Chapter 236 - Solving Mr Roger's Murder (11)

Nook appeared a little while after Edward and Scarlet were brought back to the office room.

"I see that you've gathered all the evidence you needed. Do you want to discuss answers and ask for opinions from your friends in the prison cell? We can give you some time to talk it through. The current time taken is fifty minutes, you're making good progress."

Edward smirked and Scarlet smiled pleasantly. The evidence was neatly arranged on the table and Scarlet agreed to let Edward do the talking.

"There's no need," the spy smirked. "We have the answers, game master."

Nook felt uneasy but nodded. There was no use trying to drag on the inevitable. Scarlet gave her boyfriend a nod and Edward started with the easiest suspect to clear.

"Miss Katherine is innocent. We have the evidence here about her late invitation with the letters we found in Miss Roger's room. The tea that she sent was also harmless even though it will be crucial evidence used to prove the murderer's methods later."

Nook nodded. "Very well. What about the other three suspects? Who is the murderer?"

Edward was confident. "The maid was the murderer."

"What evidence did you have?"

Scarlet knew that the question was coming so she brought out the first piece of evidence - the wills in the safe.

"These are the wills of the late Mr Roger. In an ordinary case of Victorian era aristocrats, they left their wealth to their spouses and the title of inheritance to their first child, preferably legitimate. Mistresses are paid a sum by the lady of the house and sent away if they didn't have children but those with children would be taken care of and the illegitimate child would be raised in a separate household in case something happens to the legitimate child."

"And your point is?" Nook raised his brow.

Edward grinned. "I'm saying that this is the proof that the maid who was in an illicit affair with Mr Roger had a motive for the murder of not just Mr Roger but Miss Roger too. These are the evidence Scarlet and I gathered. The secret letter used to communicate between the star-crossed lovers is evidence enough to suggest that the maid was after her life after she murdered her father."

Not wanting to admit defeat, Nook didn't buy this readily. "Alright, so you've proven the murderer's motive. However, what method did the murderer use to commit the crime? How did you know the identity of the murderer?"

Now that the question was asked, the tea dredges that Scarlet collected and the tin of tea sent by Miss Katherine to Miss Roger became useful. Edward went around to the table to pour out both contents while Scarlet flipped to the fingerprints they gathered.

"In this tin, you will see the original tea that Miss Katherine sent. It's a tea that we found in the teapot. This on the right, are the dredges in the teapot that were served and prepared by the maid. There's something added to the tea which could be a slow-acting poison added by the maid, presumably aconite as it was common during that era."

Nook wasn't expecting them to figure out even the backstory and paled as Edward continued to describe the possible way how the maid planned her murder.

"She bought aconite from the herb trader who packaged it in newspapers that we found in her room. The maid then prepared different portions of tea and aconite to be served as some sort of slow-acting poison to Mr Roger who didn't die from poison in the wine. He died from aconite poisoning through the tea that his mistress served him daily. Apart from his mistress, nobody else tended to his daily needs."

"The wine was a distraction that night of the party. She increased the aconite dosage to a deadly amount that acted slowly that day and had the chef to become her scapegoat. Sadly, her plans were not successful because Mr Roger made plans ahead of time."

"Mr Roger knew of Mr Moreau and Miss Roger's relationship from early on but he didn't approve of them not because he didn't like Mr Moreau as a person but because Mr Moreau wasn't of noble birth with the power to inherit the family title. Hence, he was in a hurry to wed Miss Roger off and avoid the disaster. With his wife overseas and his mistress pregnant, Mr Roger knew that it would be only a matter of time before the cunning mistress took matters into her own hands to secure his child's inheritance to the title and wealth."

"Unfortunately, before Mr Roger could request help from the nobles at the party he died. Miss Roger was the next target who quickly found out about the truth in her father's diary and the doc.u.ments in the safe. She tried to destroy and negate the second part of her father's will secretly which made the maid become more anxious. Hence, the maid tried to kill Miss Roger using the same method of poisoned tea. Miss Roger must have realised that there was something wrong with the tea served because she kept the original tin of tea sent by Miss Katherine and was in charge of tasking the maid to serve her father some tea to help him sleep better at night. She must have tested her suspicions out by feeding some animal the tea served and watched it die. After realising the truth, she wrote the letter to her lover and hid the key away before the maid could find it in where she knew the safest place was - the kitchen."

With a proud smirk, Edward looked at Nook and dropped the case file on the desk. "Did I get everything?"

The staff and actors who were eavesdropping outside of the room couldn't keep their excitement down. This was the most flawless answer they've heard so far. Most particip[ants couldn't get to this stage and those that did couldn't give such a complete answer. It was hard to believe that this couple didn't help to create the game with how well-versed they were with the backstory. The research that Nook put into writing a victorian era murder couldn't even make these kids stumble. Just who exactly were they?!

"The first murder mystery portion is solved," Nook declared with defeat. "You've taken fifty-five minutes to get to this point. However, the game is far from over. Actors and stagehands, prepare for stage 2!"

Shuffling could be heard from behind the scene but Edward, Scarlet and Nook remained in this room. 

"The second scene is a prison escape. I hope you're both ready for this."

Scarlet cheered and hugged Edward. "We did it!"

Edward laughed. "Yes, we did." He was proud of them.

Nook cleared his throat to get the serious atmosphere back. This couple couldn't be underestimated so Nook decided to do something he hasn't done in previous games. He was going to increase the difficulty of this escape.

"The game scenario continues. Your police friends who have been wrongly accused are currently in jail for trying to find the murderer of Mr Roger's case. Your job is to break them out because the murderer has twisted the facts and you're all now wanted criminals. The second stage will begin on the other side of the elevator which will open once the second stage starts. Your mission is to infiltrate the prison, free your friends and bring them all back here safely to the elevator to clear the game within thirty-five minutes. There will be puzzles to solve but unlike the earlier stage, there will not be any tagged items. Also, if a prison guard catches you, the game is over. You may find items useful to you during the game that can be used to avoid capture but every item has limited uses. You will be given a paint gun that has six paint bullets and two sets of guard uniforms that you need to change into."

Scarlet was excited but Edward looked at her nervously and offered to hold the gun instead. It might be a gun with pain bullets but the model looked rather realistic even if it was made of plastic. he didn' want her to suffer bad memories from seeing or holding a gun, he only hoped that Scarlet's PTSD wouldn't be triggered if she saw any prison guards holding it.

Scarlet left to get changed but Edward stayed back for a while and asked Nook if prion guards also had guns.

"My girlfriend had a bad episode when she was younger with guns so I don't want it to ruin the game."

Nook blinked. "I'm sorry to hear that but don't worry, the prison guards don't have guns, only handcuffs similar to the ones your friends are wearing. It's made of rubber and plastic, perfectly safe. The only gun would be the paint pistol you have."

Edward nodded and thanked the game master before changing into the guard uniform quickly. While this happened, Alex and Jasper were getting a briefing from a staff member about the second stage of the game.

"Finally!" Alex whooped. "Things are getting interesting. Shall we scan the area for them to help them out?"

Jasper yawned. "Sure. I'll join you later. Gonna take a nap."

Alex rolled her eyes but studied the map and the new set of cameras that Jasper arranged for her during the briefing. There were more prison guards than patrolling officers in the first round and the artist chewed her thumb. How were they going to get past all these people after the alarm rang?