Murders of the Past

The Talking Dead

"Argo, sorry I took so long, but I'm ready!" Maddie announces, fixing her hat as she enters the navigation room, "let's go to the Museum of Art for Mr. Alastor's second party! Mr. Alastor always picks strange locations for his parties... But I've always wanted to attend a séance, summon some spirits and have a chat with them!"

"Just be careful who you contact... Not everyone earns a peaceful afterlife," Argo warns.

"Relax, I wouldn't contact anyone bad," she winks, "anyways, this time, we need our peepers open for that Diego del Lobo... He's already in our bad books for suspected theft... One wonders what he might try to do in a museum..."

"Del Lobo might have gotten up to murder! A young woman has been found dead in the museum garden!" Evie reports.

"Dead?!" Maddie exclaimed, "we must go to the museum garden at once, Argo!"

Evie promised to notify Dick of the murder, so Argo and Maddie drove to the museum ahead of the coroner. When they arrived, they followed the stone path to the garden behind the building and soon found themselves standing near the statue under a small pavilion in the center of the space. Hanging with her arms draped over the statue's arms was a young woman in a blue gown with blood staining the front of her like a waterfall from the wound on her neck. The dead woman was pale as a ghost from the blood loss, and her face was frozen in a look of fear.

"What a horrific sight!" Maddie cried, "this poor young woman's throat was slashed!"

"Yes, and then someone had the bright idea to stage Miss Highmore's body on a priceless Bernini!" a woman rants as she storms onto the scene.

"And who might you be, Signora?" Argo inquired.

"My name is Abigail Simandl and I am head curator at the Concordian Museum of Art," Abigail introduces, "I am frankly shocked by this defacement!"

"I am frankly shocked by your lack of sympathy, Miss Simandl!" Maddie declared, "Detective Argo and I will question you further straight away."

"Signora Simandl, you seem to be far more upset about a statue than you are about the murder of a fellow human being!" Argo remarked, "per favore, explain yourself!"

Abigail rolls her eyes, "Philomena Highmore was a trust fund princess who had no concern for anyone or anything. She was an accident waiting to happen!"

"But this murder is no accident, Signora Simandl," he stated.

"True..." she agrees reluctantly, "I shudder to think at how this incident will affect the respectability of this museum. Tourists will flock here to gawk at the murder site."

"That might mean an influx of ticket sales for the museum..." Maddie suggested.

"Let me assure you that the Concordia Museum of Art has no difficulty enticing a discerning public!" Abigail boasted, "it's the riff-raff that concerns me!"

"Speaking of discerning public, this murder occurred while an invitation-only séance was being held inside the museum. Every single attendee is now a suspect!" she announced.

"Why? A belief in communicating with the world beyond is hardly grounds to be suspected of murder!" she argued, "many upstanding Concordians believe in spiritualism. Go inside and investigate if you don't believe me!"

Thankfully, Dick arrived not long after they sent Abigail away, and they left the body in his hands. Argo and Maddie climbed the museum's stairs and entered to find the séance room. The room was in the middle of the museum, in a circular room with paintings displayed on the walls and a large table in the center with a red tablecloth draped over it, candles, and a crystal ball set up as a centrepiece. Underneath one of the chairs was a leather satchel stuffed with painting supplies, and on the seat of another was a promotional poster depicting a woman blowing a herald trumpet.