Murders of the Past

Behind the Mask

"Well, Argo, here we are about to attend the after-party of Mr. Alastor's last party of the season," Isaac says as they stand before the entrance of a grand mansion, "we aren't any closer to revealing his true identity. We'd believed we'd uncovered the sneaky chap at his Gigantic shindig. But that pompous George Buchanan was only pretending to be Mr. Alastor to give himself more consequence."

"What we do know is that Signor Alastor's been throwing lavish soirées to bring people who have violent grudges together. Resulting in six murders in as many parties!" Argo says, "we also know that each of the victims had somehow wronged Giulietta Capecchi, a mobster's daughter."

"She has to be behind this somehow. But how can we prove it?" he wonders.

He shrugged, "one thing is clear: tonight's after-party, which Signor Alastor himself has invited us to, is our last chance to find the answers we seek!"

"Argo, we must have all our wits about us if we're to finally put this miscreant behind bars. Off we go!" he declares, leading the way across the gate's threshold.

Since it seemed like most of the party guests were inside the mansion, Argo and Isaac chose to investigate the back courtyard where few currently were. The backyard was large enough to match the grandness of the mansion with its inground pool and the expansive grassy area beyond the stone deck. Flower planters helped divide the stone from the grass, adding pops of colour to the area. A few guests were standing near the back entrance of the mansion, champagne flutes in their hands and given how they swayed, they'd obviously already had a few glasses.

"Argo, it looks like Alastor's really gone all out for this after-party!" Isaac remarks as they stop beside the pool, "from the looks of these guests, the champagne's been flowing for a whi-"

SPLAAASH!

Argo and Isaac were suddenly hit by a large wave caused by something falling into the pool beside them. The detectives spit the water from their mouths and clear their eyes to see what had fallen into the pool.

"Arghhh...!" Isaac growls, looking down at his soaked clothes, "my suit! Argo, some halfwit reveller has fallen in the swimming pool, and now I'm completely soaked!"

Argo spits out some water, "I'm no better..."

Caspian hops off Argo's shoulder to shake the water off his feathers.

"Is there blood on that man's suit?" Argo questions, noticing a growing red patch on the man's chest.

"What's that? You think you see blood on the man who fell in?" Isaac squints, "we should take a closer look at the swimming pool at once!"

Argo places his crutches on the ground beside Caspian before shrugging off his coat and removing his bag, goggles and shoes. He leaves the items in a pile on top of his crutches before diving into the pool and swimming to the body. As he floats beside it, he sees that there is blood on the man's suit, which originated from a large stab wound in his stomach.

Dragging the body to the pool's edge, Isaac helps Argo lift it from the water and lay it on the ground. As Argo climbs out of the pool, he spots a silver and gold bowl of sweets on a stone pedestal close to where he had left his stuff. As Isaac examines the body, Argo wrings his clothes and hair as best he can to speed up the drying process.

"Argo, this man is most definitely dead!" Isaac announced, unable to find a pulse, "and by the look of those gashes on his belly, he's been stabbed."

"Hold on, Isaac!" Argo squeezes the water out of his curls, "this victim is none other than George Buchanan! If we needed any further proof that Buchanan wasn't Alastor. I suppose we now have it!"