THE THIRD TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE THIRD TRIAL
(~SK. 17-18)


[When the investigation ends, the D O N G rings throughout the ship, followed by Zero's voice.]

It is time. Everyone, come to the theater. Time is...wasting.

[And so it is. The seating has once more changed to reflect the fallen-Moriarty and now Brain's podiums are draped in black. And, of course, there is no food-

The screens come up, and the mask of Zero appears, ever inscrutable. Their instructions are brief.]

Your Brain is gone, I'm afraid. Cut into pieces and cast aside...and someone here knows why. Now, it's time for you to discover the truth as well...if you can.


[The trial for the murder of Brain, the Blue, has begun.]

Comments

[godspiousjasper]

I agree.

[ He paused to think about the two notes and their placements. ]

One was beyond angry and the other was fear and desperation, so my guess is something happened in the hall and then Brain may have been cornered in the Lounge afterward.

[voidseeing]

Exactly. But was he cornered, or did he flee there for a reason?

[godspiousjasper]

Hmm. I can believe that, given.. what was it? You found a note written in a cipher that only Hubert may have understood?

[ A pause. No. He doesn't like where this train of thought is going. ]

Assuming Brain wrote that note, he may have discovered something and wanted to try and leave a warning message that couldn't be easily read by anyone else than the one who knew how to decode that cipher?

[voidseeing]

[He nods.]

That's what I was thinking. He had some sort of information he wanted to pass along to Hubert and Hubert alone before he died, but was interrupted before he had the chance to finish.

[A pause.]

Which would most likely rule Hubert out as our killer.

[pegasinister]

[He spreads his hands slightly in a 'there we go' gesture]

Of course I could have threatened him or forged his handwriting. But that seems... over the top.

[godspiousjasper]

I agree. I can only guess that the culprit knew he had this information and when they came into the lounge? Brain must have heard them coming and that's why the note was stuffed into the cushions, to ensure the culprit wouldn't know about it.

[ Again all guesses but it didn't hurt, right? ]

[voidseeing]

[Another thought.]

The hammer and scissors were underneath the sofa. I'd assumed it was because the killer was trying to hide them, but what if that was also Brain's doing?

[godspiousjasper]

Hm. I mean that is possible, but i'm not sure what he was doing with them... unless we take it to mean he was the one cutting up the book that Hubert found.

[voidseeing]

That's what I'm wondering.

[This is all very strange indeed...]

[yesorwoof]

The culprit eventually returned to the workshop with the right arm. With enough effort, they most likely could have camouflaged the tools in the workshop as well.

So perhaps there is some merit to the theory that Brain-kun knocked away the tools to incapacitate the killer at least slightly.

Wait. I have been speaking as if the culprit heated the sword.

But what if they heated the hammer? Isn't the burn wound on Brain's face rather small?

[voidseeing]

It's possible-- there were burn marks on his clothing as well.

But for what reason? It isn't as though a hammer isn't an effective weapon on its own.

[yesorwoof]

Yes, it's rather strange. Perhaps they did not want to shed his blood? It seems that decapitation was a good option in some ways. They may have not known about his physiology and wanted to be certain that they would not end up splattered in blood.

[exequte]

I... I couldn't read it before today, but I took the time to study it, and have cracked the cypher, so I can confirm the contents.

For what it's worth, the materials that Hubert provided so that I was able to do that didn't seem like they'd been tampered with, and Hubert was able to understand a note that I wrote him in said cypher, so it's probably genuine.

[godspiousjasper]

That does truly suggest that Brain was trying to convey a message that only Hubert was able to read and was interrupted in the process.

[exequte]

Maybe. Either that or it's an attempt to frame Hubert, but other than the cypher itself, there isn't anything that traces back to him in it. And, if they were attempting to write something incriminating, why would they pick something that only he could read?

Hubert himself could easily have dismissed the evidence completely, especially if I hadn't been able to break it. He could have said that the note was something unrelated, since the two of them were communicating in it.