Like House Arrest, But At A Ball

[Elle Lassey]

After the murder; open to anyone who looks at least generally respectable. Suspects or other party-goers with alibis for the murder are equally welcome! Invitational: @'Artemisia Carrow' @'Josephina Flint' @'Porphyria Dempsey' @'Endymion Dempsey' @'Veronica Gallivan' (@'idony Fawcett' if she's dressed well enough to pull off MC)

Elle had already answered all of the Aurors' questions, but for some reason, they still hadn't let her go home. She was anxious that Edgar had heard, and would be waiting up for her. Her poor husband hadn't been feeling well to begin with (which was why he hadn't come with her that night), and Elle didn't want to cause him any undue anxiety by her prolonged absence. What if he thought that there was some sort of murderer running rampant around the ballroom? What if he was worried that she might have been in danger? What if she was? There were plenty of suspicious types at this event, and they were all milling around this ballroom, waiting to be told they could leave. One of them had to be a murderer, because there had most certainly been a murder.

"How much longer do you think they'll keep us here?" she asked the person next to her, anxiety clear in her voice. She glanced at the nearest group of Unfortunates suspiciously. The hour since she'd found the body had done much to kill her enthusiasm for helping these women with their situations, and the vague feeling that she might be in danger certainly wasn't helping. "I can't imagine the Aurors seriously think any of us are suspects," she said, shaking her head. Her tone made it quite clear who was included in the word us, and who was not.

Elle was definitely no longer in a charitable mood.

  

[Endymion Dempsey]

Despite the amusement the evening had afforded him starting out, Endymion was having a hard time finding this funny any longer. Sterling Carrow was dead, his sister was hysterical, and he and Porphyria were trapped here with a gaggle of society wives and whores for fuck knows how long. He was absolutely not drunk enough for this.

He should have gone to Excalibur instead.

Endy shrugged at Mrs. Lassey's question. "Who knows," he replied. Eyeing the rest of the room, though, he had trouble believing anyone in particular had done it. The charity women all seemed too ladylike to bludgeon anyone to death, and the prostitutes, though the easy suspects, also looked too weak to really pull it off.

"Though frankly I would think the others would be more likely to rob blind rather than kill him," he added, keeping his voice low.

  

[Elle Lassey]

"Oh!" Elle exclaimed, in a hushed but genuine noise of surprise as she turned her glance once again towards the nearest crowd of Unfortunates. "I hadn't thought of that. I don't think he was... robbed," she said, hesitating a bit as she thought back to the body as she'd discovered it. Of course, she hadn't gone through his pockets while she'd been waiting for the Aurors to arrive, but no one had mentioned anything being missing, and she presumed that if something had been notably missing, they would have asked her about it. She'd been alone with the dead man and the Unfortunates, after all. They would have wanted to ensure that whatever was missing hadn't been taken after he'd been killed.

"But if it wasn't--who do you think?" she asked, unable to finish her sentences properly as her mind was busy jumping to (rather scandalized) conclusions.