Third Trial.

[withthemost]

[The Mayor is oddly silent today. Contemplative. It may have something to do with the wallpaper here now being very obviously reinforced. Don’t try to tear it down again, kids. You won’t like what happens.

Both Martin and Alfred’s podiums have been smashed to pieces, one of those might come as a shock if you weren’t around when the other body was found. But in the end, you’ll have to press onwards regardless of how many people have fallen today.]

Trial start.

Comments

[tenrules]

That costume...who owned it?

[junosteel]

I think I saw Martin walking around with it earlier in the week, trying to give it away or something. He must've given it to someone else.

[hydrazine]

...And I doubt anyone is going to admit to having it, even if he did manage to give it away.

[pegathesis]

Well that answers where it came from. It was something Martin had on his person...but is it consequential? Did it actually get burned or was it just...there?

[hydrazine]

If he had it on his person... Why would he have been wandering around the woods with a baby costume?

[pegathesis]

[NVM Sounds like we got an answer on that]

[dearboswell]

The costume... Martin left it in the clinic earlier this week. He wanted nothing to do with it, so I was making use of it- cutting off strips of cloth for bandaging purposes.

Whoever did this. Must have seen it there with the rest of my supplies.

[junosteel]

...

That would explain a lot, actually.

[hydrazine]

Ignoring that, though - his profile doesn't specify that he knows much about medicine, and he didn't strike me as someone from an advanced time period. If he had an accomplice, maybe we should be considering people who would know enough to cauterize the wound for him.

Also - if he was smothered in the clinic, how did he get to Town Hall?

[spiritoso]

Maybe the culprit took him there? But I don't know why they would do that instead of just leaving him in the clinic.

[hydrazine]

That's what I can't figure, either. What reason would they have to move him, if they did?

Maybe figuring out when and how he got the bruise on his head would help.

[junosteel]

Anyone with a basic knowledge of medicine could know how to cauterize a wound. Maybe they wouldn't do it well, but they'd still be able to accomplish it.

[His expression is incredibly focused--it seems like he's in deep thought, his hands shoved in his pockets.]

[hydrazine]

Right. So... Let's think about this. Martin was in the woods when Alfred and an accomplice came across him, and killed him. In the process, Martin wounded Alfred. The accomplice took Alfred back to the clinic, cauterized the wound, then smothered him.

[She frowns.]

I think we might need to think harder on this. We might be assuming things we're not sure of yet. I mean, why cauterize the wound if they were just going to kill him? Maybe he was alone in the clinic and tried to get back to the Town Hall on his own, and ran across the accomplice again on the way.

[junosteel]

...Maybe there weren't enough supplies.

[As he speaks, he briefly takes his hand out of his pocket to scratch the back of his head. Suddenly, an alarmed expression flits across his face, and he quickly shoves his hand back into his pocket.]

[hydrazine]

...Something the matter?

[junosteel]

Hm? Nothing.

[Those hands are staying in his pockets.]

[hydrazine]

[A pause.]

Why don't you show me your hand real quick? You took it out a moment ago, so that won't be a problem.

[junosteel]

Why, what's so special about my hand?

[hydrazine]

If there's nothing special about it, it won't be a problem to let me see it for a few seconds, right?

[junosteel]

[He visibly hesitates. Then, after a few moments, he reluctantly takes his hand out of his pocket.

Wrapped around the palm of his hand is a dirty cloth bandage, slightly bloodied. He doesn't say a word.]

[hydrazine]

[Carefully and slowly, she takes a few steps away from her podium to go closer to his.]

Mind unwrapping that for me so I can take a closer look?

[pegathesis]

[Twilight might be in a wheelbarrow across the room, but she saw that.]

Is something wrong, Juno?

[junosteel]

I mean, besides the fact that two people have been brutally murdered, no?

[...]

[pegathesis]

[She falls silent, watching Raven as she asks him to show his hand.]

[dearboswell]

Time period has nothing to do with it- cauterization dates back as far as the Middle Ages. And it doesn't take much knowledge to heat up a blade and press it against an injury.