Day 15

[pandatrash]

[There are really only two important things to note about Day 15:

One, your tablet informs you that there's a killing night tonight! Tonight we're back to normal; only one murder, please!

And two, there is shitty prepackaged deli sushi in kitchen. So uh, y'know. Enjoy that.]


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Comments

[very_good_end]

[smiles, clearly having fun]

Remember... you must also have a 'howdunnit' and a 'whydunnit'. Finding out 'who' the culprit is is just a little piece of the puzzle... if you also take into account motive and how they completed the crime. No less could be expected of a detective.

Let's go back and check those deaths...

"Too quickly, perhaps. He choked - choked badly. His face contorted, turned
purple. He gasped for breath - then slid down off his chair, the glass falling from
his hand..."

"He bent over the bed where the woman was lying peacefully on her side. He lifted
the cold hand, raised the eyelid. It was some few minutes before he straightened
himself and turned from the bed."

"A bigger chopper, a heavy affair, was leaning against the door - the metal of it
stained a dull brown. It corresponded only too well with the deep wound in the
back of Rogers' head..."

[and so on, and so on.]

[truthstranger]

[It turns out just listening to a bunch of deaths in a row is kind of morbid, and he’s a little distracted from it by the other part of what she said, anyway. It almost seemed like a hint...

He cuts her off part way in.]

The judge, what was his?

[very_good_end]

[no reaction but to repeat that part]

Mr. Justice Wargrave was silting in his high-backed chair at the end of the room.
Two candles burnt on either side of him. But what shocked and startled the
onlookers was the fact that he sat there robed in scarlet with a judge's wig upon
his head...

Dr. Armstrong motioned to the others to keep back. He himself walked across to
the silent staring figure, reeling a little as he walked like a drunken man.

He bent forward, peering into the still face. Then, with a swift movement, he
raised the wig. It fell to the floor, revealing the high bald forehead with, in the
very middle, a round stained mark from which something had trickled...

Dr. Armstrong raised the limp hand and felt for the pulse. Then he turned to the
others.

He said - and his voice was expressionless, dead, far away:

"He's been shot... "

Blore said:

"God - the revolver!"

The doctor said, still in the same lifeless voice:

"Got him through the head. Instantaneous."

[truthstranger]

"A round stained mark" is pretty ambiguous for a gunshot wound. And the doctor could definitely be lying. I'm not sure why he'd help him, though...

[very_good_end]

Oh? Weren't you just saying there could be an accomplice? Yet you don't have a theory as to why...?

[truthstranger]

I was figuring out what was possible first. Sometimes people's reasons are hard to understand right away.

[very_good_end]

You think so?

[shrugs]

You're doing very well for a first-time reader, I must say. Though that's no indication you've picked the right people.

Shall we read the next chapter? It provides a few more insights... and then, after it, is the final reveal of the culprit.

[truthstranger]

[after looking a little surprised at the compliment, he nods]

Sure, let's hear the rest.

[very_good_end]

[reads the epilogue, which sums up the deaths, indicates the last fingerprints on the gun belonged to Vera, someone moved Vera's chair after she hung herself, and the gun was found in Wargrave's room, and that all the crimes were things the law couldn't prove, except Wargrave's, which the man he hanged turned out to be guilty all along, and the man who organized it died of poisoning.]

"And therefore, sir, there must have been some one else on the island. Some one
who tidied up when the whole business was over. But where was he all the time -
and where did he go to? The Sticklehaven people are absolutely certain that no
one could have left the island before the rescue boat got there. But in that case -"

He stopped.

The Assistant Commissioner said:

"In that case -"

He sighed. He shook his head. He leaned forward.

"But in that case," he said, "who killed them?"

...

[Watches him, expectantly.]

[truthstranger]

...It has to be the judge. He was taking justice into his own hands by killing all these people who he thought were murderers. He'd done that before. And... I guess he must have shot himself afterwards, to make his death real? Maybe to avoid facing justice himself.

I'm still not sure why the doctor would help him fake his death, but... these people were scared and paranoid. He didn't actually kill all of them, some of them killed themselves or each other. It's not out of the question he could have been threatened or convinced that it was a good idea.

[very_good_end]

Oh? Interesting... you have a 'whodunnit' and 'whydunnit'... but your 'howdunnit' is a little lacking... Well, perhaps 'underdeveloped' is a better word.

Do you have a source of where he, or indeed any other culprit, procured the poison, at least? Everyone was searched at various times, as well.

[truthstranger]

Ah, I'm not sure. I don't actually know much about chemicals and poisons and that sort of thing.

[in fact that seems to touch on something painful for some reason, and he winces]

[very_good_end]

Aha. But you must. You cannot say the culprit 'magicked' some poison into existence. It must have an origin... of course, it's the story's job to provide you context with understanding what could be used as poison, so you needn't have a chemistry background to comprehend, Saihara-san.

Think. You are nearly there. We have had sleeping powders introduced... was there any other thing?

[truthstranger]

There was cyanide, wasn't there? And it seemed like they thought it was strange to have around... but he could have brought it with him if he planned all of this. I don't know how hard that would be.

[very_good_end]

There was.

[...]

You don't remember another source?

[truthstranger]

...

I'd have to go over everything again...

[very_good_end]

... Hm. So close. A theory cannot truly be called a reasoning without a comprehensive answer.

Unfortunately, while that would normally be your right, I don't have the patience to go through the entirety of the book again. As much as I enjoy hearing myself talk, my voice can only handle so much strain.

Any last changes to your answer before we read the final chapter? It's your last chance to show off your intellect.

[truthstranger]

That's fine... I appreciate you taking this much time to read through it already.

[very_good_end]

Your appreciation is appropriate, Saihara-san.

[she starts to read]

"A MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT SENT TO SCOTLAND YARD BY THE MASTER
OF THE EMMA JANE, FISHING TRAWLER..."

"I have a reputation as a hanging judge, but that is unfair. I have always been
strictly just and scrupulous in my summing up of a case."

"I have wanted - let me admit it frankly - to commit a murder myself. I recognized
this as the desire of the artist to express himself! I was, or could be, an artist in
crime! My imagination, sternly checked by the exigencies of my profession, waxed
secretly to colossal force."

[She continues, listing how he determined all of the characters involved were guilty, that the cyanide came from a mention of wasps, and how the gun was hidden between murders and finally used for the suicide.]

"I shall be found, laid neatly on my bed, shot through the forehead in accordance
with the record kept by my fellow victims. Times of death cannot be stated with
any accuracy by the time our bodies are examined.

When the sea goes down, there will come from the mainland boats and men.

And they will find ten dead bodies and an unsolved problem on Indian Island.



Signed

Lawrence Wargrave"

[...]

[she closes the book, setting it on her lap, and then giving a little applause, like a golf-clap.]

Pachipachi, Saihara-san. You... nearly... got it.

[truthstranger]

Thank you. You were really pretty kind with hints, though.

[very_good_end]

Was I? [laughs] I was just trying to put your thinking in the right mindset.

A mystery novel is an intellectual challenge from the author to the reader. If you knew to be aware of the conventions, such as Knox's 4th: "no unknown drugs, poisons, or difficult to comprehend scientific devices are to be used", then you would have picked up on the reference to wasps and poison immediately. --Or at least a mite quicker.

But you managed to identify the culprit and the accomplice. You avoided the trap so many fall into... the fantasy that there must be an eleventh person on the island who is conducting the killings.

[truthstranger]

Mm, I guess I didn't even really consider it could have been someone else. I'm probably too used to believing the mastermind is among the people present...

[very_good_end]

Indeed. ...That's Knox's 1st, by the way.

Well? Did you get a new appreciation out of this? Be honest, now. At the very least, you must admit Dame Christie is a spectacularly gifted author.

[truthstranger]

Ah, yes. It was a really well-crafted story.

[very_good_end]

Yes, it's a classic for a reason. Moreover, it's so well-known, most people are aware of the ending, even if they haven't read it.

Watching you puzzle it out as we went along, completely unaware, and come so close to reaching the right conclusion... I admit, I felt a bit of a vicarious excitement for you as you did so.

Perhaps we'll do this again? We can move on to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd... no, on second thought, Murder on the Orient Express is a much better work to introduce you to monsieur Poirot.