Flicker AE: Shadows Of Leronzo

Case 1 | END

The air in the dimly lit room was thick with tension. Veronica sat across from a young girl, her eyes unwavering.

"You still haven't told me," the girl said, breaking the silence.

"Told you what?" Veronica replied, her tone nonchalant.

"Don't play innocent. For three of the participants, you killed the person closest to them. Why only three?"

Veronica hesitated. "Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

"Yes. You need to."

She sighed, choosing her words carefully. "I'm sure you must've noticed the similarities between the three, yes?"

"I've noticed. But is that even related?"

"Listen to me very carefully. I won't explain this again," Veronica said, leaning forward. "Back when the clan existed, they had a will. They knew what they were killing for. Even if it was just mindless manslaughter, they still had their reasons behind it."

The girl nodded. "Yes..."

"But now that the clan no longer exists, and the only one remaining is whoever The Overseer is, there is no purpose to the Evil Team. They don't have a motive. They don't have a reason to kill. That's why... I had to do something about it myself."

"Which was...?" the girl prompted.

"I killed the person closest to them, and told all three that among them, twelve... well, soon, thirteen of them... were involved in the death of the loved one."

"Of course, it was hard to get them to trust me over the people who were stuck in this situation with them... But I had evidence. Fake evidence. They believed me."

"So you're telling me they just believed that more than half of the participants just happened to be involved in the death of their loved ones?"

"That's correct. Although, I'm quite worried about..."

"Yes. I know. She's distancing herself on purpose."

"Yeah. It's not a good plan... but whatever works for her, I guess."

"Also, from what I remember, all three of them saw your face. Yet they don't suspect you?"

"They don't remember it," Veronica said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I see. Guess I should've seen that coming. Say, how did the Murderer manage to kill Elizabeth? Everyone was together, so surely someone would've noticed?"

Veronica took a deep breath. "It's complicated. The Murderer worked with the Assassin and one other person."

"The Assassin offered a generous amount of money to the other person to help them. There's technically no rule against it. When the lights went out, the Assassin quickly entered and swapped places with the Murderer just before they all decided to move closer together."

"At that time, the Murderer killed their victim and then..."

"The way Elizabeth's body was hung over the balcony, that wasn't done by the Murderer, but rather, the outsider."

"After the Murderer killed Elizabeth, they swapped places again with the Assassin. Afterwards, the Assassin and the outsider fled the scene, and then came back later once everyone else found the body."

The girl leaned back, processing the information. "You're right. That is pretty complicated. Quite smart, too..."

...

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