Killer Bay

Deadly Legacy

"Hello, Adalet! I feel like I'm on a roll again solving murders with you! Once I get going, I just can't stop!" Amy beamed brightly, "what's next on the agenda, Adalet?"

"I think we should go visit another film set," Adalet answers, "with all these murders, there might be a pattern we haven't spotted yet..."

"I've got an idea! There's a new film being made called "Legacy" that's all about gladiators! The movie's being directed by Margaret Hatchman. She's a real role model as the leading female director in an industry filled with men," she rambled, "people doubt whether she can pull off such a big-budget film that's an epic, which is usually geared towards men, but I admire her courage!"

"Sounds like a great place to start!" she agrees with a smile.

She saluted, "if you have no objections, let's head over to the gladiator set! Maybe we can even be extras in a gladiator scene!"

A while later, on the set of "Legacy"...

"Wow, Adalet! It's like we were transported back in time to ancient Rome! The set looks so real!" Amy remarks as they walk around the Colosseum set, "I've got this feeling that a gladiator battle could break out at any moment! With all these realistic weapons, chariots, even a body-"

"Wait, what?" Adalet cut her off, freezing in place.

She blinked as she realized what she had said and saw, "a body? Oh not again... Please tell me it's part of the set! Well, you know what to do, Adalet! Let's get our investigating gear on and check!"

The two approached the body and quickly realized that it was not a prop, but was a real human being who had once been living and breathing. Around her body, they noticed an overflowing box of movie props, a stone tablet spatter with fresh blood, and a painting of a man in a Roman emperor-style robe, but it was too modern of a painting to have not been made in this century.

"Oh no! That body I thought was a prop... That's the body of Margaret Hatchman, the female director I was telling you about! How awful!" Amy gasped, "she's been tied down with a shackle, meaning this wasn't her own doing... It's another murder, Adalet!"

"Looks like we have a new case..." Adalet says as she looks over the body.

"And the state she's in!" she shivered, "the blood on her head and the stomach wounds... She must have been viciously attacked!"

"And Roxie should be able to tell us exactly how she died!" she replied, pulling out her phone.

"What else did you find? This props box looks like a good place to hide something, doesn't it, Adalet? Let's dig in!" she said while examining the clues they had collected, "and that guy in the Roman painting looks familiar to me... Maybe he's an actor working on the movie?"

"If he is, then matching his face in our database will tell us who he is!" Adalet added.

"And look! That stone tablet has our victim's name carved in it! And blood splatter? This can't just be a movie prop," Amy reasoned, "the rest of the text is faded... But if you retrieve it, I bet it'll reveal key information about this case! This day is off to an epic start, Adalet! But knowing your fighter spirit, we'll solve this murder in no time! Let's go!"

Adalet picked up the stone tablet first. Besides Margaret's name along the top, it was possible to tell that there was more written on the tablet, but someone had stretched it out to make it illegible. Adalet dusted along the scratched writing, and it sunk into the deeper engravings. She softly blew off all of the extra powder, and the words were now perfectly visible.

"Tuo legato non habebis prosperum"..." Adalet reads, "well clearly not English! I'm thinking Latin, but I don't know what it translates to..."

Amy hums in thought, "considering the blood splatter and the victim's name... Maybe Russell can help us, Adalet?"