Author's Note: Here's my latest attempt at a Sherlock Holmes-type of fanfic.

Just to let everyone know, Shamus Gild is an expy of Sherlock Holmes that exists in the world of RWBY.

As you know, I wrote an older Shamus Gild story that I haven't updated in a long time. Recently, I thought of an idea of remaking it into a new story about a teenage Shamus who attends Beacon Academy. So I thought I'd give it a shot. An experiment, you might say.

Right now, I'm a little conflicted. I can't make a decision on whether to continue this very story or to just go back to my original Shamus Gild story. Both options are acceptable to me, but I just can't choose. So I ask you, my readers, what you think I should do. Before you answer though, I'd like to ask you to at least look at this chapter and make a decision based on your first impression. I won't update this story next week or the week after. I'm just going to need a little time to brainstorm this fic, like Shamus' team at Beacon.

Also, if anyone has any ideas for elements to be included here, I'd be willing to hear them.

So please, read this and tell me if you think I should continue this or the original fanfic.

Enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.

"I can NOT believe you're doing this."

Weiss Schnee was absolutely livid when she confronted her father, Jacques, at a party being hosted in their family home. The slim, white-haired teenager with the scar over her eye looked at her father with disapproval in her eyes.

"What? I'm throwing this party for you." Jacques said. "You are leaving for Beacon tomorrow, so tonight is a night for celebration."

"Hardly." Weiss scoffed. "You were always against me going to Beacon. You had your secretary put me through a trial that you thought I couldn't pass. And now, you expect me to believe you are throwing this party as a way of congratulating me?"

"You can believe what you'd like, Weiss." Jacques said in a cold tone. "I don't care."

"Of course, you don't."

Jacques gave a huff before spotting a business associate of his. He walked over to talk to him leaving Weiss alone to stand alone contemplating on the night of so called 'merriment' happening all around her.

The Schnee Manor was packed with partygoers from the higher class. They are either pompous men in black tuxedos or stuffy women in sparkling dresses. Most of them were clearly invested in money and social standing. Other than them, there was a security staff posted in different corners of the party.

With a sigh, Weiss headed to a room beside the front hall and entered another room with larger windows that show the outer horizon of the kingdom of Atlas. Like the previous room, this part of the party was full of Atlesian socialites and security personnel. However, this one was different. At the very center of the room, there stood a monumental sight that caught Weiss' attention.

A table covered with a purple tablecloth was set up in plain view of everyone. On top of the table stood a large collection of glass chalices filled with red wine. The wine glasses were all stacked up into the shape of a large pyramid. It was a beautiful sight with the lights reflecting off the clear glass and the illuminating beverages. That much, Weiss can appreciate.

Weiss was so captivated by the wine glass pyramid, that she almost failed to notice the array of giggles coming from across the room. She glanced over and saw a few fair ladies gathering around a boy who looked around her age. Curious, she stepped over to listen in.

She saw that the boy was a lean teenager with a sharp nose, dark, curly hair, and piercing silver eyes. Like all the other men in the party, he wore a black suit, but wore no tie. She also saw that he had a slightly amused expression on his face as the girls acted excited like they were seeing a magic trick.

"How did you know all of that?" one of the girls asked. "Is it some kind of magic."

"Afraid not." the boy answered. "It's a matter of observation and deduction with a touch of simplicity."

"Well, you got to show us again." another girl urged. She looked back and saw Weiss Schnee standing there watching. "Ooh. Do her."

"Do who?" Weiss asked finally stepping into the conversation. "I'm sorry, but what the heck is going on?"

"It's this intelligent young man."

"Not to mention, not-so-bad looking."

"He's very special. It's like he can figure out your whole life story with just one good look at you."

"Really?" Weiss asked in disbelief. She looked over at the black-haired boy, who was staring at her intensely. She felt slightly uncomfortable at that.

The boy then shrugged. "Sorry, ladies, but I'm afraid this one doesn't count."

"What?"

"What do you mean, it doesn't count?"

"Do you girls not know who this young lady is?" the boy asked. "This is Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Her life's basically an open book to the public. Anything I say, you all already know."

"Oh, come on! You sure there isn't just one thing?"

"Nothing not already known. Pick someone else."

"Oh, okay." That same girl who said that turned to Weiss. "You simply have to see this. Go ahead. Pick someone at random. He's already figured out who's an archaeologist, who's a professor at Atlas, and who was a retired soldier. And he didn't even take a single step."

"Is that so?" Weiss asked taking the challenge. "Very well then, mister…"

"Gild. Shamus Gild. At your service." He took a bow to the heiress.

"All right, Mr. Gild." Wiess continued. She turned to look around the room. "What can you tell me about… that guy?"

She pointed at a large, slightly-overweight man with a balding head and a thick, gray mustache who just walked into the room with a beautiful, blonde lady in a scarlet dress. The man stopped and dropped his jaw when he saw the wine glass pyramid set up at the center of the room. He walked away from his date just a bit to gaze and admire it. All the while, his blonde date simply turned and poured herself a glass of punch with her left hand.

After a moment of watching, Shamus shrugged. "Not really much to tell other than the facts that that man is both an architect, a cat owner, and an adulterer. Excuse me, ladies."

Weiss' eyes widened at what she just heard. She turned to talk to Shamus, but by that time, he was already walking away from the girls who admired his tricks. Seeing he was gone, Weiss turned back to the man who Shamus claimed was an architect and approached him.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Hmm? Ah, you must be Ms. Schnee. Nice to meet you. Beauregard Bart at your service."

"Yeah, nice to meet you." Weiss said not caring. "Listen, this may seem out of nowhere, but by any chance, are you an architect?"

"Indeed, I am. Why, I just finished designing a new factory for your family's company."

"I see. And… do you also own a cat?"

Beauregard looked at Weiss in confusion. "Um, yes. How did you know?"

Weiss speechless thinking how accurate Shamus was about the man being an architect. Without another word, she turned away from the man and walked around the party to look for the boy. She was determined to get answers out of him.

Suddenly, a bright, red light caused her to be nearly blind. The same could be said for all the other guests. The light was then followed by the sound of a distant explosion. They turned their heads to the windows and witnessed a beautiful show of fireworks going off into the sky. It was so beautiful, everyone stepped up close to the windows to get a better look at what was happening.

Even Weiss was captivated, but her interest was broken when she turned to her left and found her little brother, Whitley, standing beside her.

"Wow. Look at that." he said watching the fireworks. "I didn't think father would pull out for this."

"Whitley, do you mind?" Weiss asked trying to walk away, but her pompous brother just followed her.

"What? I can't have a conversation with my big sister who I won't see for months?"

Over at another part of the party, Shamus was also unable to avert his eyes from the fireworks show. Still, instead of being impressed, he was more curious, especially after listening on a conversation between Jacques Schnee and his servant, who were both found to be near him.

"What is this?" Jacques asked quietly, yet harshly so that Shamus could hear. "I didn't order fireworks."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't know. Really. I have no idea where they come from."

"Then go outside, follow the fireworks, and find out!"

The servant nodded and left the room as quickly as he could.

Shamus raised an eyebrow finding the mysterious show of exploding lights to be interesting. Before anything else, though, he caught a glimpse of Weiss Schnee again still trying to get away from her brother. Interested some more, he headed closer to listen in just as they stopped right beside the wine glass pyramid.

"I don't see why you even bother wanting to have a conversation with me." Weiss said. "Last time I checked, you didn't care whether or not I became a Huntress."

"Maybe I care more than you think."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, you're the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. I don't see why you would want to take classes all the way into Vale. Atlas has a perfectly good school of its own, and you get to follow in our dear Winter's footsteps."

"You don't even like Winter. Are you just trying to get in my head so I'll somehow screw up and lose my heiress title. After all, after me, you're next in line."

"Oh, you wound me, Weiss. Sure, I would be heir, but that's not what I had in mind when…"

While Whitley continued to talk, Weiss glanced past him and found Shamus Gild getting close. He reached his hand out and removed a wine glass from the bottom row. After that, he gestured for Weiss to step back while he did the same. She saw what was about to happen and proceeded to move back a couple of inches.

Without warning, all the wine glasses that made up the pyramid started to topple over. Whitley didn't notice until he felt a strange sense of something about to fall on him. By the time he looked up, he was shocked and unable to stop himself from getting drenched by all the wine in the glasses which all shattered as they hit the ground. Meanwhile, Weiss didn't have a single drop on her.

The partygoers quickly turned and watched in shock seeing Whitley covered in wine. Even his own father was surprised at what happened to his son. By that time, the last firework shot into the sky, and there hasn't been another one since.

"Whitley!" Jacques shouted approaching his son. "What happened?"

"I don't know, Father." Whitley said. "I was talking to my sister when all of a sudden, the whole thing fell on top of me."

"Well, head to the washroom to dry off." Jacques ordered sending Whitley off. He then turned to his servants. "And Klein, clean this mess up."

"Oh, man." exclaimed Beauregard, the architect. "And I was gonna drink the top one."

While the servants guided everyone away from the mess, one man, a butler by the way he dresses, took a washrag and started drying up the spill. He grumbled to himself matching the red in his eyes. However, he stopped when he noticed something that made his eyes change to light brown. He raised the wine-soaked rag to his face and took a whiff of it.

"Hmm. That's strange."

Shamus took note of that before leaving the room. Weiss saw him and followed.

Weiss followed Shamus all the way to an upper floor. She then found him stopping when he reached a secluded balcony just outside. Seeing that she finally got him cornered, she approached him.

"You don't seem like the party type." Weiss said to Shamus, who was leaning on the railing.

"Well, you don't seem like the huntress type."

"Wha—How dare you?"

"I'm just observing. After all, how can you expect to fight off a horde of Grimm when you can't even take care of your own brother?"

Weiss took a breath to calm herself. "Whitley is… complicated."

"Not to me."

"Still, I wanted to say thanks for getting him away from me."

"Is that all?" Shamus finally turned his head to the heiress with a raised eyebrow. "After all, you were already looking for me even before the incident with your sibling."

"Well… Actually, I can't help but think about what you did before, with that architect cat owner." Weiss admitted.

"And adulterer. Don't forget I said that too."

"Right. Well, I asked him if he was an architect who owned a cat, and he said yes." Weiss said. "How did you know all that?"

"I didn't know. I saw." Shamus said. "It's all a matter of noticing the details. Take that man you brought up."

"You mean Beauregard Bart?"

"Yes, him. When he first came into the room, he was completely captivated by the wine glass pyramid. He wasn't just drawn to it like you and me. He was fully immersed in it, as if he admired the structure. There's bound to be a lot of mathematics involved with setting up the pyramid. And given its monumental shape, it seemed to remind him of an actual pyramid, as they are architectural phenomena."

"Is that all?" Weiss asked. "You were able to tell he's an architect just by his reaction to the wine glasses?"

"Oh, there's more to it. For example, the fingers on his right hand were fixed in a certain position which indicates he does a lot of writing. His posture shows he does a lot of sitting. His worn-out eyes show a lot of late nights working. His pale complexion shows that he mainly works indoors, so that rules out the possibility of him being a sketch artist. So what kind of job requires a lot of sketching, long hours, sitting, and an affinity for mathematics and artistry? The answer: architect."

Weiss was taken silent by that for a moment. "Okay… But what about the cat?"

"That one was a lot simpler. There were orange cat hairs attached to the lower edges of his pants legs. His cat must have brushed itself against them before he left with his date."

"You also said that he was a cheater. How did you know that?"

"Well, that should have been obvious considering the fact that the woman he came with wasn't his wife."

"How did you know that?"

"Her behavior. Usually, when a husband and wife of high society make their entrance into a room together, they would stand at attention to let people know they were together. And yet, as stated before, Mr. Bart was completely pulled in to admire the wine glass pyramid ignoring his wife. Despite being abandoned for a pile of wine, though, she didn't seem offended. She just turned to get a glass of punch. Also, she was very different from all the other high-society girls. Her mannerisms and posture all indicated that she was very new to the upper class. That, and the clearly distinctive detail that she doesn't even have a wedding ring on. Ergo, that woman is not Mr. Bart's wife, but rather, she's an escort he hired to attend the party with him.

"So in conclusion, Beauregard Bart is an architect with a cat for a pet, and he's stepping out on his wife with another woman."

Weiss barely blinked since he explained. She took a moment to process what she heard. "Well… That was amazing."

"Meretricious." Shamus countered. "Right now, though, my mind is drawn to an even greater mystery."

Weiss looked curious. "What do you mean?"

"The fireworks. Where did they come from?"

"You mean that light show earlier? That was my father. It's his way of trying to make it look like he's throwing this party for me."

"Actually, no. He was not behind this." Shamus informed. "I overheard him earlier, and he knows just as much about it as you and me."

"Really?" Weiss asked. "That's weird. But why are you thinking about that? It's just a light show. Probably someone trying to wish me good luck."

"That is… one possibility." Shamus said sounding unconvinced. "Still, I feel like there's…"

Shamus was caught off by a strange occurrence. From the corner of his eyes, where he could see the windows of the party where he first met Weiss, he saw that all the lights suddenly went out. The room through the windows were black as night. Then, suddenly…

BANG!

A loud gunshot echoed from the party below. Screams then followed before the lights turned back on, and one scream—a woman's scream—screeched out louder than the others. It was enough to put Shamus and Weiss on edge.

"What happened?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know, but I intend to find out." Shamus answered.

When Shamus and Weiss returned to the party, they were met with a horrific sight. The crowd of guests watched in horror at the man's body laid out on his belly onto the floor. The back of the man's head was smoking with a hole right at the center.

Shamus moved himself to get a better look at the dead body. He immediately recognized the man as none other than Beauregard Bart, the architect he examined earlier.

The partygoers were horrified at what they were seeing. They all spoke over each other in a panic until Jacques Schnee spoke up.

"Everyone, calm down!" Jacques shouted. "I'll contact the police! They'll clean this up!"

"But who did this?" a guest asked in a frightened tone. "I don't know about you, but I'm not sticking around if there's a dead body!"

"Wait…" Jacques pleaded, but guests were already making their way to the exit. That is, until Shamus ran to the door first.

Weiss was surprised at his speed. It seemed like in an instant, he ran forward within the span of a single second right around the body. Once he reached the door before anyone else could, he slammed it shut and faced the crowd that stood in place suddenly.

"No one is going anywhere!" Shamus declared. "One of you is clearly a murderer, and if everyone leaves, that criminal is going to escape! For now, everyone must remain here!"

"I beg your pardon!" Jacques shouted. "Who do you think you are?"

Shamus turned to answer the SDC CEO. "The name is Shamus. Shamus Gild."

"Gild?" Jacques asked. "Wait, so you're the younger brother of…"

Shamus nodded. "I'm sure, by now, you must have heard of my intelligence. Which is why I'm sure you can let me examine the crime."

"Are you joking?!" a woman yelled. "We need the REAL police, not some kid playing detective!"

"I assure you, I am just as qualified as any law enforcement officer with a badge. In fact, I'm leaving to be a huntsman-in-training at Beacon." Shamus promised surprising Weiss. "All I'm asking for is for everyone to cooperate and let me examine the crime scene. If I can't solve this murder by the time the police get here, I'll leave everything to them."

"Mr. Schnee…" Jacques' assistant asked.

The man stood silent for a moment before giving in. "All right. Fine. Just don't touch anything. In the meantime, security, keep an eye on everyone."

The security staff surrounded the guests putting them on edge. Weiss stepped forward to approach Shamus as he knelt down close to the body, but Jacques grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

"Weiss, stay away." Jacques said. "This here is a dead body on your party. I won't have you distraught over this."

"I'm not going to be distraught, Father." Weiss said.

"Actually, Mr. Schnee, I'm going to need Ms. Schnee's assistance." Shamus pointed out.

Jacques gritted his teeth before letting Weiss go.

"Thank you." Weiss said, though she was a little unnerved by the sight of a dead body so close to her.

"Right. For your own peace of mind, I'd like to ask you to keep your distance." Shamus advised.

Shamus began his investigation taking a close look at the late Beauregard Bart. Other than the bullet hole in the back of his head, there was nothing unusual about the body. Still, it was enough to put a question in Shamus' mind, something that would point out something out of place with this case.

"Hmm. That's peculiar."

"What? What is it?" Weiss asked.

"Notice the crime scene." Shamus said waving his hand around. "You notice anything out of place?"

"You mean besides the dead man?"

"The gun. Where is the gun?" Shamus asked. "This man died of a bullet wound in the back of the head. We heard a gunshot. And yet, there doesn't appear to be a gun within sight."

Weiss looked around. "You know what? You're right. Where is the gun?"

"Odds are the killer still has it on them." Shamus said. He then approached a security guard who wore thick, black glasses and a black suit and tie. "Excuse me. What exactly happened?"

"It's hard to say." the guard croaked out. "One second, everything was completely normal, and the next, someone turned out all the lights. Then, there was a loud gunshot sound, and when the lights came back on, there was the man dead."

"And no one saw anything strange BEFORE the lights went out?" Shamus asked.

"None."

"Listen," Weiss spoke up, "We believe that the killer might still have the gun on them. Could you check everyone?"

"Of course, Ms. Schnee." the guard said before turning to approach the guests.

Weiss looked confident at first, but she stopped when she noticed Shamus bothered again. "What's the matter?"

"Nobody saw anything before the lights went out." Shamus answered. "That is very unusual."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, but before she could get her answer…

"Found it!" The security officer pulled out a gun from the purse of one of the party guests.

"Wait! No! That's not mine!" That guest began to panic, and both Shamus and Weiss saw exactly who it was.

"Hey, isn't that the girl who came to the party with Mr. Bart?" Weiss asked

"Yes, it is." Shamus answered. "The plot thickens."

While the woman was trying to defend herself, the other guests looked at her with disgust and horror pushing her away.

"So it's you! You killed that man!"

"I knew I didn't like you!"

"Murderer!"

"No, wait!" the woman begged. "It wasn't me! I swear! I don't know how that gun ended up in my bag!"

"Excuse me." Shamus said to the guard. "Might I see the gun?"

"Sure, I suppose. Just don't pull the trigger." the guard answered gently placing the gun in Shamus' hands.

"I won't. Don't worry."

Shamus examined the gun and saw that it was a revolver. He held onto its handle and gave it a good tug to its side. The cylinder then opened on its left side revealing a nearly-full set of bullets inside. There was only one missing.

"Interesting. Very interesting." he commented. He then looked up to the ceiling.

"What are you looking at?" Weiss asked looking up as well. She had to squint her eyes, but she managed to find slight traces of green slime attached to the ceiling. "What, is that slime?"

"I wonder…" Shamus turned to the butler, Klein, and approached him. "Excuse me, I need you to do something for me."

"Oh! uh, sure." Klein said nervously changing his eyes to the color pink. "What do you need?"

Shamus pulled the man closer and whispered into his ear.

Klein's eyes changed to light brown again. "Oh? Really? Well, I don't see how that'll help, but I'll do it." He then proceeded to exit the room.

"What did you tell him to do?" Weiss asked.

"You'll see." Shamus said.

"Well, it looks like we found our culprit." Jacques stated. "Now, let's get this criminal out of here."

"No! Please!" the woman shouted. She struggled out of the guards' hands and fell to her knees. "I'm not a killer! I swear!"

That's when Shamus stood out again. "Mr. Schnee, I think it's too soon to determine if this woman is in fact the killer."

"What's that supposed to mean? Of course, it's her!" Jacques shouted. "The gun was in her bag!"

"So it appears," Shamus said, "But if you don't mind, I'd like to talk with her."

"Fine," Jacques said rolling his eyes, "But it won't change the truth."

The woman stood back up and looked at Shamus with tears in her eyes. "Thank you, young man. Thanks for hearing me out."

"Come on. Let's not let anyone hear us." Shamus said. He guided the woman to the corner of the room where she then sat in a chair. She couldn't talk to anyone other than Shamus and Weiss.

"Now that you're here," Shamus continued, "How about you start telling me about what you're doing at this party?"

"What do you mean?" the woman asked. "We were invited. My husband and I…"

"There's no use in lying. We already know that Beauregard Bart is not your husband." Shamus said.

The woman stared at Shamus as he said that. She opened her mouth looking like she was about to speak up, but she stopped herself to say something else. "All right. I guess if I want to clear my name, I might as well tell the truth. No, I'm not Mr. Bart's wife. My name is Louise Harper."

"So he took YOU to this party instead of his wife?" Weiss asked. "Why would he do that?"

"I asked him the same thing when he hired me to play her." Louise said. "He told me that his wife is a troublemaker, that every time they go to a party, she makes a scene and embarrasses them both. So tonight, he decided to go out without her. He hired me to keep up the appearance that he and his wife are on good terms, when in fact, he wanted a break from her. The money was good, and I got to go to a fancy party, so I thought 'why not'. I didn't expect this to happen though."

"I see." Shamus said. "What else happened?"

"I don't know. I swear." Louise said. "I just came here to make easy lien, but I was surprised as you when Beauregard was murdered and the gun was found in my bag. I don't know how it got there."

"One more question, Ms. Harper." Shamus said. "Earlier today, I overheard Mr. Bart say he was going to drink the wine glass at the top of the pyramid. Do you know if that's a habit of his?"

"I think so. When he told me about this party, he talked about that wine glass pyramid like it was some kind of golden statue and that he's going to want to get to the top glass before anyone else does. Some kind of sign of importance or something. I don't know exactly."

"Thank you very much, Ms. Harper." Shamus said. "Just stay put until we get this matter cleared up." He got up and walked off with Weiss behind him.

"Why are you asking about that pyramid?" Weiss asked. "What does that have to do with the murder?"

"Depends on which murder you're talking about." Shamus said confusing the heiress. He then spotted a wine bottle that was almost empty. He picked up and hovered his nose above it. "Hmm. It's got a marzipan kind of smell."

"So?" Weiss asked.

At that moment, the door opened again, and Klein came walking back in with a wet rag in his hand. He approached Shamus and handed it to him.

"Here you go, sir."

"Thank you." Shamus said. He took a whiff of the rag. "Hmm. Now, this is interesting."

"Now what?" Weiss asked.

"This rag was used to clean the wine that spilled earlier." Shamus said. "It's mostly got a marzipan smell, but among them, I was able to pick up something that smelled oddly of a bitter almond."

"Now that you mention it," Klein said, "I did notice it when I cleaned it up. None of the drinks we served here smells remotely of almond."

"How is that possible?" Weiss asked.

Shamus then gave a sly smile. "Oh, this is getting very interesting."

"Excuse me!" Jacques shouted. "We're all getting impatient. Can't we just arrest that woman now and be done with it?"

"Not so fast, Mr. Schnee." Shamus said pacing around energetically. "The game's nearly complete. I've got all the pieces of this peculiar puzzle. Now, all I need is to put them together. Give me a minute."

Shamus proceeded to sit down onto the floor and close his eyes. His head then began to illuminate with a feint, white glow baffling everyone who saw it.

"What's going on with him?" Jacques asked.

"I think… It's his Semblance." Weiss said. "He did say he was going to be a Huntsman. I guess this is his power, however that works."

All of a sudden, the glow around Shamus' head died out, and he opened his eyes once more. He flashed a smile as he hopped back up to his feet.

"Bingo! I got it!" Shamus declared.

"You know who killed Mr. Bart?" Weiss asked.

"More than that." Shamus said. "I know how to make them reveal themselves."

"Really?" Weiss asked. "How?"

"We just have to… Look! It's the fireworks again!"

Shamus watched as everyone turned their heads to the windows. However, they were unable to see anything but the night sky. Still, that didn't stop Shamus. He continued to watch until his eyes were fixed on the head security guard, who moved his eyes down to his pocket instead of out the window like everyone else.

At that instant, Shamus reached his hand out and grabbed the guard by his arm. He then kicked him in the back of his leg and pushed him down flat onto the floor.

"Young man, have you lost your mind?!" Jacques shouted. "Get off that man now!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mr. Schnee." Shamus said. "You see, this man that you hired to manage your security is actually a murderer. Perhaps he incapacitated the real head guard and impersonated him to get to this party."

"What?" Jacques asked. "But… the woman…"

"Was set up." Shamus said. "This man here placed the gun in her bag to make everyone think it was her who killed Beauregard Bart."

"You're insane!" the guard shouted trying to escape, but failing.

"No. Just sociopathic, as some people tell me." Shamus said. "Here. This will be your proof that you didn't bring this man into this party." He grabbed the guard's black glasses and pulled them off.

Everyone gasped when they got a good look at the man who Shamus had pinned. They were able to look into his eyes, which were both red and amphibious.

"Is that… a Faunus?" one party guest asked.

"Yes. A frog Faunus to be exact." Shamus then started to rummage around the frog man's pockets. He pulled out two items. One was a handheld electronic device with a bright, red button. The other was a tiny, glass bottle which could fit on top of a pinkie finger. "One bottle of cyanide and one detonator for fireworks, I believe."

"Fireworks?" Weiss asked. "So that show earlier…"

"That was all him." Shamus confirmed.

At that moment, the door slammed open, and several police officers came marching in. Shamus then lifted the frog Faunus and pushed him over to the cops.

"Officers, there was a murder here, and this man is the culprit." Shamus said. "Take him away."

The frog Faunus gave a murderous glare to Shamus as he was forced out. But he wasn't going to go down that easily. He managed to forcibly shift himself out of the officers' grip and pull out a small knife that he had in his boot. He sprinted over ready to thrust his blade furiously into Shamus' body, but the young man was ready for him.

Shamus quickly reached behind his back and pulled out what looked like a cane with a perfectly-curved end. He held it like a sword and used it to strike at the incoming Faunus. He struck him some more to push him away before aiming the bottom end right to him. With a push of a button, a red burst of light shot out of the cane impacting the Faunus right back into the officers' grasp. He was dragged out of the party right afterwards without any more of a fight.

Weiss turned over to Shamus with an astonished reaction. "What just happened? Did you really just do that?"

"Of course." Shamus replied putting his cane back to where he picked it up. "I already said I was going to be a huntsman at Beacon. I didn't get there with just my good looks."

"But… what about everything else?" Weiss asked. "Like, how did you know that man was the killer?"

"I first suspected him after he gave his testimony earlier." Shamus answered. "According to him, no one did anything suspicious before the lights went out. That was what struck me as strange. If the lights went out and the room was dark, then how did the killer manage to perfectly shoot Mr. Bart?"

"Right." Weiss suddenly realized. "It's impossible to aim for someone in the dark. They'd have to aim their gun at Mr. Bart BEFORE the lights went out, but no one saw anything like that."

"It's impossible to place a gun in a woman's bag in the dark too." Shamus said. "That's how I knew the killer was a Faunus, since some animals have the ability to see in the dark, like cats, owls, and especially frogs."

"That makes sense." Weiss said. "But I'm still confused as to how all this happened."

"It's rather elementary, I'd say." Shamus said. "The Faunus wanted to kill Mr. Bart. He tried to do so with subtlety by poisoning his drink, but it failed."

"Poisoning his drink?" Weiss asked.

"Yes. Cyanide in the top drink in the wine glass pyramid. Some people are able to pick up a bitter almond smell from cyanide, which makes it odd to find that among a spill of drinks that are supposed to smell like marzipan. So the killer went on to pour the cyanide into the top wine glass."

"Why that one?"

"Because Beauregard Bart was going to drink from that glass, remember? The killer would have to somehow know about his interest in the wine glass pyramid system and his desire to drink from the top glass."

"But how did the killer poison that glass? Wouldn't someone had to have seen him doing it?"

"Another fun fact about frogs: they have the ability to climb on walls. All he'd have to do is climb up to the ceiling, and, with some precise aiming, he could pour the cyanide into the top glass from above."

Weiss looked back up to the slime stains on the ceiling. "Then those are…"

"Mmm-hmm. Mucus stains. He would have left it on the ceiling after dropping back to the ground. Still, he needed to make sure he wouldn't be seen doing any of that. He needed a distraction which was guaranteed to keep everyone's eyes off him. Something that couldn't be ignored. Something like…"

Weiss gasped upon realization. "Fireworks."

"That is correct. He detonated the fireworks show to make sure no one would see him climbing up the wall and dropping the poison into the wine glass. But there was one hiccup in his plan, one variable that he couldn't account for."

"And that is…"

"Me. I accidentally ruined his plan when I made the wine glass pyramid fall on your brother. His poison would spill along with the rest of the wine and his whole plan would be ruined. Your brother should consider himself lucky that he didn't drink any of the wine that fell on him. Otherwise, he would've risked being poisoned."

"So that Faunus failed to poison Mr. Bart," Weiss slowly concluded, "So he needed to resort to another plan. He turned out the lights, shot him in the dark with his night vision, and placed the gun in Louise Harper's bag to pin the crime on her. But how did you know she was innocent?"

"The murder weapon told me that." Shamus said. "It's a right-handed pistol, but Ms. Harper is a leftie."

Weiss was baffled by what she had heard. "What? How did you know?"

Shamus rolled his eyes before answering. "The gun is a revolver with a cartridge that opens up on its left side. That shows that it's for right-handed people. See, when a gun needs to be reloaded, the user has to open up its cartridge and load in the bullets with their free hand. So if someone's holding a gun with their right hand, they have to load in the bullets with their left. That's why the cartridge opens up on its left side. If it's for left-handed people, it would open up on its right side. So the revolver used in this murder is for right-handed people. Yet, at the party, Ms. Harper poured in a glass of punch with her left hand, her dominant hand. That shows she's left-handed. It's highly improbable for a left-handed person to wield a weapon that's meant for right-handed people.

"In conclusion, Beauregard Bart was murdered by a frog Faunus who tried to poison him at first while making sure no one could see him with the fireworks show. But when that failed, he resorted to shooting him in the dark and frame his date."

Weiss was speechless yet again. More so than before. She turned her head away to scan the entire crime scene while watching all the party guests leave once the crime was solved.

"Well…" She turned back to Shamus. "I admit, this was certainly a lot more eventful than I thought it was going to be."

"Indeed." Weiss' face turned sour when her father approached. "Thank you, Mr. Gild, for your assistance in this little matter."

"Any thanks coming from you would have to be followed by a cleansing in my ears." Shamus said turning to leave.

Weiss tried to hold back her laughter at that remark. After recomposing herself, she walked away from her father and met up with Shamus just outside the room. By that time, the grand hall was nearly empty. Those who remained were on their way out the front door.

"Shamus, wait." Weiss said. "I just… I wanted to say thanks."

"I don't do this for the thanks, Ms. Schnee." Shamus said. "But compared to the thanks from your father, yours is greatly appreciated."

"I thought as much." Weiss said before thinking about something. "So… You said you can tell someone's whole story just by examining them. Earlier, when those girls told you to examine me, you said there wasn't anything about me that everyone else doesn't already know. I gotta know, were you telling the truth?"

Shamus gave one last look at Weiss. He checked to see if anyone was listening before replying. "I know you don't like the idea of living here any longer with your father who only married your mother for her name, you never asked for this party, and you got that scar on your eye as an indirect result of him trying to keep you from leaving Atlas. I knew all that, but I chose not to say anything out of respect for you since I was sure you didn't want that getting out. So if that's all, I shall wish you good night and I'll see you at Beacon."

Shamus proceeded to walk right out the front door leaving Weiss to stand alone both surprised and interested in this curious boy she had shared a brief adventure with.

When Shamus Gild headed to the aircraft station on the edge of the city, he caught a glimpse at the newspapers just as the day's issue just came in. Curious, he pulled one from the rack and read the front page, which narrated the events of the case he solved the night before, even some stuff that didn't happen at the party.

Other than the murder and the apprehension of the Faunus who killed Beauregard Bart, the papers also explained the motive of the crime. As it turned out, the Faunus was a hitman who was hired by Bart's wife after she discovered that he was planning on going to the party with another woman instead of her. She too was arrested.

The papers did talk about the murder, but Shamus Gild wasn't credited for the killer's capture. He wasn't even mentioned. That didn't bother the young man, though. He simply placed the newspaper back where he found it and proceeded to head to his aircraft that was bound for the kingdom of Vale.

After packing his luggage into the back of the plane, Shamus took his designated seat and waited until the plane made its ascent.

After a few minutes of silence, Shamus' attention was drawn to his scroll which started ringing. He pulled it out and answered.

"This is Shamus."

"Hello, little brother. Are you enjoying your exodus from Atlas?"

Shamus rolled his eyes. "I've only been gone four minutes."

"Well, I hope you enjoy your stay at Vale. I'm sure you'll do fine as a huntsman."

"A huntsman? Please. I'm only going through with this inane experience because licensed huntsmen can go to places civilians cannot. I'll need that license to become an accomplished detective."

"In any case, I wish you the best. Have a good time at Beacon, detective Shamus Gild."