second trial

[stagemanagers]

[Just as with last week, once the investigation finishes, that slow, ominous sound from the main lobby rumbles through the opera house.

The doors to the court room have opened and the time has come for a trial.

The court room looks just as it did before: the grand chandelier glittering above your heads, the fine red velvet seats. In the orchestra pit your circle of wooden podiums awaits you, just the same as before save for a few recent additions. Like Valjean before them, D-ne, Gabe, and Hime's podiums have been draped in black crepe with their greyscale funerary portraits. Behind them, where the performers themselves stood only a week ago, a metal pole stands with a softly glowing lightbulb atop it.

The curtain is closed, waiting to open when a decision has been reached and an execution can commence.

When everyone is in their places, the Balladeer's voice echoes loud and clear through the theatre. He still sounds slightly bewildered by all of this.]

Okay, everyone, you all know how this works now. Trial rules are the same, still no time limit, just...keep at it until you figure out what happened. You can do this.

Comments

[catliketread]

What dummy was that, exactly? I only just awoke for the day.

[how did he manage to miss an entire investigation??]

[trettende]

There was a dummy next to the body of Gabriel Goodman. It was, well, in a dress and had a blonde wig and gave us all quite a fright. But ultimately it was a decoy to hide the stunt cow, I think. Which is why I assumed that it might be the murder weapon.

[ Get it, Pirate King! Hans is totally king of this cow. ]

[catliketread]

[Look at you go, Hans. You're doing so well.]

...Surely they would have known that someone would examine the dummy? There are better places to hide things here, are there not?

[dechagny]

They might have thought that, once confirmed to be a decoy, we might have deemed it simply a decoy. I was the one who discovered it was fake, and in honesty, I do not know if I would have thought to check it myself.

[Thank goodness there are other smart people over here.]

[catliketread]

It seems to be a bit early to assume anything just yet. Whether it was a decoy or not, it was an object left there. What else did we learn about it?

["we" oh my god]

[trettende]

The dress it was in was from the costume shop, as well as the wig and the dummy head, which came from the prop room, I believe. So the killer must have been running around quite a bit to pull it all together.

The biggest find was the stunt cow, which was hiding under the dress as if it were the dummy's "legs."

[catliketread]

It seems like an awful lot of effort to go through even if it was to hide the cow. Perhaps it was meant as a distraction, to throw us off as we discuss everything we found?

[trettende]

It's certainly possible. It did a good job of distracting us, everyone immediately assumed the worse when they saw two "bodies" laying side by side.

[catliketread]

It certainly would draw attention, possibly away from other evidence...

[man it's a good thing we've got an evidence list, huh]

[trettende]

True... I can't imagine why they set up a fake body downstairs, otherwise. It would have taken time, after all they they tied a dress dummy to the cow with rope and even found time to place a wig and head on it.

[ Like, that's some weird planning. ]

Perhaps they just wanted to move the cow out of the second floor lobby? It seems it left marks in the carpet upstairs.

[catliketread]

Is it heavy? If it is then I can certainly see why they would wheel it when possible.

[trettende]

The cow itself isn't all that heavy. Perhaps there was something resting on top of it, upstairs?

[ I mean, unless... ]

Unless our murderer pushed someone into the cow? A body resting on top of it might leave a mark.

[catliketread]

Could it have been used to move a body? That would explain why it was wheeled instead of carried... but that would also leave blood on the cow, wouldn't it?

[trettende]

The only blood on the cow seems to be on the splintered side, so I don't think that would be the case.

[ What did you even do, cow. ]

Plus, I think the marks in the carpet are only stationary, the weren't dragged... though I didn't get as good a look as Natalie or Javert.

[catliketread]

Hmm... So I suppose we can consider it a possibility for a murder weapon, but otherwise we're a bit limited in what we know for certain about it, is that right?

[allicareabout]

There apparently is blood on it, but more in a "somebody probably got smashed in the head with this" way.

[Just. Just saying.]

[catliketread]

[oh my god]

I'm assuming there wasn't anything else found that could possibly be the murder weapon?

[...]

Who thought that was a good idea?

[GUYS CAN WE NOT KILL EACH OTHER WITH COWS OH MY GOD]

[trettende]

It seems Miss Astarte found a box with blood on it as well.

It's... also wooden. So we may be looking at two murder weapons?

[catliketread]

[...]

Are we absolutely certain that one person killed both of them? Would it be possible for there to be two separate murder cases here?

[HE REALLY HOPES NOT but.]

[trettende]

I, um... I would hope the Balladeer would have said something if we were looking for two killers.

Otherwise the trial wouldn't be "fair," and they're all about "putting on a good show."

YO BILLYDEER

[catliketread]

[Good question! So obviously the correct response is to raise his voice—]

Balladeer! Are we looking for two killers?

[oh my god you can't just ask that]

[tellthestory]

I can't tell you how many killers you are or aren't looking for.

[God, are we gonna have to go through all this song and dance again?]

[catliketread]

You can't assist us with anything, then? That's unfortunate. I suppose I should have expected as much though. Thank you for your time!

[ANYWAY LET'S TRY TO SOLVE THIS THING]

[allicareabout]

He didn't say we're not looking for two killers, either - and I don't know about you, but "actually, there are two murderers" sounds like a good plot twist to me.

[solomonjihad]

[Two killers?

That...makes sense.]

That would explain a lot of it.