"You know who did it?" asked Moka.
"But can you prove it?" asked Gin.
"Yes."
"Was it… Mrs. White… in the ballroom… with the dagger?" said Ruby.
"Who, where, and with what now?" asked Kurumu.
"Ugh… Just follow me."
Tsukune led the others to the main entrance.
"To help you understand what happened, I'll take you through the events of this evening one at a time. At about 9pm we all arrived here, it was raining and we were greeted by Ulysses, then he summoned Emiko and Ogata to help him take our bags to our rooms. After showing us to our rooms, Ulysses took us on a tour of the house, at about 9:30 Ms. Ooyama struck the gong to tell us all that dinner was ready. At that point we went into the dinning room."
Tsukune ran to the dinning room and the others followed him.
"Ulysses told us that Ms. Nekonome had left the house because fish wasn't going to be on the menu, then he told us that Mrs. Esmeralda wouldn't be joining us because she was feeling indisposed, then he revealed to us that her husband had been shot to death with one of his guns in this very house six years ago tonight. Finally we were served dinner. The first course was alphabet soup. I told everyone that there was something funny going on here, then Mizore confirmed my suspicions when she pointed out that in the center of the soup bowl the letters spelled out the word 'BEWARE'. Then we were served the main course, macaroni & cheese and smoked sausage. While we were eating Kurumu shrieked and told us that she saw the eyes move on the painting of Mr. Esmeralda. Desert was lemon pie."
"Get on with it!" they all said.
"I'm getting there! Any way, after we had desert there was a bright flash of lightening and an explosion of thunder, BOOM! Then Mrs. Esmeralda appeared out of thin air and introduced herself to us and said that we had been invited here to solve a murder that had not been committed, upon hearing this Kurumu ran to the front door trying to escape, but she couldn't get out because Mrs. Esmeralda had put up the magic barrier. She snapped her fingers and we all appeared in the living room!"
Tsukune ran to the living room and the others followed him.
"Once we were all in here, she revealed to us that she knew who the victim was, when and how the crime was going to be committed, and that she had no intention of stopping the murder from happening. But she didn't tell us that the victim was going to be her."
"But why didn't she try to save herself?"
"Simple… She wanted to die."
"What are you saying?"
"She missed her husband so much, and she wanted to be with him again, but… she couldn't take her own life to do it."
"Why not?" asked Gin.
"Izumi, you told us before that Mrs. Esmeralda was a good person despite popular belief, that she wanted use her powers to help people. Am I correct in thinking that she also believed in God?"
"Yes."
"I thought as much. On the bus Yukari told us that Mrs. Esmeralda had previously stated that she had a cross shaped birthmark in-between her… you know. That left an impression on her that she would only use her talents for the good of man kind. And since she believed in God she couldn't kill herself no matter how much she missed her husband, because according to Christian doctrine; taking your own life is the worst sin of all."
"Okay, but if she didn't kill herself… then who did?"
"We're getting there. After Mrs. Esmeralda revealed that she knew who the victim was, when and how the crime was going to be committed, and that she had no intention of stopping the murder from happening, Yukari asked her if she was the murderer and I asked her how this all would benefit us. At this point she revealed to us that whoever solved the crime first would receive five million dollars, and then she was gone."
"Wait a minute. If Mrs. Esmeralda was going to get what she wanted, then why did she invite us here to her house so she could pay us five million dollars to solve her murder?" asked Mizore.
"Izumi already explained that earlier this evening… In life Mrs. Esmeralda had a habit of helping people in need. Maybe she felt that one of us needed that money, and I think the person she had in mind was me."
"You? Why?" asked Moka.
"Moka, now is not the time nor the place for that discussion. Anyway, after Mrs. Esmeralda left us alone we all thought she meant the victim was going to be one of us, at which point Yukari suggested that we all stay in the living room until midnight so the crime couldn't be committed without witnesses, and for about an hour we did just that. Then we heard screaming, and it was you and Ms. Ooyama."
"Yes." replied Izumi.
"Knowing that something was wrong, we all rushed out!"
Tsukune ran to kitchen with the others close behind him.
"When we got here Ulysses lay on the floor apparently dead."
"He was dead, he had no pulse!" said Ruby.
"Exactly, and there were also several dead honeybees laying next to him, even though Ms. Ooyama told us that in all the years she worked for Mrs. Esmeralda that Ulysses had never said anything about being allergic to beestings, it must've been so because he had a nasty rash on his face, which means he must've suffered a severe allergic reaction. But Emiko told us that it couldn't have been Ogata because he was upstairs with her."
"So… whoever knew… that Ulysses was allergic to beestings… killed him?" asked Yukari.
"Yes. Then Kurumu suggested that we already had our murder victim, but you Yukari pointed out that Ulysses wasn't in the dinning room when Mrs. Esmeralda said one of us was going to die, and that the time and the cause of death were wrong. After that we gathered up all the evidence, and took Ulysses to his room and laid him in bed, then we all went back to the dinning room, this time with you Izumi and the other servants. It was then that we explained to you and the others what your employer had told us, then you all had a reaction, and Ms. Ooyama began to talk about how much she didn't like any of you, then we heard your baby screaming and went to get her, because we didn't want to take any chances since there had already been one death outside of Mrs. Esmeralda's prediction."
Tsukune and the others went back to the living room.
"We all sat in here for the next hour, during that time Ogata left to 'go to the bathroom' and didn't come back for twenty minutes."
"He was probably reading some of his hentai." said Gin.
"Probably, but Emiko also left the room to get blankets. Izumi, you went to fill your daughter's bottle, then the organ started playing by itself at five minutes to midnight, then Ms. Ooyama left and went to her room because she thought she had nothing to fear since she wasn't in the living room when Mrs. Esmeralda told us that one of us was going to die, and because she could no longer stand our company. Finally, at some point during those five minutes Mrs. Esmeralda went to the dining room to get one last look at her husband's portrait."
"How do you know she did that?" asked Kurumu.
"Because, when Moka and I were searching this floor we found splatters of her blood in there, come and see for yourselves."
Tsukune led them to the dinning room, now they could all see the dried splatters of blood by the portrait.
"And while were all still in the living room, there was another episode of thunder and lightening, then lights flickered and went out. Then the clock struck midnight, BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! As this was happening, the murderer came into the dinning room with the gun he or she had burrowed from the late Mr. Esmeralda's collection, snuck up behind Mrs. Esmeralda, and shot her! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!"
"But we didn't hear any gunshots." said Moka.
"That's right. Because the murderer had placed a silencer on the gun, and we didn't even hear the click because the murderer was shooting as the bell tolled. Then having fulfilled Mrs. Esmeralda's prophecy, he or she ran upstairs and placed the empty gun in Kurumu's room, then they dragged Mrs. Esmeralda's lifeless body to the living room door for us to find. All the while we stood in the dark too scared to move. After the lights came on the murderer knocked on the door so we would answer it, and went somewhere to hide."
"So who wasn't there the entire time in the living room?" asked Ruby.
"I'm getting there. So we answered the door and found Mrs. Esmeralda dead. Izumi fainted, then I smelled the gun oil coming from upstairs and we all rushed there!"
Tsukune ran upstairs to the second floor, but stopped as soon as he made it.
"But one of us wasn't here, no!"
"No?"
"No…"
Tsukune started running back down the stairs.
"While we came up here to find the gun, one of us could have stayed on the ground floor, ran to the library, picked up the sword from the display, run down the hall, and stabbed Ms. Ooyama!"
"But how did the murderer get in? The door was locked!"
"Easy, they used this secret passage!" said Tsukune showing them the wall in Ms. Ooyama's closet "It comes out in the hall at the painting of one of Mrs. Esmeralda's ancestors. Moka and I found it."
Tsukune led the others back upstairs to Kurumu's room
"So having done this horrible deed the murderer rejoined us upstairs where we found the gun in Kurumu's room with no fingerprints on it. Then we realized there was only one other person in the house."
"Ms. Ooyama!" they all said together.
Tsukune and the others ran back downstairs to Ms. Ooyama's room.
"When we got here we couldn't get in, so we broke the door down, but by now she was dead. We started to observe the scene and then I asked someone to go get some towels. But one of the people who left this room made no attempt to get any, while we were all distracted by this new development one of us returned to the dining room and took Mrs. Esmeralda's body upstairs!"
"Wait a minute… Ms. Ooyama's room was right by the stairs. Wouldn't we have seen the murderer take it upstairs?" asked Izumi.
"Not if they used the elevator in the library." said Moka.
"What elevator?"
Tsukune led the others to the library and showed them.
"And the murderer took this elevator to Gin's room on the second floor."
"That's where is comes out?" asked Kurumu.
"Yes look!"
Tsukune took them back upstairs to Gin's room and showed them the secret elevator door inside Gin's closet.
"How did you know?"
"Moka and I found this as well. It also goes to Mrs. Esmeralda's room and a bomb shelter beneath the house."
"Okay, you know way too much about all this stuff, you must be the murderer!" said Gin.
"He can't be the murderer, he was with me whenever somebody was killed." said Moka.
"Besides, if I was the murderer, why would I show you all how I did it?"
"Tsukune, I've believed you were innocent from the start!" said Kurumu giving him a hug.
"Me too!" said Mizore.
"And me!" said Yukari.
"And me!" said Ruby.
"Back to the matter at hand… The murder brought Mrs. Esmeralda's body up here, dragged her to Mizore's room, stripped her naked, hid her clothes some where, then rejoined us in Ms. Ooyama's room, it took less than five minutes. Then when we were done Ogata came to us and showed us that the body was missing, then Mizore went to her room to get another one of her candies, where she found Mrs. Esmeralda's dead body naked as a jaybird."
"Wait a minute… Maybe Gin did it!" said Kurumu.
"Me? What did I do?"
"Stripping a dead woman's body, especially someone as beautiful as Mrs. Esmeralda despite her real age, sounds like something you would do, and you could have done all this to frame Tsukune to eliminate the competition! You've been jealous of him since the day you met him!"
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." said Tsukune.
Tsukune took the others back down to the living room.
"After you girls made Mrs. Esmeralda comfortable in her room, we all came back down here to sort the facts and discuss our own theories. It was then that Emiko brought to our attention that she, Ogata, and you Izumi all had motives for killing Ms. Ooyama, Ulysses, and Mrs. Esmeralda. For Ulysses and Mrs. Esmeralda it was about inheriting her fortune and getting a bigger portion of it, for Ms. Ooyama it was that and because you all hated her. Then Kurumu came up with the preposterous theory that the murderer was Moka. Yukari said that Kurumu could be the killer since the gun was in her room and she was trying to frame Moka. Kurumu in turn accused Yukari, who denied it saying that if she was the killer she would have killed Kurumu first."
"Get on with it!"
"I'm getting there, I'm getting there! Then Ruby suggested that maybe Mrs. Esmeralda did it herself. Izumi explained that Mrs. Esmeralda invited us here to solve the crime on the grounds that she knew one of us needed the money, then Mizore suggested that the cook could've killed Mrs. Esmeralda and Ulysses, then in a misguided act of justice killed herself. Next Gin suggested that maybe it was Ms. Nekonome who maybe never left the house at all, then I suggested that we split up and search the house. We drew lots, Ruby and Yukari went to the basement, Moka and I stayed here on the ground floor, Mizore and Kurumu went to the second floor, Emiko and Izumi went to the third floor, and Gin and Ogata went to the attic."
"But before we all split up I suggested that we lock all the rooms that contained weapons." said Izumi.
"Yes, and you had gotten the keys from when you and the others put Mrs. Esmeralda in her room. So we locked the library and the room with Mr. Esmeralda's gun collection, then we went to the front door to throw away the keys."
"So… How did the murderer kill Ogata?"
"First, the murderer had to get a weapon. So one of us got away from his or her partner, and while Moka and I were searching the dining room he or she went to Ulysses' room and stole the set of keys that he had in his pockets. Then while Moka and I were in Ms. Ooyama's room, the murderer went to the library, unlocked it with the key, took out the mace, then saw Ogata coming down the stairs. Ogata went to his room to get some of his hentai, the murderer crept up behind him, and killed him!"
"This is incredible!" said Mizore.
"Not anywhere near as incredible as what happened next. The murderer ran to the fuse box, and switched off the lights!"
Tsukune ran to the fuse box and did just that. The others screamed, then Tsukune turned the lights back on.
"In the dark, the murderer ran upstairs, threw Kurumu into Gin's room, locked his or herself inside with her, chained her up, stripped her naked, redressed her in Mrs. Esmeralda's clothes which he had hidden, and escaped through the secret elevator back into the library!"
"But why did the murderer do all that?"
"The same reason he or she stripped Mrs. Esmeralda and put her in Mizore's room in the first place, to create confusion."
"It worked." said Moka.
"After we found Ogata's body we were all searched for the keys and found nothing because the murderer had already hidden them, but we knew that the murderer had to be someone who knew that Ulysses had a spare set of keys."
The others all looked at Izumi.
"I didn't do it!" she exclaimed.
"But you were the person who told us that Ulysses had a spare set, and now Emiko is dead." said Yukari.
"But I didn't do it!"
"Why should we believe you?" asked Mizore.
"Because she was poisoned after the lights went out again, don't you remember?"
"Well… if Izumi didn't do it… who did?" asked Kurumu.
"We're almost there. Now then… uhh… Moka, where was I?"
"You said we had all been searched for the keys."
"Oh right. Kurumu told us what had happened to her upstairs. Then we all split up again, this time Gin went with Ruby and Yukari. Moka and I went to the library to look for clues."
Tsukune ran to the library and the other's followed.
"While we in here, I found this, one of Mr. Esmeralda's old books with a bookmark sticking out of it."
"So?"
"He's been dead for six years, so why would one of his books have a bookmark in it on a page about beta blockers?"
"What?"
"A class of drugs used for various indications depending on the one being used, but particularly for the management of cardiac arrhythmias, cardioprotection after a heart attack, and hypertension. I also found that two of the beta blockers listed were circled, metoprolol and atenolol, which are both commonly available beta blockers that are used to treat arrhythmias and other cardiac diseases."
"But why was that such an important clue?" asked Mizore.
"I'm getting there. A few moments later Moka and I found the elevator and discovered that it went to Mrs. Esmeralda's room on the third floor, Gin's room on the second floor, and an old bomb shelter in the basement. While Moka and I searched the bomb shelter in vain for the murderer something Moka spoke to me about gave me an idea, so we immediately came back up here to the ground floor, rushed to the kitchen looking for a medicine cabinet, where I found this!"
Tsukune took a bottle out of his pocket.
"Turpentine oil?"
"Yes, and when I found this, the murderer ran to the fuse box and switched off the lights again!"
Tsukune ran out and switched off the light.
"AHH!"
"Not again."
"Turn on the lights!" demanded Izumi.
Tsukune turned the lights back on.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare anyone."
"Too late!"
"Anyway, in the dark, the murderer ran upstairs, locking everyone in whatever room they were in along the way. When they reached the third floor they poisoned Izumi, then chained up and gagged Emiko before dragging her to balcony. Then after we had given Izumi the antidote and were trying to calm her down, the murderer threw Emiko off the balcony sending her falling into the glass roof of the pool below, CRASH! SPLASH! We all ran downstairs to investigate, but while we were on the stairs the murderer was on the third floor and hoping to kill us all, shot the chandelier down, BANG! CRASH! Moka and I ran back upstairs to investigate but found nothing, because the murderer had already taken the elevator from Mrs. Esmeralda's room and rejoined the rest of you down stairs, where we found Emiko dead!"
"SO WHO DID IT!" they all asked.
"Ah yes, we come now to the moment of truth." said Tsukune smiling "The murderer is!"