Part 29: The Walking Corpse - End

Yeah 'e'll be alright. Miss Sich's looking after him. I reckon he'll wake up before long.

Sounds like Alfendi knocked himself out.

Ee, I were that worried.

No sense worryin' Lucy. Nuthin' we can do. Anyway, dun'cha wanna know wot 'appened wiv the case?

Oh, I don't know. I should probably be focusing on minding the Prof, but...



Lucy is very serious about asking Dustin if she wants to know what happened.

Heh heh. I knew ya wouldn't be able to resist.

Well, there's Careta first off. The bloke's as nutty as a fruit cake, so 'e ain't been a fat lot of 'elp wiv the investigation.

Aye, I'll bet.

Gettin' any new info out of 'im's about as likely as me getting' a promotion.

So, that left that Etista bird. Well, the local law tried to find 'er to bring 'er in for questionin'...but she was long gone. Taken all 'er belongin's an' 'opped it.

I wouldn't mind better she were planning that fromt' start.

Yeah, maybe. But that ain't all, ya know. Turns out Etista weren't 'er real name at all. No one knows nuffin about 'er. She's a total enigma.

Give over! Really?

Oh yeah. She only turned up in the village there about 'alf a year ago.

And there were me thinking that she and Careta must've been childhood sweethearts.

Hang on...So, are you saying Careta's only been learning English for six months?

S'pose 'e must've been, yeah. That's some kinda black magic in itself, eh?

And what's become of the stone idol?

They ain't found it, 'ave they? Etista must've made off wiv it.



That's just 'ow it goes sometimes, luv. Anyway best be getting' back to work, I s'pose.

Oh...aye...

Dustin Leaves.

I wonder how the Prof's getting on. Still, I don't suppose he'd thank me for disturbing him just to ask him how he is.

Dustin Returns.

Oh, yeah, just one more thing.

By 'eck Dusty, you frightened the life of of me!

Me bruv's in the clear now.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah. 'e said to say thanks an' that. Will ya pass it on to Al?

Aye, of course I will. I'll go and tell him right now.




Hints:



It looks like the proprietor here – this Mr Sasucasa – were having a spot of bother with his finances.

Yes, it does.

Well, maybe he were that worried about money, he stole the statue and flogged it for a few bob, eh?

A nice, simple theory, I grant you.

But it would be a little strange. They say the idol had little monetary value. Hard to imagine it could justify such extreme measures.

Oh. Pity.



I find the fact that Careta gave them that liquor to be more than a little fishy.

But it were Etista that brought them the glasses to drink from, eh?

And then they got blind drunk.

Must have been a good tipple then.

Tipple is a term for an alcoholic drink.



'Night is when the diablos come'? What a load of nonsense!

Sounds like Careta's a bit of a scaredy-cat, eh?

Not necessarily, Lucy.



I don't like the sound of this screw that's missing, do you, Prof?

It certainly seems suspicious. But personally I'm more interested in the fact that the hinges are on the outside of the hut.

Oh? Is that relevant somehow?

From a crime-prevention perspective, it's very relevant indeed, Lucy.



This is Dustin's brother, right?

It looks like he enjoys his drink.

I suppose he thought he could relax because the hut were such a fortress.

Anyway, he's no help to anyone, including us.

Ee, that's a bit harsh, Prof. But I suppose you're right.

Alfendi seems to have some antipathy towards people getting drunk. He's probably the type that hides the coffee when someone gets drunk so they won't have any relief from their hangover.



Don't you ever feel like having a bash at splitting some logs, Prof?

Not really, no.

Really? Oh, I do.

I can't think of anything more satisfying than the thud and crack of the wood splitting under the axe.

Perhaps the killer felt the same way about O'Logie's skull.

Hey, it's hardly the same thing now, is it?



Rumours of making up finds, eh? Aye, he looks like a shifty sort.

I'm not sure it's wise to judge people on their looks, but there is a hint of grim determination in his face, yes.

You think he set up Doug Scowers then? Another victim of his lust for success?

I wouldn't like to say at this stage.

But in this case, it seems the stone idol was a genuine find. O'Logie did nothing underhand. I can't see why he'd need to hide his discovery.



So it were Etista who heard O'Logie's dying cries then, eh?

I don't care what she heard or what she saw. I still don't believe in demons and all that.

Perhaps what she saw was an illusion.

Eh? An illusion?

Even if not, what we know for sure is that O'Logie encountered a killer.

No doubt whoever that killer was, he or she seemed very demonic to him.

Aye, you can say that again.



So the doorknob were wiped clean of prints?

It must've been, eh, if it were only Sasucasa's prints left on there from when he broke the door down.

So the killer was attempting to cover his or her tracks. That sounds very much like the work of a human.

I'd rather that than have some dodgy demon to deal with.



This is a hefty case.

Aye, a right good bludgeoner. Make a cracking murder weapon that would.

Not so for this case, though.



A crack in it's head? Ee, that's a bit close for comfort...

Hm, perhaps it was that fissure that decided the nature of O'Logie's demise.

But why would anyone do summat like that?

The killer was determined to make this look like the work of a demon at all costs.


I'm going out of town again, will be starting case 5 in a couple of weeks.