You lift the photo of Otto the Salesman, certain of his guilt. As you remove it from its place on the altar, the candle sparks to life, the dark flames seeming to reach towards your hand before falling back into place. Your eyes are drawn to the photograph in your hand, the face of a murderer of decades past, still causing pain to his victims, both intentional and unintentional, after all this time. You thrust the photo into the dark flame. For a moment, you can feel a presence behind you, and a man’s rough voice chanting soft, unintelligible words. There’s no turning to look, however, as a form suddenly appears across the altar from you.

Appearing before you more solid than you’ve seen him so far, Otto’s wide-eyed gaze is pinned to something over your shoulder.

“Mr. McDermott, Charles, look you can’t believe I did this! Why would I hurt that little girl?! I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn’t do it, I have nothing to do with this, no Mr. McDermott, please-”

His protests are cut off with a sharp cry of pain. The photograph has finally caught up the dark flames of the candle, and is rapidly being eaten away. Similar flames have appeared around Otto and, to your horror, begin to devour him as well. You drop the photograph before the flames reach your finger, and the fire seems to wrap itself around the remnants, swallowing the last few pieces. You can’t look away as the writhing shape of Otto is likewise devoured by the hungry flames surrounding him. One final shriek rings in your ears as you’re suddenly plunged into darkness. The chanting from behind you comes to a stop. There’s a soft sigh.

You hold your breath, too wary of disturbing the dark silence that surrounds you. After an indeterminable amount of time light slowly blooms around you, revealing your companions gathered close. From one of the windows, sunrise is visible, whose light struggles to reach you. The shadows that fill McDermott House seem to resist the presence of daylight. With subdued voices, you and your companions gather yourselves and quickly flee the now hopefully empty house.

Time passes, and stories of the McDermott House Murder still swirl. In fact, each new mention that reaches you brings more horrible occurrences than the preceding one. It seems a darkness still dwells at the heart of McDermott House, and is more powerful than ever. You struggle not to pay attention to the tales; you can’t bring yourself to go back to that horrible place, where it seems you may have misserved justice.

Was there a clue you overlooked? Some piece of critical evidence you missed?
How about taking a few steps back and giving it another shot?