Part 11: Episode 11: Disease
This update covers:Naomi Kimishima 3 - Wandering Girl(part 2 of 2)
In the first part, Naomi took on the case of a skeleton found by a river. From the evidence on the body, she deduced that the victim, identified as Veronica Cage, was in a traffic accident at the bridge upstream. This accident may have been what killed her. However, the exact nature of the accident has yet to be determined. We also don't why why the body's shirt was covered in blood, the cause of an odd discoloring of her bones or why her parents are hiding the cuases of multiple injuries. These are the mysteries that are slated to be solved today.
We have a bunch of info here. To start with, we're comparing the cards we have regarding the man who discovered the body. Basically, he stole an earring from it.
Naomi: There's one more important fact this tell us. And that is that the victim
That's not much right now, but facts are facts. Also, we combine the card regarding the corpse and the accident with the card confirming the victim's identity. This consolidates them into one card called "victim events."
Naomi: 23 years old... she must never have imagined that she'd die so young. I don't sympathize with you, but I'll do my best for your sake.
With the cards combined, you can no analyze it. That seems a little unintuitive, but the card description outright tells you what to do.
LG: You want to know more about the remains? I'll have them analyzed and get back to you.
We should also take a look into the parents' injuries.
LG: I'll begin contacting local hospitals.
That's it. Time to back out.
Naomi: Good. That's rather quick,, for you guys.
LG: Hey, come on. We're a national government agency! We'll have the recording from the driver's interview later. He pretty much admits to what we suspected had happened. So, case closed?
Naomi: Little Guy, a 23-year-old woman was walking alone in the mountains 8 kilometers from home. You think she was walking the dog?
LG: Okay, that does sound odd. So, the investigation's not over yet.
Incidentally, would it be usual for everyone to be referring to distances in kilometers in the FBI? I would expect them to refer to miles, but I don't really know.
Naomi: I'm going to investigate the victim's house. Keep the parents in custody until I'm done.
The game actually removes the card dealing with the time of the accident here, because the testimony makes it redundant, I guess. Well, we can choose from two different investigation scenes, now. Let's check out Veronica's room.
The most eye-catching thing in this scene in the pile of glass shards in the corner.
Naomi: These pieces of glass seem to have come from a mirror.
The mirror can't really be interacted with. But the glass shards react to Luminol.
Naomi: There's something here that's not part of the mirror...
Naomi: It must be here because
Secondly, there is a little case on the corner of that bureau on the left side of the room.
Naomi: It's an ordinary package of breath mints. You can get them anywhere, but...
Naomi: The markings seem to indicate that this medication was produced for a pharmacy. I might be able to ask the Little Guy to find out what it is.
We're done here. Back we go.
LG: It's easy to sympathize with him. Sounds like a case of wrong time, wrong place.
Naomi: I need to pay close attention to what happened both before and after the accident.
There are two topics this time, but you have to do them individually. As Naomi hints, one is about before the accident, and the other covers what happened after. It's all the same recording, though.
Elkins: I don't know! A woman! That woman! It's... it's not my fault... I was, uh, supposed to drive a shipment to a nearby town. Dammit... they forced me to do it! Why the hell would someone be sleeping on the middle of a mountain road at midnight, anyway!? I turned a corner, and she was lying on the bridge. I slammed on the breaks, but I wasn't fast enough, and I-I ran her over! I got out of the truck to see, and she wasn't breathing. I panicked, and... threw her off the bridge. I don't know why! It's just... I wanted to make it look like nothing had happened. That I wouldn't be involved. What did she look like? I don't remember anything, but her arms and legs were cold and hard, and wouldn't bend at all. Picking her up was a real pain.
First, what was she doing before? Well, she was lying on the bridge even before getting hit.
And what happened after? Well, the truck driver threw her body off the bridge.
Naomi: This means the victim wasn't knocked off the bridge by the vehicle.
With that out of the way, we can start making more headway on our analysis. Some things are becoming clear.
First, we combine the two cards we just got from the recording to piece together the story of what happened on the bridge.
Naomi: If I were to sum up the driver's account, prior to the accident, the victim was lying in the road. After he ran her over, the driver threw her corpse off the bridge. Little Guy, what's the FBI's opinion?
LG: He already admitted to killing her. Why would he lie about that?
Naomi: Indeed. His story agrees with the evidence I found, too. If she had been standing when she was hit by the truck, the fractures to her bones would have indicated a strong impact from one certain direction. In this case, nothing of that sort was observed.
LG: What about the shattered skull, then?
Naomi: That's consistent with a strong impact to the top of the head. That must have occured when she was thrown off the bridge. This raises questions about the victim herself, though. Why was she so far from home, and why would she be lying in the middle of a bridge, in the mountains, at that time of night?
Little Guy immediately calls us back at this point.
LG: We were able to look into the parents' injuries. It looks like they started being frequent visitors to the hospital two months ago. They went several times, ending about a month ago. The hospital staff seemed worried, since many of their injuries seemed to be signs of abuse.
Naomi: Did they tell the doctors who had been physically assaulting them?
LG: They didn't, but some of their injuries were quite severe. The mother seemed to have suffered some visual impediments due to a wound on her eye.
Naomi: I see.
Back to our own train of thought, you need to have the second earring(from Veronica's room) examined.
LG: There's blood on it. The DNA matches the victim, as well. Also, this metal fitting seems warped. Could it be worn out from use?
Naomi: That doesn't seem to be the case. Look at the bloodstain again. It's not on the ornament. It's on the needle part that goes through the ear. If the blood matches the victim's then it was ripped out of her ear.
With that info added to the card, we can combine the two earrings we have.
Naomi: Normally, if someone had an earring torn off to the point of bleeding, they'd have to realize something was wrong. Still, the victim was on a bridge 8 km from home. What this shows is that she was taken by force.
Naomi: She didn't leave the room by her own free will. She was probably forced out by someone else. That would explain why one earring was left in the room. But why would the abductor leave her on a bridge 8 km away?
LG: Dr. Kimishima, the results of the analysis of the corpse have come back. The reports indicate that the fractures to the femurs and skull were all posthumous injuries.
That last part probably triggers after you deal with everything you have, rather than necessarily at that specific point. Either way, that information confirms something. It can be combined with the driver's account.
Naomi: The victim's femurs were fractured in the accident with the truck. Her skull was shattered when her body was dropped from the bridge. We've confirmed that both of those injuries occurred after death. From those facts, it's clear that when the victim was on the bridge, she was already dead. That means that the driver was telling the truth.
LG: Does that mean she was kidnapped from her room, murdered, then had her corpse dumped on the bridge?
Naomi: I don't know that just yet.
Those pills have been sitting on the list for a while. I finally remembered them at this point. You need to have Little Guy look at them.
LG: It's definitely no common over-the-counter drug. I'd suspect that this would have to be prescribed by a doctor before someone could buy it.
Naomi: That makes sense, but it would mean that the victim had attended a hospital. Was she suffering from some kind of injury or disease? If our analysis continues, we may find something out.
In other words, analyze the pills again. I don't know why it was considered a good idea to make you repeat the same action a second time.
Naomi: Can you find the hospital where this was written and find out what medication it's for?
LG: I'll get on that right away.
Fade-out signifying time passing...
LG: Dr. Kimishima, about that prescription... We found the hospital and requested the victim's charts. Veronica had been to the hospital a month prior to her death. Her symptoms were... migraines, visual and auditory hallucinations, mood swings, and aggression. It also says she was vomiting blood and had convulsions, along with hemoptysis.
Hemoptysis means she was caughing up blood or bloody material. Kind of like the vomiting but from a different place, I guess.
LG: The doctors urged her to have more detailed examinations, but it seems she had no intention of listening to them. In the end, she left the hospital and whatever disease she had went unconfirmed.
Naomi: If only her doctors had forced her to be hospitalized...
LG: That's just how things are these days. People don't really get concerned about strangers.
Reminder that Little Guy's old job was "develop supervirus to kill millions Just Because.
Naomi: Let's continue with the investigation. Sorry for being emotional just now. In any case, we don't know what disease she had. Judging from her symptoms, it was something severe.
LG: If we find anything out, I'll let you know immediately.
We now have the victim's charts and hospital record. With this, we can explain a few of our outstanding mysteries. To start with, we have hospital records for both the victim and the parents. Sounds like they should be combined.
Naomi: The victim's hospital records say she'd been at the hospital since 2 months ago. For the month before her death, she'd been treated at the hospital. Now, the parents' hospital records say they'd been visiting since 2 months ago, as well. Veronica was going for migraines, hallucinations, mood swings and vomiting blood. And her parents were going after suffering frequent injuries. A month before the victim was found dead, the parents suddenly stopped having those injuries. I hope there's no connection here.
We can also get some information from combining the victim's charts with her bloody clothing.
Naomi: According to her charts from the hospital, the victim's condition caused her to vomit blood. If she had continued to vomit blood after her hospital visit, that would explain the bloodstains on her clothing.
Combine that new information with the discoloration on her bones.
Naomi: We can deduce the victim's physical state from this information. There's no knowing what disease she had, but if this discoloration of the bones shows the existence of a focus, it's safe to assume that the disease was in an advanced state. There aren't many conditions that cause this much hemorrhaging. From these two points alone, I can conclude that she was already in terminal condition. ...Even if she hadn't been killed, she was already on the brink of death. I feel sorry for her. But if that's the case, then why was she kidnapped? I still have my doubts about that, actually. Did that even happen?
LG: What do you mean?
Naomi: Whatever the case, she was definitely taken from her home before she died. The question now is what happened between the time she was taken until the car accident. I'm going to check the victim's room one more time.
LG: I thought you might, so I got a new tool ready for you. It's not the most appropriate gift for a lady, but this is aluminum powder for finding fingerprints.
Naomi: Ah, great. I'm impressed.
LG: Haha... I'm glad you like it.
Finally, we can head back to Veronica's room to get the last few bits of evidence. Fingerprint powder works exactly the same as luminol, except that it finds different things. In this case, you need to spread it all over the floor, making a huge mess no doubt.
Naomi: These are all the same fingerprints. It's likely they belong to the victim. She must have been...
Dear Atlus: it doesn't count as multiple choice if all the wrong answers are gags.
Naomi: She was probably crawling on the floor to move around. The prints indicate she was heading towards the door. The prints are even under the mat. What could be under it?
Of course, we know how to find things even if there seems to be nothing. Luminol.
Naomi: Considering the facts so far, these bloodstains must have been caused by vomited blood. The amount here is more than would be a fatal loss in most people. But there's something odd about these bloodstains. Blood is a liquid, it should be spread evenly across the floor. If there was one reason for this, it would have to be that the door was closed. Let's see...
We need to use luminol again here.
Naomi: Looking at the shape and location of these scratches, they were caused by scratching.
I swear I did not make that up.
Naomi: Someone had clawed at the door. It was done with such desperation that their own nails cracked and bled.
That about wraps this up. Time to put this mystery to bed.
I'm holding the scratches here, but actually it would be better to start with the analysis of the fractured little finger. That was never actually cleared up, after all.
Naomi: I need to know if this fracture occurred before or after death.
LG: This happened while she was still alive. You can see where it started healing right here.
Naomi: That's what I thought. Thanks.
Combine that with the "bizarre coincidence" involving the timing of hospital visits.
Naomi: Among Veronica's symptoms, the most important is increased aggression. She was acting out violently. Her condition must have worsened dramatically a month before her death. Her violent tendencies would have increased in frequency and severity. Additionally, the fracture is the only injury she had while alive. That's a common injury when people hit things with their fists. On the other hand, the parents' injuries seemed like signs of abuse. If I were to consider all of these points, the connection between them is that Veronica was beating her parents.
This gives us the next golden card, called "Veronica's Violence." Now, combine the fingerprints on the floor with the terminal symptoms.
Naomi: Veronica was crawling on the floor. It's likely that this was because of the mysterious disease she was suffering from. It sapped her strength to the point where she was unable to even stand.
This gives us a golden card called "Sudden Attack." We need one more, obtained by combining the blood pool card with the bloody scratches.
Naomi: These blood stains are at the entrance to the room. The door was closed when Veronica vomited blood. That, along with the scratches on the inside of the door... there's only sad conclusion we can draw from all this: Veronica was locked in. Writhing in pain, and unable to open the door, she lost a lethal amount of blood right here. She wasn't kidnapped and killed.
That's the final golden card: "Sealed Door."
Wandering Girl: Ending
Next time: The first chapter as an EMT.
Medal Challenge Answers
For numerical answers, I'll fill in a reasonable number of zeroes on the left side to obscure the answer in tags if needed. You wouldn't need them in the actual game.
111
030
C
D
C
These ones were basically insane without, and sometimes even with, Google. This is probably one of the worst ones.
In fact, there was a second medal challenge in this stage, hidden in Veronica's room. I haven't forgotten it, but I'm saving it until we've at least seen surgery gameplay.