Fourth Trial

[bathymetric]

[ After the evidence (and what a large batch of evidence it is, this time) has been gathered up, after actually patiently waiting a longer time than usual to make sure everything's been grabbed, the speakers over New Rapture crackle to life. ]

Time's up, everyone. You know where to go.

[ The lower number of bathyspheres, as you descend, is starting to become really notable, isn't it? The descent is the same as ever, lower and lower into the sea. The bioluminescence of those slugs on the ocean floor is almost brighter today, somehow, and some of them have even crawled up the cliff face around you as you pass them.

The dome approaches, slowly as ever, gleaming red in the darkness. The bathyspheres land in a row, doors opening one by one to reveal the familiar sight of the trial room, three more podiums now darkened. ]

Take your places, ladies and gentlemen. You've got a doozy of a situation to discuss. Ass Man and Silver Fox are dead. You know what happens if you can't figure out whodunnit.

[ Welcome to your fourth trial. ]

Comments

[allatonce]

I think the thing that points toward two people is less that and more...

[How does she say this without sounding sociopathic?]

... people who kill through complicated traps like whatever happened to Undertaker don't tend to be the same people who favor more, ah, hands-on methods like. Well.

[She holds up the sword again.]

[fuckingguy]

... Right, the sword. I almost forgot I was going to smell it.

[allatonce]

We had some other pressing issues.

[That's an understatement! She holds it out, though.]

mods...

[fuckingguy]

[ And he's going to take it and give it a sniff! Is this Dandy's weird metal blood? ]

[bathymetric]

[ It sure is! Please don't lick it. For your own sake, Nandor. ]

[fuckingguy]

[ Passing it back with a thousand mile stare: ]

Yeah, that is his.

[allatonce]

Good to know.

[She takes it back, because this is her sword now. Yes, she'll clean the blood off it later.]

Both of the stabby things we found have the same damage to them, don't they?

[specialyellthing]

...You think they both coulda been used on [LIFTING UP THE BOX AGAIN--]

[fuckingguy]

Perhaps. One to, uh, open the cavity, another to try and destroy what was inside?

[allatonce]

Probably. [A beat.] Weird that they were found so far apart, though. Did they take the sword with them to set up the fireworks?

[??? WHY.]

[fuckingguy]

Did they perhaps think the fireworks were gonna destroy it?

[onemillion]

Why bother to hide the knife, though? That seems rather pointless. Did they maybe want to make it look like the sword was the only weapon used?

[fuckingguy]

It does... but also, what is the point of that? We all have our own weaponry now, it is not like that would tell us anything...

[onemillion]

I'm not sure. Maybe some of this was simply to try to throw us off-track. My apologies if this has been clarified already, but do we have confirmation that the sword was used to cause any injuries on Dandy?

[maybe they just dipped it in blood or something. who knows!!!]

[fuckingguy]

I mean, it was definitely his blood... but Aiba would know more about matching the wounds.

mods info please

[pairtner]

Hold that sword, please.

[Let her take a goooood look, no need to approach. Zoom onto the sword, measure it by eye, and time to compare it with the wounds she checked, yup.

Would this sword match any injuries?]

[bathymetric]

[ It would. There is of course margin for error, but it is a long, non-serrated blade that would match the injuries you saw on Dandy. ...Except for the fingers, obviously. ]

[pairtner]

A more detailed examination of the body would give an answer without any doubts, but the wounds were caused by a long, non-serrated blade of this approximate size. In other words, the sword is likely the weapon used to cause the wounds.

[Alright!]

[fuckingguy]

Excellent, thank you.

[onemillion]

Thank you, Aiba. It's good to have that clarified.

[So that definitely isn't a red herring, at least!!]

[specialyellthing]

What if… they hid the knife, thinkin maybe we’d miss the knife and the box.

If they knew what it could do, the culprit might be worried we’d do exactly what we did, and have Aiba scan it. And the box itself was kinda tossed away from the body…

[onemillion]

Do you think they knew what the box was, then? If they wanted to hide, it they certainly could have done a better job of it...

[specialyellthing]

I don’t know. But if Dandy felt strongly enough to whoever did the job… he might have even tipped em off himself.

[onemillion]

That's a good point. I could see him saying as much before they...

[You know. Landed the killing blow, so to speak.]

So it's certainly possible they knew.

[inaclearing]

It's possible they found out beforehand, too, if they were close enough...