Part 71: Receiving a Ring

Music: Heating Up


Alright, let's FINALLY respond to the pager.

Phone

Time to give Rachel a call.



Music: Serenity
It's me.
I'll pass you over to Ed.
Thanks.

Music: Ace of Diamonds


Why the hell did you take so long to answer this call? I've been waiting for hours minutes! You're fired!


(Obviously this doesn't actually happen.)

I've got some fresh info on the incident 13 years ago and Frank Raver. I called in a favour from an old friend and this is what came back... Firstly, listen up, as this is important.



When the incident occurred all those years ago, Frank Raver was away from the front line, pushing pencils at some desk.
Desk work?
Right. When he was young, he was one hell of a cop. He was among the best. But the force began to move with the times and his methods came under fire. Then, during his 40s, an internal investigation revealed certain things that resulted in him being relegated from the front lines.
So that's what happened. But what's Frank's connection to the victim?
That's something I haven't got to the bottom of yet.
Why would a retired detective who wasn't even in charge of this case be connected to the victim? And why is he investigating the incident now?
I know, it smells fishy.

As fishy as you?

It seems the incident went something like this: The party to commemorate the last day of the hotel was on the first floor. At some point during the festivities, Kathy, the owner's wife, disappeared. When she failed to reappear, the owner asked a member of staff to take a look around. It didn't take long before he discovered her body.



The cyanide was discovered in a bag laying next to the body. When the LAPD assessed the death, their initial reaction was to treat it as suicide. But after forensics revealed that her prints were not on the cyanide container, and her hugely expensive ring had been taken, the type of case was changed. Now they believed it was possible that she'd been murdered. The biggest problem they faced was that large numbers of guests had come and gone throughout the evening, making gathering statements difficult. Also, the bottle Kathy's wine came from went missing. They couldn't find enough evidence for the case to be solved.
So was her body really found in room 404, or was that just a rumour?
no, that part seems to check out.
I see. Y'know, that room is still in the exact state it was back then.
You mean the crime scene is still there?
Precisely. Ed, can I ask you something?
Go ahead.
When you were on the force...



I didn't expect Kyle to actually ask Ed about his (potential) lie directly like that

Are you serious? I've already told you I didn't! What're you trying to say?
Nothing, just my senses tingling again. I just wanted to double-check that you and he weren't old acquaintances.
As I told you before - I knew his name, but we never knew each other.

That's a predictable response.

Hyde, the man who had Frank removed from the front line was my ex-boss.
Hugh Speck?
Yeah, him. Listen, I'll keep looking for more clues about Frank and the murder. I'll see what I can dig up on your Scarlet Star, too. That's all I got to say for now. Here's Rachel.



About tomorrow...
How're the plans going?
How does 7 o'clock at Da Leonardo sound? Spending Christmas Eve at a nice Italian place isn't bad at all, if you ask me!
Sounds good.



Got it.

I'm going to bet that Kyle's going to completely forget about it by tonight.

*Rachel hangs up, then the buzzer rings*

How many times have we gotten buzzed right after a phone call? I lost track of it already.

Music: Heating Up


Who's that?





Music: Dancing Cat
Betty?
Can you spare a moment?
I want to talk to you about something.
This is strange. You wanting to talk to me, I mean.
I'm full of surprises.
But...look at this place! Have you even started your moving preparations, Mr Hyde?
Do you even have a place to go?
Save your worries for someone else.

Thankfully that means we're not going to have to worry about Kyle's moving preparations in this game.

Now what have you got to say to me?



That's a very quick change of heart. We don't even have to confront anyone for it.

I'm listening.
Please, don't pull such a scary face!
It's about what happened when she came to my room earlier.
Didn't you already make it clear that you didn't want to talk about that?
That was then, this is now. And well, I've thought it over and decided I'd better tell you.
You don't mind, do you?
Tell me what happened.
Marie asked me to do something.



Looks like it's true that they were talking about accessories and money.

A ring?
Yeah, the one that she blamed Tony for stealing just a few days ago.
Seems she's in need of cash and resorted to selling her ring.
Go on.
She said I could have it for $500.
A 3-carat diamond ring for $500?

Counting inflation, it's worth $1487.38 now. Either way, it's still half of the money we got just by being lucky!

That's what I thought too.
I said that the price she was asking was way lower than the value of the ring, but she insisted that as long as the money was in cash, the price was acceptable.
So...I bought it!
After reflecting on what had happened though, I began to think.



I even considered...
that the diamond in the ring could be a fake.
I was wondering if you could take a look at it for me.
Do you think it's real, Mr Hyde? *gives Kyle the ring*
I'm not a jeweller, you do know that, right? I wouldn't be able to tell a real diamond from a fake one if they were labelled! *gives the ring back*
I was worried you might say that.
What can I do? Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to buy the thing after what she told me...
What did she tell you?
She told me the reason why she needed to get rid of it.

(Why did she need to get rid of it?)

That ring took us 3 Game Overs to find and now she wants to get rid of it!?

Oh, what am I going to do?
If you can't help me, maybe Dylan can...
Dylan might have a way of telling if it's a real diamond or not.

Music: Gusty Town


Why did Marie want to get rid of it?

Why did Marie want to get rid of her ring?
She said that she doesn't like the idea of keeping it any longer.
Really? Why's that?
She told me the circumstances the ring was given to her under,
and how she couldn't keep it any longer knowing what she knew.
What kind of circumstances were they?
I thought you'd have been able to guess by now.



Maybe he'd bought it for another woman. Or maybe he got it on the cheap. That's what I think anyway.
That's the kind of reason a woman would get rid of a nice ring like this.
I see.

What makes you think Dylan'll know?

What makes you think Dylan'll know if it's a real diamond?
Well, one of his hobbies is collecting rare stones, for one. He knows these things.
He was boasting once about having one of those special magnifying glasses, too.
So why didn't you cut out the middle man and go straight to him at the beginning?
Because I didn't want to spread this kind of stuff around, that's why!



If even the woman who's unknowingly dating a stalker says this, something is VERY wrong.

I really didn't want to break the promise I made to Marie.

(What promise?)

What promise did you make to Marie?

What promise did you make to Marie?
I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone about buying the ring from her.
You promised her that?
Well it looks like you've broken it anyway.
That's different, it's you, Mr Hyde!
I know I can trust you to keep this to yourself.
You're not planning to tell Marie that I told you, are you?
Maybe you should've made me promise you that at the start!
Yeah, maybe I should've!

Music: Dancing Cat
Ah, why did I have to buy it...
(Marie told me that she'd got it from her dead brother as a present.)
(So this is the ring that Mike Porter gave her...)
Betty.
What?
Could you show me the ring?
Betty... Would you mind if I borrowed the ring for a little while?
Not at all, go ahead.



I receive the ring from Betty.

The text appears after the item disappear for some reason.

I'll leave it to you to find out whether the ring is genuine or not.
Yeah, no sweat.
Okay, well, I'll see you later then.

Betty leaves the room.

(Now what am I going to do?)
(I suppose I could borrow Dylan's magnifying glass and take a look.)