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With only 12 detectives remaining the atmosphere in the conference room was beginning to feel a little tense - although interactions between the contestants had been little more than civil and restrained before, there was definitely an icy chill in the air now that three of the faces they'd met less than a week ago were already dead. The group gathered around the table and sat, waiting for instructions.

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Voice: The time has come for you all to make your first stab in the dark. If you'll forgive the pun. You've had encounters with each other now for 6 days and to be quite honest that's more than enough time to mull this decision over. You have 5 minutes.

The screen shut off and the contestants continued their silence for only a few seconds more.

"So. Any hunches?" laughed Caleb.
"I'm not being funny, yeah, but I don't really understand what we're meant to do," Cassie D offered, before flicking hair out of the way of her eyes. Jasmine rolled hers.
"It's pretty obvious. Just vote for who you think the killer is," sighed an impatient Sam. "For the record, I think it's you."
"Me?" exclaimed Cassie, "why me? I don't even know what's happening to be honest".
"First of all, you're famous. The cameras would love it, putting up a celebrity murderer. Second of all this whole stupid unawareness thing you've got going on is clearly an act-"
"Let's not get too personal," sighed Jasmine, "but for the record I'm voting for Caleb".
"That doesn't even make sense! She brought back a letter J!" he wildly pointed to...[whoever Lee is ;)]

"I think it's John, then," stammered Zak. "He's a big guy, he could easily just pick up... Melena... and do what he did. Plus there's the J. But what about the crucifix?"
"Are you wearing one right now?" Janelle accused.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves - the J could stand for Jasmine or Josh or Janelle, so why me?" John retorted with a piercing glare at Janelle.

The group continued their heated discussion until the screen turned on again.

Voice: That's five minutes. I shall now request all of you to make your votes on a small ballot that you've been given upon your entry

Several of the group pulled paper out of their pockets - the others had placed theirs on the table already - but all of them hurriedly ticked the box next to the name of their suspect.

Voice: You've gone for John, then?

John staggered out of his chair and cried out loud, before heading for the door. The screen retained its emoticon-static as several of the group immediately chased after him, knocking security officers to the floor. As cameras picked up their pursuit and a worldwide audience sat back in shock at this unscripted chaos, Joshua picked up a fire extinguisher from the corridor and hurled it ahead of him, striking John in the back.

Security officers caught up with several of the dissenters - including a rather docile Cassie and Daniel who'd remained in the conference room - and placed them back in their cells. A few hours later all of the hubbub had subsided, and their individual screens in the cells suddenly lit up.

Voice: After the mayhem this afternoon we've decided to approach this the old-fashioned away. 5 years ago John Fox suffered a painful divorce and lost the rights to visit his only son, Matthew. It was around this time that John hit rock bottom, succumbing to alcoholism and making several attempts of his own life. However, a light came at the end of the tunnel and with the help from some rather generous evangelics he established a name for himself again. Earlier this year when the Suicide Act was passed, John reacted furiously and signed up to make a point of how - as he puts it - immoral this is. We're not quite sure whether the game is immoral, but we know that killing Melena and Benny was. Contestants, you have found your killer.

From a couple of the cells loud whooping could be heard, but the majority were in stunned silence.

Voice: However, that means someone else now has to step up to the plate. At the end of this transmission one of you will be given instructions on what to do next - the other 11 will simply hear static. Since your cells are sufficiently placed apart as to not hear each other, you will, suffice to say, be thrown into the dark again and asked to continue the game in the hunt for this new killer. As for John, he had this coming.

The screen cut to a large wooden platform where John was stood with a rope around his neck. The same voice that appeared on the television boldly announced "any last words?" and he shook his head. With the pull of a lever off-camera, John fell into a hole and faced whatever damnation he might have believed in.

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