Back in my room, I went through my suitcase. I took out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I’m going to figure out this mystery. There’s a chance the perpetrator could destroy valuable evidence before the detectives arrive. I have to catch the person who did this. The person who could commit such a gruesome act to a cinnamo…I mean person, does not deserve to walk free.

I walked over to my desk and outlined who the suspects could be. One of the first suspects would be Vivica. She was close to Maggie. It’s very common for victims to know their murderer. I’ll need to take a look at her streaming channel so I can verify if she is telling the truth. However, it doesn’t make much sense for her to be the killer. Maggie was Vivica’s editor, and Vivica would've had any amount of time to kill Maggie. Why would she choose to do it now? I doubt Vivica would do it in such a grand way that could get her easily caught.

The next suspect is definitely Bethany. She knew exactly how the victim was murdered, and the cause of death. She knew enough about the human anatomy to find the liver. Not to mention Bethany was even in charge of the security cameras. It’s hard to believe she's in medical school, given the phenomenal work she does here.

However, I remember hearing Maggie scream, ‘Help! He’s stabbing me to death!’ and Bethany doesn’t seem to identify as male. Even if she did, I don’t think gender awareness and inclusivity was the first thing on Maggie’s mind as the murderer was ripping her liver out. But that doesn’t rule Bethany out as being an accomplice to the crime.

As I racked my brain trying to and pin down who could be the perpetrator, with the lack of evidence, it was simply impossible to figure out who could've done it. I grabbed my notepad and left my room. Please. To properly solve this case, I needed hard evidence, not just hunches.

When I returned to the scene of the crime, Maggie’s corpse was covered with a bed sheet. It was probably best not to examine the body. I didn’t want the police to find my DNA at the scene of the crime. I went to Vivica’s room first. Maybe if I learn more about the victim, I could find out why someone wanted her dead. Leaving the elevator, I knocked on the door.

It felt like I was standing in front of Vivica’s door forever. I’d almost given up hope and went to Cyrus’ room. But she finally opened the door. Vivica changed out of her blood-soaked clothing and into a pink unicorn onesie with her hood over her head. “Hi there, underwear boy,” Vivica said as tears fell from her eyes, and she sniffled.  

“The name’s Tom. I came to check up on you.” I said.

“That’s so kind. Please come in.” Vivica said, opening the door and inviting me in. She walked over to her gaming setup, where two big screens took up most of the desk. The desktop tower beside her screen pulsed with changing lights - red fading to blue, then to green in an endless cycle. Her keyboard matched perfectly, its keys glowing with the same colors, transforming the hotel desk into a synchronized light show. On top of the keyboard sat bright pink headphones with cat ears. Everything on the desk was set up neat and organized but looked well-used, showing that it’s probably gotten some scars from being transported to different locations.

Vivica hopped onto the table, grabbed a tissue, and blew her runny nose. “I only let you in because you don’t look very athletic. So, it would be impossible for you to be the murderer.”

There might be two murders tonight. “Uh thanks, I guess. Also, for the record, I can squat the bar.” I took a seat on the bed across from the desk.

“I squat 120 lbs as my warmup,” Vivica said, folding her arms.

“I’m not getting into a dick measuring contest with you.” I said with an eye roll. She snickered as I cleared my throat. “We’re you and Maggie close.”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since high school, and we started doing this together our freshman year.” Vivica blew her nose into another tissue. “We saved all the money we earned creating content, so when we graduated high school we got our own apartment and worked on making content full time. Maggie was also the co-writer for all the VODs we put out. We were grinding so hard that when we planned on taking a two-week break after this convention.” Vivica’s eyes got red and puffy, and tears dropped from her eyes. They fell all at once. Vivica covered her face and wept into her hands.

“That’s tough and I am sorry you’re going through all this on your own.” I said, sitting next to her and pulling her in. Vivica wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my chest, and wept uncontrollably.

We sat there for a bit until Vivica’s sobbing died down to small whimper. She pulled away, using her sleeves to wipe the snot and tears from her face. “Thanks, I really needed that.”

“Yeah, of course,” I said, looking down at the large wet spot on my shirt. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone and went on YouTube. “What’s your channel? I want to see the videos you both worked on throughout the years. Since it’s her legacy now, I want to see what kind of person she was.”

“Maggie would have loved to hear that. She worked very hard on all the videos. Our channel is called Super Powered Kitty Studios. We also have a vlog channel Kittens In The Wild.”

“Are most of your videos about cats?” I asked, subscribing to both channels.

“Yes! When we're not playing with our kitties, you can find us gaming,” Vivica said, with renewed joy in her eyes. “Do you want an autograph” wiping the fresh batch of tears off her cheeks, she walked over to the desk blowing her nose again. Vivica then grabbed a sharpie that was on the desk. She then walked over to the open suitcase on the floor and grabbed a manilla envelope. She pulled out a large print of her and Maggie in a cat cosplay already signed with two signatures.

“Thank you, but I don’t need an autograph. But if you don’t mind, I would like to ask you some questions about Nightmare Chasers.” I said, pulling up my note’s app on my phone.

“Of course! That’s my specialty! What do you want to know?” Vivica said, bouncing up and down on her toes and holding them with both her hands. We talked for a few hours about Nightmare Chasers until I got all the tips and tricks I needed so Vin doesn’t have to carry me in each dungeon raid.

Walking towards her, I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Take care of yourself and if you need anything, just let me know.” I said before leaving.

“Thank you, Tom.” Vivica said as I shut the door behind me. I very much doubt she murdered her friend, but I'll need to check her recent stream to make sure her alibi lines up before she takes it down.

My next stop was the author's room. It made sense for the workers here to be unfazed by death since it's such a regular occurrence here, but for the author to be so unfazed was weirdly suspicious. Reaching Cyrus’s door, I knocked on it a few times. “Are you the police or the detective?”

“Uh no, it’s me Tom. You know, the guy that showed up in his underwear.” I yelled through the door.

“What do you want? I’m working?” Cyrus yelled back.

“I was going to ask if you heard anything else regarding Maggie's murder.”

“If you’re not the police, I’m not talking to you! Either send them to my room or call me when they get here!” Cyrus screamed. Well, I guess I won’t be getting any information from this guy.

I walked over to Raj’s door and knocked. But there was no answer. He’s probably working. I walked back to the elevator, pressing the button for the lobby.