"At this point I think it's clear one of you is the culprit, assuming it's actually only one that is. I already have a few ideas on who it could be and how he killed Cavendish, now I would need to talk with some of you to properly understand what happened yesterday; of course in the officers' presence so their testimonies carry legal weight..." For all they are worth... Of course I don't say it out loud.
The first who come to talk are Lord Percival with his wife Lady Honoria. He starts to tell their version. "We were supposed to meet during the night to have dinner all together, we wanted to celebrate a political victory between us, Cavendish was the one who invited all of us. We entered the residence slightly after the established time and it wasn't our fault, that incompetent valet took forever to open the gate, can you believe it? Not only he forgot his keys inside but when he came back again after taking them he spent an eternity testing different keys, but we eventually managed to enter. Once inside everyone was already there.""Who?""Lord Cavendish... Duchess Selene... The maids I think? I didn't really pay much attention to the servants, maybe it was only one maid actually. Anyhow, we spent most of the time in the dining room, the butler brought us many plates, I think one of the maid also works as cook; my only problem was the kitchen, I think it's too close to the dining room so we heard some noises from time to time.""What did you have to drink?""It was wine.""Continue...""After... We kept making small talks. Oh, at a certain point Lord Cavendish left, I think he directly went to his bedroom but I can't say for sure. I think he was a bit drunk too.""Did he say why?""He said he wanted to show us something so he technically went to take it.""Did he mention what that thing was?""No.""I see."
Then his wife proceeded."He asked to bring him water, I believe he himself felt he was drunk. A maid went out from the kitchen with a glass of water, I saw it, and went to his room, I think it was the taller one.""What about the other servants?""Well, they kept going and coming, I think the valet and the shorter maid were doing other chores but they came in the dining room and kitchen sometimes, while the taller maid and the butler mainly worked in the kitchen. After... We found out he was dead.""Who did?""It was Duchess Selene who noticed he was taking way too much time... It was around... thirty minutes I think?""This'll do it.""You know who did it then?""I have an idea, but I want to confirm a few things, I'll talk with Selene now."
"Selene... Do you mind telling me what happened?""Well I was the first one to meet Lord Cavendish.""I need to know what happened before.""Oh, I understand. I arrived with a private carriage, once I was in front of the garden I saw the two maids looking after the flowers, I called them, one came first, she kept checking her pockets, I believe she didn't have the key with her so she called the other one who instead opened the gate right away.""Mh...""After she walked me to the entrance and... Well, I found Lord Cavendish waiting for me, I arrived earlier so it passed some time before Lord Percival and Lady Honoria arrived.""Enough.""...Already?""Yes, don't worry, I heard what I wanted to hear."
The detective eventually reaches for me."Lady Nathae, do you mind having a word or two with me?""Sure."
"Lady, could you inform me who do you think the culprit is?""I'm certain of the killer's identity, I also have a good idea on how he did it.""Is it possible for me to—""No, sorry, I plan to solve this puzzle alone, I need to figure out the motive behind this, after I'll explain everything.""A puzzle you say...""Sorry if I act childishly.""No! I wasn't saying that, Lady Nathae!""If you would excuse me," I say as I leave, I want to take some time alone and think through.
I walk out the residence, I move close to the flowers, I take some time to inhale their aroma again, I sit down. The reasons to kill a noble are plenty and I don't have enough hints to precisely select one. Let's think this through. The motive is always one between love, money and revenge. It appears nothing has been stolen so we can safely exclude money; it remains love and revenge. Revenge... No, I don't have reasons to believe he did it out of revenge, I can't exclude it but at the same time if there are no hints it's useless to think of it as true. While I believe it's in the human nature to lie I also believe it's impossible to actually lie, regardless of how good someone is he can't absolutely remove all his actions, in one way or another there is always the possibility of reaching the truth. Let's say someone commits a crime and leaves the weapon somewhere in the crime scene, the killer might take the knife and seemingly remove a proof but at the same time he leaves another one, footprints, even if he removes this proof as well there might be people who saw him returning to the crime scene and even if it wasn't the case some people might have seen he was missing for a certain time. Even if all this was somehow planned and covered up you can still tell someone is lying by observing him—eyes, tension, reactions... There are hundreds of ways to tell if the person in front of you is lying and, by knowing he is lying, you can figure out the truth; if he tells he wasn't there and you spot he is lying then it means he was there. In conclusion, even when people apparently lie they can't help but tell the truth, meaning if there is no truth behind something then you can discard its possibility, therefore I would exclude revenge at the moment.
This means he killed Cavendish out of love. Now, why would someone in this situation kill a noble out of love... Cavendish wasn't married so he could have lovers but I didn't find any sign of it, he didn't even have children, his social status wouldn't allow him to have illicit relationships or children, they even recently achieved a political goal, it's unlikely he had time for others outside his job these days. This makes me definitely exclude he had lovers or children. Let's say he had a lover and the killer wanted to kill Cavendish because he was, in fact, seeing her wife—it's possible, but if he didn't have time to do it recently it means it's a story that started a while ago and therefore the killer had no reason to wait all this time to act, especially a day when many people were near the victim. If you argue he found it out these days then you are also wrong, if Cavendish wasn't seeing a lover these days then it's impossible the killer would have found out recently unless... The killer's wife told him he was seeing Cavendish, maybe out of guilt, it's possible, but at the same time I don't understand why she didn't warn Cavendish. Even if she felt guilty she still loved him, she couldn't want him to die... Maybe I'm just over-complicating things.
I stand up from the ground and see something strange... Was that piece of paper near the gate all along? I'm sure no one went out the residence since I'm here. I replay the memory of me near the gate and... No... That piece of paper wasn't there, nor did the valet drop it. Someone must have placed it there when we all were inside. I reach it and... I would recognize that shape of blood anywhere... While the blood is different the shape it has is the same as the one I found under my parents' bed when they died... Wait... Did someone... I feel like I'm fainting... NO! Not now! The size of the papers are exactly the same and as I said the shape of the blood matches perfectly, there is no way it's a coincidence, especially when I'm present in both places!
The paper presents the following numbers '+4 +22 +15 +4' with nothing else... They can't be random! Nathae think! On the other message there was "phoenix" in Chinese... It's read 'Feng'. Four letters and four additions... Letters can be numbers... a=1, b=2, c=3 and so on... f=6 e=5 n=14 g=7... Adding the new numbers to these and starting back from A when they surpass Z... we have 10 1 3 11... J A C K... Jack? Is this Jack involved in the death of my parents? Did... They didn't suicide then... But... The entire room was locked from the inside... No... No! Wait! There was a way!
It's so simple... Jack was inside the room and killed my parents... He hid under the bed... In fact that's where I found the piece of paper... He was there the entire time... I opened the door for him... When I fainted he went out... I was so shocked I couldn't think clearly... I kneel down and tears start to slide on my cheeks...
I swear... I swear I'm gonna kill whoever this Jack is... I swear...
I... I have to calm down... Nathae... Think rationally... Jack is involved in this case... If you solve it you might get more information... Come on... With this new information the motive is as clear as the sky... It's time to show the picture of this puzzle... I wipe away the last tears and, full of determination, I walk back in the residence ready to make the killer get arrested...