week 5 - trial

[productions]

week five trial



victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Manor Rules
Voting

Comments

[teenspirit]

Um... can I just say... if a killer was going to go to all the trouble to steal cigarettes to leave evidence at the scene, why only ash, that could easily be blown away? Why not the butt of the cigarette itself? It seems so obvious. But there was only ash.

[inthebones]

[Susan nods silently to Sonia though her words aren't 100% supportive when they come.]

That would only be likely if the killer couldn't get their hands on a cigarette for whatever reason and chose to only plant ash instead, yes.

[Although Touko probably left the butts scattered about as well.]

[teenspirit]

But it was definitely cigarette ash.

[inthebones]

Ah, from one of her ashtrays left outside, as she claims to have done.

[teenspirit]

I don't understand? Did the wind blow the ash next to the leg?

[inthebones]

No, the idea she suggested was that the killer removed the ash from an ashtray outside her room and purposefully left it there to frame her.

[Susan has her reservations, but for the moment, not provoking Touko too far yet was the wisest move, she felt.]

Of course, that wouldn't result in the smell of the burnt flesh present in the ash as well.

[teenspirit]

...How would the burnt flesh smell even get there?

[ Pause. ]

Did we notice any small burn marks on the body?

[inthebones]

No, not at all. We examined it as thoroughly as could be expected, didn't we?

...A burn mark on the killer, perhaps?

[teenspirit]

Or a bruise, or cut.

We ought to check for all of those.

[inthebones]

...There was certainly a struggle in the room. Given Belarus's habit of carrying knives, I'm surprised the clothing the killer wore was entirely intact, really.

[souredsweet]

[Kaoru is nodding along thoughtfully as Sonia talks.]

Ah, that is a good point... Still, they may have thought it would be too obvious if something so easily identifiable was carelessly left behind. And since ash is so quick to scatter, perhaps that is why Mr. Poland was able to find as much as he did. The culprit decided to burn an entire cigarette to ensure it would be noticed.

[teenspirit]

Ah, well, I don't know if cigarettes were invented yet in your world, but the thing is, when a cigarette burns all the way down, it doesn't turn into a pile. It becomes a column of ash instead.

[souredsweet]

I apologize, my only experience with them is what I have learned so far in the manor. I was not aware of such a thing... Does it stay in its original shape?

—Ah, and would it be unusual for a pile of ash to be found in the first place? I have seen Miss Aozaki tap her cigarette against the trays before, and it does not seem like much comes away... Unless she was smoking in one spot for a while, but surely she would have noticed leaving behind enough to be seen...

[teenspirit]

Well, if you stay in one spot, it's not unusual.

[souredsweet]

It could be possible, then, that the pile was caused in such a way... Would you say that the amount of ash Lord Polska collected is in line with that? I am afraid that I have no such expertise. It would seem that the only other alternative is if a person took ash from a tray with them.