Lies About Liars Lying

It was an elegant setting for a group of elegant clientele. The host, Sir Johannes Hannes brought the group together for a dinner meeting to formalize the leadership of a new wing at the research facility in Johannesburg. The cast included:

• Jonatan Lucjusz, head of security, because one can never be too careful with this kind of money at stake.

• Silvia Luciana, the current frontrunner for the CFO position.

• TheDuglas Fir, yes, that is his real name, the choice for head of operations.

• Clair Elouan, the mistress of someone in the corporate office. Her position had not yet been determined, but make no mistake, she “would” have a position.

• Security Guard, though not a suspect, he was at the facility and officially had to be considered.

Act I: the Setting

Stone Mountain Lodge, Kleinrivier Wilderness, Eastern Cape, a scenic, remote setting for extreme nature lovers. Accessible only by hiking in, it was the perfect setting. Sir Johannes Hannes chose this location specifically for the remoteness. He chose this location because what was to be discussed during their stay was extremely confidential. This specific group of people was hand-picked for leadership assignments. He had taken every conceivable precaution to ensure nothing leaked to the press. He emphasized it was not a once-there-you-couldn’t-leave situation, but it most assuredly was a once-there-you’d-find-it-difficult-to-leave situation. So Sir Johannes Hannes brought four people who knew next to nothing about one another together, thrust them into a situation where extremely confidential information was to be disseminated, and restricted their ability to leave should the need arise. What could go wrong?

Act II: the Dinner

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Sir Johannes Hannes. Please call me Johan. I’ll be your host for the next few days as we get to know each other, identify roles, and set a timeline for finally taking our project public.”

Johan described their surroundings, the do’s and don’ts of the facility, and the remote nature of their gathering. He didn’t spend a great deal of time on the subject because he knew his guests were somewhat familiar with retreats, such as the one they currently occupied. Though the remoteness of this setting was disconcerting for some, he assured them things would be fine.

Dinner was an eight coarse meal, a formal round of stuffed mushrooms, a potato creamed soup, a steamed shrimp salad, followed with a small slice of mediterranean salmon, a lemon sorbet, rounding things off with a generous slice of beef wellington, a cheese course featuring a rare parmigiano reggiano, and capping things off with a hefty slice of southern american apple pie for dessert.

After dinner, they relocated to a reception room where coffee and drinks were served, accompanied by live, albeit piped in piano lounge music. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. After an hour or so, Johan, got the group’s attention for a short parting speech before adjourning the group to retire for the evening.

While the rules were few. All except one were negotiable. Non-negotiable was that absolutely no one was allowed out of their rooms after midnight. Johan repeated that, so there’d be no misunderstanding. He explained it was for their safety. Everyone, of course, glanced at each other as if agreeing on begging the question why. Johan beat them to it, explaining, or rather apologizing, for the small security staff that evening. There were some moans and groans as people slowly began leaving for their individual suites. Otherwise, it appeared the evening had been a success.

Act III: the Discovery

It was a scream that sent a shrill throughout the facility, and everyone awoke to the terrifying sound of it. Clair Elouan had gone out to the atrium for a breath of fresh air, where she discovered the body of Silvia Luciana hanging from the enormous chandelier in the center of the room. She was naked except for a sheer free flowing night gown which did a chilling dance to the natural breeze which flowed through the room. Beyond the obvious question of who could have done it, everyone collectively wondered how the killer could get the body onto the chandelier.

Johan came running into the room to see what the commotion was about and it shocked him to see what everyone was looking at. He immediately asked that everyone return to their rooms and not leave until cleared by security. The game of lies and liars lying would begin forthwith.

Act IV: the Investigation

Jonatan Lucjusz was head of security and immediately opened an investigation. An initial, yet unofficial finding from the medical examiner’s office put the cause of death as a broken neck. Jonatan conducted private interviews with all the guests. Because of the nature of the crime, he initially ruled out Clair Elouan because of the strength which she would have needed to subdue the victim who was much larger than she was. He later retracted that idea to keep a sense of impartiality, or at least the appearance thereof. He identified four suspects.

Suspect One: Sir Johannes Hannes - He had a size advantage that certainly would have allowed him to over-power the victim, but his alibi checked out and security camera footage confirmed he never left his room during the night.

Suspect Two: TheDuglas Fir - Like Johan, TheDuglas had a size advantage. He could have easily subdued the victim. Though he swore on his mother’s grave he didn’t do it, there was no corroborating security video to rule out his claim.

Suspect three: Clair Elouan - Clair did not have a size advantage, and it was extremely unlikely she could have been the killer. However, that didn’t mean she could not have worked with someone else to commit the crime.

Suspect four: the Security Guard - He definitely had a size advantage and could have easily overpowered Ms. Luciana, but he and Jonatan had worked together for years. He made the list simply because he was onsite that evening and Jonatan had no choice but include him.

Jonatan had a victim, four suspects, and the burning question, “How did the victim wind up hanging from a chandelier that was suspended thirty feet above the floor?” His investigation would prove challenging. He began by inspecting the area around the chandelier, the upper guard rails, the suspension apparatus, etc. He was looking for signs of a struggle, but found nothing.

Later in the day, he received a handwritten note from Clair, telling him to look closer at Johan. Her reasoning was that he had influence and Silvia may have tried to seduce him for a better position. And then Johan pulled him aside and told him he noticed Silvia and Clair in a heated discussion about something during dinner. It looked like the knives were coming out and his investigation would lead itself to where it needed to go.

When he spoke to TheDuglas Fir later that morning, he noted he seemed skittish, and a bit defensive. Jonatan thought the behavior suspect and went back to review the security footage. The security guard that was on duty that evening came in and mentioned that Jonatan was wasting time on the video. That he had already been through it and determined there was nothing there.

“But,” he added. “There were two people outside of their quarters that evening, the victim and you, sir.”

Jonatan, taken aback by the security guard’s disrespectful tone, reminded him that his words sounded an awful lot like an accusation and that he should reconsider a statement like that towards his boss. The security guard did not back down. In fact, he doubled down and lobbed a full-throated threat to expose him, backed up with his own video.

Jonatan began seeing pictures in his head of life behind bars and if the security guard was telling the truth, he would have seen him and Silvia making out against the railing surrounding the chandelier. He also would have seen her pulling away abruptly and slapping Jonatan hard across the face. He probably may have also seen Jonatan retaliating by slapping her hard enough that she lost her balance, hit her head against the railing, breaking her neck as she stumbled over it, her clothing inadvertently catching on some of the chandelier’s light posts giving the appearance that she had been hung.

The security guard had recorded the video on his cell phone and supplied it to the authorities. It shocked everyone to witness the police haul Jonatan away as a suspect in the murder. He was heartbroken and convinced he had inadvertently killed Sylvia when, in fact, he had not. Only TheDuglas Fir and Clair Elouan knew the truth. Both were now in positions to take over the operations and the flow of money. The only thing that could have complicated things was the security guard and his doctored video implicating Jonatan’s involvement in Silvia’s death. They thanked him for going along with their plan, lured him to a remote payoff location and put a bullet in his head later that evening. It was astonishing, and one might even say just plain greed that made TheDuglas and Clair turn their guns on each other, fire simultaneously, and both drop dead beside the guard. And so ended the investigation into the murder of Silvia Luciana.

Epilogue

The director yelled, “Cut! That’s a wrap,” and everyone broke out into applause and whistles, as that was the last scene in the play. Corks from champaign bottles filled the air as celebrations began. The key cast members met the director at mid stage to give hugs, pats on the back, and congratulations for each other’s hard work.

The Play, Lies about Liars Lying would become a Broadway success.

K.R. Eaton - Lies About Liars Lying

Short Stories by K.R Eaton