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

[allicareabout]

So. Eliza.

[Don't mind the fact that he sounds a little clipped; Billy has been in A Mood for the entirety of the day and people turning up dead are doing the opposite of helping.

Either way. Feelings are mostly off. Feelings have been mostly off for the majority of his time here, no need to change that now.]

I found her in the library, first thing in the morning; she was sitting in the dark without any of the lamps on and she was cold to the touch - so by the time morning rolled around, she'd probably been there for a while, and it's safe to say that she probably wasn't getting much reading done beforehand.

Probably because she was a little busy getting in some sort of altercation.

[...jesus, billy.]

Eliza had a good-sized gash on her head, and small shards of ceramic in her hair – I'm not a coroner so don't quote me on this, but I don't know whether the hit alone would have been enough to kill her. At the same time, she was definitely whacked in the head with something.

Furthermore, she had shallow scratches on her, both on the backs of her hands and on her forearms, under her sleeves - the sleeves are loose, so it's possible they folded back during whatever fight she got in. The scratches were also small, and were more like raised welts than actual cuts – nothing that broke skin. She also had a large bruise on her left wrist - recent-looking, too – and her knuckles were bruised.

[...Also, uh, how do you - ]

She also smelled a lot like vanilla, of all things. I've got no idea why she smelled like cake, but she smelled like cake.

[...Yep.

Anyway, he'll pull out his pocketsquare – it's a white one that has decidedly not been in his jacket pocket this morning; it's stained with a watery, pale brown color that...very definitely also smells like vanilla.]

This came off of both her shoulder and the chair she was sitting on, there was more of it on her than there was on the chair.

And that's what I've got.

[dontfeedplants]

She smelled like vanilla? Maybe she was the one baking the cookies then.

[He looked thoughtful. He had a really hard time believing Eliza would poison anyone, especially a child. So why would she smell like...?]

... Maybe she put the frosting on the cookies without realizing they were poisoned?

[onthebusagain]

The book that Eliza was reading-- it was a recipe book on baking. Could she have been making something? That would explain the vanilla.

[allicareabout]

In which case, my question becomes how it got on her shoulder, of all places.

[dontfeedplants]

Maybe it has something to do with that broken ceramic in the bakery? I don't know, if could have been filled with something vanilla.

[onthebusagain]

Do you think someone hit her with it?

[trettende]

Was the ceramic the same kind as the one Natalie and Seymour found? Maybe the killer threw whatever it was at her after she struggled?

Perhaps the killer wasn't someone she trusted after all...

EY YO MODS

[allicareabout]

[You know what, he thought to pocket a couple of shards of it I'm just apparently too stupid actually say so during the investigation despite having thought I did - does it match, mods...]

[stagemanagers]

[It does.]

[trettende]

[ Well, since they match... ]

Speaking of the altercation, do we know what caused the scratches? If the murderer could only scratch her hands and forearms, perhaps they were short?

[ Perhaps it was Darla? Are we doing this again?? ]

[robitussin]

If she was cold... I found blood in cold storage. Maybe she was injured or killed there and then moved?

[onthebusagain]

If that's true, it would have had to be someone strong enough to move her.

[robitussin]

Yeah. So if that's true, it would clear me, you, Anna, Jezebel, and - maybe Seymour?

[Sorry, Seymour.]

[irreprochable]

If there was blood in the storage, why was there also poison on the chair? Surely she was killed before she was moved, like you suggested. Otherwise, how would the killer have positioned her like that?

[trettende]

Perhaps it was leftover from the altercation in the bakery?

The cold storage was cold enough to freeze blood, maybe it froze that as well, only to have it melt once she was moved to the library.

[irreprochable]

I suppose that's possible. But I'd expect to see blood staining the chair. The killer went to all the trouble to put her in the library to start with, how do we know it wasn't placed there as part of the set up?

[irreprochable]

[javert has been quiet pretty much since raoul went around crying about eliza being dead. eliza was his to protect and he'd failed, failed like he'd failed valjean and everyone else here and he was no good as the law

he has been very melancholy.

he is reaching, but he falls

anyway, he decides to put in a little effort.]

This was calculated. They had a lot of time to put the body in the chair and set it all up like that.

[allicareabout]

That's what I'm thinking - this is a really deliberate setup.

[irreprochable]

I guess the bigger question is whether the killer had time to setup both bodies, or if there were multiple killers

[dechagny]

[And Raoul running around yelling about death did not help matters. Sorry, Billy.]

Madame Hamilton...she was baking last evening in the kitchen. I was with her for a time, so that may be why she smells of vanilla. But, if there was vanilla on her shoulder, then...someone could have poured it on her, perhaps...to cover the smell of garlic?

[sunshineprincess]

[Tea buddy, you have a point.]

She would have had to leave the kitchen because it's closed at night. I went into the kitchen with the Pirate King and there was no sign of a struggle. She couldn't have been killed in there if that's what you're thinking. The vanilla extract would have left a puddle... so maybe it was tea because of the broken ceramic?

[solomonjihad]

Maybe she went to the bakery to finish?

[sunshineprincess]

But that would have meant carrying ingredients upstairs. If she had started baking already, or made the batter wouldn't there be flour and other things on her clothes? And who bakes in their nightgown in the first place?

[dechagny]

A tea...yes, it could have been some sort of vanilla tea. They do have many blends in there.

[sunshineprincess]

Exactly! And no one would have looked twice if someone was carrying a tea set to the bakery. They'd just think they were having tea and cookies. Which... actually sounds really good right now.

[ANNA, DON'T SAY STUFF LIKE THAT OUT LOUD]