FOURTH TRIAL

[bathymetric]

Alright, that's quite enough time. Move along towards the trial, if you would all be so kind. You know what's coming.

[ It's routine by now - go to the vault door, get let into the elevator by Angel, head down to the trial room... it's hard not to notice the losses on the ride down by now, though. Your numbers are starting to really dwindle, even if you're often spread out enough not to notice as much normally. The trial room and its podiums, too, seem more than ready and willing to remind you of the same. The red glow of the empty spaces is constant, potentially unnerving. ]

Remember that as there are two victims to consider, up to two votes may be counted at the end of proceedings. As always, I am but a direct address away, however rude you choose to make it.

Find the party or parties responsible for the deaths of your comrades. And to those parties: Good luck.

[ The screens rise!

Welcome to your fourth trial. ]

Comments

[emberserker]

Perhaps they only meant to kill Ema at first, but then they found Shelley later. I doubt there were two killers, since the weapons were all in one place.

[archboxer]

Why not dispose of Shelley in the same manner?

[emberserker]

Perhaps they liked her too much, for whatever reason.

[archboxer]

Perhaps. It merely seems... odd to me, somehow. Judging by what everyone found...

The killer seemed very careful about cleaning up around the aquarium.

Am I incorrect in thinking that the same care was not present in the museum?

[bolderfell]

Care was taken, but not the same kind. Shelley was posed respectfully and all sorts of evidence left around; Ema--they didn't want us to find anything.

[archboxer]

Yes... care was there but not the same sort. Would such a meticulous person not at least try to hide some of the evidence?

[bolderfell]

Not if they wanted to lead us to a particular conclusion.

[mouflon]

...The only thing I can come up with is that the evidence on one body was more incriminating than the other. Like, say there was another vampire here... If there were teeth marks on Skye, that would direct us to look to people who aren't human again. So, obviously, the killer would want to make it impossible for us to tell that they were there.

I don't think that's exactly it, but you get the idea, right?

[archboxer]

[She's not taking your bait!]

Yes, I suppose that is a likely scenario. Something still does not seem right but perhaps with time it will be cleared up.

[reallyhatesharks]

There wasn't much of a body left to examine, so if that's the case: congratulations. You achieved your goal.

[bolderfell]

...I think it might have been the opposite.

[emberserker]

Why's that? Ema's been invaluable in investigations. Wouldn't anyone want to get rid of their biggest threat to escape?

[bolderfell]

Because it makes sense to find Shelley where she was. She was working on that... thing, all week. Why was Ema over there at all? I think she might have stumbled onto the scene. ...Or she was the one in the boat.

[archboxer]

Was she a lookout, then?

[bolderfell]

Who knows. Maybe she was investigating something. We all rely on the skills we've honed to find some way out of this place. What if she was up in the boat, heard the killer attack Shelley, and jumped down with the rope? Hit the statue on her way down? Not like we could get the story off her body, after what was done to it.

[philoxenia]

... I helped her with it, too. With the memorial. [ a pause. ] Shelley might have gotten restless and gone to work on it more, even in spite of its being Thursday night.

[ ... ]

If she was in the boat, maybe Ema-- was hiding there to make sure she could stop something before it happened?

[archboxer]

That does sound like her... she likely was on the alert due to it being so late in the week.

[...She... is just going to wander over to Mira's podium. No reason. She's just there for her.]

[philoxenia]

[ thank you dragon mom :( ]

[archboxer]

[never leave home without your emotional support pope!]

[bolderfell]

I don't know. Maybe it was the killer. Maybe no one was in the boat. I'm just trying to figure out how and why the statue fell, and what that might tell us about what happened.

[philoxenia]

... If we could figure out the order of death, that would make things easier...

[bogwife]

So far it's looking like it was Shelley and then Ema but without a set time of death for either of them... [She's just...over here, standing diagonal from Mira and doing her best to keep an eye on her.]

[nothingcanstop]

...We all really relied on Ema.

[philoxenia]

... Shelley was killed first, and Ema walked in on the scene?

[bolderfell]

Yeah.