The Sheriff of Pheasantgrove and the surrounding villages flicked through his small notepad. A cup of coffee had been deposited onto the table near him, and sat steaming quietly. He looked at the gathered parties in the VIP room. Zetsurin, who was still bound by the Finger Trap, the handcuffed Lucas, as well as Kate, unbound, but sitting quietly on the couch next to Lucas.
Ruth strode confidently to the center of the room. "Our investigation is complete. We have gathered the evidence, and it is clear now that we are ready to make a pronouncement as to the culprit of this heinous crime."
She swept her arm across the room, slowly letting her pointing finger pass over each person in turn. "And the one who is truly at fault may surprise you! After all, when it comes down to it, it is simply a matter of deducing the core aspects of the crime: motive, method, and opportunity."
The Sheriff interrupted her, loudly slurping at his coffee. "I think I've got the general picture how things took place." He stood up, setting his coffee down long enough to flip a page in his notebook before picking it back up "Let me explain what happened, so far as I see it."
Ruth locked up mid-stride, watching the Sheriff with the nervous anticipation of a small dog watching you eat the last bite of your meal, which by all rights should belong to him. "I—"
She glanced over at Rathus, who was scrutinizing the Sheriff, and the small notebook he had pulled out. The Gun Knight looked over at Ruth and gave her a slow nod, turning back to address the officer.
"Go ahead and tell us what ya think, Sheriff."
Ruth deflated, denied the rare opportunity to deliver a detective's deductive diatribe on the true events of the murder. She regally sat back into her chair, resolved to be a good sport about it, at least. This didn't prevent her from getting her royal sulk on, of course, but she managed to hide it well all things considered.
"Very well. Please regale us," she sighed, resigned.
Musashi leaned in over her shoulder, blowing on his chocolate hazelnut latte macchiato. "I wouldn't worry just yet, your Highness. You'll get your chance in the spotlight," he confided, voice low.
The princess looked at him, then quickly looked away, blushing, once she realized how close his face was. "W... what do you mean?"
Musashi pointed at Rathus with his free hand. The close proximity meant he had to lift his hand and point over her left shoulder, which left Ruth acutely aware of the space between them. "I don't know exactly what he's thinking; I think perhaps you might have seen something I missed. But I recognize that look on his face. I think you'll get your shot, still."
Ruth blushed, nodding. "I-if you say so, then I shall be inclined to trust in you. A-and Rathus."
"The good news," The Sheriff began, "Is that Madame Seiryoku is not the murderer."
Regis held out an iced tea for Zetsurin to sip through a straw, her hands still bound behind her back. She finished her sip, Regis lowering the tea out of her way as soon as she released the straw.
"Good news," she said, with feigned cheerfulness. "Any chance you can take this thing off of me now?"
"Sure, in a moment," the Sheriff replied. "But first, let's get this all out in the open." He turned to Rathus. "If I could have you stand by the door, I'd appreciate it. I don't want anybody hurrying to leave, because you see..."
He took a long drink of coffee, holding the thought as the room leaned on his words, some with keen anticipation, and at least one with a completely hypocritical irritation at his showmanship. The Sheriff set his coffee on the table, and whirled around to face the room.
"The killer is in this room!"
Kate and Lucas both gasped. However, the rest of the room seemed completely unsurprised by this revelation. The Sheriff faltered a bit, looking around at the silent onlookers. Musashi followed his gaze, then, after a few seconds had passed, gave a delayed and exaggerated gasp of shock. The Sheriff sighed.
"I guess it isn't exactly a shock," he admitted. "But let's get right into it. This is what happened: "
****
Lucas entered the Ocean's Motion, rife with anticipation at seeing his beloved Kate. Little did he know the events that would soon take place. Events that he would be directly involved with. Events that were set into motion by parties he would never suspect. Events that would lead him, blissfully unaware as he was, into the cold conspiracy... of murder.
It started uneventfully. He bought his ticket, checked his coat in the coatroom, and went to seek out the object of his affection. It was then that he ran into the first trouble. Namely, the Master of Ceremonies and the Gun Knights. He discovered that Kate was going to be seeing a client that night. Her very first client.
Well, that set our young friend into a rage. That was something he simply could not abide by. Something had to be done.
The Sheriff paced across the room as he recounted, coming to a stop in front of Lucas.
"But easier said than done, wasn't it? How long were you wandering around, trying to find a way to get vengeance? Searching around, with no luck, until you decided to give up."
He chuckled to himself, taking another long drink of his coffee. The silence stretched out uncomfortably long as he drank. He finally finished, bringing the cup away from his face to point at Kate.
"Give up, that is, until you found an unlikely source of help."
It was Kate's big night. Her debut, the culmination of her training. But she wasn't happy. Wasn't satisfied. Her first client was less than ideal. Some fat, unattractive local official, and what's more, she was pressured into by no less than the owner of the entire brothel. Weaseling out of the job would be impossible. It was too important. There was no way that Madame Seiryoku would let her be. She needed some other way out. And more importantly, she needed to make sure that the Madame was too busy to hound her about it. And so she came up with her plan.
The Sheriff gestured to Zetsurin. The ex-Adventurer narrowed her eyes at him.
"Bordello," she said.
He faltered somewhat, glancing at his notepad in confusion.
"You called it a 'brothel'," she explained. "The Ocean's Motion is a bordello. Don't forget it."
The Sheriff looked at his notes, then back at her, and shrugged. "They're the same thing, but fine. Moving on..."
She found a reason to excuse herself in the first show, and went to Zetsurin, to borrow her master key. Because she'd "lost her own key." A lie, of course. She still had her key on her, for the time being. Once she had the master key, she went straight to Zetsurin's own rooms. It was a quick job to grab something that could be traced to her. One of the knives from the ex-Adventurer's own collection. From there, it was a quick stop back to her room, to write a short letter to her would-be admirer, and unwitting catspaw. One last stop, then, at the coatroom, to drop off the letter, and her personal seal...
The Sheriff leaned in to Lucas, giving a knowing smile as he shook his head slowly. "But that wasn't all that was in your jacket, was it, Luke?"
Lucas paled slightly. "I-I was just holding those for a friend," he muttered, glancing at Kate. "I never touch the stuff."
"Not what I meant," The Sheriff replied, "But thanks for letting me know. I'll have to look into that in addition to the murder charges." He turned away from the young sailor and spread his hands to address the rest of the room.
"No, I was referring, of course, to the murder weapon."
Kate delivered the letter, begging Lucas for help, along with the seal and the stolen knife.Then she returned to the room, and in the second act, Lucas found her delivery. He came to her room, using her seal to open the door and sneak up on the official while Kate distracted him. And then...
"Bam!" The Sheriff declared, thrusting an invisible knife into an invisible Mr. Crumpet in the air. Rathus looked on, helpless to stop this senseless act of imaginary violence.
"And from there, it was simple enough. Kate left, knowing that Zetsurin would likely rush over as soon as the show ended. Putting her right at the scene of the crime when the Gun Knights arrived."
The Sheriff finished his coffee off, slamming the empty cup down onto the table.
"The murderer was Mr. Lucas Warm. But he didn't do it alone. Kate was an accomplice, and what's more, the mastermind behind the plot."
"I wouldn't go quite that far," Regis interrupted. "As loath as I am to admit it, it would seem that Kate is involved. But to call her the mastermind is to ignore a few details." He nodded respectfully to Ruth. "Your majesty, that letter that we found in her room."
Ruth stared thoughtfully at the Dwarf for a moment, then stood, carefully producing the letter from one of her jacket pockets. She unfolded it, then reluctantly handed it to the Sheriff.
"We found this secreted in Kate's room, along with a talisman that had been stolen from Madame Seiryoku's quarters," she explained. "I found it particularly illuminating. I am curious as to your thoughts on it."
The Sheriff took the letter from her, and looked it over, mustache wiggling as he read. His expression hardened.
"Well... looks like I was a bit mistaken. Here I was thinking Luke was just a useful idiot. But this was premeditated by both parties."
He turned to regard the pair of accused murderers with a look of disgust.
"What's that letter say?" Luke piped up, craning his neck to try to get a look at it. The Sheriff tucked it into his pocket, giving the sailor a wry laugh.
"No use in playing dumb now," he replied. "The two of you are taking a trip downtown." He turned and nodded to the Gun Knights. "Would you mind giving me a hand?"
Rathus crossed his arms, and looked over to the princess. She met his eyes, and he nodded slowly to her. Ruth's eyes lit up with vigor, and she puffed up, standing straight and Manifesting her regal aura as she adjusted her deerstalker.
"Oh dear," she replied imperiously. "I must say, Sheriff, your deductive reasoning is in a league of its own. But, if I might intrude on your duties for a moment, I did have a question for the accused."
The Sheriff flushed at the perceived praise. He stepped back sheepishly, to allow the detective princess to casually stroll over to the couch. She cocked her head and looked at Luke, who was muttering quietly to Kate, face pale and nervous. She cleared her throat. The sailor didn't notice her at all, so she cleared her throat once more, louder. He seemed to notice her presence at last, looking at her with a bewildered expression.
"You are a sailor, yes?" Ruth asked, swinging in immediately with the hard-hitting interrogation.
"Uh... yeah. Um, I mean, yes, Yer- Your Highness."
Ruth smiled brightly. "Oh, good!" She casually turned and walked a few paces away, trailing her hand along the top of one of the dining table chairs. "You know, I've always wanted to take a ride on a ship. If I wanted to buy a ticket for a frigate, how much would that cost?"
Lucas frowned, opening his mouth, then seemed to think better of it, biting back whatever he'd been about to blurt out. "You can't- I mean, I guess you could probably ride for free, Your Majesty, since you're a big deal and all. Nobody'd charge you."
The princess turned to look at him over her shoulder, barely turning her face so that she was peering out of the corner of her eye.
"Hmm. It sounded like you changed your mind, there. Let us dispense with the formalities. If I were NOT, as you say, a 'big deal', how much would it generally cost for me to purchase a ticket to board a frigate?"
The sailor leaned back into the couch, staring at the Noble lady. "Well, if we're gonna dispense with that, then uh... hate to say, your highness, but you can't buy a ticket. A frigate's a military ship. You could probably bully your way onto one, on account of being the King's daughter, but if you were just a regular person, you'd have to conscript or something."
Ruth chuckled, resting her head on the back of her hand. "My, you truly threw the formalities out the window, didn't you? Here I was expecting we'd simply set them to the side. And yet, your impropriety was very informative."
She turned to the Sheriff. "Tell me, are there any military vessels in port?"
The official blinked at her. "What, in the lake? No, I can't really think of why we'd need one. Even if the town came under attack, a ship wouldn't really be much help in defending it. Why?"
Ruth smiled. "Why? I would hope it's rather obvious, Sheriff. Consider the letter once more."
The Sheriff looked down at the letter again, reading it out loud.
"My dearest Kate,
Tonight is the night, the first night of the rest of our lives. I already found someone willing to fence the jewelry you were talking about, and I bought us two tickets on a frigate that will be leaving town tomorrow morning. All that's left is to take care of that man, and we will be ready to drop anchor on our life together. I think we've covered all our bases, but be sure to burn this letter after reading it.
Yours forever,
Luke
"
He frowned down at the letter, as Lucas started to make a commotion, shouting a number of objections. A single finger held up by the princess silenced him as he was hit with the full brunt of both her Noble aura and her sheer deductive reasoning, which is kind of like a psychic power that only detectives have and is completely canon.
"Does that wording not strike you as odd, Sheriff? It's one thing to note that a frigate is not a passenger ship, but that's not even the most obvious part. I only knew that myself from having done a bit of research for a story. There's something else in the letter that is even more obvious."
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She waited a moment, and when the Sheriff didn't respond, she continued on, giving a careless shrug. "Luke is talking about starting a new life with Kate, but he uses the phrase 'drop anchor'. Anybody with even a passing interest in sailing would know that you only drop the anchor when you wish to come to a halt. A sailor by profession would NEVER make such a rudimentary mistake."
The Sheriff's eyes widened, and he looked up at the princess. "You're saying—"
"I'm saying that the letter is a fake!" Ruth pronounced, pointing dramatically at the letter. "A fake planted by the REAL killer!"
The Sheriff stared down at the letter, nodding. "Yes... if it was planted, then that'd also explain why she kept it instead of burning it. I take it from your theatrics you have an idea of who the murderer is?"
Ruth grinned a smile. "Of course I do. And you are correct. The killer IS in the room with us. The answer is simple: THE BUTLER DID IT!"
She whipped her hand around to point at Regis, who stared impassively at her finger. He blinked in confusion, then pointed to himself.
"Are you... referring to me?" he asked. When the princess gave a single nod in response, he drew himself up, eyes stern as he spoke with wounded pride.
"Your Highness, I am NOT a 'butler'. I am a triple-forged Harem Master, and am second only to Zetsurin in running this establishment. Please don't mistake my accommodating nature for a servile one."
Musashi chuckled. "You notice how he didn't deny being a murderer," he observed.
"I am not that either," Regis snapped, whipping to glare at the impish Gun Knight. The dwarf sighed and shook his head. "While I'm certainly relieved at the hope that Kate might truly not be involved, I fail to see how a forgery would implicate me."
He raised an admonishing finger, eyeing the princess carefully. "You should take more care with your accusations. This isn't a game, your highness, this is a serious crime."
"Well," Rathus cut in. "You mentioned how much you hate boats. It'd take a special lack of knowledge to not know that ya drop the anchor when you want to stop."
Regis looked to the Gun Knight, hurt. "You too, Ser Rathus? While I admit that my knowledge of nautical terms is lacking, I'm hardly unique in that respect."
"But you are unique in having access to every room in the bordello," Ruth countered. "Giving you the means of obtaining Madame Seiryoku's knife, of planting the incriminating letter in Kate's room, and most importantly... of killing a one Mr. Crumpet."
"Well," Regis replied icily. "You are serious with this accusation, aren't you? I suppose you have some proof? Princess or not, I won't simply stand here and let my good name be dragged through the mud."
"Oh, I have proof," Ruth declared. "Add up the evidence, and there's only one possible answer. You were too careless. The stolen necklace gave it away as well." The princess smirked at the Dwarf, whose expression softened from anger into confusion.
"I'm not sure I understand what you're implying,"
"Well," Ruth said. "The stolen medallion was her most expensive piece, wasn't it? It would certainly fetch a pretty penny if you knew how to find somebody willing to buy it. But, of course, in order to get the full value, it'd have to be somebody who knows how much it was truly worth."
She turned to Rathus. "My dear knight, when we found the necklace, how would you describe it?"
Rathus scratched at his cheek as he thought about the priceless artifact they had discovered in a fireplace. "You mean, appearance-wise?"
Ruth nodded to him, and he shrugged. "Well... it was a little plain, I reckon. Didn't leave much of an impression on me besides its abilities."
Ruth nodded, and reached into her sleeve, pulling out the jewel-encrusted necklace that had been in Zetsurin's jewelry box, the one Regis had declared a cheap fake.
"So, why would somebody grab that one when this was right next to it? Unless, of course, they knew it was a worthless knockoff."
"Hey!" Zetsurin snapped, leaning forward and jerking against her bindings. She seemed angry all at once, as if Ruth had been the one to scam her into buying the necklace. "Why are you bringing that up?"
"I'm- I'm trying to prove your innocence," Ruth said, bringing her hand to her chest. She blinked at Zetsurin, taken aback.
The bordello Matron shifted, tugging on the Finger Trap a bit as she resettled on her seat in indignation. "Well, clear my name without telling everybody how I got ripped off by a jewelry merchant."
"My apologies, Madame," Regis replied, bowing. "I should not have trusted them with the knowledge. You can see how it is misused." He looked up at Ruth, shaking his head as he gave her a look of smug superiority. "After all, if the killer knows how to appraise Artifacts, the difference would be obvious. I do find it unlikely that Kate would have chosen that particular necklace as her first pick, so I thank you for proving her innocence. However, this hardly implicates me."
"It is adding up, though." Musashi countered, finishing his coffee and grabbing Rathus's from the table. The older Gun Knight did a double-take and shot Musashi a glare, which he stoically ignored. "Throw enough coincidences together, and it starts to paint a picture." He took a sip of Rathus's coffee and grimaced at the bitter flavor.
"Ugh..." he gasped. "Rathus, how can you drink this swill? Don't you know you're supposed to add things to your coffee?" He set the cup back down on the table, sliding it over to Rathus with his fingertips.
"There's cream and sugar in there already," Rathus replied, offended on behalf of his inanimate cup of beverage.
"You need at least twice as much," Musashi explained, burdening his comrade with his excellent sense of taste.
Rathus shuddered at the thought. "If I did that, you'd hardly be able to taste the coffee, it'd just be like drinking a cup of sugary milk."
"Yes." Musashi replied.
The princess shook her head, drawing herself away from their banter, while making a mental note to log her newfound knowledge of Musashi's coffee preferences for future reference. She turned back to the Sheriff, who was waiting expectantly for her testimony.
"A-anyways. Perhaps it would be better if I started from the beginning," she decided. "Here's what truly happened earlier today:"
It started right before the first act. Regis took down our dietary preferences, and left to deliver them to the kitchen. But he didn't stop there. The show was starting, so he knew for a fact that both Zetsurin and Kate would be accounted for. He had the perfect opportunity to set his plan into motion.
First, up to Zetsurin's room. The weapons on her rack were fantastic ones, of course, but they were trapped, and besides, they might not be traced back to Zetsurin. Instead, he'd use a weapon that was instantly recognizable as belonging to her. Something that could be hidden on his person. And what's more, a weapon he would be intimately aware of, given his background. He stole one of her knives, then moved into her room, to steal a necklace to further sell the forged letter he'd created.
Rathus nodded. "He admitted to us that he knew the box was trapped, but didn't know how to disable it. So he must've just stood out of the way when he set it off. If Kate had tried robbing it... she probably woulda had a rougher time."
Ruth smiled in acknowledgement, dropping back into her explanation.
His next stop was Kate's room, to stow away the stolen necklace, and his forged letter, which he hid in a loose brick in the fireplace. This would provide a second layer of protection, in case his attempt to frame Zetsurin failed. From there, it was back to meet with us and watch the show. The next step would come later. In between the shows, when everybody went about their own business he went down to the coatroom, to plant his second fake letter in Lucas's coat.
"Hang on a second," the Sheriff interrupted. "Lucas himself told us that Kate's seal was in his coat. How could Mr. Priapus have put it there if Kate had it?"
Ruth hesitated. "Well... if she left it in her room, I suppose it would have been trivial for him to steal it while she was meeting with Zetsurin."
"Excuse me," Regis interrupted. "But I'm afraid that isn't possible. If you recall, Kate's key was missing during the first act. She visited our VIP room to request a backup key from the Madame."
Ruth frowned, crossing her arms and rubbing her chin. "Hm... then..."
"Excuse me," Musashi interjected. He extended a single hand toward the couch, fingers unfolding as he gestured. "Kate, my dear."
Kate looked up, and Lucas frowned, attempting to protectively wrap an arm around the courtesan. He had still yet to realize the restrictions the handcuffs presented, and instead tipped over, leaning on her shoulder. He seemed to settle for this, glaring daggers at his supposed competition. Musashi ignored him completely.
"When was the last time you saw your key? Did you leave the room at all before you were locked out?"
Kate idly patted Lucas on the head, which caused the sailor to sag bonelessly (more or less) into the couch.
"Hmm..." Kate thought, staring up at the ceiling with one finger on her chin, a picturesque look of childlike innocence that only grueling and brutal training could instill. "No, I only left the once, to get more drinks. The last time I saw it..."
"When you first entered the room," Musashi asked, "Were you the one to open the door?"
Kate's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "N-no, now that I think about it. Mr. Crumpet wanted to try out his guest key. I guess he found the key seal system interesting."
The Gun Knight nodded to himself. "Yes, that's what I thought. I believe I can tell you exactly how Master Regis found himself in possession of the key. It happened earlier than you might think. Right before the first show began:"
Kate nodded to Zetsurin, and went skipping to catch up to Mr. Crumpet. She moved with a certain captivating grace, which was completely shot to pieces as she stumbled forwards, tripping over something. Musashi shifted to catch her, but Regis was already there, supporting her and carefully setting her back onto her feet as he slipped the key seal from her pocket.
"Careful, dear," he said, reaching into his jacket pocket and depositing the stolen key, before pulling out a brush and brushing her off. He then sent her off to the official, who looked on in surprise as Kate hooked her arm through his.
"I couldn't get a good look at the time, but I thought there was something strange when a fair maiden tripped and somebody else beat me to catching her." He raised the back of his hand to his brow, flashing a winning smile to Ruth. "I knew that foul play was the only explanation."
The Sheriff was not impressed. "Now, I wasn't here to witness all these details for myself, but you still haven't answered the core question. Do you have any proof that he killed Mr. Crumpet? You told me that Zetsurin was the first to find the body. There was only a small window of opportunity between when Kate left and Zetsurin arrived. He was with you that entire time, wasn't he?"
There was a moment of silence, as Ruth considered the question, and the Sheriff looked between Musashi and the princess. Rathus broke the silence, speaking up behind from where he was leaning against the door.
"Because, Mr. Crumpet wasn't killed after Kate left the room. He was already dead by that point."
The Sheriff looked at him and sighed, rubbing at his forehead with two fingers as if massaging away a migraine. "And your evidence for this is...?"
"The crime scene." Rathus explained. "One of the chairs in particular had Mr. Crumpet's jacket on it, and dried blood on the seat."
The Sheriff waved him off. "You were off investigating for close to an hour. Even if he'd been killed immediately, the blood would have dried by the time you got back."
The Gun Knight shook his head, flicking his hat back so that it rested on the back of his head. He felt himself getting caught up in the mood, and even hazarded a daring smile as he looked at the Sheriff. "I wasn't talking about the blood. I was talking about the jacket."
Ruth's eyes widened as she realized what Rathus meant. The Sheriff stared at him, waiting for an explanation, as Lucas was just completely lost, and Regis looked on with a cold expression. Musashi was casually posing to the side of the room, just happy to be there.
"When Oliver came to meet with Zetsurin during the intermission, he was insistent on folding his jacket and setting it on the table. She offered for him to put it over his chair, but he reacted as if she'd slapped him. There's no way he would have put his jacket on the back of the chair himself. Which means that somebody else put it there."
"It wasn't me," Kate offered, "I wouldn't want to put him in a bad mood."
"Of course not," Rathus noted. "You were trying to do your best to woo him over to honor Madame Seiryoku's contract. Why would you mess with his jacket? The only person who could have put the jacket there... was the killer!"
Kate and Lucas both gasped in shock, but the Sheriff only stared blankly at the Gun Knight.
"... why?"
Musashi chuckled, shaking his head as he casually mocked the head of the local police force. "Not very imaginative, are you?"
The Sheriff turned to glare at Musashi, who simply gave him a smug wink. "Think about it, Mr. Sheriff. The unfortunate victim was stabbed from behind while he was seated in his chair. The angle of the attack is pretty clear."
The Gun Knight ducked down to the chair next to him, shoving his arm through the open back.
"The knife was still in his back after he fell to the floor. If he had been stabbed through the coat, the knife wouldn't have fallen with him."
"I'm not an idiot, Gun Knight," the Sheriff snapped. "I can figure that much out. I meant 'why bother moving his coat'?"
"B-because..." Ruth said, the gears in her mind slowly coming together. "Because when Crumpet was killed, Kate was still in the room! The knife was left in to keep most of the blood from flowing out, and with the jacket thrown over the back of the chair, if Kate were to look at him..."
Kate paled in realization. "H-he would just look like he was sleeping." she muttered. "O-oh..."
The Sheriff looked over at her, frowning. "You expect me to believe that she failed to notice a man being killed right next to her?"
"If she was watching Professor Wardenclyffe?" Zetsurin chimed in, drawing his attention. She nodded once, her face stern with certainty. "Absolutely."
"In fact," Ruth noted, now that she was back on track, "Regis did leave the room for a short time, after the kitchen made an error in Madame Seiryoku's meal. Which is in and of itself... a bit strange, isn't it? That they would get her meal in particular wrong, with how tight a ship they're running? Rather convenient that he would have a reason to leave around when the murder was taking place."
Regis snorted in derision. "It's good to see you paying attention, your highness, but I wish you would pay a bit more attention than that. After all, if you had, you would note that my return was close to record time, as Zetsurin can attest to. Do you mean to say that I somehow managed to speed to the kitchen, retrieve a replacement meal, kill an honored client, and return in just a few seconds short of my personal best? That would be quite a feat!"
"It would be," Rathus countered, his eyes grim, "If you had to go to all the way to the kitchen. But when we were talking outside the other VIP room, I saw somebody bring a dish into an empty room. That dish was exactly what Zetsurin would normally order, isn't it?"
He turned to address the Matron herself. "Tell me, Madame, did you have any clients scheduled in the third VIP room for the Wardenclyffe show?"
Zetsurin closed her eyes, Recalling the day's schedule. Her eyelids flickered for barely the time of a blink before she reopened them. She shook her head. "No. Nobody."
"And you mentioned to me personally," Rathus noted, "That all three VIP rooms have that handy Domain to keep food hot and fresh. Now, I admit, you probably couldn't run down to the kitchen and back... but you had a replacement meal next door, giving you plenty of time to sneak in and off Mr. Crumpet."
The smug smile fell from Regis's face as he glanced nervously at the door. "That's... a bold assertion, Ser McGaff. I suppose we had better go check, hadn't we? If what you say is true, the erroneous meal would still be there, would it not?"
Rathus waved him off. "Maybe. Most likely you woulda had someone clear it out by now."
The Sheriff looked at the Dwarf, then at Zetsurin, then at Lucas and Kate. "Damn," he swore. "That sounds plausible enough." He shook his head. "Am I going to have to arrest everybody in the room on suspicion of murder?"
"No," Ruth announced, pointing levelly at Regis. "Because there's one more piece of evidence that shows that he's the true mastermind. When we were in Zetsurin's private rooms, you made a certain comment. You mentioned how strange it was that somebody had stolen her carving knife. But the knife was embedded up to the hilt in Mr. Crumpet's back. The blade was too deep to be seen, and all of the knives have identical hilts."
She leaned forward, slapping the table with both hands. "How did you know which knife he had been stabbed with?"
Regis cleared his throat. "W-well, that's obvious, isn't it?" he said, stammering slightly before catching himself and smoothing his voice back into its normal silken purr. "It's a knife block. All the knives are in particular places, and Zetsurin is one to keep things orderly. I simply saw that the knife in the middle was missing, and knowing that to be the location of the carving knife, it was an easy assumption to make."
Ruth sat back down, waving as if she'd made a foolish mistake. "Ah, of course. My apologies, Regis, I must have made a grievous error in my judgement."
The Dwarf relaxed, chuckling a bit as he waved away her concerns. "It's no matter. I'm glad to have cleared up the issue. Perhaps now we can focus on finding the true killer."
"Yes," she replied, nodding slowly. She paused, deep in thought. "Except... there was that one thing. Not a big thing at all, but..."
Regis froze, turning back to her.
"Well, it's just that, when I was looking at the knife block. I put the paring knife back into it, and I do believe I happened to put it into the center slot. Before you came into the room." She looked to Musashi and Rathus. "Isn't that right?"
Rathus nodded, smiling, and Musashi Recalled before replying in the affirmative as well.
"I was too busy looking at the Madame's missing portrait of me to pay much attention, but you're right," he said.
"My missing what?" Zetsurin asked.
"So, there was no missing knife in the center of the knife block." Ruth noted. "Not when you came in. And you said yourself that you hadn't been to her room in over a week, so you couldn't have noticed it any other time. So I ask you again..."
The Dwarf paced slowly to the opposite side of the table, staring out over the balcony as he rubbed at the back of his head.
"How did you know which knife was used in the murder?"
Rathus stared at the Dwarf, slowly resting his hand on his revolver.
The Master of Ceremonies shook his head, turning to face the room with a hangdog look on his face. He raised his hands, clapping slowly.
"Well done," he said. "Excellently done." He reached into his jacket, and the Gun Knight tightened his grip, but the Dwarf only pulled out a cigar. He chopped the tip with one swipe of his hand, and put the stogie into his mouth, reaching into his jacket once more.
"You've caught me, I'm afraid. Yes, I admit it. I murdered Oliver Crumpet."
Zetsurin leapt to her feet, jerking at the bindings on her hand, which crinkled under the sheer power she was exerting against them.
"WHY?!" she demanded. "You've doomed us, you idiot!"
"No," Regis replied sadly, pulling out a lighter and lighting his cigar. "I would have saved us. Perhaps I can still. Oliver himself wasn't very important, in the grand scheme of things. Consider it a small bonus, given how much of a nuisance he was." He tucked the lighter back into his jacket, staring with sad eyes at Zetsurin.
"I just needed you out of the way for a while," he explained, whipping out his Desert Eagle and shooting her in the chest.