fourth investigation

[stagemanagers]

[All's quiet on the Opera front this morning. But that's been the case so often on Fridays it wouldn't be too safe to trust it. But hey, there's still not a flood of blood in the first floor hallway again so you've all got that going for you.]

Comments

[dechagny]

[God DAMN it. Inspector Javert...the only other countryman Raoul had left. He warned him to take care in this place on their very first day. And at that first meeting...

"It is incredible that you would not remember being hanged."

Fucking. Fuck irony so badly. And after Raoul remembered how he got the mark in the first place.

Really, he should start around the chapel and with the Inspector's body, but the first floor men's bathroom is where he first noticed something was off. Namely, that it smells like hella alcohol in here. Raoul pushes the door open, taking a whiff.

Are we talking drinking alcohol or cleaning alcohol?]

[stagemanagers]

[We are definitely talking drinking alcohol. A lot of it.]

[dechagny]

[Blugh, nasty. Is it an overpowering smell throughout the room, or are there some parts where the smell is stronger?]

[stagemanagers]

[It's pretty strong, but it does seem a little stronger near the sinks and mirrors.]

[dechagny]

[Then let's check out the sinks and mirrors. Do we have spillage or splashings of any sort of liquids going on here, wet or dry?]

[stagemanagers]

[One of the sinks has large purple-red stains all around the basin. There's also some rusty brown streaks and spots. All of it is dry.]

[dechagny]

[Purple-red stains...probably wine, he's guessing. And the rusty brown streaks...

Hm. He doesn't want to touch it with his hands, so let's get that hanky he used to not breathe in all that cherry yesterday and brush up a rusty spot. Does it look, act, or smell like it might be dried blood?]

[stagemanagers]

[It actually looks a bit more like dried paint.

And yeah, the rusty parts sure do seem to be blood.]

[dechagny]

[...Yeah, he's getting that more now that it comes up with the hanky. He thinks back to that painted message in the chapel...would Javert be the kind of man to set up his own suicide, take the time to wash the tools he used, and then bite the bullet? If he was, Raoul doesn't think he'd be bleeding if he already planned to hang himself. And since all this happened at night, he can't suppose that only a man could have done this, since this is the men's room, but...that's also a possibility. He won't discredit anything here just yet.

So to clarify, the smell of alcohol is coming from the dried paint and blood?]

[stagemanagers]

[I should probably clarify that there's not a whole lot of blood in the sink.

The dried paint and blood mostly smells like dried paint and blood, to be honest. But the smell of alcohol is definitely in the same general vicinity.]

[dechagny]

[No, there's just a couple spots and streaks of blood, right? He gets that.

So then the smell of alcohol...it has to have a source, right? Let's check the mirrors and under the sinks a bit more thoroughly for one.]

[stagemanagers]

[Ain't nothing down there, buddy.]

[dechagny]

[Dammit where is it coming from???

Let's double check the bathroom stalls and pretty much any place where `somebody could've thrown something to hide it.]

[stagemanagers]

[There is an object in the trash.]

[dechagny]

[...FUCK IT let's go rooting in the trash, the hanky's already carrying evidence. What does Raoul win this time?]

[stagemanagers]

[There is a matcha brush in the trash! Raoul will probably have seen these in the tea room before, even if he doesn't know what it is.]

[dechagny]

[He has! He's been calling them swirly brushes.

...That's a lie, he hasn't called them that, but he could. And also this should not be in the trash in a bathroom, so it's totally suspect. Taking that swirly brush for the trial, and, uh. Okay so he's still really hung up on the smell of alcohol in here, so out of curiosity's sake, he's going to sniff the matcha brush. What lovely scent does it carry?]

[stagemanagers]

[The matcha brush smells like paint.

Given that its bristles are dyed purple-red, this is not surprising.]

[dechagny]

...Why would someone use a...a swirly wood brush to paint with...?

[Guess what else is coming with him to the trial.]