Part 55: Kiss Goodbye - Part 11

The woman is the only other viable option.

Dat's rubbish.

Dey were snoggin' like loveberds. Dere's no way it was 'er.

I can't be sure exactly what was going on between Sassina and this woman at the time. However, if my deductions are correct...

...I believe you witnessed the victim at the very moment he was killed.

Eh? I never saw dat!

No Thestral sightings for Mistry.

I think you did. Lucy, you see what I'm driving at, don't you? When was Sassina stabbed?



It were when he opened his eyes! That's when he were stabbed.

Exactly.

He didn't open them because he'd realised you were watching him, Mr Mistry.

His eyes opened wide at the shock and pain of being stabbed in the back.

Yez sayin' I actually saw Barbarossa Sassina gettin' merdered? Sick...

So, now let's tackle the next little mystery.

You mean, when and how Sassina were given the sleeping pills?

Yes.

Sassina himself added the soporific to the wine to drug his three victims. But he didn't want to drug himself.

Somehow, however, the woman who killed him managed to get him to take the drug without him realising.

But how could he have done that?

Yews got me. Trickin' Barbarossa Sassina's gorra be impossible, 'asn't it?

We have ample evidence already that shows how she pulled it off. Can you work it out?



It weren't the kiss, surely?

I think it was.

I believe the killer delivered the soporific in person at the scene of the crime with a passionate kiss.

Ar 'ey dat snog was boss. Don't tell me she was fakin' it eh?

Mistry is probably going to need years of therapy after this.

I...I...

I wanna snog someone like dat!

Not quite like that, I hope.

Now all that remains is the final little mystery.

When Sassina's body was found, it was behind a metal door that had been locked from the inside. So the question is, who locked that door, and how?



I don't suppose it were Sassina himself who locked it?

Can you think why he might have done that?



Well Sassina had just been literally stabbed int' back by a lass he thought were on his side.

So my guess is, he shut himself int' room to get away from his surprise attacker!

I agree.

He fled inside to escape any further attacks from his assailant. I imagine there was probably a struggle at this point, which is when the woman's bead necklace broke.

A couple of the beads fell through the open doorway, before Sassina slammed it shut and locked it.

Which meant even if she'd noticed there were some missing, there was nowt she could do about it.

Right.

Dat doesn't make any sense, dow. I mean, if 'e gorraway, 'ow come 'e still died? And if yez gonna bail, yez gonna do it one out of de buildin' right? Dat would make sense, eh?

It would. But someone else was present, which made retreating back inside the safer option for Sassina.

Do you know who I'm referring to, Lucy?





Der's no way 'e'd 'ave been scared of me.

Sassina had just been stabbed in the back by someone he trusted. Then he spotted a stranger blocking his escape route.

Aye, it's no wonder he chose to leg it back into the room and shut the door.

Ar 'ey does dat mean if I 'adn't been der, Sassina'd still be 'ere?

I very much doubt it. He would have died either way. The knife he was stabbed with was laced with a deadly poison.

Hang on, though...Where did the puzzle piece come from then, eh? He were holding it in his hand, remember?

I suspect the assailant put it into his jacket pocket or the like during the kiss. As he fought to maintain consciousness, he must have come across it and realised.

That puzzle piece would have made something painfully clear to him. It was proof that the woman had intended to kill him all along.

Ee, and in a final fit of rage, he crushed it in his fist with all his remaining might, eh?

Yes. So that's my theory, you see.

Wow.

Warra hero, eh? Barbarossa Sassina, de werld's not gonna be the same widout ya! But for as long as I live, I'm gonna tell everyone dis story. So everyone knows what a hero 'e was, eh.

O-kay...

So, Lucy, we've got work to do.



I wonder if Lucy is one of those people who writes exactly as she talks?

Right you are, Prof. I'll get straight on to it.