Continuing from Beatrice's predictions on how 'they' (her audience) will approach the mystery of letters appearing in closed rooms.
Certainly, in Carr's closed room taxonomies...
there are listed many false closed rooms made to appear like true closed rooms. They provide enjoyment with tricks, and when thinking of how to entertain with mystery novels it's true that a tangibly identifiable "answer" which can be reasoned out is convenient. It's why we can say that there's no helping the vast majority of mysteries from overflowing with false closed rooms.
(But incidentally this also makes for a limit on the thinking involved in the majority of closed rooms. Don't misunderstand, I'm not criticizing false closed rooms. What I am criticizing is a section of narrow-minded humans who, because they only know false closed rooms, think it's the one and only kind of closed room mystery.)
However, we mustn't forget that in Carr's closed rooms taxonomies there are also descriptions of methods for murder in true closed rooms, too.
In fact, if guaranteed a perfect closed room in red, it becomes easy to reason based on Holmes closed room taxonomies.
According to Boucher, closed room murders can be explained with three categories.
To make these categorizations extremely clear, I've written them below.
Listed are: The crime was committed before the closed room was constructed, it was committed while the closed room was up, or it was committed after the closed room had been destroyed.
It's only these 3 categories.
If red truth says it's impossible to do it while the closed room was up, then it would be natural to think the crime was committed before the closed room's construction or after its destruction.
If we are to use an incident of the sudden appearance of a letter as an example, then the letter was placed before the closed room, or after the closed room; it's just these 2 categories.
With the former, you can doubt the person who confirmed it's absence when they locked the room.
With the latter, you can doubt the person who discovered the letter.
In other words, if you base your thinking by Boucher's closed room taxonomies, you can immediately suspect that someone in the Ushiromiya family is cooperating with the culprit.
And it should be clear as day who is more suspicious between the children from the guesthouse who confirmed the closed room, and the lone survivors of the previous tragedy, Krauss and Natsuhi, who claimed to "have been witness to a demon summoned by a witch killing their relatives".
For those who see this world as a mystery, they won't be caught by this kind of deception.
Because to declare "I saw a witch, I saw magic, I saw demons" in this world is the same as confessing to being bought out to play a part in the culprit's ruse.
What a simple and cheap mystery.
Probably, for those people who love to read the mystery novels that I have boundless respect for, they'll see right through it with a big laugh.
To witness demons, even with a brazen display of fantasy as "proof", is to mystery the height of satire; it will no doubt get laughs.
Or so I think.
About 1 in 1000 people might seriously believe that a witch summoned a demon.
Only for that rare person can fantasy be sufficient for my world.
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Excuse the digression.
So anyway, I will confuse the foregoing matter using the upper world, decorating it with the preface of an incomprehensible incident.
The target of the upcoming Second Twilight will be Shannon.
We'll have it so the women will go up to the guest house's second floor while Krauss and the male servants fortify the first floor.
And so, Shannon and George can be together.
George will probably attend to the frightened Shannon.
These two 'close' ones will be the target of the Second Twilight.
This time I will 'tear apart those who are close' with an abduction.
After going to the servants' room on the first floor, Shannon will head to the bathroom.
Naturally, George will come too.
But of course he can't go inside the girls' bathroom.
He'll wait at the entrance.
This is not a single person bathroom, but a bathroom made for use in the guesthouse, designed large enough to serve several people at once.
At this point Shannon will exit through the window in the back of the bathroom.
Then, Kumasawa will enter.
And she will lock the window Shannon escaped through.
Then she'll scream to announce some kind of incident.
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"Wh, what's wrong Kumasawa-san?! I'm going to open the door!!"
George opens the door to the girls' bathroom.
When he does, Kumasawa's face will be pale and she will be pointing to a stall, shaking.
"Hi-ii, h-iiiii...!!!"
"What happened...!!! Shannon! Shannon!!"
Shannon went into the girls' bathroom before Kumasawa.
Kumasawa's scream had conveyed only that something strange had happened to Shannon.
Fearing the worst, George peered into the stall that Kumasawa was pointing at.
There was... pasted thickly... in red...
a creepy magic circle drawn on the wall in blood-like paint...
"Wh, what is this...!? Shannon! Where's Shannon!?"
"I, I don't know...!"
"That's impossible!! Shannon went in right before you, so why isn't she here!? Shannon!? Shannon!?!?"
There were 3 stalls, but all of them were empty.
There was only one entrance.
And since George had been there the whole time, right now Shannon should be somewhere in the bathroom.
It's hard for George to imagine, but she could have left through the window in the back.
However, it's locked from the inside, and he can't understand why Shannon would need to crawl out a window in the first place.
It makes no sense. This couldn't happen.
Shannon suddenly disappeared and was exchanged for a creepy magic circle...!!
"Geo, George-sama... um... there's one of the head's envelopes..."
On the toilet in the stall with the magic circle... there was a mysterious envelope... just like the last tauntful envelope from the witch.
"It can't be... this is... this is...!!"
George picks up the envelope and violently tears it open.
Seeing only a single short sentence... as if assaulting by a wave of dizziness, George staggers into a wall, leaning on it.
'At the Second Twilight tear apart those who are close'
Since I'd like to make Flauros the one responsible, I want to leave some Flauros-style evidence.
Something like having the stall be hideously burned. Or having traces of an explosion from inside it.
Once again they'll find weird evidence that they'll think clearly could not be produced by human means.
Regarding this, it could all be prepared with leisure before the incident.
The only problem is the possibility that one of the female guests would come in to this bathroom beforehand.
For that, the day before the incident the bathroom on the first floor of the guesthouse could be 'out of order', so it would be necessary to instead use the bathrooms of the various bedrooms.
This itself can also be interesting as foreshadowing for the trick.
Or if the flashy decorations were something that couldn't be noticed from the outside, having the stall's door closed would be all that's needed to keep guests from seeing them.
Then later thinking back, they can realize that no one was supposed to be in stall during that time, and that door was closed.
...So then, who closed that door?
If they reason from "no one was supposed to be there", they should be able to figure out that the magic circle was prepared beforehand.
I hope to have a lot of fun debating the Second Twilight.
It shouldn't be hard to suspect Shannon and Kumasawa here.
We'll have a scenario where Natsuhi comes to this conclusion and accuses the servants.
This is a mystery novel gimmick.
I'll use the readers' expectations, that the reasoning coming from the other characters is usually wrong, against them.
By having Natsuhi say something is "right", it will cause them to think it must not be so; it's a confusion technique.
So after that, Natsuhi and Krauss will level suspicion at the servants.
Of course George and the others will object.
They will insist that the servants are victims caught up in the same situation as everyone else.
After the discourse between Krauss and the servants, the decision will be to hunker down in two separate groups: A relatives group and a servants group.
The relatives group will stay in the guesthouse and the servants group will go to the mansion.
In the middle of all this, George will probably insist on looking outside for Shannon.
He can look as much as he wants.
He'll probably be quickly chilled to the bone in the thunderstorm, give up, and return to the guesthouse.
Following that, all the servants will have a meeting together in the mansion.
They'll reaffirm what their next actions are.
The Forth~Eighth Twilights will be a closed room chain.
The feature of closed room chains is that the corpses will be found in a chosen order.
As long as the first closed room will be on the first floor and the others on the second floor or higher, or in places outside the mansion, I can control the flow of their investigation.
"Servants. Your turn has finally come."
Beatrice gathered all the servants to the mansion's banquet hall to make this pronouncement.
Genji's, Shannon's, and Kanon's expressions were calm, but Kumasawa's and Gohda's weren't.
"...Is it really going well? I'm worried..." (Kumasawa)
"Since I've never done something like this, I'm not sure whether I'm enjoying myself or I'm nervous... haha... haha..."
Gohda feigned laughter while trying to appear composed.
They don't know.
They don't even know that Eva and the others are really dead.
This is Beato's deception, made possible by her discovery of the gold.
They believe the five victims were also paid off, and that they're just playing dead.
Excluding exceptions like Genji, most bribees are easier to manage if they aren't informed that they're involved with murder.
It's case by case.
"Alright, now everyone move to your respective rooms. Playing dead can be surprisingly tiring, you know.
Lie in a position that won't wear you out. Kukkukku!"
Kanon in the guestroom.
Genji in on the 2nd floor, the VIP room.
Kumasawa on the 2nd floor, Natsuhi's bedroom.
Gohda on the 3rd floor, waiting room.
Shannon in the Chapel.
They all go to their respective murder scenes and do their make-up.
From the Forth Twilight on they are all 'gouge and kill'.
They are all to be gouged with some of the Seven Stakes of Purgatory.
Everybody attends to their separate tasks in their separate rooms.
Genji is composed. So are Shannon and Kanon. Gohda is nervous that his faking will be found out.
Kumasawa is over that, and is starting to look forward to putting on the show.
"Wohhohohoho... I've played a lot of pranks, but this is the biggest one I've ever done."
Kumasawa was chuckling in Natsuhi's room.
"Is everything ready, Kumasawa?"
"Oh, Beatrice-sama. As a servant it just doesn't feel right to lie on madam's bed"
"Lies. I know that while making it you've wanted to jump on it once or twice."
"Wohhohohohoho. That is what Beatrice would say."
"Okay, time to start the make-up. Lie down."
"Alright..."
Kumasawa takes off her shoes and starts to get on the bed.
"Hey, hey. Does a corpse go and take off her shoes? You should keep them on."
"To get on madam's bed while wearing shoes feels like something really I shouldn't do. Hohohoho."
Kumasawa climbs onto the bed with her shoes on.
Beato was opening up her make-up bag.
"Have you found a comfortable position? You'll get tired from holding the same pose for a long time even if you are laying down."
"Yes, I know. But this is for a hundred million yen. Wohhohohohoho."
Each of the servants is getting a hundred million yen.
...In fact, it's already been sent.
In a few days bank keycards should arrive at their homes.
They won't be able to receive them, but their bereaved families can.
It will be more than enough for their funeral costs......
"Something like this?"
Kumasawa had been stirring restlessly, but it seems she finally found a comfortable pose.
It really looked like she had been killed.
"Good. That looks right. You definitely have a knack for fooling people."
"Hohhohhohho. I couldn't possibly compare to Beatrice-sama and her grand show."
"I'm going to start the make-up. Hold still for a minute... no, actually you're already a corpse, so don't move for an even longer while."
"Once Doctor Nanjo visits I'll be able to rest, right?"
"Right. After Nanjo does his autopsy, the room will be sealed until the police arrive. When that happens, you'll be able to rest a bit.
But you'll still be a corpse. You can't make any loud noises."
"Yes, of course not... Sooo, I should hide this."
Kumasawa hides her half-read book and bag of smoked squid under the bedsheets.
"My, aren't you well prepared? Careful not to relax toooo much. Don't forget that if for some reason the show is a failure, there will be no reward."
"Of course. I'll be careful. Ohhohohohoho......"
During their light banter, Beatrice had pulled a stake from her tool bag.
Kumasawa is to be gouged and killed with this stake.
"......Fuumu... Sorry but could you go face-down? The face-up pose just isn't working."
"Face-down is it? I can do that but, I think it might be hard to breathe..."
"Face-up I somehow easily sense that you're just sleeping. Could you just test laying face-down out for a minute? Just a test."
"Is that so? Then I'll try it..."
"Will it be difficult to hold that pose for a long time?"
"For the time being I can manage somehow... Hohoho, I hope the autopsy comes soon."
"I see, I see. Stay like that for now. I'm going to adjust your clothes a bit. Without the clothes set up right there's no realism."
Beato takes a tool from her bag.
It's a twirled up, light extension cord.
"Sorry, I'm adjusting them now. Stay just like that."
"Yes, yes."
She coiled the extension cord around Kumasawa's neck, cross-lacing it from behind.
Once the leftover in each hand had gotten short, Beato flumped herself onto Kumasawa's back, straddling her.
Suddenly, Kumasawa's throat tightened.
And she could neither breathe nor scream.
That extension cord wrapped around her neck... was making a crackling sound... from strangling her.
Kumasawa looked like she was doing the flutter kick in the pool, her heavier kicks occasionally pounding the bed.
And straddling on top was Beato... in complete silence, as if she thought Kumasawa some kind of a bug or rodent, mercilessly wringing her neck.
...The scene looked just as if a giant golden spider had captured some pitiful prey and was injecting it's poison.
And along with that, the canopy bed must also appear to be made from this strange spider's silk.
This web would sometimes suddenly quiver... from Kumasawa's feeble resistance.
And finally, Beato slowly got off of Kumasawa's back.
Kumasawa didn't move a muscle...... she was dead.
"Sorry, Kumasawa. You're gouge is in the leg. To kill you by stabbing you there would be unnecessarily painful."
Done with her strangling tool, Beato next grabbed her nearby rifle.
And then aiming at Kumasawa's calf, she pulled the trigger.
The gunshot wasn't loud... it's not like the 'bang' sounds from TV or the movies.
At most, it was as loud as uncorking a champagne bottle.
But then a splot of blood flies, and there's blood oozing out of the discomforting hole as it's being fished into.
She's picking out the bullet shot into the calf.
Then she unceremoniously tosses it into a small vinyl bag she had in her larger tool bag.
Already stored in that vinyl bag were several stained bullets......
"The placing for the Forth and Fifth Twilights can be taken care of with just a gun, but it get's more troublesome as the Twilights go on.
Sooo... if the large Gohda isn't killed on the Forth or Fifth Twilight it will lead to problems."
Then, taking the stake... she puts the tip into the bloody, still-oozing hole in the calf.
Using her body weight, she carefully presses it deeper.
When she lets up, the stake is cleanly plunged into the calf. She was still a bit worried that it might fall out before it's discovered, but it should still be enough to sustain the idea of sacrifices being gouged with stakes.
---------------------------------
And now Kumasawa, Gohda, and Genji have been killed.
As for Kanon, who will be the first discovered, he can't die yet because he still has work to do.
He will take his time drawing magic circles on the doors of all the crime scenes.
The chapel is far from the mansion, so it won't be searched first.
There are 4 scenes to find in the mansion, but they'll have to break a window to get in since they're all locked.
Other than the guest room, all the locations are on the 2nd floor or higher, so it's nearly certain that the first scene they'll set foot in will be the guest room.
In the guest room Kanon will be dead, and in his pocket a master key.
And in the room will also be a letter from the witch that includes the key to the next room.
The survivors will end up finding the corpses in following with the dictated route.
Under the pretense of preserving the room to hand over to the police, the crime scenes will be insulated from possible investigation.
Natsuhi will restrain the children, and Doctor Nanjo and Krauss will be the only ones who go near the corpses.
Jessica might want to run up to Kanon's corpse, so she'll require special attention.
Next the survivors will find Kanon.