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. I wonder why they are doubting Nell's suitability.

#100: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 5:40 am
—
Are you sure you want to work there, Joan?

I hope she didn't kill all those people, though.

Thanks Drabblers. I'm really looking forward to discovering the truth!

#101: Author: Woofter,

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:52 am
—
So when will we find out then, Hogmany?

#102: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 3:58 pm
—
Well, I'm no nearer finding out whodunnit.

#103: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 8:24 pm
—
29th December

'Dear Lady Russell
I'm writing to formally apply for the post of Headmistress of the Chalet School. I have been Senior Mistress for many years and feel that I have the experience and drive to move the Chalet School into a new era. I had the opportunity to observe and learn from the late Hilda Annersley for many years and feel...'

Ruth Derwent stopped and sighed - it was very difficult to both praise the last holder of the title Headmistress and to say that she felt sweeping changes were needed. She didn't think she would ever get the opportunity then the murders started - and oh how she had prayed - she surely couldn't be held responsible for any of the deaths, could she? No. it was impossible. But now, this chance...she thought about Nell Wilson - her only real rival, and with a better claim than Ruth - was it too late to pray for another death? It had worked before, after all. No, better just emphasise in the application letter the new and radical ideas, the changes that you want, with Lady Russell's permission, to introduce.

And perhaps a little additional 'praying' tonight? We'll see.

...

'There, that's the last of them,' Barbara Henschell folded the last of the clean towels and placed them in the linen cupboard, she smiled, 'not as difficult as I'd been made to think, being in charge of the Domestic side, whatever Matey used to say,' She stopped and smiled, Matey - that was her title now, finally, after so many years of 'Yes Matron, no Matron, of course Matron.' Why on earth Matey was so pedantic and slow about things she couldn't guess =-perhaps it was because she really was an old lady - 'I just knew some of the things she said were old fashioned, had gone out of fashoin before World War One - but would she listen? No. Well she was no longer here to continually tell Barbara that she was to do it her way - now it was all up to Matron Barbara Henschell, Senior Matron Henschell - Matey herself - the murder was the best thing that could have happened.'

#104: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:13 pm
—
Hmm, was it a plot between the modernisers to kill off the Old Guard and bring the CS up to date?

#105: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:01 pm
—
How many more suspects are there Rolling Eyes

#106: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:10 pm
—

Alison H wrote:

How many more suspects are there Rolling Eyes

Quite a few on my list Shocked

I just hope the Advent drabblers have decided who dunnit. Twisted Evil

Thank you, ADs.

#107: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:35 pm
—
We know all right! Twisted Evil

#108: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:38 pm
—
Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. It's interesting that Barbara has been waiting to become 'Matey'.

I was just wondering if you knew whom the murderer was when you started writing these? Did you decide at the end?

#109: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:40 pm
—
Right from the very beginning Chair!

#110: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:47 pm
—
We knew who the murderer was before we knew who was killed!

#111: Author: Lottie, Location: Humphrey's Corner

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 11:31 pm
—

Carolyn P wrote:

We knew who the murderer was before we knew who was killed!

So there is only one murderer then? I wondered if it was several different people.

#112: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:33 pm
—
December 30th

Anna was packing, and the smile on her face was positively feral. She had no need to apply for Karen’s job, not after the phone call she’d received from the Head of the Family. Only one thing marred her current situation, and that was the continuing good health of Joey Maynard. How that lady was still alive was something she would never understand. Certainly her Family would not have made that mistake, and as far as she was concerned it proved that this killer was an amateur. Otherwise she was well pleased. Not only did she get more regular hours at the school, but she inherited all Karen’s little ‘perks’ like the additional income and the nice little house in the country on her ‘retirement’. No, she didn’t think she’d miss her cousin very much at all.

#113: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 4:53 pm
—
Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. I hope you didn't mind me asking about how this drabble was written - I was just curious.

#114: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:36 pm
—
Crying or Very sad

How could she not miss Karen?

I know what she means about wondering how the killer's missed Joey though!

#115: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:57 pm
—

Chair wrote:

Thanks, Pat, Carolyn and MD. I hope you didn't mind me asking about how this drabble was written - I was just curious.

We may let you know when we let you know who the MD is!!!

#116: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:04 pm
—

Quote:

How that lady was still alive was something she would never understand. Certainly her Family would not have made that mistake,

So in Anna's opinion, it was not 'Family' (btw - love the capital F Twisted Evil

)
and it doesn't appear to be Anna *crosses Anna of list of survivors/suspects*

Thank you 3 Wise Drabblers.

#117: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:11 pm
—
Honeycombe
Honeycombe surveyed the room from his place on Vikki's bed. He was quite content now he was home. The Gornetz Platz was a nice place to visit, but it had it's hair-raising moments, especially in December and he wasn't quite sure he would like to take up permanent residence there. Still from his current secure position he could make himself see it all as a great adventure; as long as Vikki was in the room and he had her passport hidden he could anyway. He was making sure that she didn't plan to take him anywhere dangerous again, not for a few months anyway. By March he felt he might just be ready for another adventure, but not just yet.

In total they had been away for most of December, arriving back just in time for Christmas and Honeycombe was thankful to the Sugarplum fairy for arranging that. He had sneaked onto the computer while Vikki was sleeping and checked his own email, discovering that all the toys and teddies and pets had made it home; all save the doll that is, Matey had been smart there binding it with a will. They had all met on msn on Christmas day night and held an online wake for the doll and there had been much hugging. Honeycombe liked hugging.

None of them had even suggested holding a wake for Georgia. It didn't seem safe to even think about her, never mind mention her. There had been other times they had thought they were safe as well and somehow she had always come back, just like in a horror film. Only without being defeated in the final scene. Maybe if they kept very quiet about her this time would be different.

Jack and Joey Maynard
Jack watched Joey in some exasperation. Why did she still insist on wearing her hair so long and in such an odd style. He knew it made her stand out from the crowd, but so would a smart modern cut and some colour. He could see her as a redhead, or even just a brunette. Anything as long as it was shorter and didn't take so long each night to unpin, unwind, brush and then loosely plait to stop it from tangling in the night. It took her almost an hour each night, and even longer in the mornings. He was sure he could think of a better use of that hour each night, or even part of it. There were the household accounts for instance, or reviewing the days hatched, matched and dispatched together. Not that they hadn't reviewed the dispatched recently, they could hardly have avoided it.

Joey surreptitiously poured her milk onto the aspidistra that sat in the pot next to her dressing table. She knew Jack was concerned about her and wanted the very best for her, but she felt it important to keep her wits about her just now and not risk being doped up.

“Jack, are you working over New Year?”
“Yes, I need to be in tomorrow, in the evening I am afraid. With everything that has been going on we decided to allow the junior staff the night off. The young fellows are all shaken up and need to be with their families I thought. So Jem and I are covering, handy having them here really; with a few other other more senior doctors. It should be quiet, mad parties are not really the done thing at the moment are they?”
“No,” Joey sighed, “I suppose it wouldn't go down well would it.” She felt inside the drawer. Wrapped in a slender box was a little present for Jack, for New Year. It was just a little 'something' she had prepared specially for him. 'Oh well, if he isn't here I'll just slip up to the San tomorrow evening sometime and surprise him with it,' she thought, 'after all, I am sure I'll be safe, I am a Chalet Girl of course, and the Spirit of the School to boot.”

#118: Author: Kat, Location: Kingston-upon-Thames/Swansea

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:53 pm
—
*giggling at the last line*

Poor Joey!

#119: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:19 pm
—
Yawn, look at the time, after ten - I'm sure I told Pat and Carolyn I'd post earlier today, oh well, they're used to me being late - though it has caused unexpected surprises on occasion hasn't it? Like when I didn't get Hilary Graves' SOC off to them until the day before we were posting - Pat was very rude then - having an email with just 'You swine!' as the message could be quite hurtful! Wink

Can't understand it, myself - I thought it was funny Hilary being a man - oh well. Still she got her own back, including me in the suspects in her witness report - thought she'd given the game away then, but no one seemed to notice. Didn't we say people had until midnight to guess my identity? Oh well, it's only an hour or so early - if they've not guessed by now they never will.

Have really enjoyed doing these - though it's been difficult juggling it with RCS and with work - still, nearly over now.
Laughing

#120: Author: Kat, Location: Kingston-upon-Thames/Swansea

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:29 pm
—
So that's why Carolyn and Pat have had so much trouble - you've been too busy reading RCS to work! Shame on you, MAD!

And (I can't believe I'm saying this!) shame on you Lesley, for writing more RCS and keeping MAD from their job!

Laughing

#121: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:49 pm
—
Have just caught up with this from last week - Orange/Wanadoo decided to stop working and it took me 3 days to get it sorted.

Thanks to all 3 of you for a very entertaining advent.

#122: Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:28 am
—
Right that's it, as she's unmasked herself, I am going to have a little gloat..............

I've known who was MAD since 3rd December !!! Smile

#123: Author: Helen P, Location: Crewe, Cheshire

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:40 am
—
*Gloats along with Kate* I knew almost straight away as well! Very Happy

#124: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:45 am
—
I am NOT MAD. Twisted Evil

#125: Author: Kat, Location: Kingston-upon-Thames/Swansea

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:48 am
—
Oh yes you are! Laughing

#126: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:21 pm
—
I'm too late to submit a guess for the murderer - but as the deadline has passed, please will you tell us who dunnit?

#127: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:35 pm
—
Yes! Twisted Evil

#128: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 1:07 pm
—
Now, please?

#129: Author: Kat, Location: Kingston-upon-Thames/Swansea

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 2:21 pm
—
*giggling* Laughing

#130: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:26 pm
—
Such impatience!...And no, it doesn't mean one of us is getting out of bed in the early hours to post this time!! Laughing

I may get around to posting the penultimate part soon. Twisted Evil

#131: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:31 pm
—

Carolyn P wrote:

Such impatience!...And no, it doesn't mean one of us is getting out of bed in the early hours to post this time!! Laughing

I may get around to posting the penultimate part soon. Twisted Evil

But maybe she won't. Wink

#132: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:48 pm
—

Lesley wrote:

Carolyn P wrote:

Such impatience!...And no, it doesn't mean one of us is getting out of bed in the early hours to post this time!! Laughing

I may get around to posting the penultimate part soon. Twisted Evil

But maybe she won't. Wink

Well it does depend on your definition of soon.

#133: Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:45 pm
—
Yay I was right (well I suspected 2 people Embarassed

)
There was so many cliffs I had to suspect Lesley at somepoint.
Did she also do the murders? Wink

#134: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:04 pm
—
Are you accusing Lesley of actually finishing off Hilda? Shocked

#135: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:10 pm
—
Here goes then, the penultimate episode!

New Years Eve
Jack looked round the staff room before starting his annual end of year speech, yes, they were all there.
“Well, I think this last year has been a rather successful one. We have gained and lost staff members, always to our liking, the profits are up, the school has grown and will need several new young, unmarried staff members and the secret Santa we ran throughout December has been a great success. Special thanks has to go to Jem for arranging some of the more 'interesting' DNA results, retrofitting the DNA machine with an Historical Hysterical Database was a stroke of genius. I only have one question left to ask...”
Jack paused here and looked around the room at Reg Entwistle, Jem Russell, Neil Shepherd, Phil Graves, Eugeun Coursiouver and Frank Peters, leaving a questioning look on each of them, especially on Reg and Jem.
“Why did none of you put Joey on your Secret Santa lists? I couldn't because she walked into the study as I was writing it and I had to pretend it was a Christmas Card list, but I was sure it wouldn't matter, that all of you would want her killed almost as much as I did.”
Reg swallowed, “I almost included her but was sure everyone else would and didn't want to waste an option”
Jack looked round the room, everyone was nodding.
“So, we all made a list of people we wanted killed, and none of us included my dear wife because we all thought someone else would.”
Reg shifted in his seat, “I presume the same thing happened with that Mary-Lou brat as well,?” he asked.
There was a nod from Phil Graves, and then a hoot of laughter from Jem.
“Make sure you invite me to join your secret Santa again next year, and I'll put both of them on my list, as long as whoever draws it out promises to kill them both twice.”
The room disolved into laughter and Jack poured the champagne he had got for them to toast the New Year.

Joey meanwhile was not at home as Jack imagined her to be, she had come to the san to give him his present and wish him and his colleagues Happy New Year, but had paused outside the room on hearing her name mentioned. She knew it was dishonourable to listen, but when had ordinary rules ever apply to her.
“So, thats what you are up to Jack Maynard is it...well, we will see about that. Killing me twice indeed! Now, lets see what Mary-Lou can come up with...” and she crept quietly away.

#136: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:22 pm
—
Shocked

I can hardly blame them - they've been providing 'cameo' roles as potential husbands for the CS for so many years!

*wonders what Jennie will say if Jo succeeds in giving her 'gift'. Twisted Evil

#137: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:24 pm
—

Pat wrote:

Are you accusing Lesley of actually finishing off Hilda? Shocked

Never!!!!!

If you knew how much that hurt, writing about it. Crying or Very sad

#138: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:25 pm
—

Lesley wrote:

Pat wrote:

Are you accusing Lesley of actually finishing off Hilda? Shocked

Never!!!!!

If you knew how much that hurt, writing about it. Crying or Very sad

Well it was you who suggested including her on the list!

#139: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:26 pm
—
And it had to be Hilda or Nell - one of them had to go!

#140: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:28 pm
—
Only because had she not been included it would have given away to all just who was the Mystery Drabbler.

#141: Author: Nicola, Location: Derbyshire

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:00 pm
—
Oh, that's brilliant, thank you all three of you!

#142: Author: Sugarplum, Location: second star to the right!

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:25 pm
—
fantastic

#143: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:07 pm
—
Laughing

I never saw that coming!

#144: Author: Kat, Location: Kingston-upon-Thames/Swansea

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:10 pm
—
*gloats and giggling alternately*

Thank you, all three of you! Very Happy

#145: Author: Miranda, Location: Perth, Western Australia

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:03 am
—
Well THAT was a shock!! Shocked

#146: Author: Helen P, Location: Crewe, Cheshire

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:47 am
—
*Giggles appreciatively*

How fantastic! Laughing

Thank you all three!

#147: Author: Liane, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:37 pm
—
That was fantastic, thanks all of you!

#148: Author: arky72, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:00 pm
—
Brilliant!

I have adored this advent drabble, thank you Carolyn, Pat & Lesley!

#149: Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:06 pm
—
I knew there was a reason that i avoided the secret santa things this year!

Ok, that was the penultimate paragraph............... how long till the ultimate one??

#150: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:44 pm
—

Katarzyna wrote:

I knew there was a reason that i avoided the secret santa things this year!

Ok, that was the penultimate paragraph............... how long till the ultimate one??

Sometime later today. And yes, it is already written! Laughing

#151: Author: Advent Drabblers,

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:38 pm
—
New Years Day

Mary-Lou had come up trumps thought Joey as she issued the hurriedly prepared invitations. An afternoon soiree for some of the higher ranking Doctors given by the wife of the Head of the Sanatorium. None of them could refuse, and none of them did. You did not generally refuse an invitation from Joey Maynard, not if you didn't want to be butted in upon anyway.
The guests laughed as they surveyed her sandwiches, fillings for which she was renown, Peanut butter and sprout; kipper and meringue; horseradish and Stilton; all of which were strong enough flavours to disguise the taste.

The sedative was strong enough to knock them all out. Then the heavy work, icicles from the eaves were taken and hammered straight through the eyes and into the brains. The icicles were left to melt, leaving no evidence of tool marks, fingerprints or bullets. That just left the bodies to dispose of. Mary-Lou and Joey worked together, giggling as they did.
“They thought they were so clever, Divine Doctors,” said Mary-Lou.
“Well they did manage to kill 24 people between them, but imagine thinking they could kill me and you. Unthinkable. I was the first pupil and you are Our One and Only.”
“What did you feed Jack, he is so heavy,” grunted Mary-Lou as she heaved the deceased doctor to the garage.
“It's all those bloody cream cakes, he would eat them.”

Between them they managed to get all the doctors into the freezer in the garage.
“I'll collect them one by one as I ship things back and forth for the next dig. It is in a cave system and there is a lake in the bottom too deep for us to dive. A certain someone owes me a favour, and with even a tiny amount of Matey's money will prove very willing. We will drop them in, one by one, see who makes the biggest splash,” said Mary-Lou as they shut the lid on top of Jem.
“Wonderful, all done and dusted then.”
“That's right, and wasn't it easy. Never mind one a day, we've just managed 7 at once.”
“Yes, it does make you think doesn't it,” replied Joey with a gleam, “I mean if it is this easy, maybe...well Simone was always a pain and was very rude to me the other day in her letter, called me intefering...and then there is Nell Wilson, I didn't manage it when I was Head Girl, despite trying, but now...”
Mary-Lou looked thoughtful, “You might have a point there Auntie Joey. I always thought that Joan Baker got away too lightly with not being a proper Chalet Girl, and then there is Sybil.”
“Ah, yes, Sybil,” Joey nodded, “and have you considered...”
Their talk went on late into the night.

THE END!

TILL NEXT TIME!?

#152: Author: Helen P, Location: Crewe, Cheshire

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:46 pm
—
Fantastic!! Well my suspect was Mary Lou, so I was sort of right in a very roundabout way... Laughing

Thank you for a month of wonderful entertainment!

#153: Author: Elle, Location: Peterborough

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:52 pm
—
Brilliant! I have loved this so much, infact I think it was the only thing that kept sane in the run up to Christmas. Thank you so much. I am already looking forwards to next advent.

#154: Author: Kat, Location: Kingston-upon-Thames/Swansea

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:53 pm
—
Laughing

Thank you!

Feeling rather sorry for the ones left alive though... Shocked

#155: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:58 pm
—
That was wonderful! I'm sorry to see it end, as it's brightened up my advent, too. Except when Gill died, of course.

#156: Author: Nicola, Location: Derbyshire

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:36 pm
—
Fabulous! Thank you, oh great and glorious triumvirate.

#157: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:42 pm
—
Thanks you three!

#158: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:16 pm
—
Wonderful ending - in fact, wonderful all through! Thank you very much for all the hard work, Advent Drabblers.

#159: Author: Miranda, Location: Perth, Western Australia

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:23 pm
—
Brilliant all round Smile

Thank you oh three wise and great drabblers!

#160: Author: Sugarplum, Location: second star to the right!

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:08 am
—
Absolutely wonderful Laughing

And thank you so much for not killing off Jacynth and Gay!

#161: Author: janem, Location: Ash, Surrey

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:39 am
—
That was so clever and has been such fun to read. Thank you for all the hard work you put in, all of you.

I had suspected Mary-Lou but decided that it was all too much for one person alone so was on the way to the truth, but the doctors? I never expected that.

Just brilliant Very Happy

#162: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:10 am
—
A good giggle right to the end!

Thanks, Advent Drabblers - this has been most enjoyable Very Happy

#163: Author: arky72, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:36 am
—
I was suspicious of Joey all the way through! But I didn't quite expect it to end like that!

*already looking forward to next year*

#164: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:10 am
—
Wonderful. I just wish they had managed to kill Jo off as well.

#165: Author: KathrynW, Location: London

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:13 am
—
Fantastic, thank you so much the thre of you - this has been fab!

#166: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:49 pm
—
Thank you, Carolyn, Pat and Lesley. I have been away for New Year, so I have only just caught up. I really enjoyed this drabble and I am trying very hard not to explode with laughter! I didn't guess the MD or the murderers at all. It was definitely a great surprise.

#167: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:22 am
—
What an ending! Laughing

And no, never had an inkling that so many doctors would be in on the first 24. No wonder the list had no particular pattern. (Apologies if it did, and I was too dim to notice Embarassed

)

Cunning weaponry for Joey & ML, but that plan for the bodies seems a trifle bold even for our heroines. With all those cunning detectives about, I expect arrests by 12th night.... Twisted Evil

Many thanks, you three!

#168: Author: BethC, Location: Worcester, UK

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:34 pm
—
Nice ending... Laughing

Many thanks, you three - this has been great fun throughout, particularly some of the witness interviews!
Very Happy

#169: Author: ElKel, Location: Miles away

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:12 pm
—
Absolutely fantastic! Thank you very much, Advent Drabblers! I didn't have a clue who the murderer(s) would turn out to be, but I love the idea of a Secret Santa for making the list of victims Laughing

#170: Author: Tara, Location: Malvern, Worcestershire

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:06 am
—
At last I can find out! And I would never have guessed! I suspected Nell - and I'd love to know if she did get the Headship ...
The doctors never for a moment crossed my mind. And Joey lives. Very Happy

This has been brilliant, drabblers three, thanks for all the hard work and convoluted thinking. Wink

#171: Author: Woofter,

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:16 am
—
I deffinately did not expect that although like arky I did suspect Joey.

Brilliant ending! Very Happy

Thank you AD's.

#172: Author: Hannah-Lou, Location: Glasgow

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:30 pm
—

Advent Drabblers wrote:

Special thanks has to go to Jem for arranging some of the more 'interesting' DNA results, retrofitting the DNA machine with an Historical Hysterical Database was a stroke of genius.

Ace! The machine wasn't broken after all!! Laughing

Thanks a lot, all three of you. I've thoroughly enjoyed this Very Happy

#173: Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:48 pm
—
Fantastic ending Laughing

So will anyone be left by next year?

#174: Author: Lottie, Location: Humphrey's Corner

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:32 pm
—
I'm still speechless! Shocked

#175: Author: Vick, Location: Leeds, Yorkshire

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:58 pm
—
Thank you all 3 Advent Drabblers for keeping me entertained throughout Very Happy

i had no idea whodunnit, & had to laugh when i found out Laughing

#176: Author: Karoline, Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:38 pm
—
Fantastic you three, thank you very much

#177: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:25 am
—
Apologies for my very belated catch up on this Embarassed

But what a fabulous ending - I was absolutely nowhere even in the same universe with my guesses for the murderer(s)

Thankyou so much, Pat, Lesley and Carolyn for all your hard work, I have really enjoyed each update and being thoroughly confuzzled

Have you stated on this years yet?

(ducks and hides) Wink

#178: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:17 pm
—

Dawn wrote:

Have you stated on this years yet?

(ducks and hides) Wink

Well, we haven't started writing Advent 07 yet....but we have talked about it. Plans are afoot. Personally I am still pushing for a change, for it to be all cute little faires, fluffy pink hallmark bunnies and sweetness and light!

In case people are wondering, no one actually guessed the solution to the murders this year, and yes, there were real clues scattered here and there. Quite a few people guessed Lesley's identity as the Mystery Advent Drabber, Helen P and Kate were among the first, and about half a dozen other people followed after at various points, especialy after the early morning post one day!

If you want to know about the writing, we had to draw up a table saying who died on which day, who murdered them, who was to be the main suspect and how they died. This meant we could have several people who would be main suspects and it would be possible for them to have done certain murders or they would have a motive for doing so, it also meant that we avoided ending up with someone being a witness to a murder when they had actually died themselves several days beforehand!! We all wrote some of the Scene of Crime reports, then Lesley did the forensic, I did the background and Pat did the Witness reports.

We are all glad that you enjoyed reading the advent drabbles. They have become a real feature of the holidays for me, this was the fourth year I have done them! It is the way everyone joins in, guessing who did the crime, or whatever else we have included each year that really makes it work. So thank you as well. Razz

Now, Pat, Lesley....get ready for 2007! Twisted Evil

#179: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:17 pm
—
Well, I'm very late commenting on this, thanks to BT who blatantly STOLE my broadband and phoneline from Dec 29th til Jan 16th....

Huge thanks to Pat, Carolyn and Lesley for all their hard work and ingenuity! (and Honeycomb very much enjoyed his starring role too!)

#180: Author: Rosie, Location: Brest. Still amuses me...

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:34 pm
—
Well I'm even later to comment, as I have only just finished reading them all! Had neither the time nor the interent access last term, but I have passed a very enjoyable few evenings this week giggling away, so cheers guys!

The CBB -> St Clare's House

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