The next day, Raven was found dead. They didn't show up to the daily meeting again, so Jaune went to look for them in storage, but they were lying next door in admin, not breathing and drenched in blood. Jaune reported it immediately and now sat down with the others. "Lavender. Since I trust you, let's start with what you have to say just to get some base information. Where were you last night?"

Lavender nodded. "I had locked myself in the upper engine like I usually do. I hear you go from the reactor to storage, then down to comms, right?"

Jaune nodded. "That's right, but-"

"Wait, since you pass through storage every night, you would have seen Raven going to admin!" Rouge interrupted.

"Only if they went that way at exactly 8. Why?"

"If you had seen them go to admin, it wouldn't have taken you so long to find them this morning, meaning you could have just cut past Nav and O2 and killed them beforehand!"

Jaune shook their head. "No, I looked at the bloodstains. They were killed earlier, at night. Probably around 1. But that..." they frowned, tracing their path through the ship on the table. "Hold on. That doesn't make sense. All the doors were locked at the time, including the one in admin. Nobody could have gotten to Raven at night without tearing down a door."

"Unless..." Lavender's gaze had drifted to the corner of the cafeteria and was focused on the ground near the door. You could practically see the thoughts swirling in her brain as she explained. "There's another way they could have gotten in." She stood up. "The killer already proved that they know how to quickly unlock the vents. What if they crawled through them to get to admin?"

"That is..." Rouge was staring at her with a mix of confusion and disgust on his face. "...so stupid,"

"Oh," she replied defeatedly, slumping her shoulders.

"No, she's right," Jaune said. "That does make sense. Raven was in a vulnerable position the night after Silvius' death, so why didn't the killer get them then?" Valentine cocked her head. "There are no vents in storage,"

Lavender's eyes lit up. "That's good! Now we're looking for someone who was in a room with a vent to admin. Also, someone who didn't come up here through storage,"

"Well, I wasn't in any rooms." Valentine piped up. "I was going to hang out in O2, but Rouge kicked me out for being annoying. I just slept in the hall,"

"That's good to know. All the doors were locked and there isn't a vent in that hall-"

"Yes, there is!" Rouge interjected. "I dropped a pen in it once and spent hours trying to get it out. Do you know where it was?" Jaune glanced quizzically at him. "Right outside O2."

Val's bottom lip quivered. "You think... I did it?"

Jaune rubbed their eyes beneath their glasses. "I don't think it's Val."

"I thought you wanted to cover all the options! I think it's pretty clear that we can't trust each other, so I'm just proposing that-"

"Rouge!" Jaune exclaimed, eyes glinting. "Raven originally suspected Clover and voiced it clearly during the meeting. Now they're dead and he still hasn't said anything this whole time, and yet..." They inhaled. "...you're still accusing the goddamn child!?"

Clover glanced up at the mention of his name. He had been zoned out for most of the meeting, trying to register what had happened. He didn't have time to try and defend himself or give his side of the story.

Last night, he had locked himself in security, setting the doors to open in the morning or if someone else came to get him. He had taken all the possible precautions to make sure that he wouldn't be able to get anywhere at all when he was asleep, which meant...

Someone else had killed Raven.

He realized that everyone's eyes were on him. "I- Sorry, I just-"

"It's fine. Rouge, calm yourself down for once. I want to hear what Clover has to say. Where were you last night, how did you get there, and what was your path back to the cafeteria?"

His hands were shaking beneath the table. At least now he didn't have to completely lie about it, just make sure he didn't spill anything else about the episodes or Silvius. "I had locked myself in security-"

"Why?" Jaune asked with an elbow on the table.

"It's so that I don't accidentally lean on the dashboard or mess with stuff when I'm asleep. In security, all the equipment is on the tables," That wasn't entirely true. Yes, he didn't want to mess up anything in his sleep, but more specifically, he didn't want to have anything to sabotage. He had a feeling that if something could make him stab a crewmate, it could make him cut an oxygen supply when he was a few feet away from the dashboard and only semi-conscious. As well as that, he wanted to guard the cameras. People watching them were a problem now, and if anyone saw him acting suspiciously they would be in danger... right?

Jaune nodded for him to continue.

"I also heard you go from the reactor to comms around 8. I saw Val get kicked out of Nav on the cameras, and then..."

"Then...?"

"I fell asleep, I guess. Must've been a little after 9, but I didn't check. Then this morning, I came up through the upper engine to the cafeteria for the meeting. That's it,"

Jaune slid their hands back to their sides. "Okay. If I remember correctly, there's a vent in security-" His heart skipped a beat. What if he had climbed through the vent and killed Raven? "-but it doesn't lead to anywhere near admin. Just Medbay and electrical,"

"So... I'm clear?" Clover asked.

"Ugh, I guess so. There just isn't enough evidence. I want to- no, need to make sure we're all safe, but this is so frustrating!"

"Um, one question," Lavender said, slightly raising her hand instinctively. "Say we did get enough information to confirm someone as the killer. What exactly would we do with them?"

"I've been thinking about that. It isn't worth the risk to keep them on the ship, so it would be safest to eject them from the ship through the airlock."

"That seems... harsh." Clover frowned. Weren't the stakes already high enough?

"It's the only way." They shrugged. "But we don't have to worry about that for the minute. I have a feeling that deciding on a punishment for the impostor will be easier than finding them."

Clover nodded. Impostor. That was what he was. A faker that had to pantomime every move, constantly hiding their true selves. But now there was another. He glanced around the table again. Valentine, Lavender, Rouge, or Jaune had killed Raven without him knowing. And they probably were only getting started.