week 1 - trial

[productions]

week one trial



[At 9 AM precisely, the old grandfather clock chimes once again, and the doors to the drawing room are opened. They will remain open until everyone has come inside, after which they will shut behind them. It is not possible to leave on your own, although perhaps if you have a specific purpose the hostess will allow you to go. The room is set up comfortably, with several tables by the fireplace set out to assist with the trial. The Hostess will also remain in a seat near the fireplace, next to the scales on the mantle. At lunch, the doors will open to bring in a large meal on an automatically rolling buffet, and at 3 PM, tea and finger sandwiches will be served. You'll be able to enjoy the trial in comfort, of course, but the information cards set out on tables will not allow you to forget your true purpose here.]

victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Manor Rules
Voting

Comments

[agentx13]

[ Sharon nods. None of them had been here for long. Even a teenaged girl would be hard-pressed to drive someone to murder in that amount of time. Possibly. ]

Stiles said that he found her door partly open. That doesn't seem in keeping with a teenage girl.

So if we assume that the killer left the door open, was it carelessness or a desire for the crime to be desired sooner? Anyone looking in might have noticed her chair missing, and with the care the killer took to lock the bathroom door...

[inthebones]

...I don't think one would leap to the conclusion that someone had been murdered simply by seeing a missing chair.

Perhaps they needed it open to modify something about the room. As Lydia's keys were still in the bathroom, closing the door would remove any access.

[agentx13]

[ Sharon frowns. She isn't upset with anyone or their conclusions. Far from it. She's wondering if she went wrong somewhere that a missing chair would strike her as ominous and not anyone else. ]

What I mean is, wouldn't someone have thought that was odd, that her chair was missing and the door left partially open. Lydia likely wasn't the sort to volunteer her own chair to change lightbulbs.

How long would the killer need to do all this, anyway? It sounds more and more like a planned and targeted murder.

[inthebones]

I don't think it would have taken very long at all. Killing Lydia would be a matter of minutes if the chloroform were used - simply hold her underwater until she drowned, without any fuss whatsoever. Setting up the rest of the scene would perhaps double that time. I could easily see the entire thing happening within a ten minute interval.

If the open door is important, we again arrive at the idea that the murderer wanted to create a natural situation where they would be one of the first on the scene.

[agentx13]

And would that person's name happen to start with an "S?" Stiles was seen in Lydia's room shortly after Lydia's death took place.

[ STILES. BAD STILES. NAUGHTY STILES. ]

Are we absolutely positive that one of the suspects is truly the killer? Could the hostess be lying in order to throw us off?

[ But really, what's the likelihood of that? As untrusting as Sharon is, what reason would the "show" or whatever have to leave the killer out of the lineup? ]

The symbol on her hand didn't really look like an S, though. A curved line, sure, but the curves weren't severe enough for them to be considered an S in most circumstances.

[humanic]

[he blinks when he hears his name and waves]

Uh, hey? Person whose name also starts with an S and who's actually a suspect unlike some people around here? Yeah, I didn't go to her room until after I heard Lydia was dead, and it was to make sure the killer didn't get there first and try to mess anything up. I also wasn't ever in there alone - you can ask Kanaya, she'll back me up. I waited outside the door until she showed up and we went in together.

I don't know why it was open though. It could just be that the killer overlooked it or didn't bother since it wouldn't be a clue anyway.

[agentx13]

Did anyone else go into the room or try? Anyone in the wing who didn't belong?

[ And yes, Stiles, her name starts with an S and she's a suspect. Thank you. But as has already been determined, only, what, two of the suspects even admit to knowing Lydia? And Sharon isn't one of them. She has absolutely no motive. ]

And back to my earlier question, what else could the symbol have been? Like I was saying to Susan, it doesn't look like an S. Since you were in her room, did you see anything that might have been similar?

[inthebones]

I will agree it is not an S. [says the other person whose name is S]

The victim was fluent in ancient Latin, which seems to be a language of some sort. Could it be an archaic symbol?

And no, this would be even more of a farce if one of us were not the true killer. I think we should strike the idea from our minds - it will only serve to distract.

[humanic]

I'm not fluent in ancient Latin, but I've uh...stared blankly and squinted at it in hopes that it'd somehow magically make sense before. I don't remember a symbol like that, but again, not fluent.

I don't think we should be focusing that much on what it could mean though, it could be anything. Maybe she scribbled on her hand before she was killed because she wanted to make sure of what color it was, that's a thing girls do with make-up right? We should be asking two other things instead.

[He holds up a finger.] First of all, was Lydia the one who actually wrote it or was it the killer? If it was the killer, we're just wasting our time and playing right into their hands.

Secondly, if it was Lydia, then when did she get the chance to write it? If the killer knocked her out first before drowning her, she obviously wouldn't have been able to write anything. If they didn't, then why wasn't there any sign of a struggle anywhere or any marks on her body? The killer could have cleaned up the crime scene, but there should still be bruises or scratches or something on her. I doubt she was so focused on scribbling some weird symbol on her hand that she wouldn't have tried to fight back.

[agentx13]

I'm familiar with Latin, but it doesn't look like any Latin I've ever seen.

Let's presume that the mark is significant. After all, the missing chair seemed insignificant until it was used to block the bathroom door. The missing piano wire was likely used to help close a door or keep the doors from locking behind them. I'm not sure which - I'd have to try and see if either were possible. Had anyone else tried?

[ She pauses as a thought occurs to her. ]

Could it be a musical symbol? Or part of one? We haven't found the piano wire yet. Maybe the killer has some sort of obsession with music?

[humanic]

How would she have known that though? None of the info cards say anything about music for any of the suspects. Unless one of you guys had a conversation about music with her, but even then, it's not like she would have known the rest of us would know.

Wow, know doesn't even sound like a real word to me anymore. Anyway, if she did draw the symbol - which I still don't think so but whatever - it has to be something that would point out the killer that we'd all kn--understand.

[agentx13]

No, what I'm saying is, what if the killer left the mark and is obsessed with music? I think you might be onto something when you say Lydia wouldn't have had time or been able to write on her hand. So could the killer have left it because they were trying to send a message? Or maybe because they couldn't help themselves.

[humanic]

If the killer left the mark, then I think we're wasting our time trying to decipher it. They probably meant for it to be an S in order to throw suspicion on someone whose name started with it. I mean, I guess they could have some kind of obsessive compulsion to leave a signature, but does anyone on the suspect list strike you as that kind of person?

[agentx13]

But it doesn't really look like an S. It just... looks like a symbol. Something similar to an S that isn't an S.

It could be a red herring, or obsessive-compulsive behavior, or, as you said, a signature. And yes, several of them strike me as that kind of person.

But I've been a government agent for years now and I apparently view the world with more suspicion than other people.

[ But come on. Clyde's excuse had been his hair. Bernkastel had been in transit during the possible murder time and might have been able to pull it off. Marlow had ingratiated herself into the investigation pretty quickly - her knocking on the bathroom door could have been a ruse. And Susan? Susan is clever. All Sharon knows for sure is that she herself didn't murder the girl, and she's seen too much to believe anyone is incapable of murder. ]

[humanic]

Dude--uh, I mean lady, I'm way suspicious of everyone. My town has a turnover rate of like a body a week. My English teacher wound up being this psycho with a penchant for virgin sacrifices, which was not fun for me, let me tell you that. Do you know how many people want to sleep with me? None. Zilch. Nada. Freaking crazy poison revenge lizards and antisocial werewolves living in a rundown subway get more action than me just because they have abs and supernatural muscles, which is totally cheating by the way.

...where was I going with this?

[inthebones]

...

I see the information cards provide a satisfactorily well-rounded description of us after all.

[humanic]

Hey, in my defense...

...yeah, I got nothing.

[throe]

[ Upon hearing the musical statement, Rapture speaks up. ]

The symbol is nothing I recognize musically, not even from the sheet music I've seen over the years.

I'm only a bass player, but I haven't seen it for vocal or percussion either. The only thing I can think of is that weird shape on the body of a violin... but that looks more like a 'f' than a 'S.' Even then, that wouldn't be related to the piano, minus that they both require strings to be played.

[humanic]

Unless someone went in and left before me, no. I mean, the killer could have cleaned stuff up before the body was found, but they wouldn't have had much time and that'd be way risky. I got there pretty fast.

The only thing weird about her room was the missing chair, nothing else stood out. Whatever the symbol is, I don't think it's going to be that obvious either. If it is supposed to be an S, then I'll bet anything it was planted there to frame someone or throw us off the track. Even if Lydia had somehow been awake when she was being murdered, the killer would have seen it and washed it away if it was a clue leading to them.

If it's not supposed to be an S, then I have no idea. Maybe she chose to write something more vague so the killer wouldn't try to erase it. That still doesn't explain when she had the chance to do so though.

[miraculous]

Perhaps it was a matter of murder in two parts. Let's say they began filling the tub at two, to use a time as an example. They simply need to enter the bathroom and turn on the faucet--this would take very little time on its own. They leave and go about their business until they can find another short interval to commit the murder itself and finish preparing the scene, using the full bathtub to obscure the time they were actually committing the murder by apparent contradiction.

[inthebones]

Yes, that's the line of thought I was taking as well, but it seems an overly simplistic explanation. In the first place, someone could easily have noticed that the tap was constantly running and turned it off, ruining the plan. I'm inclined to think there was a reason the bathtub needed to be fixed in this manner.