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It was the end of summer when Michael decided to throw a big party before the camera crew returned to film them. That was how everyone found themselves still in the office after 5 o’clock.

Pam thought that the Party Planning Committee had outdone themselves this time, mostly because Angela was now back in charge and seemed to be more mellow. Everyone suspected that it might be because of Dwight, but no one said anything because after all, it is Angela.

The weather outside was taking a turn for the worse, lightning and thunder making ominous sounds and sights. The winds blew hard and rain came down in torrents. It was a typical end-of-summer storm in the Northeast, but they couldn’t recall having seen a storm this big before. Now she and Jim were stuck at work instead of home, cuddling on the sofa.

As if reading her thoughts, Jim wrapped an arm around his fiancée’s waist and pulled her closer to him. He leaned down, kissed her temple and said, “We’ll leave in half an hour, okay?”

She nodded and looked toward their co-workers, still surprised that everyone had stayed behind, especially on a Friday evening.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and the whole office went dark. The music died and there was silence before a piercing scream penetrated the air. Everyone started to stir and panic. A flash of lighting illuminated the office and drew Pam’s attention to the kitchen. What she saw made her scream and point.

The office went pitch black again before another lighting strike. This time, everyone looked to where Pam was pointing and simultaneously screamed.

It was Toby with a knife protruding from his throat, crashing through the kitchen door. He was bleeding profusely, trying unsuccessfully to speak. He pointed in the general direction of where everyone had been dancing just moments before near the reception desk.

The lights finally came back on at the same time Toby staggered forward and fell onto Stanley’s desk, unmoving.

He was dead.


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The stillness was broken when everyone sprang into action, rushing toward Toby’s body, all speaking at once.

“Ohmygod, is he really dead?”

“Is this some kind of sick joke?”

“Is he still alive?”

“Somebody do something!”

Dwight yelled above all the talking, “Quiet! Toby really is dead. Nobody touches anything! And no one goes anywhere either…not until the police get here and talk to everyone!”

“Okay,” Jim spoke up, “we need to call the police.”

As he finished speaking, the lights went off again.

Dwight turned on his keychain flashlight and shone it on the phone on Phyllis’ desk. Since Erin was standing closest to it, he demanded, “Erin, call 911.”

Erin picked up the receiver and held it to her ear before slowly putting it down. “It’s…it’s not working…”

“What?” Phyllis went over to the phone and did the same. “You’re right, it’s not working.”

Andy also tried the phone on his desk, “Nope, you can’t dial from this one.”

Oscar walked back to his desk, bumping into a couple of hard surfaces on the way there. “My phone is not working either.”

“The storm must have affected the power and the phone lines.” Pam said.

Kevin chimed in, “My cell phone isn’t working.”

Creed and Ryan added, “Same here.”

Before their office mates could start panicking, Jim suggested, “Why don’t we light some candles and turn on the lanterns and flashlights and figure out what to do.”

“We also need to lock all the exit doors so no one can leave. And no one can drive to get the police either. We don’t know if you’re just going to drive off.” Dwight said.

Once Angela, Kelly, Meredith and Erin gathered the emergency supply kit, the office was well lit and the doors locked, everyone gathered near Phyllis’ and Stanley’s desks again.

Dwight started talking, “Since we can’t contact the police, and I was trained as a volunteer sheriff, it’s only right that I start interviewing…”

But he was interrupted by Stanley, “Wait a second, where is Michael?”

It was only then that everyone realized that Michael was, indeed, missing. A slow creak turned everyone’s attention toward the kitchen, and they saw the men’s restroom door slowly open.


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Michael pushed opened the kitchen door to find himself under the scrutiny of the whole office.

“Hey, what did you guys do to the light? And the music? It’s a party, people!” Michael continued, oblivious to the stares from his silent employees.

Pam was the first one to break the silence, “Michael, were you in the bathroom this whole time?”

Rolling his eyes, Michael replied, “Well, duh, Pam! Didn’t you just see me walking out of there?”

He was about to say something else when he finally noticed Toby’s body and the blood on Stanley’s desk and on the carpet. “My God! What happened? Is he dead?”

Kevin slowly said, “Michael…you were just in there…and Toby came from in there…so…”

Understanding dawned on Michael, “Are you crazy, Kevin? Why would I kill him? I only want him to be gone.”

As if realizing how wrong that sounded, he backtracked, “Well…not gone…just disappeared. I mean…not be here…” Then he shook his head vehemently, “No! I didn’t do it! If anything, it was Stanley!”

“Are you crazy?!? How did you come to that conclusion?” Stanley snarled at Michael.

“Well, Stanley, it’s obviously you because Toby fell onto your desk, giving us the clue who his murderer is!”

“I repeat: are you out of your mind?”

“Michael,” Jim intervened, “Toby crashed through that door and just happened to fall on Stanley’s desk because it was right there.”

Pam added, “We’ve tried calling the police but the phone line isn’t working.”

“I’m making sure that no one leaves the office until the police get here.” Dwight said.

Michael just nodded, “Wow…this is just like Clueless.”

“You mean Clue? ” Oscar asked.

“No, Oscar, Clueless, the board game, you know? But they must not have that in Mexico so you probably wouldn’t know.”

Oscar sighed while Creed said, “They do have it in Mexico. It’s called Pista. It was addicting. Luckily I joined a twelve-step program to quit that vice.”

No one seemed to know what to say to that until Phyllis spoke up, “Well, Michael is the only one here with a motive to kill Toby.”

Kelly nodded in agreement, “That’s right. Everyone knows how much you hate Toby, Michael.”

“And you were just in there.” Andy continued.

Michael started to defend himself once again but was cut short by Dwight who shook his head, “Well…I wouldn’t say Michael is the only one with a motive.”

“What are you talking about, Dwight?” Jim asked impatiently.

“She knows what I’m talking about, don’t you?” Dwight said slyly, looking straight at the woman standing next to Jim.



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“What?” Pam exclaimed when she realized Dwight was pointing at her.

Jim pulled her closer while glaring at Dwight. “If this is payback for all those pranks, Dwight…”

Dwight shook his head. “No, not her. Her,” he said, pointing to Phyllis, who was standing just behind Pam. “I overheard Phyllis arguing with Toby a couple of days ago after work. Something about Toby needing to return something to her. Right, Phyllis?”

When the attention shifted to her, Phyllis' looked around the room nervously. “I don’t know what you’re referring to, Dwight.”

Dwight just scoffed and kept talking, “I have the memory of ten elephants combined, therefore, I can’t forget something that took place just a couple of days ago. You kept insisting that Toby return something to you, but Toby refused, something about not unless he got what he wanted first.” Dwight paused briefly, then, as if mumbling to himself said, “Darn it, if only I didn’t have a paintball game that night, I would’ve found out what they were talking about.”

“I remember now!” This was from Erin. “It was on Tuesday after work. Everyone had left already but I had to stay to finish faxing some stuff for Michael. Phyllis stormed right out the door after she went back to the annex area. I thought she went there to talk to Kelly or something.”

At the mention of her name, Kelly spoke up, “It couldn’t have been me. I left early for a date.”

Oscar and Kevin looked over at Ryan. Noticing their looks, Ryan declared, “Not with me!”

“Please, you are so last season.” Kelly said with a roll of her eyes.

“All right, you guys, shut up! We’re trying to solve a murder here.” Andy said loudly.

Michael walked over to Phyllis and put a hand on her shoulder, “Phyllis, whatever it was, I’m sure you had a good reason to kill Toby.”

That elicited a chorus of, “Michael!” all in a censuring tone.

Phyllis shrugged Michael’s hand off of her. “I didn’t kill Toby! I swear! We argued, but I was prepared to pay him the money he asked for!”

By then everyone was wondering about this new development as Phyllis sat down on her chair, still muttering, “I had the check for him. I just wanted it back.”

Pam walked over to Phyllis and, putting an arm around her shoulder, asked gently, “Phyllis, was Toby blackmailing you?”

Phyllis looked up slowly, “Yes…he was. He had something I needed back very badly.”


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“What did he have, Phyllis?” Oscar asked.

“I can’t say. It’s too mortifying!” Phyllis buried her head in her hands. Pam patted her reassuringly on the back, “You don’t have to tell us.”

Dwight, Michael, and Andy, of course, thought differently.

“Of course she has to tell us!”

“Pam, stop spouting nonsense!”

“This is a murder investigation. Every detail is important.”

Everyone looked at Phyllis expectantly until she stood up and away from Pam and nodded her head. “All right. But keep in mind that this happened a long time ago. Before I met and married Bob Vance.”

The whole office hung on to her every word. “I….I had a one night-stand with Toby! And he took pictures of us without me knowing!”

Jim and Pam looked at each other, open mouthed. They looked around and saw that their co-workers apparently felt as shocked as they did. Well, almost everyone was shocked.

“That’s it? That was what Toby had on you?” Meredith asked with a sneer. “Just some naked pictures?”

In an offended voice, Phyllis said, “They were very explicit. And he threatened to show them to Bob if I didn’t pay him!”

Meredith sipped from the cup in her hand, “He was trying to blackmail me, too, with a couple of videos of us. I didn’t care. Ya seen one, ya seen ‘em all.”

Now everyone gaped at Meredith but she just shrugged, “What? Been there, done that. I don’t know why he thought I would pay to get it back.”

Creed just nodded and smiled appreciatively at no one in particular. “I thought the redhead looked familiar.”

Jim and Pam looked at each other once again, mouthing, “Oh…my…god.”

Angela looked at both Meredith and Phyllis with distaste.

“Wait, so you were also blackmailed by Toby?” Ryan asked Meredith.

She replied, “Didn’t you hear what I just said, temp? But I didn’t kill him. No reason to.”

“I didn’t kill him either. I told Bob Vance about it and he gave me the money to get the pictures back from Toby.”

Stanley spoke up, “Plus…both of them were standing next to me near the copier when the lights went off. And I don’t think they could move fast enough to do anything to Toby.”

Michael looked at him in disgust, “Really, Stanley? You couldn’t tell us that earlier?”

“Nobody asked.” Stanley replied drolly.

“Well, that’s just great.” Dwight said sarcastically, “There’s the end of that lead.”

“Not exactly.” Andy said. “There’s one more. And Jim can help me with this one.”

Jim looked at Andy questioningly, “What do you mean?”

“Look at the knife, Tuna.” Andy pointed, “Doesn’t that look familiar to you?”

Dwight scoffed. “What does Jim know about knives? You should be asking me instead.”

Kevin and Oscar also leaned in for a closer look at the knife and recognition washed over them.

“That belongs to Dwight!”


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One by one everyone came closer to Toby’s body to take a closer look at the knife.

Jim looked swiftly at Pam before saying, “That does look like the knife I confiscated from Dwight when he and Andy were in that fight.”

Oscar chimed in, “Remember, Dwight? You filed the knife under ‘M’, for ‘Mr. A Knife’.”

“Of course I remember. But did you forget that Jim took it, and all my necessities, from me?”

Jim tapped his lips as if remembering, “I put it all in a box and gave it to Toby.”

“It’s not hard to find this stuff in Toby’s desk. And I saw Dwight heading back there earlier.” Ryan said.

“Shut up, temp! You didn’t see anything of the sort.” Dwight replied.

Erin raised her hand and hesitantly said, “I…I also saw Dwight walking back to the annex when we were out here dancing.”

Dwight rolled his eyes. “Even if I went back there, it still doesn’t mean anything.”

“But…the knife is yours,” Kevin said, pointing to Toby’s body, “and you were just back there…”

“Okay then, what’s my motive?” When no one said anything, Dwight continued, “That’s right, idiots. I have no motive.”

Still silence until Michael talked. “So…I guess someone was trying to frame Dwight.”

Dwight looked at Michael adoringly and said, “Thank you, Michael. I knew you’d believe me.” Then he made a move to hug Michael which the latter quickly rejected.

“Stop it, Dwight! But that still doesn’t explain what you were doing back in the annex when everyone else was having fun in here.”

Dwight looked around, his gaze alighting on Angela before both looked away quickly. Pam noticed the exchange and that Angela was biting her nails.

Phyllis pressed, “Yeah, Dwight. What were you doing back there, then? You’re the one with the mean and the opportunity!”

“And you’ve been watching too much Law & Order.” Dwight retorted.

“She’s right, you know.” Stanley waved in the general area of where Phyllis was standing. “You were the only one, as far as we know, who was back there.”

“Again, what’s my motive, Stanley?”

Everyone started to chime in once again, except for Jim, Pam, and Angela. Finally, Jim shouted out after observing the arguments for a couple of minutes. “Stop! Everyone just…stop and think about this carefully.”

When he had everyone’s attention, Jim continued, “Think about this. Why would Dwight kill Toby? It doesn’t make sense.”

Pam chimed in, “And I’m sure he has a reason for being back there. Right, Dwight?”

Dwight inclined his head in Jim and Pam’s direction. “I do. But I’m not at liberty to say.”

“For God’s sake, man, just spill it!” Creed said.

“Stop it! Everyone just stop it!” Angela cried out abruptly. “He was back there with me, okay? We were back there together!”



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Pam looked around. What was surprising to her was the fact that no one seemed surprised.

Dwight walked over to Angela and pulled her into his arms. “Monkey, you didn’t have to tell them!”

“I had to! They were accusing you of murder!”

“What were you guys doing back there?” Meredith asked.

When neither Dwight nor Angela said anything, just avoided everyone’s eyes, understanding dawned on their office mates.

“Oh ho ho. So you guys were doing that, weren’t you?” Andy smilingly taunted.

“Andy, don’t call Angela a ho.” Michael said and earned a glare from Angela.

Kevin nodded knowingly. “So that explains why you’re being less bitchy lately.” Noticing Oscar’s stare, as if telling him to use more tact, Kevin defended himself. “What?!? You know what I’m talking about, Oscar.”

Phyllis agreed, “It’s true. She’s not such a bitch anymore. Getting it regularly will do that to you. I mean, look at Pam over there.”

Pam sputtered at that surprise reference from Phyllis. But she couldn’t come up with a response.

Jim leaned over and whispered in her ear, “She’s right, you know.” Pam elbowed him in the stomach.

“Wait…you guys were doing the nasty back there? Where?” Kelly asked. At Dwight’s and Angela’s guilty silence, Kelly gasped in horror. “Oh my god! Please don’t say you guys did it on my desk.”

Ryan nodded, “It’s a good and private place to do it.”

Kelly glared at Ryan before making a move to walk back to her desk. “That is totally disgusting! I have to clean it now.”

Dwight held out his arm. “You can’t go back there.”

Before Kelly could say anything else, Creed spoke up. “I think we should all go back there to see if there is any incriminating evidence on Toby’s desk. Who knows, it might give us a clue who killed him.”

When everyone just stared at Creed, surprised to hear something so logical from him, he just said, “What? I told you guys I was addicted to this game. Sometimes we played with real people instead of the game pieces.”

And Creed went back to being Creed.

Pam suggested that everyone head back to the annex.

Dwight added, “Also, be careful of the blood on the kitchen floor. We don’t want to disturb the crime scene too much.”

When everyone was gathered around Toby’s desk, with the exception of Erin, who was trying to console Kelly over the fact that her desk had been ‘violated’, Jim said, “Okay, I think we need to go over Toby’s desk.”

A murmur of agreements and Michael said, “Jim and Dwight, you guys start taking inventory of what’s on Toby’s desk. Pam, you help them write down the stuff.” When Pam stared at him, Michael added, “It’s because you’re the most meticulous and organized person here.”

“First thing, there’s an unfinished pretzel and a cup of coffee on Toby’s desk. We need to check those for poisons.” Dwight suggested.

“Why?” Andy asked. “It was obvious he was stabbed to death.”

Dwight just scoffed, “Amateurs! Even though he might have been stabbed to death, we still need to make sure that the knife is the only cause of death. I have a crime kit in my car that I can get and test for poison.”

“But you said no one can leave the office. And that includes you, Dwight.” Oscar reasoned.

“Jim, how about you go with Dwight to his car and grab the crime kit.” Pam suggested and everyone agreed.
One by one people started to drift back to the front office.

Of course, Toby’s body was covered up because, not only was it more sanitary (Angela’s words), but so that no one could tamper with it (Dwight’s words).

While they were waiting for Jim and Dwight to return, the office mates tried their desk phones and cell phones once again to no avail.

“What’s taking them so long?” Michael pondered.

“Well, it’s dark out there so I think they’re slowly making their way downstairs and to the parking lot.” Pam said.

Andy was about to volunteer to go find Jim and Dwight when they heard a loud thud coming from the direction of the kitchen. Everyone looked toward the sound and saw Erin already walking toward the kitchen. She leaned in to look through the glass, “I don’t see anyone in the kitchen.”

Everyone followed Erin through the kitchen and when they walked through the other door, they saw Meredith’s body on the floor. Next to her body were Dwight’s nun-chucks.



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Kelly screamed, “Oh my god!! Meredith is dead!!”

Panic crept in and Andy yelled out, “We have a serial killer on the loose!”

“Hmmm…I don’t remember anything like this in the game, but then I never got to the next level.” Creed mumbled quietly to himself.

Pam knew she had to do something before everyone started to panic so she shouted out loud.

That got everyone’s attention and immediately quieted them down. But just as Pam was about to speak, Jim and Dwight burst through the kitchen door. Jim looked a bit wide-eyed before locating Pam and immediately walked over and pulled her into his arms. “What happened? Are you okay?”

She returned his hug and reassured him. “I’m fine, but Meredith’s not. We just found her on the floor.”

Dwight was carrying his crime kit. “What? We heard you scream and assumed it was you.”

After another squeeze and a kiss on her forehead, Jim released Pam and stooped down to Meredith’s body. “I don’t see any blood. I think she’s still alive.”

“Let me check.” Dwight kneeled down and checked Meredith’s pulse. “She’s still alive, so everyone can just calm down.”

“Maybe we should carry her to the sofa.” Ryan suggested.

“But be careful,” Pam said. “She looks like she has a big bump at the back of her head.”

“The power of the nun-chucks should never be underestimated.” Dwight intoned.

Kevin hefted Meredith up in his arms and carried her to the sofa next to the reception desk. Erin and Phyllis wrapped some ice in a towel to apply to the bump on the back of Meredith’s head. Jim and Pam helped Dwight take a small sample of both the coffee and the pretzel and joined everyone else in the front office.

While Dwight started his test for poison, the conversation turned back to who did all of this.

“I still don’t understand why they harmed Meredith.” Angela said.

“Maybe she found out something about the killer.” Oscar proposed.

Michael nodded. “Yeah, maybe she found a clue about the killer.”

“But who was back there with her, though? I didn’t realize she was missing until we heard the sound and went back there.”

“Pam’s right.” Andy piped up. “All of us were here when Jim and Dwight went to the car. None of us noticed Meredith’s absence.”

“And on Toby’s desk were just personnel files of everyone in this office which is normal since performance reviews are next week. I don’t know what she could have discovered on his desk.” Pam added.

Phyllis looked over at Erin, “You were the closest to the kitchen, Erin. Did you see anything?”

“Yeah, Erin. You were the closest to the kitchen. Maybe you were in the kitchen. Maybe you were even back there at Toby’s desk. Maybe you…”

Eyes wide, Erin shook her head. “I…It wasn’t me! I didn’t even know Toby! Or Meredith! And I wasn’t back at the kitchen. I was just about to walk back there!”

Andy, seeing the object of his affection seemingly under suspicion, saw his chance to come to her rescue. “Kevin, how could you accuse poor Erin here? It’s obvious that out of all of us, she’s the least likely one to do anything. I mean, look at her!”

Kelly also came to the rescue of her new BFF. “Yeah Kevin. Stop accusing everybody. Maybe you are the killer.”

“Whaaa? I didn’t do it. I don’t have a reason to.” Kevin protested.

Kelly plowed on. “Well, maybe you did something that Toby discovered. Something really bad.”

Kevin scratched his head. “Like what?”

Sensing another round of everyone accusing one another, Michael and Jim exchanged a look. “Shut it! Everyone just shut it!” Michael screamed at the group.

“Pam was right. We should see what else was on Toby’s desk. Maybe there’s some sort of clue there.” Jim said after everyone quieted down.

Pam nodded. “At the very least, we could gather some additional information for when the police get here.”

Just as they were about to head back to the annex, Dwight came out from the conference room where he’d set up his crime kit. He held up a strip of material, half covered in a dark liquid. “Everybody! Look at this!”


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“Is it poison?” Ryan asked.

Creed also came closer to Dwight, looking at the material. “What kind of poison is it? Rat? Cyanide? Is it from an animal? Snakes? Spiders? Gila monsters?”

“No…what?” Dwight sputtered. “No, old man. It’s not poison. But the coffee is not decaf, like they say on the canister.”

Jim rolled his eyes, “Really, Dwight? Those are the results of your testing?”

“Well, that and the fact that the pretzel wasn’t poisonous. Just very fatty.”

“Oh for God’s sake!” Stanley huffed.

Michael clapped his hand to get their attention. “C’mon people! We still have a murder to solve. Maybe two if Meredith doesn’t wake up. Ideas?”

“How about some of us stay here with Meredith and keep an eye on Toby’s body while the rest go back to Toby’s desk again to search for clues.” Creed suggested.

“That is brilliant, Clue-less guy!” Andy tried to high-five Creed only to be met with a blank stare. “Get it? Because you quit Clue so now you’re Clue-less. Still nothing? Okay then….”

Stanley and Phyllis spoke up at the same time, “I’m staying here.”

Michael nodded. “Okay, so you two, Erin, Oscar, Kevin, and Kelly stay here and the rest of us go back there.”

Ryan hesitated, “Oh, I think I should stay here, Michael. To…uh…keep an eye on things.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ryan. You’re coming with me so I can protect you. Or you can protect me.” Then he dragged Ryan with him and the rest followed.

Toby's desk looked different now. There were some papers and files strewn on the floor and a couple of drawers were opened.

Dwight made everyone put on gloves. After a few minutes of going through one of the drawers, Pam came upon an inconspicuous-looking file folder and started scanning it like she did the others. She wasn’t prepared, however, for the contents of the folder. Inside were printouts of emails from Toby to her, emails that he apparently never sent because she never received any of them. The content of those emails ranged anywhere from words of devotion to begging her to come with him on a planned trip to Costa Rica later that year, to what he thought of Jim not being good enough for her.

Printouts of other emails were in there as well. One in particular made Pam gasp out loud and drew the attention of the other five people. That email was a series of correspondence between Toby and David Wallace about the transfer of Holly to the Nashua branch.

Jim looked at the content and his expression grew dim. “I can’t believe this!”

Pam couldn’t say anything but nodded. “I…I never suspected anything like this. I mean, it’s Toby!” Jim thought better than to point out some examples for her but in his mind, everything made more sense now regarding Toby’s silent hostility toward him.

But neither one could say anything more because Michael already had his hand on the emails between Toby and David. He looked crushed as he continued reading why David suddenly transferred Holly and let Toby, his enemy, come back. Dwight, Angela and Ryan glanced through some of the content and were unsure what to make of this.
After a moment, Jim took Pam’s hand and said, “C’mon, we should get back to the whole group and tell them what we found.”

When everyone was once again gathered near the reception’s desk, Jim was about to summarize what they found in Toby’s desk. He stopped when he saw Phyllis, Erin, Kelly, Oscar, Stanley and Kevin look at one another, as if wanting to say something.

Jim put his hands in his pockets, “What?”

When no one said anything, both Michael and Dwight spoke up, “C’mon, just say whatever you were going to say.”

Oscar finally stepped forward. “I should have said something about this earlier. I saw Jim going into Toby’s house a couple days ago. It was after work when he stopped by. They were talking pretty heatedly before they went inside Toby’s place. I left soon after so I didn’t see when Jim left.”

When the attention shifted to Jim, Pam quickly thought back to the day in question. All she remembered was that day when Jim left to grab her something from the store, ice cream or pickles because of her sudden craving. He’d mentioned he’d be right back but it was over an hour before he’d returned.

Michael looked over at Jim, as if waiting for him to deny Oscar’s accusation, but Jim just looked around the room at everyone. “I did go to see Toby, but it’s not what you guys think.”

Ryan held up the folder, “Well, according to this, you have plenty of motives, Jim. Especially since Toby still had the hots for your fiancée. That must have pissed you off.”

“What?” Phyllis asked and the contents of the folder were passed around to everybody.

Kevin looked at Jim, “Dude, I never would have thought you did it.”

Creed nodded. “Well played, my tall friend. Well played.”

“No. You guys are not listening to me.” Jim was exasperated. “I did not kill Toby. I didn’t know about these emails until now. The reason why I went to talk to him was…” a quick look at Pam, “…about David promoting me but Toby never send out the paperwork like he said he did.”


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Pam nodded, “And I was here with Jim the whole time during the party. Jim would never do anything like this! Neither one of us knew about the emails!”

“But you guys knew about what Toby was doing about Jim’s promotion?” Michael asked.

“We’d only learned of it last week when David replied to my phone call.” Jim quickly responded and proceeded to detail how Charles’ doubts about the validity of Jim’s promotion had caused Jim to seek reassurance from David. The accompanying pay raise and title change were never entered because Toby had withheld the paperwork, for whatever reason. Jim’s frustration had finally led him, on a whim, to Toby’s home in an attempt to discuss the situation with him.

“That was probably when you saw me, Oscar.” Jim said to the other man.

“Why didn’t Toby file your paperwork, Jim?” Phyllis asked.

Jim shook his head. “I didn’t know at first. I’d assumed that he forgot about it.”

Michael pressed, “Did it have something to do with Pam?”

After a quick look to his fiancée, Jim continued, “Apparently it did. I didn’t know he still had feelings for Pam. And now we have evidence of that.”

When Pam saw how quiet everyone was, she said urgently, “Jim couldn’t have done it! I mean, he was with me when Toby was killed!”

Dwight added, “And he was with me in the parking lot when Meredith was knocked out. We’re assuming that whoever killed Toby probably tried to kill Meredith too.”

“But Jim is the one with the biggest motive here: revenge against Toby for screwing up his promotion and lusting after Pam.” Oscar reasoned.

Kevin agreed. “Plus, Pam, you could have helped him. We just don’t know.”

Angela stepped in. “It couldn’t have been Pam. She was talking with Michael and Andy when we heard Meredith’s body fall to the floor.”

“She was talking to both of us.” Andy agreed.

“You people argue it out. Someone give me a flashlight so I can use the bathroom.”

Without waiting for someone to hand him a flashlight, Stanley took the one closest to him and headed to the men’s room.

Ryan held up the folder that was discovered in Toby’s desk. “There are other emails in here besides the ones that Toby planned to send to Pam.”

“Michael, did you know about Toby asking David to transfer Holly?” Andy looked up from one of the sheets.

“Does it look like I knew about it, Andy?” Michael snapped. “If I had known about it, do you think I would have been as nice as I’ve been to Toby?”

Considering the fact that even though Michael didn’t know that Toby was directly responsible for Holly’s transfer, he’d already blamed Toby for it and was treating him even worse than ever. So…no one said anything.

“He should’ve just stayed in Nicaragua.” Michael added.

“Guatemala.” Creed said.

“No, he was in Costa Rica.” Kelly corrected.

“It doesn’t matter where he was! My point is: he should’ve just stayed there. Then maybe none of this would have happened. He would still be alive. Meredith would still be alive…”

Jim looked up, “Meredith is still alive, Michael.”

“Yeah, but she’s probably in a coma now.”

“What is Stanley carrying?” Andy pointed to the kitchen door.

Everyone looked over and, indeed, Stanley was carrying what looked like a garbage can over to where they were standing. When he reached Michael, Stanley dropped the trashcan at Michael’s feet.

“Michael, is this your shirt in here?”

Angela gasped. “Oh my goodness….is that blood on the shirt?”

Dwight shone the flashlight into the bin. One by one, after they took a look at the contents of the garbage can, each looked up at Michael, accusations already forming.

“C’mon, you guys. We already went through this. I did not kill Toby. Yes, that shirt is mine, but Erin spilled something on it earlier, that was why I had to change and when I came out of the bathroom, you guys know the rest!”

“Yes,” Andy agreed, “but we never finished talking about your motive. And now we have both motive AND evidence!”

“Erin, you spilled something on me earlier, right?” Michael asked.

Erin looked around apprehensively, “Yes…I did, but I don’t think the punch was thick like that.”

Phyllis nodded, “She has a point. The red stains look too thick to be fruit punch, Michael.”

Pam and Jim exchanged a look, both thinking that all of these accusations back and forth weren’t going anywhere. With a sigh, Jim spoke up amidst the full blown arguments about motives and evidence. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of this earlier. Why don’t some of us go and get the police to come back here. Who knows when the power will come back and all of this arguing is not going anywhere.”

Dwight chimed in, “I agree. Let’s pick some of us to go get the police. Then when they get here, I will help them find the real killer among us.”

“But who’s going to go?” Oscar asked.

Pam tapped her lips and said, “I think Angela, Creed, Stanley and Kevin should go. They’re the ones with the least motive. If need be, Jim and Dwight and Andy can help subdue the killer if he or she tries to leave.”

“Excellent suggestion, Pam.” Dwight said. And with that, Angela, Stanley, Creed and Kevin left in search of the police.

The office was quiet for a bit after they left. Then Meredith stirred on the sofa.



-----------------

-------------------


Phyllis and Erin rushed over to Meredith’s side, helping her get up.

Meredith gingerly touched the back of her head. “Owww! What happened?”

“Careful there, Mere.” Oscar said. “You don’t remember what happened?”

A big frown appeared on Meredith’s face. “I…I’m not sure. Did someone knock me out?”

Jim nodded, “Yeah. Do you remember who did that to you?”

Meredith’s face scrunched up in pain as she tried to remember. “Owww!”

“Meredith, why don’t you rest a bit more before doing anything. You took a pretty heavy blow to the back of your head.” Pam said.

“Do you want some water?” Jim asked and without waiting for a reply, went to the kitchen and grabbed some water for her.

Once everyone made sure that Meredith was okay, and knowing that they couldn’t leave the office (not with Dwight hovering and keeping a close eye on everyone), they started drifting from the reception area to the other tables around the office. Michael, Dwight and Phyllis stood near the copier (Dwight’s reason, which he kept to himself, was he was guarding the two most suspicious people). Andy, Kelly and Erin stood near the water cooler and talked amongst themselves.

Jim and Pam sat with Meredith to make sure that she was feeling fine and to see if she needed anything. Oscar also sat with them, but in his mind, he was still a bit suspicious of this seemingly perfect couple and wanted to keep an eye on them.

One niggling thought kept bugging Jim but due to earlier events, he didn’t have time to ask Oscar. Now that the office quieted down, the question came to him again.

“Oscar, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“What were you doing in Toby’s neighborhood when you saw me at his house?” Jim asked.

Pam frowned. “That’s right. You live on the opposite side of the city, closer to the downtown area. And Toby’s area is all residential.”

Looking as if he was caught in a lie, Oscar leaned close to Jim and Pam, “Okay…so I didn’t really see you. But someone mentioned that they saw you and even you admitted that you were there!”

“Who saw me? How come they didn’t say it instead of you?”

Hesitantly, Oscar nodded his head in the direction of Andy, Kelly and Erin. “It was Erin. She mentioned that she saw you but didn’t want to say anything because she’s new here.”

“Erin?” Pam repeated.

“Yeah, she told us while you guys were back at Toby’s desk.”

At the mention of Toby’s desk, Meredith squinted, as if remembering something. “Wait, Erin was also back there with me when I was at Toby’s desk. I remember turning around and seeing her. The next thing I knew, I woke up on this couch.”

Understanding suddenly dawned on Jim, Pam, and Oscar, who pointed and asked, “Erin?”

The lights came back on just as Oscar pointed at Erin, who was standing next to Kelly and Andy. When Erin saw the staring and low talking between Jim, Pam and Oscar and their quick looks in her direction, she slowly reached to the small of her back where she hid the gun found earlier in Dwight’s weapon box.

“Nobody moves!” Erin yelled out while holding the gun to Kelly’s temple and her other arm across Kelly’s neck. “Make one move and I’m not responsible for what happens to her!”

“Erin, what are you doing? We’re bff’s!” Kelly shrieked.

“Shut up! Just SHUT UP!” Erin pushed the gun a bit closer. “Bffs?! We’re not bffs. I don’t even like you, Kelly. I hate the color pink! And you have the worst taste in music!” She looked at everyone else, who were cautiously trying to calm her down. “And this whole stupid office! I don’t know how you guys stand each other.”

Michael protested, “It’s not that bad. We’re a family.”

“Shut up, Michael! You are the worst! You do nothing but waste everyone’s time here.” She looked over to Jim and Pam. “And you guys are just as annoying. The incessant flirting and the googly eyes. It’s enough to make me want to hurl!”

Dwight nodded, “Imagine sitting across from both of them. It’s disgusting, I tell you.”

Erin turned to Dwight, “You and your stupid beets and bears. No one cares!”

“Wait, Erin, let’s talk about this. Why did you kill Toby?” Jim asked.

Erin scoffed, “That bastard got what was coming to him. It’s his fault that I’m an orphan!”


-------------------

------------------


“Are you saying Toby killed your parents?” Michael stopped moving when Erin aimed the gun at him.

“Stop! Don’t come any closer!” Erin continued to hold on tight to Kelly with the gun. “If only he stuck to what he was supposed to do, none of this would’ve happened. Toby left the seminary for my mother. She left my dad for him and moved here. She didn’t even think about me or our family. All she cared about was a new life away from us. It broke my dad’s heart. He stopped caring for anything after that.”

“Is your father still alive?” Phyllis asked hesitantly.

“He is. But he might as well not be with all the drinking he does.”

Oscar was the next one with the question. “Does your mom know you’re here in Scranton?”

Erin scoffed, “I haven’t seen that woman since she left.” Then a hard smile. “She tried to get in touch with me a couple of years ago, some bullshit thing like wanting to reconnect. But I know what she was trying to do. She just wanted to ease her guilt.”

A thought nagged Pam. “If you met Toby a long time ago, when he was still in the seminary, how come he didn’t recognize you?”

“I was still a young girl. He wouldn’t have found out about me if he hadn’t gone through my file for my performance review.”

Meredith gasped, “That’s right! I remember. Your dad’s name--I recognized it in your file. Toby told me a little about his ex-wife and the husband that she dumped when she met him. That was why you conked me over the head?”

“For a drunk, Meredith, you were too nosy. I suspected you might know something when I heard you were close to Toby. But I didn’t know for sure until I saw you snooping around the files on his desk.”

“Erin, think about this,” Dwight reasoned, “What makes you think you can get away now? There are a lot of witnesses here and only one of you.”

Erin’s cold smirk transformed her face in an instant, from an innocent young woman to the killer she was. “You’re right, Dwight. That’s why I don’t plan to let Kelly go until I’m a safe distance away from Scranton.”

Andy, up until this moment, was shocked speechless. But now, hearing Erin confess to the crimes and her lack of remorse, he snapped. “Kelly didn’t do anything to you! Why are you treating her like this? We can work with you to figure something out without hurting Kelly.”

“No. The Scranton Police Department doesn’t negotiate with murderers.” Dwight pointed out.

“Not now, Dwight.” Jim said softly with a meaningful look, telling Dwight that now’s not the time to cite police procedures.

Michael spoke up. “Okay, how about if you just let Kelly go, Erin, and we’ll let you walk out of here. None of us will stop you or follow you.”

“Michael…” Dwight protested.

“I don’t believe any of you.” Erin said, looking around the office.

Michael stepped forward. “It’s true. We don’t want anyone else hurt. We won’t call the police or anything.”

“But you’ll tell them what I did?” Erin asked.

“We’ll probably be forced to. But by the time the police get here, you’ll be long gone.” Jim reasoned.

Oscar chimed in. “Think about it. This is probably your best chance of running away. Can you really see Kelly being a low maintenance hostage?”

Seeing Erin waver, Pam pressed. “Erin, without Kelly, it will probably be easier for you to make your getaway.”

Looking around, Erin saw the earnest expressions on their faces. She inched around the desks and the people, all the while pulling Kelly along, still pointing the gun at Kelly’s head.

“I will let her go when I’m in my car. No one follows me or else I won’t be responsible for what happens to Kelly.”

Everyone nodded and Michael said, “You have our word.”

And when it seemed like the whole ordeal would end without more bloodshed, all hell broke loose. In the distance was the unmistakable sound of police sirens.

Erin’s eyes went wide and her expression turned from disbelief to anger at the thought that one of them didn’t keep their word and called the police.

The gun shook slightly in Erin’s hand.

Thinking quick, Jim said, “Erin, you can still leave now.”

Shaking her head, Erin continued to look at them angrily, “Don’t you see? It’s just not meant to work out like that. There can’t be any witnesses.”

Then she swept the gun from right to left, as if deciding who to shoot first.

From out of nowhere, Andy threw a ream of paper at Erin, causing her to raise her arm to block the ream. Seeing an opportunity, both Jim and Dwight ran at her, knocking the gun out of her hand. Pam saw the gun and immediately grabbed it so it was out of Erin’s reach while Jim and Dwight held Erin down.

Andy quickly ran over to Kelly. “Are you okay?”

She just nodded, still shaky from the aftermath of having a gun pointed at her head.

Michael yelled out to Oscar and Ryan, “One of you grab the plastic thingy to tie her hands.”

Ryan brought the hand tie over to Dwight so he could do it. All the while, Erin was screaming and cursing them.
Within minutes, the office of Dunder Mifflin was swarmed with cops, followed by Stanley, Angela, Creed and Kevin.



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Upon entering, the police told everyone to stay where they were while they sorted out what happened. All they knew was what Angela told them, which was Michael was the suspect. What the police saw, however, was different than what they’d imagined: a young woman being held down by two men.

After almost three hours of interviewing everyone, the police finally got the whole story.

The forensic team also came in to gather all the evidence. In the end, the police took Erin into custody and let everyone else go home.

….

As Stanley walked to his car, he thought a nice glass of red wine and a hot bath sounded just about perfect after the day he’d had.

….

Bob Vance was already waiting for Phyllis in the parking lot. As soon as she saw him, Phyllis walked straight into Bob’s arms and said, “I’m okay. And the police will get rid of the pictures after the case is closed.”

He nodded. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

….

In the parking lot of Poor Richard’s, Meredith just sat in her car, staring at the people coming and going. Then she picked up her phone and dialed. “Jake? Hey, I’m heading home soon. You eat yet?”

After a quick conversation, Meredith left the parking lot of Poor Richard’s to pick up a couple of movies and McDonald’s at her son’s request. She felt good….and wondered if Jake wanted to go hiking that weekend. They hadn’t done that in…forever.

….

Dwight and Angela drove separately back to Schrute Farms. Mose was still waiting up for them because the thunder and lightning scared him. In his hands was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He hoped Dwight and Angela weren’t too tired to read to him.

They were getting to the good part in the book.

….

It was only when Ryan left the building that he realized he hadn’t called his mom to tell her when to pick him up. He looked around, saw Creed, and decided to bum a ride from him. Plus, the old dude always had great stories to tell.

….

Creed walked out of the office feeling energized. Playing Clue usually has that effect on him. He thought that Dunder Mifflin’s Clue was outstanding, much better than all the times he’d played before. In the future he would emphasize that paying extra for the dead HR guy was the way to go.

….

It’s crazy how you thought you knew people so well and yet, you didn’t really, Oscar thought as he drove home. He thought he knew Toby well. But then again, he also thought he knew Gil well and look what happened.

….

Andy and Kelly were the first people to leave the office. Kelly didn’t want to stay in there much longer and asked if Andy could drive her home.

Her voice was small when she spoke up, “Thank you, Andy, for coming to my rescue.”

He took his eyes off the road for a second and looked at her, “Well, I couldn’t let my best dance partner come to harm now, could I?”

“I’m sorry. I knew how much you liked Erin.”

“It’s okay, actually.” A pause, then, “I’m sorry too. I knew you considered her your best friend.”

Both were quiet the rest of the way to Kelly’s apartment. When they got there, Andy got out of the car to open the door for Kelly. She thanked him and started walking to her door. But then she paused, turned around and walked back to where he was standing.

“If you’re not busy tomorrow, want to grab dinner or movies something? To take our minds off tonight?”

Andy sputtered a little at the surprise invitation and eagerly accepted, “Yeah, um, of course! Definitely. That would be awesome! I’ll pick m’lady up?”

She nodded and leaned up to plant a kiss on his cheek then walked quickly to her apartment, leaving Andy standing there smiling and gingerly touching the place where she’d just kissed him. He whistled all the way back home.

….

Kevin couldn’t wait to tell his friends what happened over poker tomorrow. Maybe he’d distract them with his awesome story and win back what he lost last week.

….

Michael couldn’t fall asleep when he got home. Even after watching the TV and drinking warm milk. He wasn’t sure how he felt about everything tonight. Although it gave him some sort of closure to learn about what Toby did so that David Wallace transferred Holly away from him. As he fell asleep, he thought about what Holly would think of all of this.

….

Both were embracing each other that night in bed. Neither really knew what to say about the evening’s events so, by silent agreement, they decided not to rehash what had happened in the office.

Before they nodded off to sleep, however, Jim pulled Pam even closer to him and said against her mouth, “I think we should get married tomorrow.”

Pam smiled against his lips, “At the courthouse?”

His lips trailed down to her throat, “No….” and he whispered where he was thinking.

Pam’s brilliant smile was all the answer Jim needed.

************

Five weeks later:

“Okay, okay, everyone. Let’s settle down and think of more ideas for our Dundies this year!” Michael yelled at his employees who were all sitting in the conference room.

Pam raised her hand. “Michael, do we have corporate permission to do this or is it coming out of our own pockets?”

Michael clapped his hands together, “Okay, so Pam is a party pooper so we’ll just ignore her for now!”

Jim was the next to raise his hand, “But that’s a legitimate question.”

“Of course you would say that, Jim,” Michael glared, “She’s your wife so you have to take her side on everything.”

Stanley looked up from his crossword puzzle, “Shouldn’t you be talking to us about our new human resource representative?”

“Yeah, Michael, has Corporate told you who it is?” Dwight asked.

Michael waved the questions away. “It’s not important; whoever it is will suck the fun out of our office! That’s a given.”

Oscar raised his hand, “Then what about a new receptionist?”

Michael pointed at Ryan, “I’ve decided that Ryan should take back that position until we make sure the new human resource person has no enemies.”

The latter elicited nods and murmurs of agreement from everybody. Michael was about to get back to the subject of the Dundies when all of them heard the front door open and in a few short moments, a woman walked into the conference room, shocking everyone speechless.

Then, in a dorky voice that he had missed so much for so long, the woman looked at Michael and smiled. “Surprised to see me, are you not?”


THE END

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