Trial 4 - Kaede

[King V]

"I don't think that's true at all, miss musician. After all, I was passed out on the floor of deck 3 for a very long time, and I heard many people pass by. I think Ynes was there at one point... you were there too at one point, miss musician. And nobody even bothered to target me."

"The real culprit must have been targeting Kaedae specifically. Otherwise, why wouldn't they pick an even easier target lying on the floor right in front of them?"

"I don't think it's possible for the culprit to have hidden in wait either. I mean, don't you think if they were hiding, they could've gotten an easy surprise attack on Kaeade? Especially if she was making a huge racket in the workshop? The reason why Kaedae has both an arm wound and a head wound must be because she was defending herself from an attacker who had just entered the workshop. Her arm wound is a sign that she tried to struggle before the culprit delivered the killing blow."

"Therefore, the culprit must have launched a spontaneous attack without any prior preparation. Which makes it even less likely that the culprit could have prepared anything to cover up the blood spray. Thus, the culprit must be the only person covered in blood, Mr Goon! It's the only thing that makes sense!"

[Daiwa Scarlet]

"When did you pass out on deck 3? I saw you a few times at the shrines, but lost sight of you while working on the latter two."

[Arie Camillia]

Jul 10, 2023 21:05:05 GMT -8 Xaniks said:

"You would presume the bodyguard of His Royal Highness the First Prince would show up to work filthy? Of course not! Mr. Cappuccino was not in such a state before his sparring match! As for your earlier question..."

Ynes flips some pages.

"20:18 (2/7): Two-Times challenged Mr. Bei! His Royal Highness and myself rooted for him, to little success!"

"Is that so? Hm, if the fight takes place early into 7/2 rather than on 7/1, then that would surely complicate things. Otoshin's accusation hinges on Vinny's bandages and wounds obscuring any blood that may have splashed onto him from attacking Kaede. I believe no one can argue that the killer would have walked away soiled in this murder, but again, the question is how the killer left no trail or footprints after murdering Kaede. The easiest option for the killer would be to wear a cover of sorts, whether that be an apron, blanket, or other such article, that catches all of the blood splatters and is easily disposable, with little risk of being traced back to you like a unique article of clothing would be. However, I didn't find an apron, gown, or other such article of cloth that was soiled and looked to have been used. The only gown I found was trashed in the infirmary and had no evidence of blood, simply wrinkled and a bit used. Additionally, when I checked the Laundry, there were no suspicious wash cycles running. Thus, I am still having trouble parsing out how the killer traveled from Deck 3 to Deck 2 or 1 without detection."

Jul 10, 2023 21:38:33 GMT -8 Daiwa Scarlet said:

"Kaede made herself an easy target by using the workshop. Considering the hand carved knife block she has on her person, the chisels used, and sandpaper with wood shavings; she had likely been working away when the culprit struck. One makes quite a racket when using the workshop, with anyone on the third deck capable of hearing them. She was unfortunate that the culprit was the one to hear this time."

"This is rather interesting, because I find it a bit difficult to believe that the killer, by some stroke of luck, managed to walk to Deck 3 at the same time that Kaede chose to use the Workshop. With this in mind, I think I can agree with Otoshin. My current theory is that the killer noticed the distinct lack of guards on board the ship at the time, thought up a workable murder plan, and simply waited for a suitable target. When Kaede returned to the ship, they targeted her and followed her down to Deck 3. After all, the entrance to the ship immediately leads back to the Deck 2 Commons, where I remember seeing Prince Benjamin and Vinny hanging around for quite some time. Kaede left Deck 1 on 6/25 at 9:11PM UTC, likely walking to the Deck 3 Workshop. Notably, this is close to the end of the day, which lines up with her getting to work in the Workshop into 7/1 before being intercepted by her assailant."

"Thus, I think Prince Benjamin and his guards, along with whoever else may have been on Deck 2 at the time, are highly suspect. I don't think there's enough evidence at this time to fully incriminate Vinny over Prince Benjamin, unless we're saying him and his guards are all in on it. Of course, this is also incredibly likely, as it's in their mutual benefit to weaken another Prince."

"Although, this still begs the question, why were you on Deck 3 at the time, Otoshin?"

[King V]

"I think I passed out on the floor... some time before I headed out into the swamp? Maybe? I only remember I saw something horrifying that made me recall some kind of trauma... so I immediately passed out on the ground for a good while."

"That being said, I don't remember hearing any workshop noises, so this might have been a while before Kaedae came down to deck 3. Still, if the potential culprit was hovering around deck 3, it'd be really strange for them to ignore someone lying on the floor."

"Hmm... you know... maybe we're not giving the culprit enough credit here. Who's to say the culprit was just waiting for a convenient target? Maybe the culprit had planned to kill Kaedae ever since John was killed! You see, I found a syringe in the infirmary. But not just any syringe, it's a completely clean syringe that wasn't there before. I can say with confidence, that this syringe has been missing ever since John's murder, but now it's somehow back in its spot and perfectly clean. Isn't that suspicious? Who would put back a syringe instead of just throwing it away after using it? This seems to fit the modus operandi of a culprit trying to meticulously clean up evidence of a crime."

"What if the culprit, using this syringe, actually did lie in wait inside the workshop like a groundhog, and hit Kaedae with a surprise attack? But instead of using a cleaver, they used a syringe to inject something into Kaedae's arm, which either incapacitated her or killed her. And then, using the cleaver, the culprit covered up the syringe wound by cutting her arm where she was injected, and then cut her head to make that seem like the real cause of death. The culprit could have been extremely careful with his cuts, as Kaedae would have already been incapacitated by the injection, leaving no blood to spray on himself. And the culprit, who had planned this murder ever since the death of John... it has to be 01! 01 has somehow snuck back aboard the ship and played out his syringe murder all over again!"

[Arie Camillia]

Jekyll blinks a few times and clears her throat.

"Well that aside. If you didn't hear any workshop noises while you were on Deck 3, then it's likely that the killer simply followed Kaede to Deck 3 as I've said. I'm unsure the relevance of the syringe if it's completely clean. There's no way to definitively prove that it was even the same syringe as the one that killed John, unless you checked whether it had been used at all by pulling back on the plunger."

"Can you be a bit more detailed with when you were on Deck 3 and where you were early into 7/1?"

[Daiwa Scarlet]

"How long did you spend laying around the third deck? It sounds like you had been laying there since 6/24, but I believe you were in the swamp during 6/25."

[Xaniks]

"I hope you're feeling well, Oto! I remember running into you on the second deck, not the third one, sleepyhead! Have you been eating enough?"

[King V]

"I was definitely in the swamp by the time Kaedae died. Like I said, I probably passed out long before Kaedae came to deck 3, as I didn't hear any workshop sounds at all back then."

"The syringe's seal was broken, and it was completely cleaned, which means it must have been used at least once, then cleaned, and returned to the infirmary afterwards. It might not have any relevance to the murder... but if it wasn't used by the culprit, then I assume someone can step forward and clarify what they used the syringe for and when they put it back?"

"Unless of course, Kaedae used the syringe for whatever reason... then I guess we're out of luck. But there's no way that's the case, right?"

[Arie Camillia]

"The only problem I have with the syringe being relevant to the murder is the pattern of the blood in the Workshop. There was a one massive cone-shaped splatter behind Kaede's body, which suggests she was attacked while standing up in a single encounter. If it happens the way you say, where she's sedated and the arm is cleaved as a red herring, there would be discrepancies with the splatter. I imagine that such a murder would create two distinct splatters or pools rather than one. Judging by the force of the attacks, it would be difficult for the arm to be cleaved after the fact without the cleaver hitting the ground and being damaged, so she would've needed to be held up in some way, which would cause more discrepancies in the blood's pattern."

[King V]

"Hmm... if there was no syringe involved... I have a very simple way to explain the murder."

"'Lady who's been doing well in the trials', you said you found a used apron in the infirmary, right? What if we assume that the culprit did prepare a way to stop the blood from getting on them. Since the culprit is rather spontaneous, they probably grabbed whatever was convenient, and went up to the deck 2 infirmary to grab an apron. Then they came back down to deck 3 to murder Kaedae. But for some reason, when they chopped Kaedae in the head, no blood splashed on their apron because... I don't know honestly, maybe their slashing technique was just really good? So the culprit just tossed the apron back into the infirmary and left it there, without having to deal with any blood splatter."

"As for who the culprit is... this still feels like a murder by Mr Goon to me. I mean... not to be rude, but it doesn't seem like Mr Goon does a lot of thinking, so this would fit his modus operandi, and it seems like he spent an awful lot of time in the infirmary too, which would be pretty suspicious if the culprit did use the apron that Jekyll found. And maybe... just maybe... Mr Goon lost his fight on purpose to downplay his combat prowess! That way he wouldn't be suspected of being such a good slasher that he could avoid all the blood splatter."

[Daiwa Scarlet]

"I am unsure whether Kaede had been working on the knife block at the time of her death. Perhaps she had already finished. The wood shavings simply lead me to the conclusion that she had been using the workshop."

[Arie Camillia]

"Hmm.. that's definitely possible. I was entertaining the possibility of the gown being used, so I inspected it to check whether it was cleaned at all. It looked like it wasn't really wiped off or cleaned in any way, so if it was used then it really didn't get any blood splatter on it. There were some stray splatters across the room in front of Kaede's body, so it would be some stroke of luck if the killer came out completely clean. Is it really possible that the killer was able to use the gown and come away completely clean if half the room was covered in the blood splatters?"

"Additionally, if Vinny was completely clean, there would be no need for him to get into a fight with Teng Bei because he wouldn't be trying to obscure any blood on him. It also wouldn't preclude Prince Benjamin from doing the murder himself either."

[Daiwa Scarlet]

"Perhaps the blood splatter around the room could have resulted from the cleave on Kaede's arm, which alerted her to the assailant's presence. She decided to run, but took a flying cleaver to the skull. This accounts for the more focused splatter behind her and the lack of bloody clothing. The culprit was far enough to avoid the splash."

[Arie Camillia]

"Hmmm, I will posit:"

"Like Otoshin says, Vinny is the culprit. Both him and Prince Benjamin were present in the Deck 2 commons prior to Kaede's death and had been for a quite some time, as far as I could observe. Once guards and other Princes vacated the ship to explore the new continent, Prince Benjamin and his team devised a simple plan to eliminate another guard without risking someone walking in on them. When Kaede returned to the ship, they saw an easy victim and simply waited for her to walk down to Deck 3, knowing she would be isolated as they had likely seen Otoshin exit the ship before Kaede entered Deck 3. This takes place on 6/25, which we can confirm with Kaede's post in the Prince's reception. Once in Deck 3, they knew the room she was in immediately by the sound of the Workshop and went to grab the cleaver from the nearby kitchen. When Vinny walks into the Workshop, he's able to incapacitate Kaede quickly. As a guard under Prince Benjamin, he's able to perform tremendous feats of strength, which may help to explain the massive cone of blood splatters behind Kaede. This is the only reason I can think of for the blood failing to soil the killer; they were able to strike Kaede with enough force that it transmits to the blood and viscera, spraying it on the way behind her rather than in front of her."

"Following this, Vinny simply plants the blade a few feet away from the body so his shoes aren't covered in the growing pool of blood under Kaede, and he returns to the Deck 2 Commons. The fight with him and Teng Bei takes place the following day at 8:18PM UTC, and the body is discovered approximately 30 minutes following this, at 8:41PM UTC. There is a window of almost an hour, between the start of the day at 7:42PM and 8:53PM UTC where the killer would be able to make their way down to Deck 3 and back undetected, because Hu Tao returns around then to speak to Ynes."

"Thus, there is plenty of time for Vinny to have committed the murder and forged an alibi with Prince Benjamin, Teng Bei, and Ynes in the Deck 2 Commons. I see no reason to include accomplices onto this theory at the moment without strange movement across the ship."

[Hans]

"No need far me ta get into a fight with da Beaw use say? Awv cours' dare was a need. Da boss told me so. If 'e can wrestle a lion, I can teaw a beaw apawt with my mitts.

Turns awut dat fatdy 'ad mitts as well.

My modu-, mod-, whatevah use said, involves a whole lot awv concrete and fishies. Now, I'm no stinking physicist, but I 'ave cleaned up my faoi shawe awv, er... red paint. I mean come awn, it sprays back regawdless awv farce. If even bullets make a mess, 'ow could I 'ave avoided it using a knife?"