Archon Quest: How to Solve a Murder

Chapter 8

"Well, we're here," Evan observed, opening his arms towards the Fazbear establishment, "What do you wanna do now?"

Humming, Elizabeth rubbed her chin, "How does any good investigation start?"

"Um..." Evan scratched his neck, "We could start outside? Maybe the killer dropped something on their way in or out."

"Yeah, good idea!" she beamed as she ran over to the rocks that surrounded the establishment. She kicked at them with her foot, checking for something buried in the stones.

Evan walked towards the pavement in front of the door and sidestepped for the family that walked out. They gave him a judgmental glance, but he simply waved at them through his embarrassment.

As he stepped towards his sister, he whispered, "Hey, maybe this wasn't a great idea—"

"Look!" Elizabeth cut him off, holding a rock in front of his nose, "Do you see it?"

Squinting, he tilted his head, "There's a...a red dot on it?"

She dropped the stone into the pocket of Michael's letterman jacket, which she had stolen from his apartment months ago, "The police must have missed this before they left. It could be blood from the killer. Maybe the girl put up a fight."

"I would," Evan cringed, "It could just be paint. Didn't they remodel recently?"

"I'll keep it just in case. Why don't you try to find something? Y'know, be useful?" she teased, raising an eyebrow at him.

He crossed his arms, searching the ground for anything he could pick up, "I...um...oh—I found this coin!"

"Is it heads or tails?"

Evan flipped the dime in his hands, "Tails..."

"Just put it down, it doesn't mean anything," Elizabeth waved him off.

"I'll keep it just in case," he mumbled, mimicking her words. After he slipped it into his back pocket, he traced his finger on the brick wall in front of him, "You think he'll show up soon?"

Elizabeth paused, her hands about to grab another rock, "Who, Mike?"

"Mm."

"Uh...I dunno. It's hard to tell," she stood again, kicking at rocks, "Maybe he will?"

While Elizabeth talked, Evan caught his finger on a brick that stuck out from the others.

"Either way, we can't count on it. He needs help now, and he's not here, so we have to do it."

Furrowing his brow, Evan gripped the edge of the brick with the tips of his fingers.

"It can't be so hard, right? If detectives can do it, why can't we?"

He ignored the doubt in her voice, pulling the brick towards himself. After a few heaves, he loosened one side of it.

"Mike better be grateful for us when he gets back."

"Liz!" Evan interrupted her train of thought.

"What—oh, holy crap!" her eyes widened as she ran two steps to meet her brother. He held the brick in his hands, gently placing it on the floor.

"Maybe this isn't hopeless after all," he chuckled. Elizabeth, tranced in his work, looked at the hole where the brick once sat. There was a small note, pristine and white. To her, it looked like it couldn't have been placed more than a week ago.

"This is insane," she commented with wonder, opening the folded piece of paper. Evan joined her, his eyebrows lifting with recognition.

"01010100...01101111..."