V2Ch33-Psychodrama

After another half hour of waiting outside, the System teleported Mina and her teammates back to their pre-challenge locations. Mina and Yulia were back in the inn.

“Let’s go back up to our room,” Mina suggested almost instantly. She smiled nervously as she spoke.

“Okay,” Yulia said. She wondered what Mina was worried about, exactly, but she didn’t ask. If Mina thought she needed to know, she would explain. Hopefully she was just being her usual careful self.

Mina stayed silent all the way up to the room. Yulia didn’t know what to say to her. Mina was often preoccupied. When she went silent, Yulia felt bad about interrupting. Mina was probably thinking about something important.

But after several minutes of restraining herself, Yulia came up with something she thought Mina would want to consider.

“Sis, are we going to share our food with the people on the other teams like we did last time?” Yulia asked.

Mina looked surprisingly worried at that suggestion.

“I think we need to be more careful than we have been from now on,” Mina replied carefully.

“More careful?!” Yulia asked, barely restraining her impatience. She thought she might go crazy if she had to spend the next two days stuck in this room, as she had after the last challenge.

Yulia resolved not to mention the shadowy hand that had popped out of nowhere and grabbed DaSilva’s ankle back in the dungeon. It hadn’t seemed like part of the dungeon to her, and she had guessed someone else must have been attacking him. But she didn’t want to make Mina warier than she already was.

“Listen,” Mina said quietly. “I’m not sure if we’ll be alright sharing our food anymore. I’m not sure if we’ll be safe if we don’t, but I don’t know if I want to risk it. We might lose the next challenge, and if we lose two in a row, we would run out of food before the one after that. We have to avoid that at all costs.”

“I don’t understand. We were sharing before. We could’ve lost this challenge. Then we’d be hoping for someone to share with us—”

“That was my plan before, sweet. Before this challenge. After the marksmanship competition, I hoped that the challenges this System would give us would all be athletic or intellectual competitions.” Mina was talking with her hands as well as her mouth now, as she sometimes did when she wanted to make a point more forcefully. “By sharing food, we were setting a positive example. If the challenges were all basically games, people wouldn’t take them as life or death struggles. They might follow our example, and then this place wouldn’t be as dangerous, because no one would be hungry, and the games wouldn’t kill them. Now we know things are different. A huge share of the population died in that dungeon. Do you think people will share the food they earned, when people they know had to die to get it?!” She took a deep breath, then continued on. “There’s also the challenge of distributing the food. Before, we competed against a team. It was easy to share with the losers. Now, who would we choose from among the surviving people?”

“I don’t know,” Yulia admitted. “Maybe, ah, the people still living in the other living quarters?”

“If we go there to hand out food, though, there’s nothing to stop people from mugging us to try and steal everything we have left. Of course, we could leave everything we don’t want to give away here, but if they’re desperate enough, people will attack first and ask questions later. We could end up dead just because they figured out that we had something to share. There will be some people who didn’t win the first challenge or the second. Naturally, not everyone shared after the first challenge. Probably not even half the winners. The people who lost both times are going to be so desperate I can almost feel it already. And I, ugh, I can’t protect you!”

She threw up her hands as if she was grappling with a problem that had no solution.

“I get it,” Yulia said quietly. “We’d better be more careful, then.”

I wish James was here, she thought. Things would feel much safer, and Mina wouldn’t have to worry so much.

—

Detective DaSilva scribbled furiously in his notepad, trying to remember everything that had occurred that might make any of his teammates seem suspicious.

The only people he really trusted now were the Danailovas, but he’d decided to get his thoughts in order before he discussed things with them. Mina hadn’t been present when someone tried to kill him, and Yulia was the one who had saved his life.

For that matter, Jose also jumped in to protect me when I triggered the other trap. If we assume the killer’s goal here was just to see me dead rather than specifically to drag me into the lava at the end, it wouldn’t make sense for the killer to be Jose either. Probably can’t share information with him, though, because I haven’t cleared his brother from possible suspicion.

Going in alphabetical order by first name, there was Adelaide Davis, who was serving the investigation as its medical examiner. She was also one of the group’s two Healers, along with Yulia. It would be strange if a Healer happened to be able to conjure a shadowy hand out of the air, but as far as DaSilva knew, no one on his team had a power like that. Someone had to be hiding their abilities. Why not Adelaide? Difficult to say what her motives would be, but that was true for everyone.

His mind balked at considering her. The person working as the medical examiner would be able to interfere with the investigation in any number of ways, that was true. But was that really a reason to suspect her? Someone who had been so consistently helpful? Could she really be working so closely with DaSilva and give off no signs of guilt? She had no alibi for the first killing, as she’d freely admitted. Her roommate from the first night had gone to bed early. Adelaide could have snuck out in the middle of the night. But even considering her as a suspect left a bad taste in DaSilva’s mouth.

Set her aside for the moment, then.

There was Cara Dahlhaus. The only suspicious thing about her was that she’d discovered the coat left over from the first body. Often, the first person to find the body in a murder case turned out to be the killer. But here, the usual reasons to believe that didn’t really seem to apply. Jean Davenport was with her when she found the coat. And there was no inevitability that DaSilva, or anyone else, would find that piece of evidence. Therefore, there was no obvious reason for the killer to draw people’s attention to it.

If Cara was the killer, she could have just flown under the radar. Involving herself as much as she did had just resulted in DaSilva keeping a much closer eye on her and Jean than he otherwise would have. In fact, DaSilva thought that people would have probably assumed a wild animal killed the first victims, if no remains had been found. DaSilva would’ve encouraged that narrative himself. Having people thinking about a killer running loose was a recipe for fear and distrust.

Overall, he couldn’t get past one fact: going out and ‘discovering’ the coat the first victim wore seemed dumb. The killer had been good enough at avoiding direct attention until the moment came to try and murder DaSilva himself. Probably not Cara.

Moving to Derek, Adelaide’s brother. Like Adelaide, he had no real alibi for the time of the first murder. His roommate went to bed early, just like Adelaide’s. A suspicious coincidence that each of them had the ability to get out of their rooms unnoticed that night? Maybe. Probably not.

Derek was tall, fit, and strong. Eminently capable in terms of the physical exertion required. DaSilva had every reason to think of him as a suspect, except that he was a Light Warrior, like Cara. So, how could he have conjured that shadowy hand on the bridge? He would have needed an accomplice who was a Mage with some special magic, probably. But Adelaide was a Healer. So, for Derek to be the killer, he needed to have another team member helping him.

Frank Davidson was older and frankly seemed a bit too physically weak for the demanding task of brutally murdering people. The killer had managed to kill several people quite messily. Could Frank have done that without suffering any visible injuries? He was a Mage, so maybe he could’ve used some form of magic to make the hand that grabbed DaSilva on the bridge. But he couldn’t do nearly as much physically as DaSilva himself, unless he was faking weakness. Possible. Something to test in some way.

That brought DaSilva to Jean Davenport, who had been present with Cara when she found the coat. He was a suspect for the same reasons as Cara. But neither had done anything to be more suspicious than the other. In short, if he suspected one, DaSilva would have to suspect both. Then again, if they were working together, they might have the complementary skills needed to commit the killings as well as the attack on DaSilva. Cara was a Light Warrior, and Jean was a Mage. If Jean had some sort of dark magic that made the hand that grabbed DaSilva, then on paper, the two of them could make one killer if added together. But they were both thin, not exactly the muscular people DaSilva pictured responsible for these killings. Maybe. Come back to them.

Skipping Jose…

Karen Davidson was as bad of a suspect as her husband for almost exactly the same reasons. If anything, she was slightly less plausible, if only because she was fairly small and slight, and Mage abilities seemed like a bad fit for someone who was committing fairly bloody murders. Maybe once they were higher level, but the killer struck on the first night and killed someone with what we believe was a bladed weapon. It was possible that the Davidsons brought weapons into Orientation with them, as DaSilva had. But the level of the brutality in the recent killings seemed beyond their physical capacity either way.

Paulo Dante felt like he should be a good suspect compared with most of the others. He was a fit, young man, and he’d chosen the Medium Warrior Class, so he was also armed. Most killers were young men, so Paulo at least seemed to fit the bill better than Karen Davidson. But if it was him, how did he create that shadowy hand? If someone used magic to kill me at Paulo’s request, who would that be? No way it’s Jose. And if Paulo wasn’t using his own brother as a co-conspirator, it would be strange if he’d found someone else he trusted more to be his co-conspirator.

DaSilva found that his head was starting to hurt.

Let me go and talk to Mina and Yulia, he thought. Maybe they’ll have a fresh perspective. Right now, it feels like I’m just picking a scab.

—

“So that’s about where I’m at,” DaSilva finished.

“That is very interesting, Detective,” Mina said thoughtfully. I’m not sure I agree with all of his reasoning, but there are some useful ideas there.

“Do you guys have anything to add?” he asked hopefully.

“It’s hard to believe anyone on the team could kill someone,” Yulia said, chewing her lip. “Except that I saw that hand grabbing your foot and trying to drag you over the edge.” She looked up at DaSilva. “Are we sure that it wasn’t a part of the dungeon?”

DaSilva shook his head and frowned. “We can’t be sure of anything, but I don’t think so. I wish it was part of the dungeon, but the other people who the bridge killed—well, you saw what happened to them.”

Yulia nodded and lapsed into a brooding silence.

“If you really want my thoughts, I would just suggest one change in your thinking so far,” Mina said. She waited for him to nod before she continued. “You seemed to be ruling out people based on character traits, physical strength, and what kind of abilities people have. Abilities will definitely provide us with some clues here, but I don’t think character traits do. There’s an idea I think you’re working with, in the back of your mind, that some people are too good or gentle to kill. I believe we’re all capable of murder, Detective.”

“Thank you for that grim thought, Mina.” DaSilva smiled darkly.

He took his smartphone from his pocket.

“There’s something I want you to see.” He looked at Yulia. “Uh, not you, if you don’t mind.”

“I get the hint,” Yulia said. She walked over to the other side of the room, took out a pair of headphones and her smartphone, and began playing music. Mina could almost tell the song she was playing, the music was so loud, and she barely managed to keep from rolling her eyes.

“One day, she’ll go deaf.” Mina shook her head.

“It’s good for now, though,” DaSilva replied. “What I’m going to show you is extremely graphic. I just want you to know more of what we’re dealing with. And part of why I have this implicit assumption that not just anyone could be committing these murders.”

“Graphic?” Mina frowned. “When the coat was discovered on the second day, there was hardly even blood. Are you saying the killer left bodies behind at the next crime scene?”

“Pieces of them,” DaSilva said. “Most of the bodies were gone, but whatever cleanup Skill they used was imperfect. I guess if the body parts are spread far and wide enough, it doesn’t get all of them.”

He pulled up one of the pictures and handed the phone over.

“Swipe right to see the other pictures,” he added.

Mina looked at the picture, then zoomed in for a better look. It was a lonely strand of intestine, tossed onto a tree root. It would’ve blended in with the root if not for the slightly different color.

“Ugh,” she said quietly, covering her mouth with one hand. Then she swiped right. Another bit of organ. Swiped again. Scattered blood droplets. Swiped once more. Another partially intact organ. Swiped one more time. But there was nothing. “Is that it?”

“That isn’t enough?” DaSilva raised an eyebrow.

“I suppose I was expecting something incriminating. Maybe some of that psychodrama stuff you mentioned last time we spoke about this. The killer reenacting their traumatic childhood or something. Playing with the body in specific ways. Not just random bits of gore. Then again, maybe my expectations have been influenced a little too much by network television.” She struggled to smile, but after a moment settled for a grimace.

“Well, there’s definitely something psychologically aberrant going on,” DaSilva said. “Adelaide and I looked closely at those remains. She was confident, and I agree with her just based on my naked eyes. Those bits of organ that we saw had bite marks. She wasn’t sure if they were human or beast, but they looked pretty human to me. Can you imagine that one of our team members might be not just a killer, but a cannibal?”