The+Ballroom+Mystery

**The Ballroom Mystery** //By: RJ and Sam// One night in a triangle ballroom at the Triple Crown Hotel, four people were having a meeting for the fantasy football draft. Just after the 3rd round had ended, you could hear glass shattering as smoke filled the room. This was followed by a blood-curdling scream from a man somewhere in the room. After the smoke had cleared, everybody was confused except the man on the floor cringing in pain. The man was a young bachelor who was hosting the draft. It seemed that the man had a shuriken impaled into his spleen and there was blood pouring everywhere onto the floor. The police came to the crime scene to investigate. They said that since the window was shattered that the person who committed the crime was from outside. Also, they said that the killer must have been some sort of a ninja because of the smoke bomb thrown in the room and the shuriken in the man’s spleen. Since the police were unable to gather any more solid information they brought in their top detective, Oswald Blueberry. Oswald was a short, stocky man in his late forties. He wore dark blue spectacles and always carried a gold pocket watch. He spoke with a strong German accent. “I smell a murder case,” Oswald said outside the door of the ballroom. “   Right through this door Mr. Blueberry,” said the hotel manager as he pointed through the door. “   Thank you, kind sir.” Oswald went in and noticed many things that the police had not. He noticed that the shuriken had impaled the man from the side an angle so that the murderer must have been near the east side of the room, close to one of the three windows. He also noticed that since there was a shuriken and a smoke bomb involved, and he concluded that the murderer was a shadow ninja. He noticed something that was controversial to something the police had said. The glass from the window had shattered outside onto the grass instead of inside like it should have so he found out that the murderer had been in the room at the time of the murder, and they broke the window to make it look like someone from outside had done it. With this information, Oswald Blueberry started planning out interviews with all the people who were in the room at the time. The first person to be interviewed was the clerk from the hotel. The clerk’s name was Oscar Smith. He was a tall man with blonde hair and broad shoulders. He had been recently given a raise. “Good day Oscar,” said Oswald, “How have you been doing lately.” “   Pretty nice besides seeing a man die from a shuriken.” “   That’s good and yes, that was unfortunate. But this could all be resolved if you could just tell me what you were doing during the evening of the 3rd of May.” “   Well, I was in the ballroom while we were having a fantasy football draft. Just after I had drafted Drew Brees, I could hear glass shattering and then I couldn’t see anything. After my senses had come back, a man was dead of the floor and the police came.” “   That should be enough sir, thank you for your time.” A man walked the clerk out of the room and then Oswald was just sitting by himself. Oswald had a lot to think about after his interesting conversation with the clerk. Although the clerk had seemed innocent about everything he had said, he had seemed fidgety throughout the interview. Next to have an interview was Monica Krupowicz. She was a teacher from Zionsville Middle School. Nothing was very peculiar about her look. “   Good afternoon Monica,” said Oswald. “   Good afternoon. Why do you need to question me, I did not do anything.” “   We can’t prove that yet so we’ll have to investigate.” “   Well then, what do you want to ask me.” “   All we want to know is your alibi to the happenings of the murder.” Mrs. Krupowicz explained, “I was standing near the door trying to get a good chance to leave unnoticed when weird things happened and the man died. After that I just stood there.” “   Thank you ma’am. But first I need to ask you why you wanted to leave.” “   2 reasons. 1 - I needed to get to my room to grade some papers. 2 - I hate football.” “   That will do. We will get you if we need you for anything else.” Mr. Blueberry took notes of the interview while the next person, an old man named RJ Edgell, walked into the room. “   Nice to see you Mr. Edgell,” said Oswald. “Why don’t you take a seat.” “   Don’t mind if I do,” said RJ as he took a seat across from Mr. Blueberry. They sat there for 10 minutes and then Oswald asked Mr. Edgell what he was doing during the murder. “   I was leaning against the wall because I forgot my cane in my apartment. When I heard the glass shatter, I jumped out of the way and onto the floor.” “   Interesting. . .”      “    Well I gotta go now. Good being with you.” They were about to shake hands and leave, but then RJ sneezed and Mr. Blueberry saw that part of the skin of his left cheek peel. “   Wait a second. . .” Oswald went over to the old man and pulled at his face. His face came right off! It was actually just a mask and behind it was a slim young man, somewhat looking like a ninja. “You must be the murderer!” exclaimed the detective. “   Darn these flimsy disguises,” said RJ Edgell. Over the next few days, they found out that RJ Edgell was actually a shadow ninja named Kyle Lin. His motive was that the bachelor had broken up with his sister recently and she wanted revenge. She told her brother and he planned to kill the bachelor. “   Thank you Mr. Blueberry, we couldn’t have done it without you,” thanked the police. “   No problem, I’ll help you any time,” said Oswald.