On a rainy evening, three gentlemen arrived at an old Victorian mansion. Though it was old and constantly battling with the weather, the house still stood strong and majestic. The mansion’s inheritor, Louis Litt, had invited his Harvard classmates, Jesse Pearson, Robert Zane,  and Eric Kaldor, to a reunion. The four were the best of friends in college and did everything together. They worked together in group projects, vacationed together and even made a pact of friendship. Now, however, the men were getting old and had not seen each other for some time.  

Stepping onto the creaky doorstep, the three knocked on the door. They waited for a silent moment, and then tried again.  With the sun slowly leaving the horizon, it was getting dark. After a third knock without a response, someone pushed open the large mahogany doors as its hinges creaked eerily. Curiously, as soon as they stepped over the threshold, a butler trotted out to take their coats. 

“Welcome, my dear friends!” said a voice at the top of the mansion’s stairs. “Tonight we are here to reunite. After college, we all went our own ways and our bonds are brittle.” 

“Louis!” the three exclaimed at the sight of their friend.

Litt chuckled, “Thank you all for coming. Have all of you eaten yet?” 

“We were expecting you to cook, Louis,” answered Zane. “You were a magnificent cook back when you were in college, have you lost it all?”

“You’ll see,” winked Litt. He ruffled his brow. “Where’s Harvey?”

“He told me that he was busy tonight,” said Pearson. “He’s a bigshot private investigator now. Must be busy handling some cases somewhere.”

“That’s a shame. Well, you must all be hungry. Come, let’s chat over dinner!”

As the four friends followed Litt’s butler to the dining room, Litt showed everyone the artwork left behind by the previous owner. There were priceless paintings and awesome frescoes, but what impressed the three guests the most was a statue standing in the middle of a showroom next to the main hall. “Is that…?” Zane gasped.

“Michaelangelo’s David,” finished Litt, with a glint in his eye. “It’s on loan from Florence, so try not to touch it.”

.  After their little tour, they took their places at the dining table, where servants brought up steaming hot food. Without the invitation of the host, they dived into their plates, leaving nothing but crumbs.

“You sure this is your cooking?” asked Pearson. “I doubt that you have the time and effort to cook such delicate meals.”

Just as Litt was about to answer, Zane excused himself and walked towards the toilet. 

“Seems like Robert still has kidney problems,” Kaldor noted. 

Leaving the distant chatter behind him, Zane turned around a corner into a dark hallway and pulled out his phone. While texting he constantly looked up as if there was someone tapping, trying to spot others coming by like he was paranoid. 

“Damn it!” whispered Zane. They were too far away from civilization to get cell coverage, so his text failed to send. He put his phone away and, turning on his heel, strode towards the end of the corridor.

Meanwhile at the table, the other three were getting more and more drunk. In a mighty flash, thunder roared, lightning crashed, and after a loud buzz all the lights went off. The three cried out, dropping to the floor.

“What was that?” yelped Kaldor.

“I-Is this normal, Louis?” Pearson stuttered.

Silence.

“Louis?” Kaldor squeaked.

More silence.

“I don’t think this is normal.” Pearson breathed. At that very second, the lights switched right back on, and the two got back up to their seats.

“Wonder where Louis went to get help,” grunted Kaldor.

Pearson looked around, and in his peripheral sight, saw a stream of dark red liquid oozing slowly on the floor. He gasped and jumped out of his seat to get a better view. Behind Pearson’s and Kaldor’s seats lay a motionless Litt, a knife hilt-deep in his back. Zane came back from his little detour and saw the scene in the dining room.

Wondering why Jesse had gone silent all of a sudden, Kaldor turned around and froze. Jesse was the first to act, picking up his phone on the table to call Harvey Specter about what happened.

“Hey, I know you’re busy tonight, but Louis just died and someone stabbed him. Can you come over here right now?”

“You aren’t serious. Louis was murdered? I’m coming right now.”

“You better!”

Within minutes, Specter’s car crunched onto the mansion’s gravel driveway, and before he had even parked, Specter jumped out of the car and ran straight into the mansion, visibly anxious and shaken. Back when they all attended Harvard, the group of five were already really close; however, Specter and Louis were the very best of friends. They would stay in a room for weeks on end. They were so loyal to each other, they were nearly both kicked out of school for covering each other.

“What happened, and why did it even happen?” Specter cried as he burst into the dining room.

“I don’t know, there was a power outage and then when the power was back, Louis was there on the ground.” sobbed Kaldor.

Hearing this, Specter impatiently walked towards the crime scene. He snapped on a pair of gloves and walked around the body, inspecting the area and muttering to himself. Finally, he looked back up at his friends. “I am going to talk to each one of you.”

“What do you think we did, Harvey? Are you out of your mind? Sure, we haven’t been in contact for years, but after all, we are like brothers.” Kaldor said indignantly. “And even if it is one of us, it wouldn’t be me, it would be Zane, they were always competitive.” 

“Well, that’s too bad, Eric. You can go first.”

Entering one of the other rooms, Specter started to grill Kaldor as if he was the enemy. After Kaldor was Zane, and at last was Pearson. After talking to all three of them, Specter went out for some fresh air. Walking around the garden, with a cigar he felt something uneven scrubbing against his shoes. Looking down, droplets of dark crimson blood slowly froze into ice. Slowly squatting down, and staring at the object he stepped on, it was a delicate blade, one that seems to be made with a tribal style. Acquiring this new piece of evidence he went back into the room and called for a meeting.

Specter started off with an announcement. “Now, I know everyone is terrified aboutwith what just happened here. Louis was family and losing him will be hard for everyone to recover. But there are still a few things to conclude before we can officially mourn for Louis. First of all, I have convincing evidence to determine who killed Louis, and with what.”

A scattered murmur went up among the house’s servants. 

“Who could have done it?”

“Oh, Master Louis has always been so good to us, I don’t know why anyone would do such things.”

“Quiet down now,” Specter said. “First of all, when I was trying to connect all the dots in the garden, I found the weapon suspected for the murder. Now, I do not know whose fingerprint it carries, but I am sure the police will take care of that. Next, when I was talking to some of you, I established that Robert was unaccounted for right until the light came back on. So, where were you,  Robert?” 

“I was just texting my wife and going to the toilet,” Zane calmly answered.

“Oh really, because the servants that were cleaning the toilets did not seem to see you anywhere near, but said they say you near the power box. Was it all an accident that the lights were off when the murder was perpetrated?

“Then there’s Jesse. You were the one that seems to have nothing to do with it at all, but didn’t you always have a rivalry with Louis? Ever since he went out with the girl you fancied, you swore you would get back at him someday. Furthermore, you were closest to him when the body was found.”

At this, Pearson charged at Specter, only to be held back by a couple of chefs. “You bastard, I said that just out of impulsiveness when I was still a kid! How dare you come in here and call us murderers? We are his best friends!”

“Not only was it you and Robert, but Eric is alsoEric is involved as well. Didn’t you just come back from Kenya? That knife’s handle has an unmistakably Cushitic design.” Specter turned around to address the house’s servants. “These three visitors were jealous about Louis’ position and success, and came here plotting against him. Robert turned off the light at the power box, which allowed Jesse to approach Louis and subdue him, while Eric delivered the final blow. Therefore clearing everyone’s name including mine.”

Kaldor curiously asked, “Why do you have to clear your own name?”

Zane added, “Weren’t you downtown with your girlfriend, how in God’s green earth did you get here so quickly.”

Before Specter knew it the police were slapping the cuffs on his hands and sent him away.

Review: For this assignment I find it really interesting as I always think of myself as a creative person, however thinking of the plot was more of a struggle then anticipated. When I was writing the piece, I find it hard to be both descriptive and yet secretive of what was going on, as I am scared that the ending would either be discovered before that or it would have no correlation, therefore making it harder for me to complete. Even though the assignment seemed hard, I still find it fun at times as this is an assignment that we do not get to do every day.

Rough Draft: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FVBT5CxE3_VLbi69Hqowb4vBRc0L2TnZuO6bXny5QZo/edit?usp=sharing