31. Odd

O ctavius frowned as he listened, eyeing the ride that was very much up and running as they approached. He honestly couldn’t say he heard any cameras close enough to likely have any sort of view of the Whirly Twirly Duck Ride.

His gaze slipped to the conductor, and he realized he recognized him. It was the same man who had been in charge when the ride had broken with them inside it. With no one in line, Octavius headed towards the guy, instead of the tanks.

“You two,” the human gasped. “How are you and your friends?”

He smiled. “Good…good, we actually have a few questions for you.”

The man chuckled. “You’re here to take a look at the tank you were in, aren’t you?”

“We did almost die,” Turney mused.

The human winced. “Right… I’m afraid…it’s already been fixed.”

“Fixed?” Octavius asked with surprise. “How did they manage to do it so fast?”

Turney added, “Better yet, what was wrong with it?”

“Well, the first I can easily answer. We had replacement parts in storage. The second, however, it’s a bit odd.”

Odd…pretty much described all of the deaths that had happened so far, so he wasn’t surprised. “Odd in what way?”

“It looked like someone had damaged the pressure system. Specifically, the part that shuts off the water once it has reached maximum height. And by damaged, I mean, someone bashed it in.”

“What’s odd about that, beyond the act itself?” his zombie bun asked with a frown.

“The odd part is that no one was seen over there when it happened, and it happened while you all were in the tank. A line had formed after you went in. About a minute later, we heard a sound near the units. I was checking it out when one of you banged loud enough for us to hear you. After you all were freed and had left, we found out from those looking in that direction, when they heard the first sound, that there hadn’t been anyone near the equipment at all.”

“Did you not think to shut the water off?”

“The emergency shut off valve wasn’t working. We found some feeds disconnected after the fact as well. And those doors… Unfortunately, they almost suction shut when water is inside. I’m not sure what it all adds up to, but you all…be careful… Especially with all the other bizarre deaths that have happened these last few days.”

“We are…doing our best,” Turney said with a tense smile.

“Still want to check out the tank?”

“No…” Octavius said slowly. “If it’s been fixed, I doubt it would be helpful.”

“Sorry.”

He nodded and followed Turney as he got lost in thought. Odd indeed. All of it was…

Turney kept coming to one conclusion, yet…there were still things that…just didn’t line up.

“It’s probably too late to smell anyone at any of the crime scenes, with the number of people who likely have been near and touching things, right? I also imagine some scenes have already been cleaned up, like the first restaurant.”

While Octavius had stopped walking when he had…the vampire was just staring blankly, his brows pulled together.

“Octavius?”

A smile tugged at his lips as the vampire again didn’t respond. He poked the man’s nose.

Octavius jerked back in shock, batting his hand away before eyeing him with confusion. “What…?”

He repeated his question.

“I was…thinking over that… Well, over many things actually. The fact of the matter is, I always attempted to see if I smelled anything off, even though I hadn’t wanted to investigate. I never caught anything beyond what should be smelled in an accident. Even with the arrow, which is by far the most explainable death…it was as if the arrow itself was brand new. No scent lingered from the shooter.

“Arrow aside, the rest of it…these things did not happen because of wear and tear. The rope on the guillotine was clearly cut. As were two of the ropes on the piano, even if the weight itself snapped the remaining three. And when I say cut, I don’t mean they were snipped and left to break later, as that…man—who I’m failing to remember the name of—had done at my Halloween party. I mean cut, as in, someone sliced clean through, and it was fast enough that pulling didn’t have time to happen.”

He’d seen the lines on both, and had to agree with the assessment. The cuts looked too clean to have torn in anyway… Smell-wise, Turney couldn’t say, as he still wasn’t the best at sorting through when there were a lot of them.

“Do you think there was some sort of device set up?” Turney asked.

“I didn’t see anything up there when it happened, did you?”

He frowned, thinking it over. He didn’t recall seeing anything. But for the piano, it wasn’t like he would have, as the lines were running through pulleys and more. “There could have been something rigged in the devices that moved the pianos.”

“Could be, but…with the guillotine, I’m almost certain I saw nothing up there.”

Turney sighed. “Octavius, this has to be a paranormal creature.”

“I know that is the most logical conclusion. Yet…another paranormal wouldn’t be trying to kill me this way.”

“But it has to be… Unless…are there ghosts here?”

Octavius snorted. “Min-ji would have realized long before now if there were.”

“Right… Well, are there any paranormals who can become invisible and float?”

“Too many to name, yet… It’s just…the ways my kind can be killed, or really, can’t be killed, is pretty common knowledge.”

Turney sighed. “So…it's probably just a human who had way too much time to plan?”

“Maybe…” Octavius huffed. “Let’s just go and float around a bit until it’s near the time that manager is supposed to come back.”

Turney smirked. “Lazy Bumper Duck River again?”

“Noo…” The vampire giggled. “The actual lazy river. It would be nice to relax and just float around for a bit, don’t you think?”