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

[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.]