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Chapter 3

Author: White Cloud
“It’s not me!”

The words tore out of my throat, almost a scream.

“I don’t know anything! That remote isn’t mine!”

Daniel looked at me coldly. “We’ve looked into your background.”

He pulled a sheet from the folder and slid it across the table.

“You work at NewDream Tech as their senior programmer. Three months ago, there was an internal promotion for project lead. You and Ethan Ward were the top candidates.

“In the end, William Zoo chose Ethan. And Ethan died in the escape room last night.”

I stared at the paper, my fingers trembling uncontrollably.

“That’s just work! I… I was upset, sure, but I wouldn’t kill anyone!”

“Wouldn’t you?”

Daniel pushed another photo toward me.

It was a screenshot of my computer—my chat history with a friend.

“Why promote that kiss-up Ethan? William’s blind!”

“Just wait. One day, I’ll make them both pay.”

My mind went blank.

It was just venting; something I said out of anger to a friend.

“We also looked into your financial situation.”

Daniel didn’t give me a second to breathe, one piece of “evidence” after another laid out in front of me.

“Twenty thousand in credit card debt. Four thousand from online loans. Last week, you mortgaged the house your parents left you, took out one hundred thousand, and put it all into a speculative gaming assets investment.

“And that investment collapsed the day before yesterday.

“Overnight, you lost everything and ended up buried in debt.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

Yes, I needed money.

But that didn’t mean I killed anyone.

“We have reason to believe you planned this murder to secure the ten-thousand-dollar reward and to take revenge on your boss and colleagues.

“You know how these escape rooms work. You led them into the trap, then hid yourself in a safe compartment and controlled everything from there.

“And that so-called pumpkin-headed figure was something you made up—a killer you invented to cover your tracks.”

“No…” I shook my head desperately. “There really was someone in the pumpkin head… there really was…”

“Where’s your proof?”

Daniel’s gaze bore into me. “Other than your own statement, who can confirm that?”

Just as I found myself with nothing left to say, the interrogation room door suddenly swung open.

A young officer hurried in and whispered something in Daniel’s ear.

His expression changed.

He stood up and strode out.

A few minutes later, he returned, his face now strangely unreadable.

He stared at me, as if seeing me for the first time.

“Sophie Sullivan, do you know someone named… Chuck Lee?” he asked slowly.

Chuck Lee?

I shook my head.

“No. Who is that?”

“He was the actor originally assigned to play the NPC in that escape room,” Daniel said flatly. “The one who was supposed to wear the pumpkin head.”

A flicker of hope sparked inside me.

“He woke up? He can prove it!”

“When we found him, he was dead.”

Daniel cut me off.

“In his own home. Murdered.

“Time of death was around four yesterday afternoon. Before your company even left for the escape room.

“The weapon was an axe.

“And on the doorknob of his apartment, we recovered a fingerprint.”

Daniel lifted a fingerprint comparison report. The red markings made my eyes ache.

“After analysis, that fingerprint… belongs to you.”
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  • The Pumpkin Head Murder   Chapter 9

    The one who walked in wasn’t Marcus or Victoria. It was Daniel.His face was ashen as he slammed a file onto the table.“Sophie Sullivan, you really know how to put on a show!” He pulled out a chair, staring straight at me. “You almost had us fooled.”My heart dropped to the bottom of my chest.“We went to the abandoned textile mill in the south district.” Daniel leaned back. “You were right. There is an underground storage room. We found bloodstained clothes, and the pumpkin mask.”My eyes lit up.“But!” Daniel slammed his hand on the table, his voice exploding. “We pulled another set of fingerprints from that mask.”He shoved the comparison report toward me.“After analysis, they match yours.”My mind went blank.How was that possible…“And that’s not all!”Daniel leaned forward.“In the corner of the storage room, we found a man. Bound, gagged, and barely alive.“He says you, Sophie Sullivan, hired him to play the pumpkin-headed figure. Promised him one hundred thousand when it w

  • The Pumpkin Head Murder   Chapter 8

    When I saw Marcus again, I was nothing like before.“I think I know who the killer is,” I said without preamble.Marcus didn’t look surprised. He simply pulled out a chair and sat down. “Let’s hear it.”“Lily Green. My best friend.”Saying her name still felt like a blade twisting in my chest.“Three years ago, there was an explosion tied to NewDream Tech’s chemical project. Seven people died. Lily’s father, a senior engineer at the plant, was the only one held responsible“He spiraled into depression and died within six months. Until the end, he kept saying he’d been framed. But the ones who should have paid were William, Ethan, and everyone who buried the truth for money.”I told Marcus everything—the chat logs from Kevin’s hard drive, and my theory about Lily’s motive.“Kevin thought he was just collecting dirt for revenge. He didn’t realize Lily never planned to let anyone walk away, not even him.“She used Kevin as a tool and turned me into the scapegoat.”Marcus listened without

  • The Pumpkin Head Murder   Chapter 7

    “Miss Sullivan, we’ve got a major lead.” She set her laptop down in front of me. “I went through the list you gave me. In Kevin’s belongings, the police found an encrypted hard drive.”“Kevin?” I froze. “The programmer?”“Yes. Think carefully. Was there any number or code that held special meaning for your group?” Victoria looked at me.I stared at the password prompt on the screen, my mind suddenly racing.Kevin and I were both die-hard horror fans.We’d once argued for three straight days over the ending of a niche film.In that movie, the protagonist entered a string of numbers at the very end, unlocking his only way out.I tried it. “19870521.”Victoria typed it in.With a soft click, the drive unlocked.Inside were neatly organized folders.[Evidence of William’s Bribery][Evidence of Ethan’s Embezzlement][The director’s Affair Scandal]I sucked in a sharp breath.Kevin, the quiet and unassuming programmer, had secretly gathered dirt on everyone in the company.Victoria opened

  • The Pumpkin Head Murder   Chapter 6

    “That escape room installed a lot of hidden pinhole cameras to heighten the horror and keep the mechanisms from being figured out.“But when I was taken away, I overheard the police mention that all the surveillance footage from that night had been destroyed by a high-intensity electrical pulse. “The hard drives were completely wiped. I have been there so many times and never knew exactly where the cameras were but he managed to take all of them out in one go!”That wasn’t something an ordinary player could do.“And my coworkers!” My eyes lit up. “He knows every one of us. After our boss canceled the booking, he was still able to lure us back. He knew I loved escape rooms, knew I needed money, knew about the conflicts between me, Ethan, and our boss! He set it all up to pin everything on me!”I grabbed a pen and quickly wrote down a list of names.They were all colleagues from the project team—people who acted friendly to my face but spoke badly about me behind my back.Victoria stu

  • The Pumpkin Head Murder   Chapter 5

    My mind buzzed, refusing to process any of it.The pumpkin tattoo in the photo was identical to the one on my wrist.I’d gotten it with my best friend, Lily Green.We both loved a niche gothic animation—the ever-grinning pumpkin figure in it had become our symbol of friendship.Lily had said, “Sophie, look at him. No matter how bad things get, he’s always smiling. We should be like that too.”And now, that tattoo had become evidence against me.“No… the kid must’ve been mistaken…” My voice came out hoarse. Even I didn’t believe it.Marcus didn’t press me further. He simply put the photos away and watched me in silence.That silence made it worse.Had I sleepwalked?Or was I splitting into someone else?I forced myself to replay every detail of that night.The height of the pumpkin-headed figure…He was much taller than me. I was only five foot six—even on tiptoe, I couldn’t reach six-three.His strength… He had dragged the strongest guy in our department into the dark with one hand

  • The Pumpkin Head Murder   Chapter 4

    I was formally detained.From the only survivor, I became the prime suspect.All the evidence formed a perfect loop.Motive, weapon, fingerprints, the scene… everything pointed to me.I had nothing to say in my defense.All I could do was replay every detail of that night, over and over again.That pumpkin-headed figure…He was tall, much taller than anyone I’d seen at work, at least six-foot-three.The way he walked was strange, dragging slightly, like a real scarecrow.He never said a word. There was only the roar of the chainsaw and the sound of heavy breathing.All of it really happened.But no one believed me.I went from screaming and defending myself to numb silence.The door to the holding cell opened.A man walked in.He was in his early thirties, tall, dressed in plain clothes.I remembered him.I’d seen him once in the interrogation room.“Hello. My name is Marcus Cole.”He pulled out a chair and sat across from me, without any small talk.“I have a few questions.”His voic

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