Killer Bay

Dead Carpet

"Adalet, tonight's the night! It's the Ivywood Film Awards ceremony!" Roxie proclaimed excitedly.

"You can give me an award for being the best-dressed police officer!" Frank laughed pulling on the collar of his Hawaiian shirt, "a bottle of Gold Stag would make a nice prize!"

"We don't have time to gossip about the Ivywood Awards!" Adalet reminded him.

"Listen to Adalet," Amy ordered, "we know the Utopians have planned something for Awards night: they've made a film to brainwash the entire population of Ivywood!"

"That was when the Utopians still had a leader. But now Holly Hopper's dead, surely we have nothing to fear?" Frank reasoned.

"Leaderless or not, the Utopians are still dangerous! Remember what they've done to Andrea? She's still on sick leave!" Russell chimed in.

"What do you propose we do, then?" he asked.

"Well, we know what Andrea would want us to do!" Adalet mused.

"Adalet's right: if Andrea were here, she'd tell us to check the Awards Theater for suspicious activity!" Amy agreed, planting her hands on her hips just like the Chief does.

Frank whistled, "holy booze, it's Amy's therapist who deserves an award! I've never seen the kid so confident! She's bossing us around like she's the new chief!"

"I heard that Frank!" she said pointing her finger at him, "Adalet, I'll go walk the red carpet with you, you need a serious partner tonight!"

On the Red Carpet...

"We were right to be suspicious, Adalet! This man is dead, without a doubt! It looks like he suffocated..." Amy remarked as she glanced over the body.

"I know him," Adalet says as she recognized the face, "his name is Tyler Snakes, he's a famous Ivywood producer..."

"Oh, I've read about him! Tyler Snakes was in charge of organizing the Awards ceremony!" she remembered.

"So what are the chances he would drop dead on Awards night?" she wondered.

"Agreed, Adalet, we're dealing with another murder here!" she announced, "the Awards organizer is killed before the ceremony, right when the Utopians were planning to brainwash the population... Could the two events be linked?"

"I won't doubt it," Adalet responded, "the Utopians could still be planning to brainwash people! And maybe they didn't hesitate to kill one of their own members in the process!"

"Let's have a look at the clues you found. The movie posters in that envelope must be tonight's Award winners, we should have a look inside!" Amy said, "and what about this picture? Hey, isn't that Velma Bannister? The actress who tried to seduce Frank?! This woman has shown she cannot be trusted... Do you think you could retrieve the faded message on this photo, Adalet?"

Adalet nodded as she got to work. She picked up the envelope first and noticed that it was stuffed full of different movie posters, some for the movies that had been involved in previous investigations. After sifting through the posters she found a piece of paper that stuck out as different from the movie posters. It was a map of the awards theatre, with a few annotations added onto the page.

"Is this a map of the Awards Theater? What was it doing in that envelope?" Amy wanderers.

"We may never know," Adalet answered, "but look, there's the Utopian symbol on it! And it's pointing to the TV room; it must be where they film and broadcast the Awards. And if this is the case, then the Utopians would need that room to broadcast their brainwashing movie!"