THE THIRD INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

THE THIRD INVESTIGATION

[As Friday dawns, all seems peaceful. No screaming. No electricity. Nothing in the bathrooms. All is quiet. However, it is a Friday, so there's no guarantee anymore that someone hasn't taken up Marie's offer. Even if they haven't, it's clear time is running out for a guaranteed means of escape. At least, if what Marie claims is true.

It's probably a good idea to look around and check up on people and places before going about one's normal day, regardless. Better safe than sorry, right?]

Comments

[earietale]

[...you know what. Fine.

How does...Passe look at first glance? As in, does his face look like he feels betrayed, or this is something he expected, or...what, really?]

[strangerpeople]

[There's nothing on his face that indicates anything other than he is dead.

Where else would you like to look?]

[earietale]

[Okay, fine...she doesn't want to do this, but...the picture clearly has something weird going on at the lower back...

What does she see if she lift up his shirt there? Any bruising?

Also, does she need to turn him over or anything? Basically, what position is his body in?]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[Barbara will very quickly notice, first off, that Pass isn't wearing a shirt. In fact, he has an onsen robe thrown over his torso.]

[earietale]

[...oh jeez, please tell her we don't have another naked victim and that he's wearing something underneath.]

[strangerpeople]

[No worries, he's still wearing pants!]

[earietale]

[Oh thank goodness. We don't need any more naked murder.

Okay, then what's going on with his lower back? Is it bruised? Burned? Some other third thing?]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[Once the robe is lifted, a giant burnt and bloody circle in the middle of his back.]

[earietale]

Oh, God-!

[THAT IS VERY MUCH NOT BRUISING GOOD SIR.

She's trying her best not to throw up while looking at it. She's not exactly an expert at this stuff, but she thinks she's seen something like this before.

Does it look anything like when she used the laser on the bread?

[strangerpeople]

[Yes. Albeit, Pass' back isn't made of bread.]

[earietale]

[You don't say

Okay, so any other clues on him? Or is this officially all we need from Passe?]

[losergod]

[ Hey so we're both touching a body-- ]

Barbara, there's a gash on the back of his head.

[ Quick question, since I'm moving this down here: is it shaped similarly to the one on Jonathan's head? ]

[strangerpeople]

[It is considerably larger.]

[losergod]

[ ... Huh. Different weapons, potentially...? Or just more force. He isn't sure, but he'll take a picture of that and move over to check out all the things Barbara has already checked out, and see if she missed anything.

Basically, is there anything someone with an eye for medical stuff would notice a normal person wouldn't? The way the eyes are positioned, the mouth, the ears--he's checking all those things. ]

[strangerpeople]

[There's a lot of things that wouldn't be different, save that the back injury Barbara has uncovered is deep enough to have likely gotten the spine.]

[losergod]

[ YIKES.png


Okay, he's gonna take pictures of everything and make a note of that. ]

[strangerpeople]

[All right then!]

[earietale]

That'd...that'd probably do it, yeah.

[Said hollowly. She's just...trying not to think about it too much, even if she has to do this.]

[losergod]

It looks considerably larger than the one we found on Mister Morris. Either a different weapon did this, or considerably more force was applied.

[earietale]

Do you think...it was the latter? It doesn't make sense for them to just...use one thing on Jonathan, then another on...Mr. Passepartout. They already had one, so why use another?

[losergod]

It's somewhat early for me to be forming a theory, but to be honest, I think it's likelier as well. It's possible the killer only wanted to incapacitate Jonathan, and not kill him.

[earietale]

But...why leave him like this? Next to Mr. Passepartout, looking almost dead, and still bleed?

I feel like...he just got lucky and just barely survived.

[losergod]

Maybe... maybe someone came along when they were going after Jonathan, too, and they had to flee or something. ... I honestly don't know. But I've finished double-checking his body after you did. That wound on his back? It's all the way to his spine.

I think he was probably shot with one of those laser guns.

... This is overkill. Why use a laser gun and a knife?

[earietale]

God...he probably wouldn't be able to move after getting shot there.

But, wait-you think it's a knife? I thought...that would be a different cause of death, if was a...knife to the head...

[Can blunt force trauma be caused by a knife?]

[losergod]

Well, not necessarily the cause of death, but Jonathan has that gash on his face. It could be some other object, but they'd have to apply a lot of force or it'd have to be sharp enough to cause it. If it was another laser gun, we'd see searing on his flesh. So I think it's possible a knife or a sword or something likewise stabby was probably also used.

... As for our victim, I think it's clear what the cause of death was. He was hit. It's possible they used the butt of the gun to hit his head.

My point is this: it seems likely the killer had two weapons. ... Why? Why, when the laser gun would be more than enough?