"That's it! Of course!" Elphaba paced, every variable clicking into place. She loved this feeling, that moment of clarity when all doubt irrevocably vanished, and everything made total and complete sense. "Why didn't I see it before? It seems so obvious now."

Boq's voice shook her out of her reverie. "Would you shut up and tell us already?"

She didn't bother to point out the impossibility of his statement. "What? Oh, right. The killer is…," she paused, waiting for interruption or assassination, but nothing came. "Pfannee."

Nessa started laughing. "You're kidding, right?"

Pfannee gasped, pouting with an overdone, affected manner. "I am wounded. You don't need to cast such slanderous accusation just because I uncovered your little secret sex-life with Fiyero." She sniffled dramatically, still managing to leer at Fiyero, and Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"For the last time, I am not having sex with Fiyero!" Everyone looked away, distinctly not believing her, and she huffed in annoyance.

Galinda chose this moment to stick up for her friend, "Elphie, I don't think it could be Pfannee. She's … harmless really." Which was a nice way of saying she was too stupid to have done it. "She may enjoy a little drama sometimes, but she's not capable of killing someone."

Pfannee blinked, "Yeah, and like I told you guys a hundred times, I couldn't have done it. I was attacked."

"Oh for Oz's sake, you broke a nail! It's not like you lost a pint of blood or anything," Elphaba barked.

"Ew!" Pfannee shrank away from her. "That's disgusting."

"Why would Pfannee kill Avaric?" Fiyero asked calmly, and Elphaba returned to her purpose.

"Because Pfannee has been sleeping with Avaric." There was a collective gasp.

"That is totally untrue!" The girl blushed, "Elphaba, you should know better than to make up rumors like that!"

Fiyero's quick move to restrain her was the only thing that kept Elphaba from strangling the girl. Boq spoke, "Do you have any proof, or is this like Nessa?"

She glared at the munchkin. "Look at the letter. The name Galinda was clearly written over another name. Who else has a motive to change that name to be Galinda's?" After a beat of doubtful silence, she continued, "Look, everyone knows Avaric was far from monogamous, and I'm sure no one here would be surprised that he would string along multiple girls even while he was supposedly with Shenshen. Based on what Boq said, though, it seems like Galinda was his favorite." She tried to ignore the way Fiyero tightened his fingers on her, and how Galinda stared at the ground red-faced.

"Naturally, you would be jealous," Elphaba continued, focusing on her suspect. "Who did he think he was? Maybe he even called it off, knowing Avaric's short attention span. He spurned your advances, and you couldn't let him get away with that. You decided to blackmail him with evidence of Galinda, only to have him laugh in your face at that doctored letter. I'm sure he told you he had much better proof than that, and without even the chance to blackmail him into staying with you, you were out for revenge."

"This dinner was the perfect opportunity. You could kill him, and blame it on Galinda. So you stabbed him, hiding the gloves in your dress lining to dispose of later. When we went in the drawing room, it was all playacting, the screams and cowering. You had nothing to be scared about. I'm sure you were itching to open that drawer, knowing the proof was there, but you had to wait for someone else to do it. Before dinner, you told the butler Avaric's 'instructions' in case he died so that the pictures would be brought to light. Once the professor opened the drawer, you pounced, able to blame their discovery on another. You made sure Fiyero got to see them, and that everyone else found out."

"You didn't plan on Shenshen recognizing your underwear and announcing it to the group. She figured out where she'd seen it before – on Avaric's floor, and you couldn't take the chance that she'd put two and two together. She was accusing you when the butler barged in, and that's the voices we heard before you stormed out. Shenshen walked out in the hallway, and you followed, apologizing and hugging her with your crocodile tears. When she chased Fiyero, you saw a perfect opportunity to get rid of this new dilemma. The scuffle we heard was you pulling her away from the door as if you were trying to calm her down, but then you overpowered her, strangling her with the scarf you borrowed from Galinda. All the better to frame your rival."

"It was in the struggle that she kicked your legs to make those bruises, and you broke your nail trying to strangle her. With your injuries, you decided to play the victim, and with a perfect airhead performance, no one doubted you. You had no choice but to wait when Fiyero and I wanted to look at the body, but we were distracted by Dr. Dillamond fuming in the rain and Boq rifling through Avaric's things to find that necklace for Galinda."

"Once we were out of the way, you saw a golden opportunity to cover your tracks. You were disposing of the evidence when Dr. Dillamond stumbled upon you. He saw the letter, picking it up, and then you, caught red-handed. That left you no choice, so you stabbed him, dragging him to the closet when we returned to find the door open. You hid, listening to our conversation to make sure we didn't know anything, and then waited until we left. When you were certain we were gone, you came out of your hiding and started to clean up, but then Nessa screamed."

"You couldn't stay and finish up, or we'd all be suspicious like we were with Boq, so you ran to throw that masque on your face as a distraction and raced to join us. You took your opportunity to stash the gloves in Nessa's bed and pretended to find them. Then you waited for the next chance to fix the ticking time bomb waiting downstairs before anyone can find the body, only to find once you make it back that it's too late. The butler got there first, taking the letter from Dr. Dillamond's fingers."

"Luckily, he was distracted by Boq's skulking around, but then Nessa appeared, looking for her boyfriend only to find the body. With the worst timing of course, she screamed, foiling your plans again. Now you're starting to get mad. I'm not sure what I did to make you want to kill me, but I'm fairly sure that's not a hard thing to do. You'd seen the butler use the secret tunnel watching Boq, so you used it to attack me, drugging and strangling me until Fiyero chased you away. You left the needles in Fiyero's room to cast suspicion on anyone but you, and you played along with the whole charade."

"Then we found the butler in the passage, and he knew who the killer was. Said he had proof even. You were desperate, and you killed him in a last ditch effort to avoid discovery. Unfortunately, you killed him in vain. All the evidence points to you, and you're the only one now without an alibi."

Pfannee burst into noisy tears, and then with a sudden howl, flew at Elphaba. The murderess slammed on top of her, crushing the breath painfully out of Elphaba. Blood red nails clawed into her skin as Pfannee's sharp talons closed around her neck, and for a second Elphaba wondered if Pfannee would finish the job she'd started back in her room. Her vision swam even as she was vaguely aware of the reactions of those around her.

Fiyero raced to reach the pair, but it was Galinda who cold cocked the girl, knocking her to the ground. Galinda shook her hand in pain, eyes as wide as saucers, but Pfannee just stared at her, shell-shocked. They took advantage of her moment of dazed vulnerability, swiftly tying her up. Fiyero helped Elphaba up as she drew a shaky breath, coughing as the air rattled in her inflamed trachea. His concern was touching, and she assured him and the others that she was fine.

"Damn Galinda, are you alright? That was a hell of a hit!" Boq's eyes were wide with admiration, and they all laughed even as Nessa chastised him for his inappropriate language.

"There's only one thing I don't understand," Fiyero asked, tightening his hold on Elphaba's waist. "Why did you go after Elphaba?"

Pfannee's delicate features twisted in a scowl. "Because I hate her. She's vile, repulsive, and a freak." Then her eyes widened in a perfect pleading kitten face, "Fiyero, you should have chosen me instead, just like Avaric should have. We could be so happy together. I mean, you're perfect and cute, and I'm perfect and cute. It would be the perfect match. We deserve each other."

Fiyero pulled back appalled. Nessa tilted her head to the side, "So why didn't you just dump water over her if you wanted to kill her? Not that I've given it a lot of thought," she added hurriedly as Elphaba glared at her. "Just, you know, that'd be easier."

Pouting, the redhead tossed her head back. "I didn't even know about her stupid allergy until Fiyero's prank, and we all saw how well that worked out for him."

Elphaba barked a harsh laugh, "Yeah, I'm sure you were just thrilled when we thought the prank was an attempt on my life. What a perfect red herring to hide behind. Too bad Fiyero had to develop the perfect alibi, huh?"

She shrugged coolly, "I suppose if you trying to give him a tonsillectomy with your tongue counts as a perfect alibi…"

Elphaba scowled, denying again that she was sleeping with Fiyero, although the reference to their kissing hit a little close to home. With a roll in her eyes, she took great pleasure in personally gagging the bubbly bimbo that inspired her own gag reflex. They locked the vicious murderess in the room, still heavily tied.

Galinda sighed, "Oz, I'm exhausted. Coming to bed?"

Elphaba shook her head. "Maybe in a minute," her eyes subtly glancing toward Fieryo.

Boq and Nessa were busy making up on their way to her room, a sweet kiss punctuating each apology. "I'm sorry I let them tie you up."

"No, I'm sorry I told them about us."

"No, you had to. It was the right thing to do."

"I'm sorry I got Galinda that necklace. I didn't mean anything by it."

"I know. I'm sorry I got mad."

"I'm sorrier."

"No, I'm sorrier."

The sickening voices faded down the hall as Elphaba shared a smile with Fiyero. Then he took her hand, "Are you sure you're alright?" His other hand wandered up to caress her neck worriedly.

She blushed, shrugging his hand off. "I'm fine. Really."

He gave her a disbelieving look, but she merely glared back challengingly. After a moment, he smirked at her obstinacy, squeezing her hand and flashing a brilliant smile. It broke the tension perfectly, and she couldn't help the answering smile that broke out on her lips. He kissed her hand gently, and she blushed as he said, "So?"

She sighed as the awkwardness returned. "So."

"Talk?" His arm wound its way around her.

"Later," she let her head drop on his shoulder, not wanting to deal with any more discomfort after such a long night. She just wanted to stop thinking, let her mind relax. He rested his head on hers as they looked out the large picture window together, their peaceful reflection flickering back to them over the scene beyond the glass. The rain outside had lightened, indications of the storm's end coming. By morning, help should be arriving to apprehend the scheming redhead, and all order would be restored.

Fiyero smiled, "You know, someone really should stay here all night to make sure she doesn't escape."

She caught his sly grin. "Two people would probably be best. That way they can keep each other awake."

"Naturally. But, how would they keep each other awake?" He winked, and she shrugged, sliding her arms around his waist. He leaned down, kissing her lingeringly. "We're going to have to tell Galinda." She looked up at him intently, and he smiled, "I don't plan on changing my mind, do you?"

She shook her head, and he leaned down, kissing her again. That feeling of perfect clarity was back, and when he released her, she pulled him back, whispering, "What do you think?" With a few fierce kisses, she was starting to think perhaps everything would turn out alright after all.

AN: First of all, thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews. I really enjoyed writing this, and thank you so much for reading it. I'd also like to thank aphephobicfriend for pointing out the water and generally keeping me on my toes, and also Akasharogue for catching my sly little reference to Professor Plum from Clue. Have a mentioned I'm so impressed by overall how smart all of you are? 'Cause I so am!

Now, to recognize those ever so clever detectives who saw the wolf in sheep's clothing first, or at least guessed right :-D

Congratulations to….

Jenniedvm – who was actually very consistently right and didn't fall for my sneaky sneakiness

Fiyeraba

Alinaandalion (halfway right)

ReallyUhSharp

FaeTiggular

Musicfan1207

AvenueB

Ginger Glinda the Tangerine

FaeTiggular

Emily

Way to go guys!

Let me know if you'd like to read any alternate endings. I have a couple versions roughly sketched out, but I'll leave it up to you all. Thanks again for reading, and happy Friday the 13th.