Where In The World Are The Killers?

Only Truth Remains

"Agent Adalet, as your previous investigation has shown, the Russian space program has been compromised by SOMBRA. Our biggest priority right now is to figure out exactly what kind of information SOMBRA has procured and why," Chief Ripley informs, "good thing we have Marina's mother, Natasha Romanova, on our side! As the head of COSMORUS, her help could be invaluable! According to her services, the suspicious activity in the Saint Petersburg area seems connected to a place called the Lermontov Estate."

"What's so special about this estate?" Adalet inquired.

"The estate is a luxury property owned by the eccentric Russian billionaire, Dmitri Lermontov," she explains, "if SOMBRA is plotting something at that estate, we need to get the jump on them! Get going, Adalet!"

Once she and Hunter were bundled up to brave the cold air, they met up with Carmen in the garage to head out and investigate the Lermontov Estate. They arrived at the lavish property and looked around in awe at the snow-covered gardens in front of the mansion. Walking along the shovelled stone path, they approached a traditional horse-drawn carriage with two white horses tied to the front.

Walking around to the entrance of the carriage, they found a man laying against the steps with a large, bleeding wound to the side of his head. Searching the gardens near the carriage, Adalet found some broken pieces of wood near the horses and Hunter found a fresh pile of manure near a fallen tree.

Carmen whistled, "damn, Adalet, this estate looks like a palace in a Russian fairy tale! But that body looks like a character from the Brothers Grimm!"

"His head is completely caved in," Adalet notes, examining the brutal wound, "this doesn't look accidental. I guess we have another murder on our hands..."

"Did you find anything that could help us catch his killer?" she inquired, sending a message to notify the team.

She nods to the wood, "there's some broken wood near the carriage, it could have been destroyed during the murder!"

"Looks a little too fancy for firewood," she remarks, picking up a piece, "maybe you can put the pieces back together and see if it can tell us more about the crime! And Hunter wants to look through a bunch of horse pucky?"

"Her nose is rarely wrong," Adalet shrugs.

"I think I'll let you handle that..." Carmen says, wrinkling her nose at the pile, "Adalet, we came here to check out suspicious activity and murder is pretty suspicious. Let's get to the bottom of this!"

Adalet opens her case and tosses Carmen a bottle of wood glue since she refused to search the manure. Carmen begins repairing the sign while Adalet slips some protective gloves over her winter ones. Digging through the foul-smelling pile, she noticed something strangely shiny hidden in it. Pulling out the egg-shaped object, she brushed the manure and dirt off with her hand to see that it was a blue and gold, jewel-encrusted decorative egg.

"Is that a decorative egg?" Carmen asks, looking up from her work, "looks pretty fancy, how did it end up in manure?"

"Maybe the victim stole it?" Adalet suggested.

"And maybe the killer tried to stop him, but tried a little too hard?" she theorized.

"Speculation will get us nowhere," she replies, reaching for a bag to put the egg in, "Lars can check out this egg and get us some real answers!"

"So I pieced this broken wood back together. It's a property sign saying that this is the Lermontov Estate," Carmen reports, holding it up for Adalet to see, "looks like the estate's caretaker is a man named Ivan Vysotsky... He probably takes care of security, too..."