Undead Murder Farce (アンデッドガール・マーダーファルス)

What did you just say?

Let me repeat myself. One of you is Madame Hannah's murderer,

and that I will prove that to you now.

I don't believe you.

Claude, let's hear her out.

I think we owe her that much.

Thank you very much.

Now, let us begin.

Let us solve the mystery of who killed Hannah Goddard

and how.

The Headliner Appears

Episode Four

After inspecting the scene of the murder,

I was left with seven problems.

First, the fact that there was no sign of Madame Hannah noticing the murderer.

Second, the fact that the attack did not take place during the day

when a vampire's powers wane.

Third, the fact that a still usable bottle was left at the scene.

Fourth,

the fact that the murderer seemed to know the layout of the mansion.

Fifth, the fact that the murderer left the silver stake in the storage room.

All of these actions would've been unnatural for any outsider.

But I'd like to bring the utmost attention to the sixth problem...

It has to do with sound.

Sound?

At the time of the murder,

Claude and Alfred were both close to Madame Hannah's room,

but neither of them heard any sound from that room.

What's so strange about that?

It just means the murderer was cautious.

Indeed.

But if the murderer had driven the silver spike as hard as they could

into Madame Hannah's chest,

it should've made a loud noise, similar to that of hitting a nail.

There are four possible explanations for this.

First, that both witnesses are lying.

This would indicate that they colluded in the murder.

B-But I would never—

Yes, I am aware of that.

Neither of you have alibis.

If you had colluded, you would have worked out fake alibis for each other.

Next.

There was a sound, but not when they were near her room.

Which means that the murder may have taken place before 1:00 AM.

Ms. Rindo...

I made certain that there was nothing amiss in the storage room.

Yes, yes.

Besides, before 1:00 AM, Raoul and Alfred were near her room.

Next.

What if the murderer did hit the stake with a hammer,

but placed something in between so it wouldn't make a sound?

But there was plenty of blood on the murderer's coat.

That would be proof that when they killed her with the stake,

there was nothing to get in the way of the blood splatter.

And so, there is only one explanation left.

The murderer held the stake in their bare hand,

and then used strength alone to drive it

into Madame Hannah's chest.

That's why no one heard any noise at any time.

So why didn't the murderer use a hammer to drive the stake in? Alfred?

Y-Yes?

Let's say you heard a "clank, clank" noise from the lord and madame's room.

Now, what would you have thought that sound to be?

I would believe that the madame was repairing some furniture again.

I see. What about you, Claude?

I'd think that Mother was tinkering with some furniture again.

Correct. Even if you had heard the noise of a hammer blow,

no one in this mansion would find that suspicious.

Then perhaps the reason the murderer couldn't use a hammer

was because it would break the stake itself.

Which would mean that the murder weapon wasn't the silver stake,

but a stake made from something else.

What are you talking about, Ms. Rindo?

I found that stake in the storage room...

What you saw was a silver stake covered in blood, and Madame Hannah's wound.

That's all.

It is entirely possible that the murderer used a separate stake

that was around the same size.

But...

But what would that second stake be?

A stake frail enough to break if it were hit by a hammer.

There's no way something like that could kill my wife.

Then let us now talk about our seventh problem.

What we have now, ladies and gentlemen,

is a simple bottle left at the scene of the crime.

The murderer took it out for some reason and left it at the scene on purpose.

They splashed around holy water, right?

Precisely.

Now, this is the important part.

The bottle was dusty, but wiping it off did not remove the dust.

Which means the outer surface of the bottle was not dirty.

This is our final problem.

Why was there dust on the inside of the bottle?

If the bottle was full of liquid,

it would be impossible for the inside of the bottle to be dirty.

Which means that the bottle was empty from the start.

In order to make it look like they splashed holy water around,

the murderer left an empty bottle behind at the scene.

However, there were definite traces of holy water on Madame Hannah's body.

So where did the holy water come from?

Since the victim was a vampire,

a lethal weapon made out of something other than silver,

something much weaker, could be only one thing.

Holy water.

The murderer froze holy water, creating a stake made out of ice.

They then took that into the mansion,

stabbed Madame Hannah with the ice stake as she slept in her armchair,

and killed her.

The blood splatter was blocked by the coat they were wearing,

and the erstwhile holy water stake melted immediately from the high temperature.

The melting holy water soaked her clothes, and caused her skin to burn.

After the murder took place,

the murderer collected Madame Hannah's blood in some sort of container.

Then they left behind the coat they no longer needed,

and a blood-flecked bottle,

to make it look like the murder had been committed by an outsider,

and then left the room.

The murderer then waited quietly until Lord Godard left to go hunting.

Then, after Lord Godard checked the storage room,

they broke the lock and snuck inside.

They then poured Madame Hannah's collected blood

onto the silver stake to make it look like the true murder weapon.

Then all that was left was to have Lord Godard witness that awful sight

after returning from his hunt.

Now, this reduces my deduction to but a single problem.

Why did our murderer use this trick?

Tsugaru, do you know?

It's just like that soba shop rakugo story.

Someone was messing with time.

You don't have to try to be clever every time.

Regardless, you are correct.

The construction of an alibi—

That's the only reason the murderer would do such a thing.

Lord Godard thought that the murder took place

while he was hunting from 1:00 AM to 1:30 AM.

But if the stake that was in the storage room was not the murder weapon,

it would become possible for the crime to take place

between 12:30 AM—when their meal ended—and 1:00 AM.

From this information, we now have five conditions the murderer must fulfill.

First, they must not have an alibi

for the actual time period when the murder took place, from 12:30 AM to 1:00 AM.

Second, they must be someone we originally thought unable to commit the crime

due to their arranged alibi from 1:00 AM to 1:30 AM.

Third, they must have had a few minutes to freely move around

during the latter time period.

Fourth, they must be strong enough

to stab someone with a thick stake and break a lock.

Fifth, they must be skilled enough to have committed the murder

without being noticed by vampires with their heightened senses.

Let's discuss the first condition.

The only ones who do not have an alibi from 12:30 AM to 1:00 AM

are the two servants and Raoul.

Of these three, the two that fulfill the second condition are Giselle and Raoul.

B-But...

These two also fulfill the third condition.

Raoul came after Lord Godard a minute after he left.

He had plenty of time to go into the storage room and stage the silver stake.

Giselle also testified that she left Miss Charlotte's side for a few minutes

to go to the bathroom.

But the only one who has the abilities required

by the fourth and fifth conditions...

is Raoul.

Wait a minute! There's no way I could've done that!

I couldn't stage the stake! I can't even touch silver!

Indeed. There were fingerprints in the blood on the silver stake.

Probably, you reflexively grasped it when you

were covering it in Madame Hannah's blood.

But if Raoul is truly the murderer, his hand should be burnt.

And yet, his hand is unharmed.

On top of that, no one's hands show any signs of having been burnt.

See?!

The deciding factor is a vampire's regenerative abilities.

This was the final trick in our murderer's scheme.

After the body was discovered,

he excused himself due to his anxiety.

He then took one of the swords from the wall in his room

and cut off his own fingers.

This would be unfathomable for a mere human, but he's a vampire.

That is how the murderer was able to destroy evidence of his burns so quickly.

Such an unrefined murderer...