master of murder by christopher pike
...n the middle of the road and a rope dangling from the edge of the bride, directly out to the side of where the oil was. Marvin can’t put the pieces together so he asks the sheriff how the condition of the body was when they found it. The sheriff reported that it was pale, was wearing a jacket, and his hands were oily. Marvin goes to see Harry’s mom and looks at the jacket. It had rope burns around its upper waist, under the armpits. Marvin suspects that maybe Marvin was hung. Marvin goes to tell Shelly what he believes and finds her with Triad in a Jacuzzi. Marvin gets mad and storms away, not saying anything. As Marvin thinks harder, he realizes that maybe Harry knew Marvin was going out with Shelly. Harry loved Shelly too, so maybe he wanted to kill Marvin, get rid of the competition. Marvin had a motorcycle; Harry could put oil in the middle of the road and tie a rope on one end of the bridge and pulling the other end to straighten it out. So if the oil didn’t kill Marvin, the rope would, but to hold a rope that tight would be dangerous so you would have to tie it around your waist. Something must have gone wrong and Harry must have slipped, hanging himself by his armpits. It was a great murder plot, after he killed Marvin he could easy untie the rope and walk away. Marvin decided to use this plot on Triad. Marvin sells his motorcycle to Triad, who has been dying for it for ages. Marvin leaves a helmet at a bike shop out of town for Triad to get. Marvin had previously bought a car to take the motorcycles place. Marvin sets up everything at the bridge and decides to wait to kill Triad until after he returns. Triad rides by on his bike and Marvin barely gets a glimpse of him. Marvin sets up. As Triad comes back later, Marvin tugs the rope, straightening it out across the bridge, about neck high. Then Marvin sees Shelly. He can’t go through with it and lets the rope loosen. Triad brakes in time for the oil and gets off his bike to pummel Marvin. Marvin panics and falls over the edge. Triad accuses Marvin of killing Harry because Marvin was now trying to kill Triad now. Marvin accuses Triad of killing Harry because Triad also liked Shelly. Triad figured he could kill Marvin and Harry, but only Harry died. Triad admits to killing Harry and tries to untie the rope. After a struggle to get back on top of the bridge, Marvin knocks out Triad with a foot to the face and takes the bike, leaving Shelly with Triad with a knife at her throat. Marvin heads to a motel to finish his story. After finishing, he heads back to town, stopping at the bridge. Shelly comes to the bridge shortly after. Shelly told Marvin that she was heartbroken when Harry died. She suspected Marvin had killed him, so she put him to the test. Shelly knew Marvin would find all the information of...