Third Trial

[stagemanagers]

[Once again, the sound of opening doors echoes through the opera house as the investigation draws to a close.

Time for your third trial.

The courtroom looks the same as ever, save that Darla and Eliza's podiums are now arranged in the same funerary fashion as the other deceased cast members. The lights from the bulbs standing in their places seem to cast the rest of the house even more in shadow, even as the crystal chandeliers still glitter dimly above. The Balladeer is hidden backstage once more, somewhere behind the red curtain drawn shut across the stage. Once everyone's taken their places, he speaks up.]

Alright. Let's do this.

Comments

[trettende]

[ Hans is starting to feel the pressure, with those empty seats beside him. Poison? Where could they have gotten such a thing? And putting them in cookies... that's just cold. ]

Maybe the chef was someone who wasn't a very good cook? Or someone who the victims trusted? Miss Eliza was a very kind woman, perhaps she didn't want the chef to be insulted, so she tried it despite the smell?

[robitussin]

I could buy that from Eliza, but what about Darla?

[trettende]

That's a good point. There must have been some reason she didn't suspect foul play.

[ He pauses. It's just a theory but... ]

What if they didn't smell strange at the time? Maybe the poison only turned bitter after enough time passed.

[robitussin]

I guess that's possible. I don't know anything about poison. But if that's the case, I don't think it narrows it down much. Eliza was super nice, and Darla was a kid. Either of them would have taken cookies from anyone, not just someone they trusted, right?

[trettende]

Me either. [ Who here would actually know about poison, though? ]

At least we know they were likely both killed by the same thing. I suppose we can assume it's one killer, for now.

[robitussin]

Yeah. And given how the bodies were in totally different places... It's probably not a scenario like last week. That is, Darla didn't do this.

[dontfeedplants]

But it smells like garlic. Wouldn't even the worst baker know that you don't put garlic in cookies?

[Seymour knows next to nothing about baking, but even he knows you don't put garlic in sweet things.]

[trettende]

Well, I can't cook but even I'd know better than to put garlic in cookies.

[ He shrugs. ]

Still, if someone you trusted offered you cookies, wouldn't you at least try them before saying they smelled awful?

[dontfeedplants]

I don't know, but maybe I'm just paranoid.

[Maybe if Audrey made them, but she would never try poisoning him.]

[onthebusagain]

Uh. No.

[trettende]

I think Miss Eliza would, at the very least. She seemed to kind to turn anyone down.

[onthebusagain]

What about Darla? I don't know much about her, but she didn't seem like the nicest little girl. [...She feels like an awful person, saying that about a dead little girl.]

[trettende]

But she was a little girl, and children love sweets. Perhaps she simply couldn't help herself.

[inforapenny]

...Garlic?

[Uh-oh.]

[dontfeedplants]

Yeah, why? Do you know what it is?

[Really all of his knowledge of poison only covers plant-based ones so he could use help here.]

[inforapenny]

[WELL GOOD YOU HAVE A PERSON WITH A CHEMISTRY DEGREE]

I-I might. I smelled garlic on Darla's breath, too... Did you bring a sample with you?

[dontfeedplants]

[He nods and hands Billy the container of frosting. True to his word, there is a horrible smell of garlic.]

Hey mods

[inforapenny]

[Now that it's not mixed with the acidic smell of sick, can Billy sniff out a hint of anything else? Like, say, a metallic tang?]

[stagemanagers]

[Yes.]

[inforapenny]

...Arsenic.

[solomonjihad]

Of course!...A massive dose if it killed so quickly...

[allicareabout]

Darla was also a little kid, so it wouldn't have taken that much - Eliza didn't have any of the same signs Darla did, so we don't know that she took any of it.

[...]

...Do you know what year Darla was taken from, Astarte? I remember you going around asking everybody.

[solomonjihad]

Mm, 1939.

[allicareabout]

[All right, that's...fifteen years, give or take - ]

The reason I'm asking is because as far as I'm concerned, arsenic is a tonic - it's used for everything from an antibiotic substitute to something that's supposed to improve your complexion. We know it's poisonous if you take enough of it, sure, but it hasn't been a publicized murder weapon for some time now, and I wouldn't expect a kid to know to take it in small doses.

I don't think she just willingly took a shot of it or anything, but "arsenic" is not always going to be synonymous with "bad" as far as some of the people here are concerned. Warning bells would not necessarily go off.

[solomonjihad]

Garlic?!

[UH]