"You end up arriving at Jordan's house around the same time," Rose said, "The boys are in the patrol car and the girls in Sandra's car. It's a single story home with a garage that looks like it really needs some work done."
"Okay, let the cops do the talking," Terezi said, "We can technically get in trouble for having you on this case."
"We'll be good, don't worry," John said.
"Speak for yourself," Vriska muttered.
"Anyways, we approach the door and knock," Dave said.
"You knock on the door, and after a few seconds you hear a lock open and a deadbolt slide open. The door opens a crack and there is a young Asian woman peeking out, 'Hello?'" Rose says.
"Excuse me, are you Jordan Bratton?" Terezi asked.
"Yes…" Rose said, uncomfortably.
"Hi, I'm Detective Scott, this is Detective Malone, and we're with the HVPD. These are civilian investigators we've brought along with us," Terezi said, "May we come in?"
"Sure, sure…" Rose motioned them in, "Inside you see a dusty living room with a cheap piece of crap TV. This leads back to a kitchen and dining room, and down a hallway you can see a bathroom and a bedroom. A door nearby probably leads to the garage, but that's just an assumption for now."
"Ms. Bratton, mind if we take a look around?" Dave asked, "Detective Scott will ask you a few questions."
"Oh… okay…" Rose muttered, and then she perked up, "So, I assume Terezi is going to do the interview?" Terezi nodded, "What is everyone else doing?"
"I'll go and search what I assume is the garage," Dave said.
"I'll go search in the bedroom and bathroom," John said.
"I'll stay and simply observe the interview," Vriska said, "I'm good with liars."
"Okay, then," Rose said, "First things first. Kendal here finds himself in a dark garage. You flick on the switch and you are confronted by a maroon Buick Century."
"Same car that Taylor saw…" Dave muttered to himself, "I check out he tires. Do they match the ones from the scene?"
"With your specialty, you can give a cursory inspection but you'll have to wait for proper forensics. That being said, you'd say there was a good chance for a match by the looks of it," Rose said. Dave nodded as he tapped his fingers against his lips.
"Good, good. Is the car unlocked?" Dave asked. Rose nodded, "Okay then, let's search the car."
"Make me a Cunning Observation roll plus two," Rose said. Dave sighed.
"That's one of my worst rolls…" He said as he rolled the dice, "Actually I got three eights."
"Well, the plus two is because it was easy to find," Rose said, "The easy thing to find was in the trunk. There is a microphone and chord. What you found with the roll was in the glove compartment. There is a pack of brown cotton work gloves. It's a pack of three pairs and one in missing. Right next to it is a receipt saying that these gloves were bought a month ago." Dave reached over and wrote on Terezi's pad.
"So she threw away a pair of gloves which are the same color as the fibers from the body? That's suspicious," He said as he wrote.
"Now we switch over to the girls," Rose said, "You are sitting in the living room, looking across as this young woman. Make me Understanding Purity or Corruption, whichever is higher."
"Oh thank Gob," Vriska said as she grabbed her dice, "That's what I'm built for." Terezi glanced over at her and chuckled.
"I assume Corruption?" She asked.
"Of course," Vriska said, "And I roll for three fives."
"And with my Purity I got a pair of fours," Terezi said.
"You both look at her and, judging from both her and the surroundings, you think the review took a really big hit on her career. Not only is the place dusty and dirty, but you that basic niceties aren't even there. Also the girl seems to suffer from some level of malnutrition. Not complete starvation but she looks like things have been rough for at least a month," Rose said, "'So, you wanted to ask me some questions?"
"Ms. Bratton, do you know of someone named Preston Palmer?" Terezi asked.
"Vaguely…" Rose muttered, "I know he's a local critic."
"Well, we believe you might be associated with his murder," Terezi said, "Where were you last night?"
"Well… uh… I was over at my… friend Danny's house for dinner. Then I went over to the Hollyville Comedy Club for an open mic night. I had a reservation there, but I never went up," Rose said, "Make me either Understanding Honesty or Deceit."
"Deceit it is!" Vriska said as she grabbed the dice. Terezi looked over at her.
"Did we make our characters literally the exact same thing, only you're bad and I'm good?" she asked.
"No, of course not," Vriska shook her head, "You got the brains of the family, and I got the looks." Terezi glared, and then looked down at her sheet.
"Yeah…" She muttered, "Anyways, I got a pair of threes with Honesty."
"And three eights with Deceit," Vriska said.
"Sandra, you know for a fact that she didn't go to the comedy club. She's lying," Rose said, "Meanwhile, Detective Scott here notices that, the way she talks about her friend Danny, there is some weird emphasis. That struggling when she said his name wasn't because she was making an alibi. She's struggling to call him a friend."
"That's strange," Terezi muttered as she took the notes, "Your friend Danny, who is he?"
"His name is Danny Levinson," Rose said, "He's another stand-up comedian here in the area. After my career took a turn for the worse he helped me out a lot."
"And what happened with your career?" Vriska asked.
"It started out really well. After the economy took a hit comedians were there to lighten the blow. I was at the frontlines, and my career soared," Rose said, "But after Palmer's review I lost most of my jobs. I'm still getting by though."
"So you were pretty pissed about that I guess," Vriska said. Rose shrugged.
"I was at first, but honestly I just got depressed afterwards. I'm not really an angry person, and things have been rough in general recently," She said, "Now, cut over to Magnus!" She looked over to John, "You walk down the hallway and find a bathroom and a bedroom. Where do you search first?"
"I go to the bathroom first and search through all the cabinets," John said.
"You look through all the drawers and cabinets, and you find a severe lack of everything. There's no deodorant, no toothpaste, no mouthwash, no floss, etc. The only things you can find are bottles of pills, antidepressants," Rose said.
"So she's suffering from depression," John said, "I guess I go to the bedroom then. What do I find?"
"You find that her bed isn't made," Rose said. John let out a fake gasp, "Next to the bed, there is a backpack with a laptop poking out of it."
"Oh," John said, "I take it out and take a look at it."
"It opens up to a desktop. The background is a harlequin face," John facepalmed at Rose's description, "You assume it's a logo that Jordan used for herself. It's got the standard set-up for a computer. Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, and other such things. Make me Patient Observation."
"I rolled a pair of twos," John said.
"You find a few things," Rose said, "The homepage is Twitter. Apparently she left a tweet the night of the murder that reads, 'I am going to kill tonight and shut all the critics up.' The only favorite you find is a site called Yell Up!. It's a site for internet reviews. Apparently Bratton filled in the 'remember me' box, and her login information is already in."
"I log in then," John said, "This must be where the review Palmer put up is on."
"You open up the account to be met with a banner that reads, 'Welcome Back Tyler Torcher T.' It opens up directly to Bratton's inbox where you see that apparently she had been having a conversation with Palmer," Rose said, "Assuming you open it up, the conversation basically says 'Take down the review or I'll ruin more than your livelihood,' followed by Preston's response of, 'I will never take down any of my reviews. I hope nobody ever has to see her perform ever again.'"
"I run out into the hallway, 'Hey, Detective Malone, I've got something you should see,'" John said.
"What is it Magnus?" Dave asked.
"Look what I found," John motioned Dave over.
"You see what I just described to John," Rose said.
"This is perfect. This makes our case!" Dave said, "I walk back into the living room and pull out my handcuffs, 'Jordan Bratton, you are under arrest for the murder of Preston Palmer.'"
"As you go to grab her and put the handcuffs on her, she yells, 'Get your hands off me!' She tries to punch you," Rose looked over at Dave's character sheet, and then rolled the dice, "Using her nails she just claws against your cheek. I'm going to say this quiet, malnourished girl got the jump on you since someone of her health wouldn't attack you."
"Well then, I guess I grab my face and grunt in pain," Dave said.
"I was probably behind him so I guess I'd be caught off guard too," John said.
"I run over and try to tackle Jordan, slap my own cuffs on her," Terezi said.
"I pull the revolver out of my purse and point it at Jordan," Vriska said.
"Woah, woah woah woah," John said, "We're doing this again? Really Vriska?"
"But I have a gun and there's a person there and…" Vriska looked in shame, "Fine, I try to help get Jordan under control. What do the girls need to roll?"
"Actually she's completely compliant with you cuffing her. No roll for combat needed," Rose said. Everyone looked at her flabbergasted.
"What? Bipolar much?" Vriska muttered.
"Um… yeah, I arrest her and read her rights and everything…" Terezi said.
"You arrest her, bring her in, and she is put into a holding cell," Rose said, "The captain comes out and congratulates you on a find job for catching the killer. Congratulations. You win!" Rose gave a thumbs up to the group.