Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

And once everyone has done what they need to do and gathered at that bottom of that stairwell in the dormitory, the door before them once again seems to unlatch and swing outward, lightly and of its own volition. It's the fourth time in the span of about a month; perhaps there's some strange, dark sense of familiarity in it. Perhaps, too, that stairwell leading further down is beginning to feel familiar, dark and unwelcoming though it is; the courtroom is still illuminated at the bottom of it, sending a slight amount of light up the stairs and guiding everyone down to that stark room made of concrete and steel. The podium circle stands still and silent in the center, waiting for everyone to take their place around the darkened pit below; once again, there's been a change in the circle itself in the form of three more podiums joining the ranks of the deceased. Fern, Tabby, and Sigrun all have their places in the circle marked with black cloth and a photograph in greyscale, keeping watch over all of you in a manner both unseeing and vaguely judgmental. As always, the thirty-sixth podium stands blank and unoccupied among you. Once everyone has found their place in the circle, Jericho can be heard over the public-address system; he seems to have collected himself at some point during the investigation, it shows in his voice, as little as anyone really wants it to. "For better or worse, Boundless is no longer among you. I'm sure you guys all know what that means by now, what you're here to do. And before you ask, because I know it's going to come up eventually and now's as good a time as any - yeah, we'd have you down here if someone tries to be a big damn hero for the group, because someone's still dead because somebody fucked up. It just means the dead person and the guilty person are the same person. So you know what, the game's the same, no matter what happened here - innocent against the guilty, fourth time, let's go! And as always, do your best!" Twenty-six Participants remain. However many leave this place is up to you.

Comments

[perpend]

....Maybe the note was given Sigrun's signature after the fact?

As in, it was pre-written, save for the name of the victim.

[heritrix]

The note specifically starts by claiming Sigrun did this to reset the timer. It's the first sentence.

[Elda read it out loud before, but Rin will pass it around if anyone needs a refresher.]

[perpend]

[Right... Hm.]

[chessturner]

...do you know what I have been wondering about now? The cut in her arm. What'd be the purpose of that?

[heritrix]

On top of the drug cocktail, you mean?

[Because like. It was a really bad cut and the cause of death.]

[ninehundredlives]

It does seem like overkill. And cutting her that way - [Susan traces from her own elbow up to her wrist.] - is part of what made us suspicious to begin with. Maybe they just didn't know how long the drugs might take to kill her?

[evilfrenzy]

Time may not have been a factor at first, but then became one. Or, they may have become concerned that they did not administer a fatal dose?

[It's a bit tricky to hypothesize, since he's putting himself in the mind of someone who might not know as much about drugs.]

[chessturner]

Yes. The crushed pills in the liquor would have been enough to kill her. There was no need for a cut in her arm. Not only that, the note specifically mentions 'pouring one out'. If a third party faked that note, then why'd they make a cut in her arm, too?

Besides, I also remember it's a fresh wound. When the body was found, the blood was flowing, right? It's a wound that can only have been made when she was alive -- blood doesn't flow so easily when you're already dead.

Finally, it's not like the body was hidden away. Someone would have found Eide-san sooner or later. It's not like the blood was needed to alert us she was dead, we'd have seen that sooner or later -- if Jericho didn't tell us about it, of course.

[She shrugs]

Do you see what I mean? No matter how you look at it, that cut is nonsensical.

[explosivecombat]

With all due respect, I believe the implication meant by the note was that she was pouring one out before cutting herself. Steels one's resolve and all; it's not unheard of in circumstances like that.

[matchbreaker]

Not to mention, if we're talking methods... if this was a suicide or even a faked one, Sigrun's way more suited to go out using that dagger she kept showing off at the party than some pills. I feel like that suits her more, some sort of ... soldier-y act of service. Action-like.

[evilfrenzy]

That is what I gathered from it as well. [Hm.] If the culprit was the one who did the drugging, they may have not intended for the leftover contents to be noticed. That way, it would be assumed that the cut was the only contributor to her death.

[hesperos]

That's plausible.

[ ... ]

Anyway, given that the knife was dripping with blood, maybe some of it managed to get somewhere on the culprit's clothing, and they didn't have time to clean it or notice?

[heritrix]

If they did, it would be a small amount. From the blood spray, I could tell the wound was made over the bar itself, but it didn't look unnatural.

[hesperos]

Huh, alright.

[ He'll be on the lookout for a small amount, then! ]

[bloodisthicker]

Well, my thought is that the killer panicked over the announcement of Tabby's death and tried to make sure she was dead. Even if the pills would've been enough to kill her, they may not have known how quickly they would act.

[paralogical]

Same purpose as the note served. To throw us off.