——
“Thank you for coming here today. For today we are going to reveal the identity of the culprit.” Said Zosi.
He and Marylou were standing in the center of the ring of chairs. There were both wearing hats exactly like the one that Quincy had worn. Floppy in the front and back but buttoned up on the sides. If there had just been one then Clemens would have though they took it from Quincy but if both of them had it then either Quincy had a spare or they also owned the hat.
“Prepare to be amazed because the truth will shock you.” Said Marylou who was mimicking the movements that Quincy usually made.
The others all looked disappointed that the solution had been stolen from them by these two.
“So who was it?” Asked Clemens.
“Tisk tisk tisk.” Said Marylou wagging a finger, “All in good time. First we must explain the situation of the crime.”
“The first important piece of information is when the first victim died. His time of death was approximately 8am. However remember that is just an approximate. We also know that he returned to the base at exactly 8:20am. This means that he died either just before or just after he arrived back at Poseidon Resort.” Said Zosi.
Marylou continued, “Indeed, when he left the base of 5:15am he must have been alive at that time. No amount of approximates will have him die three hours earlier.”
Zosi took his turn next with flawless cadence, they must have spend some time practicing, “We also know Nitzan received a note telling him to meet with them at deep sea diving where the murderer would return the stolen item.”
“So the critical question that is at the heart of everything is ‘How did Nitzan end up outside the resport while tied up’ and we are prepared to answer that question and many others.”
“You need Nitzan probably knew that the murderer was going to try and murder him, after all that is why we all came here. However there was one thing that he needed to know and that was the identity of the murderer. All of the notes we have found are printed so discovering their identity from just that was impossible. So he met up with the potential murderer and that is when tragedy struck.”
“Nitzan was poisoned. Knocked out with an orally ingested poison. His fondness for beer was his undoing which caused him to become incapacitated. With that the murderer was able to tie him up, put a rebreather on him, and sent him from the resort to the accomplice that was waiting outside.”
Isaac held up his hand, “Wait, that is all well and good but how would that be possible? Nitzan would hardly fall for a trick to drink poisoned beer when going to meetup with somebody he thought was the murderer.”
“Actually,” Said Marylou with a cruel smile, “we lied to you. We believe that Nitzan had no idea that the person he met up with was going to murder him. It was probably the farthest thing from his mind. He was just there to get the item that was stolen from him back.”
Severina then tilted up her head and said, “Oh, clever, very clever.”
“Umm… can somebody explain it to me?” Asked Clemens, “I don’t understand at all.”
“My dear Clemens,” said Marylou, “What we are implying is that Nitzan didn’t suspect anything because he was the murderer.”
“But… wasn’t he the murdered? Did he fake his death?”
Zosi shook his head, “No, an elaborate ruse. When this event was made the murderer who was chosen was Nitzan. However the actual murderer was not him, our culprit took it into their own hands to steal the role of murderer from Nitzan and become the new villain in this grand play.”
“Is that even allowed?”
Somarliðr spoke, “Criminals are the ones that break the rules not the investigators. What more brazen rule could you break then the most fundamental one.”
“Exactly,” Said Marylou, “This is why Nitzan let his guard enough to drink a poisoned beer, after all he would be completely immune to being murdered, or so he thought.”
Zosi turned and looked at Clemens, “And we were able to get confirmation from Clemens that Sarita was indeed an accomplice who helped move Nitzan out of the resort and then back in although she refused to name the actual murderer and is still on the run.”
“Next on the order of business is simple matter of actual murder. With Nitzan back in the resort drowning him while unconscious is an extremely simple matter. Even just a simple bucket of water. With the deed done removing the victim’s restraints and moving them to the gym was all that was left. After all the murderer wasn’t capable of moving the body more than a short distance.”
“You have kept us as a captive audience long enough” said Demetra, “Who actually committed this crime.”
“Not yet!” Said Marylou, “There is still more, after all I am sure that everybody is curious about the cause of all this. What was stolen from Nitzan and what connection did he have with Quincy. A difficult question to be sure.”
“There are many little clues but the most important was after Nitzan arrived he was calm enough to want to relax with a beer. Which meant that he believed that the murderer was going to return it. The item in question must also be associated with whatever Quincy was planning on telling us about when he was so rudely murdered.”
“All that comes together to say that the item is related to the future of this association.”
Zosi nodded along and then said, “Now before we reveal our proof it is time for the grand reveal.”
There was a moment of tense silence and the in unison both Zosi and Marylou pointed to the culprit.
“Demetra it was you.”
She seemed unruffled and raised an eyebrow, “Me? Why do you think it was me.”
Zosi smiled knowingly, “There are many reasons but I suppose the primary one is that I caught you in your mistake.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“The morning of the murderer I was enjoying myself and wondering the resort when I accidentally found you in one of the bars. You invited me to join you and then we partied for a few hours before we parted ways and I returned to my room.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“I’m sure you were extremely surprised to see me. You had to change your plan. Maybe there had been some other weird plan to kill Nitzan that you had to abandon since you encountered me. After all you had just come back from the Deep Sea Diving to hide an important piece of evidence.”
“And what would that be?”
The others had already seen the line that was going followed and Severina said, “Poisoned Beer.”
Zosi nodded, “Exactly. You couldn’t just abandon it at the scene of the crime or drop it in any old waste bin. You needed to hide is somewhere that nobody would ever find it. What better place than a bar. They would have to search through many bottles to find anything and a mostly empty bottle in the waste bin of bar is normal.”
There was silence from Demetra at that moment.
“Oh,” said Marylou, “and as for proof, we found it. An almost completely empty bottle in one of the trashes. Initially I had given up hope finding it after we failed to find it in the bar the two of you were in but not too far away was a second bar, one with it in the trash. You must have moved it after the fact to make it even harder to find but I was persistent.”
The stares at Demetra was basically audible.
“In addition,” said Zosi, “In the big circle you sit next to Quincy. That means in the dark you would have the best opportunity to kill him with a wire when the lights go out. As long as you knew when it would happen there was no chance of you getting caught in the act.”
“That is a lot of circumstantial evidence you have. Nothing definitive that it was me.”
“Ohh… resisting are we?” Asked Marylou, “But unfortunately your fate was completely sealed. After all there is this.” She pulled out a small makeup container, a light skin tone one. Marylou then tossed it to Demetra who caught it.
Marylou and Zosi looked extremely proud of themselves. Marylou then spoke the damning words, “It is easy. Just take a small taste of that. If nothing happens then you will be free and we will have failed. However if you fall unconscious then… well, we all know what that means.”
Demetra flicked open the small makeup container. Then she clicked it closed again and began to laugh while holding up her hands, “You got me. Perfectly. You two really showed your true skill here. I’m extremely impressed.”
There was a high five between Marylou and Zosi and everybody else relaxed as the tension in the room dissolved.
Demetra help up the makeup container and said, “I had thought that at least would slip by, how did you managed to figure out which one was the correct one.”
Marylou said, “It was the only one that wasn’t there during my initial search. When I find did my search that container wasn’t there so I hadn’t been able to find it. You must have returned it to your room after that, hiding it among your other makeup containers.”
“Brilliant, although I’m impressed that you managed to remember which ones had changed.”
“Nah, I just took pictures of all the different rooms. Good detective work is important.”
“However there is still the million dollar question.” Said Demetra, “What and where is the item that I stole from Nitzan.”
“Oh, that.” Said Severina quietly, “I already found it. It was hidden in the bowling alley, someplace you must have never expected to get searched.”
Demetra just shook her head in complete defeat.
“So what was it?” Asked Isaac.
“Secret. Alrighty gave it back to Nitzan.”
Somarliðr looked around and said, “It is probably safe to call them back now, after all the mystery is solved. Unless you want to make sure they know other things as well?” He asked Demetra.
“No, I think they covered everything. Severina clearly understands the purpose of the item.” Severina nodded, “So if she wants to wait and let Nitzan and Quincy explain then I don’t have any other issues.”
“Should I also try to find Sarita? If the game is over maybe she can join us since she did participate as an accomplice.” Asked Clemens.
Somarliðr nodded, “Yeah, you do that. How about we all meet back up at the Diver’s Delight to celebrate. After all the murder had been solved. I’ll make sure they make something special for all of use to celebrate.”
And with that the team broke up again. This time without having to stick together in groups.
—-
Everybody raised their drinks in greeting when Nitzan and Quincy arrived at the beginnings of a party. Nitzan smiled sheepishly and said, “I’m glad everybody enjoyed it. Although I have to admit getting my kill stolen out from under me was not really what I expected. I had all kinds of plans but I guess that aren’t going to happen.”
“As for me,” said Quincy, “I’m just surprised how quickly you figured everything out. Me and Nitzan were expecting to have to wait a few more days before the truth cam out but you all exceeded my expectations.”
Marylou just waved her hand trying to pass it off as nothing before saying, “That is all well and good but there is a secret that is burning a hole is my mind. Half of us already seem to know what it is so give the rest of us a break and reveal it already.”
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