บท 117: The Murderer Identified
Renée looked around the table and asked, "Wait, I thought you all had lived through this once before, don't you already know the identity of the murderer?"
Madeline nodded and said, "Sorry, it's just that the original Renée was one of the victims the first time we lived through this, we all just remembered I think."
Doreen frowned and then said, "Are we going to do something about Cecil and Norris?"
Renée looked at them and cleared her throat, "They weren't the murderers though, they only used the distraction caused by the murders to get close to Alicia."
Alicia shook her head and said, "I think that might have been different in our world, dear, in our world, Madeline was their target so they could start trouble between Olivier and his brother Andre."
Madeline looked concerned and then asked, "In the other world I was in, Cecil and Norris kidnapped Alicia." She thought about it and said, "I didn't hear of any other person being blamed for the murders but them."
Renée nodded and then said, "In the game, the murders were done by the creepy school doctor. The one with the bushy eyebrows. He had been stalking all of the girls on campus and had favorites that he liked to sneak into their rooms at night. Eventually, he started to get more bold to the point he would do things to the girls while they slept. The first murders were girls that woke up."
Doreen dropped her teacup, "You're sure it was the doctor with bushy eyebrows?"
Madeline gasped and covered her mouth. Alicia glared at Renée and carefully asked, "Was his name Diggory?"
Renée shrugged, "In the game, he was just called Doctor, he didn't have a name."
Alicia asked, "Was he on the Council of Magic?"
Renée looked at Alicia strangely, "No, he was an old man. The Council of Magic were all young people."
Everyone took in a sharp breath and looked at each other. Alicia tried to calm everyone down, "We don't know that it's him in this world, we only have a guess."
Madeline thought back, "I woke up a few times and he was in my room."
Alicia nodded and said, "It was the same for me, I would hit him and insult him, but he would just laugh it off like it was only a game to him..."
Doreen frowned and said, "Before I knew him before I had really joined this group, I used to see him at the Inn a lot. Drinking and watching us come and go from upstairs. He used to really enjoy watching Renée there."
Renée thought about it and shook her head, "I have no memories of that man watching me there. The only older man that was there often was the handsome older man from the royal palace. Some of the girls used to flirt with him so he would buy them drinks. I can't remember him ever taking them upstairs though."
All of the girls looked at each other and then Doreen asked, "If you saw him again, would you know him?"
Renée nodded and then Madeline asked, "In your world, in the game, how was he discovered?"
Renée thought about it and said, "It's always different in the story depending on which route you choose as Alicia. Sometimes the Knight saves her, sometimes the prince saves her and sometimes you just don't find out who it was at all." She thought some more and said, "Oh I remember one thing that was important, he had pictures of the girl he was most in love within his house. The one he obsessed over the most would be the one in the most trouble, usually, it was Alicia."
*****
The men were at school in the lunch room talking about the murders. Olivier and Guy were the most concerned, "Do you think Renée will be targeted again this time?" Olivier asked.
Claude balled up his fist and said, "We have to find this bastard quickly."
Guy rubbed his chin and said, "Why would Cecil and Norris be here and targeting any of us this time? It doesn't make any sense."
Diggory chuckled and ate some of his lunch, "You are assuming that they were the murderers, but what if they weren't?"
Olivier looked at Diggory and said, "You might be right, we sent everyone home after we assumed the murderer was uncovered."
Diggory ate a little more and smiled, "I might have an idea on how we can find the murderer, we should divide up into teams to search an area of the school. The dastardly fellow will surely make a mistake and allow us to find him if we cover enough of the school."
Guy frowned and said, "No, I think that's a bad idea. If I was the killer, I would be waiting for exactly that kind of thing in order to frame an innocent with the crime in order to get away with it."
Sir Évreux frowned and then asked, "Why would we get involved in this at all? It should be the royal inspector and the royal guard that handle it. We should allow the professionals to deal with this and stay the hell out of their way. I understand that we have Magic, but we aren't professionals."
Guy snapped his fingers and said, "Magic! Of course, I know a spell for this!"
Diggory stopped smiling and asked, "A spell? What does the spell do, exactly?"
Guy smiled and said, "You cast the spell on a body and it will display the face of the killer. I found it in one of the books from Wütendes Menschenreich. I remembered thinking, this sure would have come in handy during the campus murders."
Diggory said emotionlessly, "It's a shame we won't be able to cast it on those two girls that were murdered."
Guy looked at Diggory and frowned, "What do you mean?"
Diggory shrugged and said, "They have been cremated already."
*****
The girls gathered outside of Diggory's house. They all looked at each other and then Alicia asked, "Have any of you ever been in his house before?" They all looked at each other and then no one nodded, she continued and said, "Alright, we might find something very disturbing inside, so let's all try to hold it together."
They turned the knob on the door and walked inside. Unlike what they were expecting, it just looked like a normal bachelor's home. It was oddly clean even. Renée said, "It's through here." She walked over to a bookcase and pulled out a book which caused a hidden door to open. The girls walked down a cramped spiral stairwell that led down into a larger room under the house. Light spells were used on lamps along the wall to make the room brightly lit. On every face of every wall were dozens of pictures of the same woman in various poses and states of dress. Some were obviously taken while she had been sleeping.
They all gasped, Alicia sounded scared, "I can't believe it."
Doreen swallowed hard and said, "This is unbelievable."
Ella walked over and looked closely from picture to picture, "How did he manage to take all of these?"
Renée said in a cold voice, "In the game, he would take souvenirs from each of the girls he killed. He kept them in a box under his bed."
Doreen rushed over and reached under the bed, "It's true, there are things here."
Alicia soberly said, "If he really is a murderer, how are we going to stop him? He's a Mage just like us."
Doreen looked at Madeline and asked, "How do we protect Maddy?"
They all turned as one and looked at the wall of pictures of Madeline.
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