(Snappy wordplay)
(Clever response)
(Bewildered expression)
(Hearty laugh)
Sorry, we're facing budget cuts right now. Darn economy.
"Day Two – Friday Morning"
Okay. If Mario was going to do this, he had to come up with a list of suspects that was a bit more extensive than "Luigi".
Who on the train would actually want Don Pianta dead? Well, the obvious answer to that question was Bow. She was the only one that openly expressed any sort of hatred for him, even after seeing his corpse lying in the cabin. Not to mention she did visit the Don before the train even departed, though Mario wasn't quite sure how that could have any relation to his death a few hours later.
But she also drank herself into a stupor the previous night, something that Mario never would have expected her to do. She may have just gotten wrapped up in the excitement of gambling and didn't keep track of her drinking, or, maybe, she was attempting to drown her worries about killing Don Pianta...
Geez, Mario was gaining the mind of a detective already.
"I hate to do it, but I have to consider Bow as a possible suspect," Mario muttered as he gazed at the passing scenery from the window of his cabin in the second car.
So that was one other person he could try looking into a bit further at least. But, aside from the fact that she met with Don Pianta before the train set off, there was no evidence against her at all.
Mario let out a sigh as he headed for the door leading out of his room. He couldn't start making any more accusations without gathering some evidence and info first. All he had so far was the drink and the untouched steak in the Don's room, and even then, there was no way to tell if either of those items had anything at all to do with the crime.
As Mario closed the door behind himself, he had a feeling that he was probably the only passenger on the train that was already awake. It was quite early; even the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. It was likely only around six, and, though Mario slept quite well the previous night, he couldn't deny that he didn't sleep for very long. He had to have lied awake in his bed for at least three hours before he could finally doze off, thoughts of Don Pianta's death and his brother's compromising situation riddling his mind.
It was all just incredibly sudden. To think, the Don of Untimely Death, dying on the very train that was en route to his own daughter's wedding. He wasn't even that bad of a guy once you gave him a chance, yet the most likely reason he was killed was thanks to some kind of resentment against him. And what could Luigi resent about him that would drive him to kill the man? He'd only been working underneath the Don for just over a week, and he even got a promotion for crying out loud. So what could possibly be his motive?
Mario walked through the eerily quiet train as all sorts of thoughts raced through his mind. Car after car was empty and utterly devoid of any noise besides the sound of the train itself gliding along across the tracks. The restaurant was completely empty and the convenience store next to it was closed. The casino that held such fun and entertainment just the previous night seemed to only bear an ominous foreboding feeling within, for it was uncertain whether the structure would ever be open again without its manager.
As he emerged into the car behind the casino, Mario figured he should probably stop by his brother's room and make sure he was alright. The events of the previous night were obviously traumatizing for him, and who knew if he was even safe or not anymore, being cooped up in that train with quite the amount of people who believed he killed Don Pianta. Sure, it was still early, but Mario could at least knock on his door or take a quick peek inside to check on him.
Mario walked through two more cars to arrive at the one that housed his brother's cabin. It must have felt unnerving for Luigi, being forced to stay in the car neighboring the one wherein a dead man continued to lie. A dead man whose passing was blamed on him nonetheless.
"Luigi?" Mario called out as he knocked on the door of his brother's cabin softly. He stood back for a moment and waited. Several moments later, the door cracked open ever so slightly and Luigi's tired, yawning voice spoke up.
"That you Bro?" he asked without looking outside.
"Yeah. Can I come in?"
Without a word, Luigi got behind the door and opened it up slowly, just enough for Mario to slip in before he closed it and wobbled over to his bed, yawning as he dropped unceremoniously onto his bed, barely sitting up as he looked at Mario with baggy eyes.
"You alright Bro?" Mario asked, rather distressed by Luigi's deteriorated appearance. Luigi soon buried his face in his hands and let out a long, tired yawn.
"I wasn't able to sleep at all last night," Luigi answered, appearing to struggle with the simple act of sitting up. "This whole murder thing has me pretty scared. What if I end up spending the rest of my life in jail? I wouldn't be able to handle that. And on top of that, people think I'm a murderer..."
Mario never felt so much pity for anyone he'd ever met more than he did for Luigi at that moment. He looked so broken up and distressed by the whole situation. There was no way he could have done it. It simply wasn't possible.
"Hey, Luigi," Mario spoke up, taking a seat on the sofa across the room from his little brother. "It's probably not the best time to ask, but what did Don Pianta talk to you about last night when you went to meet him?"
"Huh? I thought I told you already," Luigi responded, glancing up at his brother just long enough to receive a shake of the head. Luigi then let out a deep sigh and sat up as best he could. "Well, you know that I got promoted to card dealer right before you got here," he began, prompting a nod from Mario. "The reason I managed to get it so fast was because I told Don Pianta that you were my brother during my interview. He suddenly got really buddy-buddy with me and, before I knew it, I went from serving drinks to dealing cards. I was pretty glad about that too, because, even though I never spilled any of the drinks, I always felt like I was gonna trip and drop the tray on someone. That wouldn't have been good.
"Anyway, when I went to see him, he started talking to me about my job immediately," Luigi continued, gazing downward at the floor as he spoke. "I could tell before he asked to see me, but he was beginning to regret promoting me so quickly. He needed someone at the card table though, and I was there, so he gave me the job. But he told me last night that I'd only be keeping it until we got to Poshley Heights. After that, I'd be demoted back to drinks and Toad would take my place at the table because he's been working here a lot longer than me."
"So you confess!!"
Both Mario and Luigi nearly jumped out of their skin as Pennington apparently materialized within the room at some point and stared at Luigi judgingly. Both brothers stared at the door into the cabin immediately. It never once opened at all. How in the world-
"You, 'Luigi', continue to dig a deeper ditch for your own demise!" Pennington declared loudly, riling up a reserved amount of energy in Luigi that forced him to stand up defensively.
"What are you talking about!? What did I do this time!?" Luigi shouted back, pulling a complete one-eighty on his excitement level as his most unwelcome guest began to clarify.
"You just gave us your motive for murder," Pennington responded, staring over at the top of Luigi's dresser with his magnifying glass. "You didn't want to be demoted from the job you just got, and you felt betrayed by your boss for his sudden change of heart. You wanted to get back at him, somehow, some way. So, while you still had your window of opportunity to act, you struck him down and made sure that, if you were out of a job, he would be out of a life!"
"Th-That's not true at all!" Luigi retorted defensively, a frown on his face as his feeling of distress held sway over him once more. But, as Pennington stepped over to the dresser and retrieved something from its top, Mario's mouth fell slightly agape and Pennington appeared as if he held Luigi's final judgment in his very flipper.
"Not true at all you say..." Pennington began quietly, staring at the item for a moment before suddenly turning to Luigi and practically throwing it in his face. "Then how would you explain this??"
He revealed a thermometer. A broken thermometer, whose tube was emptied of all of its liquid. Mario could hardly believe his eyes and Luigi quickly went to stammering, trying unsuccessfully to explain.
"Th-That was like that when I got here!" Luigi defended himself. "I was gonna take it to the conductor to get it replaced, but I never got around to it."
"A very likely story 'Luigi', but you're going to have to get up a little bit earlier than six oh five in the morning to fool the penguin with the improbably large brain!" Pennington declared triumphantly as he slowly paced toward the door, staring at the thermometer as he continued. "It's quite obvious once you look at the facts. Thermometers are known for carrying mercury, which is, in fact, a highly toxic and water soluble liquid that could kill a grown man of any species within a matter of minutes. 'Luigi' here claims that he felt he knew what the subject of his meeting would be before he was even called in for it, so, on his way to Don Pianta's cabin, he made a pit stop here, broke the top off of this thermometer, and poured it into the Don's drink at some point during the meeting-"
"Wait, how would he even be able to do that without Don Pianta noticing?" Mario interjected quickly, relieved to find a hole in Pennington's explanation that the Bumpty was actually unable to answer immediately. It wasn't like the cabins were all that big, and the Don could have very easily had his eyes on Luigi the whole time.
"Hm. You have a point,," he muttered after a moment, shortly before carelessly tossing the thermometer over his shoulder, which Mario lunged forward to catch as Pennington continued toward his exit. "Well, we have a motive now at least!" he declared, bringing his energy back up without a beat and lifting his magnifying glass to his eye once more. "And I will be keeping my eyes on you 'Luigi'! When you make a confession, hide useful evidence, or so much as take a bite of a succulent green mushroom, I will be there, watching you, and waiting for you to slip beyond reproach! I will-"
Luigi slammed the door as soon as Pennington stepped foot out of the cabin and leaned back against it after turning to face his brother, his previously tired face looking newly reanimated with the threat of Pennington right around the corner.
"He could be right Bro," Luigi spoke out quietly as Mario inspected the thermometer for himself for a short time before tucking it away in a pocket and looking at his brother with a raised eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Don Pianta tended to just not look at people when he spoke to them," Luigi continued, keeping his worried voice down. "He didn't even look at me during our interview until I said you were my brother. And he was actually looking out of the window the whole time I was meeting with him last night."
Luigi never ceased to astound Mario. It wasn't rare for Luigi to lie about pretty much anything, though he usually only did it when he told stories, but, at times like these, it just seemed like he was too honest about everything. It was almost as if he were suddenly trying to get Mario himself to believe that he really did commit the crime. However, he seemed to clarify just why he decided to impart that bit of information immediately.
"All of the employees on this train know that Don Pianta never looks at them during meetings," Luigi informed, still quiet. "If Pennington actually used that argument against me, Toad, Wario, and Waluigi would all believe him because it could be true."
"Could you please speak up 'Luigi'?" Pennington asked from the other side of the door, not having left yet and making Mario understand why Luigi was guarding the door and keeping his voice so quiet. "My sleuthing bag doesn't have a stethoscope I can use to listen more closely to you."
"Waluigi works at the casino too?" Mario asked, ignoring Pennington's eavesdropping as Luigi allowed himself to calm down and talk louder. Everything he had to say from that point didn't incriminate him and he moved away from the door. He actually hoped Pennington would hear this part of the conversation.
"He used to," Luigi began as he took a seat back on his bed and Mario went back to the couch. "Toad told me all about him. He was the teller before Wario, but Don Pianta fired him because he suspected him of stealing. Waluigi constantly claimed that he never stole a thing from work, but he was let go anyway. After that, he couldn't find a job for a long time, but it looks like he managed to get an interview somewhere in Poshley Heights. I don't know why else he and Popple would come back on this train."
"Did something happen to Popple too?" Mario asked, also hoping that Pennington was still eavesdropping.
"He managed to lose everything he had at the casino a few days ago. Cleaned of every penny to his name. What's more, he claimed that he was cheated and was kicked out permanently for being unruly. He's only on the train now because he and Waluigi are friends and they go pretty much everywhere together nowadays."
So, two more motives for murder and with them, two more suspects to look into a bit further. Popple and Waluigi...well, their histories were certainly convincing at least. Two known thieves, both ruined by the same man. Maybe the fact that they were on that train at the same time as Don Pianta was no mere coincidence.
Both brothers sat in silence for a moment, expecting Pennington to appear once more and assess everything he just heard. When quite the number of seconds passed by without any word from him whatsoever though, Mario got a little curious and went to open the door. As soon as he did, the penguin dropped face first into the room and slammed into the floor before letting out a grunt and quickly getting to his feet. He hastily straightened out his cap and bow tie and cleared out his throat.
"Yes, well, it seems six oh five in the morning is a tad bit early, even for me," he admitted, embarrassed that he'd dozed off just a moment ago. "But it's quite evident that nothing more is to be discovered here. Thusly, I shall return to my cabin to..." he yawned, "...get a bit of sleep-er, further investigate this mystery!" he rebounded, looking through his magnifying glass once more.
"Bye," Mario briefly spoke up as he hurried over to the door and closed it shut once more. It was quite evident that Pennington hadn't heard a single thing Luigi had to say about Waluigi and Popple, but it didn't matter. As long as Mario knew, he had all the more ability to defend his brother and prove his innocence.
Before that though, it was probably a good idea to get a bit more rest.
"I'm gonna head back to my cabin Luigi," Mario informed his brother as Luigi sat on his bed once more. "Try not to worry about all of this too much and get some sleep. Just leave everything to me."
"Thanks Bro... I'll try," Luigi responded, his fatigue returning almost immediately after sitting down. It wasn't long before he lied down and closed his eyes, and Mario exited the room as quietly as he could.
If my impeccable sleuthing skills are correct, I propose that you may now vote on who you believe who the murderer is!
Yep, just head on over to our profile and cast your vote. Can you beat Mario and Pennington and find the murderer first?
