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Post by Toz76 on Jul 14, 2017 23:36:12 GMT -5
"I mean, he did punch her, maybe that's it?"
But she couldn't shake her suspicions. So she decided to look into this frenchman. Without any name, she decided to ask around to see if there were any frenchmen in the area.
She soon had narrowed it down to six men with French accents who had been seen with her at one point or another in the past three months:
Max Hรฉbras Gabriel Rouanet Michaรซl Jaubert Jean Picard Gaรซtan Chagnon Nathan Figuier
All of them were staying in a large hotel on Sigrid Street, which is where she went.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 14, 2017 23:48:13 GMT -5
Realizing that the detective angle may draw some suspicion; she concluded she would need to slightly change her approach with regard to these men.
.....
"Yes, I'm Marlena Smith with the London Times; I'm going around getting statements from average citizens on the shocking death of Ms. Murples. I was hoping I could get your thoughts on her recent death?" She said, approaching one of them.
"I did hear of her; though I cannot say I will mourn her since I never met her" this man said.
"Ok, that's fair; thank you, Mr..."
"Chagnon. Gaรซtan Chagnon" He said.
"Thank you for your time sir" Marlena said as she left on her way.
......
"I met her once; she was a nice woman. It's unfortunate she had to meet her end this way."
"It is indeed. And your name, please?"
"Michaรซl Jaubert" he replied.
"That will be all, thank you" Marlena said as she went to find the next one.
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 16, 2017 23:08:22 GMT -5
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her and she was pulled into a closet. She struggled, but was unable to escape.
"Stay out of business that doesn't concern you." A gruff American voice said, before shoving her back out into the hall. When she looked in the closet, it was empty.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 16, 2017 23:40:18 GMT -5
"What the heck was that all about?" A confused Marlena thought to herself. Then she decided it was time to rethink the strategy.
As she walked down the hallway she heard something.
"Damn it all; she died before she could change the will" the voice said.
Marlena sat in a chair and picked up a newspaper to hide her listening as the man continued talking... with a rather strong Cornish accent.
"I almost had Murples right where I wanted her! Her money was going to be ours! But that damn nephew... saw right threw me! No, no, I understand, we'll get the money one way or another" he continued.
"How sickening... this was about money? How low can you be?" Marlena thought to herself.
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 16, 2017 23:45:51 GMT -5
She followed the voice to a room.
"Room 47? Who's staying here?"
"I told you not to interfere." Said a voice from behind.
Then Marlena felt something hard hit the back of her skull. The floor flew towards her and everything went black.
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jul 16, 2017 23:58:48 GMT -5
Marlena awoke sometime later in the middle of what seemed to be woods. She was tied up against a tree, bound hand and foot. Dawn seemed to be approaching.
"Dammit!" she cursed as she looked around herself.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 17, 2017 23:19:42 GMT -5
Around the same time, Commissioner Gent had just received a letter from an anonymous sender.
"Huh? What's this?" he asked himself. Reading the letter, he suddenly became horrified.
"Send search teams immediately! Use this map as reference!" Gent said, passing it off to a sergeant.
......
It was a few hours before Marlena was found by the teams Gent sent out to find her. After freeing her from the tree, the sergeant in charge had a message.
"We're... we're going to need to take you to Scotland Yard" he explained.
"Why?" Marlena asked, confused.
"Isn't it obvious?" The Sergeant asked, before escorting her to a car and taking her to police headquarters.
A while later, Marlena found herself sitting across from her father.
"I'm surprised you didn't come looking for me..." Marlena sneered.
"You know I don't do field work anymore dear. That will be all Johnston; leave us be for now" Gent said as the sergeant left. Gent then sighed, "Marlena... just what the heck did you get yourself into?" He asked, going directly to the point
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 19, 2017 23:19:49 GMT -5
"There's something going on, dad. Something big." And Marlena outlined the details to her father.
Her father sighed. "Thank you for telling me this, but you took an awful risk. You're not a police officer, and as I've just been... rather loudly reminded, I can't send civilians into crime scenes. I'm not willing to risk you getting hurt. I'm sending Ryan Byrne to investigate. He's one of my best homicide detectives. If anyone can crack this one, it's him."
"But dad!"
"No. Marlena, I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. You're staying somewhere safe, and that's final."
Marlena was furious, but it didn't matter. It wasn't like she had any intention of doing as she was told anyway.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 20, 2017 23:18:36 GMT -5
Marlena was escorted out of Scotland Yard to be taken to a safe place; not that she would remain there for long.
......
Ryan Byrne took over the case from Detective Paulson; who had come down with a fever. Looking over the information available to him, including the findings of Marlena, whom he had decided to give the benefit of the doubt to, and consulting the facts, came to a conclusion.
"Mrs. Andrews being harassed by One-Eyed Jack's brother does present a strong motive for the theft of the jewels; best to start there" he concluded.
Marlena, meanwhile, realized something on her own, "perhaps I'm looking at this the wrong way- maybe there's a piece to this puzzle that's just not present. But where to look?" She thought
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jul 25, 2017 14:07:16 GMT -5
Suddenly she thought of something. "Miss Murples brought me down here initially to find a jewel thief. Now then, would a jewel thief really find it necessary to kill the woman he robbed after he (or she) had robbed her? Could the two crimes really be linked, our are they separate cases? And if the latter, which one should I focus on first?"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 25, 2017 22:39:19 GMT -5
Reasoning that she would have more luck finding evidence for the jewel theft than the murder, she turned her attention to the robbery.
"Ok, now what was it that you read in that article by Adolf Gunnarson? Come on Marlena, think! That editorial he wrote once in the Times, what did he say? He said that when it comes to a crime, there has to be an underlying motive in order for it to happen. He said that there are only three kinds of motives: love, money and revenge. Murples is one of the kindest women I have ever met; hardly a target of revenge. The false Frenchman angle hardly justifies the theft here, but money... money..." she thought to herself. Then at last, a lightbulb went off.
"Of course! Maybe if I am quick enough..." and she quietly left in order to pursue a rather strong gut feeling
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 30, 2017 21:55:49 GMT -5
Since no one is quite sure where to go with this; may as well set up the climax.
......
Getting to a pawnbroker not too far from Murples' home, she entered the store and looked through the available merchandise. Searching carefully through the jewelry section, suddenly she saw them. There, right in front of her, were the stolen jewels. She ran over to the man at the counter. "Sir, what can you tell me about the jewels over here?" Marlena asked.
"Ah, I see you have a fine eye. They belonged to the recently deceased Mary Murples. A dear friend of hers was left with them in her will, but money was an issue. It broke her friend's heart, but there was no choice; the financial situation was too dire and they needed the money. What a pity; but they mad a good haul; five figures, mind you" he explained.
"And what was the name of this friend?" Marlena asked.
"Ah yes, her name was..."
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jul 30, 2017 22:45:17 GMT -5
"...Marianne Craig, a nice woman, really. Interested in buying these?"
"N...no thank you, just looking around."
Marlena pondered. "I never heard heard of a Marianne Craig... could it be a real person or an alias used by another?"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 30, 2017 22:58:55 GMT -5
Pondering it, she did realize though that something was certain- the jewel thief was a woman; and since Murples mentioned that the jewels were only known to her close friends and family, it would have to have been someone that Murples trusted enough to let them know about the jewels.
"But where do I go next then? What do I do?" Marlena thought to herself
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 30, 2017 23:47:04 GMT -5
The answer was clear. She headed back to the homes of the various suspects to search for clues.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 1, 2017 22:27:36 GMT -5
So she proceeded to think back to the suspects that could have done the deed.
"So if it was a woman that sold the jewels to the pawn broker, but the nephew was the last to leave the house... he must have seen something!" She reasoned.
She proceeded to head over to Murples' home, but did not expect to see what she saw. There, emerging from the home of the late Mary Murples, was the now-arrested nephew being escorted to a waiting car by two police officers. Marlena ran over to the detective. "Sir, why is that man being arrested?" Marlena asked.
"Murder, I'm afraid. As the last person to leave the house the night of the murder and the last to see her alive, he's the only one who could have done it" he explained. Marlena was shocked... was the answer that obvious all along?
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 1, 2017 23:15:40 GMT -5
But there was something she was missing... something on the edge of her tongue...
"A dear friend of hers was left them in her will... but she said she was going to pass them down to her nephew! The pawn broker lied!"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 2, 2017 22:24:01 GMT -5
Realizing that something was terribly wrong, she called Scotland Yard to report that she had discovered the location of stolen property. When two constables showed up, she lead them into the Pawn Shop to confront the shopkeeper.
"This man stole these jewels! I have on good authority that they were supposed to be left to Murples' nephew, not some friend" she said, indicating the guilty party.
"You can't prove a damn thing!" The Pawnbroker said back.
"Say, that's a nice Cornish accent you got there. Tell me... how's your French, Gabriel" Marlena said with a slight taunt.
"What the?! How did you... you'll never take me!" He screamed. It was utter chaos as Marlena saw the pawn broker dive for the weapons cabinet, and the two constables dive after and restrain the pawn broker.
"Dad is not going to believe this..." Marlena thought to herself
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Aug 2, 2017 23:45:06 GMT -5
"Listen!" shouted the pawn broker. "I admit that I'm not who I seem to be, but I did not steal these damned jewels! If I had ever known that they would bring such bad luck on me, I'd have turned that lady out!"
As they hauled him away, Marlena realized with a pang that what she had assumed for proof was in fact no proof at all. Instead of being the liar, who could have been lied to. And while there was definitely something off about the pawn broker, it was possible that that had nothing to do with the jewels themselves.
Marlena had hit a setback.
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 2, 2017 23:53:59 GMT -5
Marlena knew exactly what to do when she hit a setback- call on her friends. Doctor Alice Warren, astronomer Rachel Waxley, and cab driver Rowena Crow. If anyone could help her out, it was them.
(Gunnarson and Stein have a recurring cast...)
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