Manipulating a dying message. I think this is something a culprit might try at least once. However, that is only if the case wasn’t as bizarre as this one.
‘They could have just let it slide without even knowing it was a murder.’
What if there had been no dying message? I could guarantee that this case would have been handled as a mere accidental death. Wouldn’t the detectives have had no reason to even step in?
This dying message, by its very existence, becomes a noose that tightens around the culprit.
‘Is there a reason to take such a risk?’
If the culprit wanted to frame someone else…
‘No, that’s strange too.’
If that were the goal, there was no need to write something so ambiguous. Not only would writing a name be much simpler, but it would also look more natural as a dying message.
No matter how much I thought about it, there was no reason for the culprit to leave such a vague message.
‘Then… is it a message left by the victim?’
Then why didn’t the culprit get rid of it?
If I were the culprit, I would have gotten rid of the dying message as soon as I saw it. It wouldn’t have mattered what the content was.
It might look like it has no connection, but it could actually be something that cleverly points to the real culprit. Especially since the victim was said to be quite intelligent.
‘If they were the first person to discover the scene, wouldn’t they have had plenty of opportunities to get rid of the dying message?’
No matter which way I looked at it, it didn’t make sense.
Around the time I was clutching my head over the unsolved mystery, the detective asked a question.
“Mr. Bur. Did you notice anything unusual when you discovered the victim?”
“Um, well… Ah, come to think of it…”
Suddenly, the culprit spoke as if he had just remembered something.
“The room was filled with a thick scent of roses.”
“!!!”
In an instant, all my thoughts were cut off.
The ‘Rose’ written in the dying message. That scent of roses was present at the crime scene?
The detective asked urgently.
“Why didn’t you mention such an important fact during the last interrogation!”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t remember it then. But being here in Aaron’s room like this, everything suddenly came back to me clearly. Even that thick, artificial scent of roses I smelled that day.”
“An artificial rose scent… It seems the smell has faded over time. I’ve never smelled anything like that in this room while investigating… No, wait.”
The detective suddenly stopped talking and flared his nostrils.
“I smell it right now, don’t I? There’s a scent of roses coming from somewhere!”
Certainly. If I focused on my sense of smell, I could detect a faint scent of roses rising from somewhere.
It felt less like the fragrance of a flower found in nature and more like the lingering scent of a very strong perfume.
Sniff, sniff.
The detective moved around the room restlessly, making sniffing sounds like a police dog. After moving busily back and forth, the detective’s steps eventually came to a halt in front of Zefferd.
“You…”
The detective’s eyes flashed with suspicion.
Like a pervert, he brought his nose to Zefferd’s forearm, took a few deep breaths, and then spoke with a voice full of conviction.
“I smell roses. The scent of a thick rose perfume is clinging to your body.”
“What?! Hiek, th-that’s…!”
Zefferd flustered, not knowing what to do.
“It is a perfume I use often, but…”
“They say the scent of that perfume filled the murder scene. Is there anything you can think of?”
The detective’s gaze was sharp enough to slice Zefferd apart right then and there.
‘Oh no. Is he going to be too scared to say anything?’
He looked timid and clumsy at a glance.
Didn’t the culprit probably frame him precisely because they thought Zefferd would panic and be unable to speak?
“Detective! The claim that there was a rose scent at the scene is only Bur’s testimony. We can’t confirm it yet!”
It was just as I was hurriedly trying to stop Detective Beren.
Unexpectedly, Zefferd opened his mouth.
“That, no, actually, there is something I can think of…”
What? There’s something he can think of?
“I… my stomach was very upset that night.”
He had certainly said something like that earlier.
“I was fast asleep when I suddenly woke up feeling nauseous. I ran straight to the bathroom and threw up several times. After that, I felt like I was going to throw up again because of the disgusting smell. So… I sprayed a lot of it. The rose perfume I carry around.”
“I don’t know. That doesn’t seem to add up.”
The detective frowned.
“If you’re nauseous and there’s a foul smell, shouldn’t you open a window and ventilate? I’d think an artificial scent like that would make your stomach turn even more.”
“That, well…”
Zefferd was clearly flustered.
“That, of course, I ventilated too. I only sprayed the perfume because I was embarrassed…”
“Embarrassed? What do you mean?”
“Actually, the layout of Aaron’s and my rooms is a bit strange. The bathrooms are attached…”
Zefferd’s face grew increasingly red.
“Aaron’s room is a renovated storage room.”
“I am aware of that.”
“It’s easy enough to change a door or bring in other furniture, but building a new bathroom where there isn’t one isn’t an easy task.”
That was true. There would be water pipes, sewage pipes, and all sorts of things to reconnect.
“It seems the school solved the problem by extending the plumbing from my bathroom to create a new one. For the most part, it worked out fine, but there’s a minor issue with the ventilation duct…”
Zefferd’s face was now completely beet-red.
“My room and Aaron’s room are practically sharing one bathroom with a partition. Noises and smells, they’re all shared…”
“So you were worried about the smell of vomit.”
“Yes, the thought of Aaron smelling that was so embarrassing I couldn’t stand it. So I sprayed rose perfume all over the bathroom, focusing especially on the ventilation duct. That’s all.”
Hearing it, it was a story that was nothing special and just a bit gross. However, the detective seemed to have other thoughts.
“The victim’s room was filled with the scent of the rose perfume you sprayed, and the victim died leaving a dying message that said ‘Rose’… Don’t you think that’s suspicious even to yourself?”
“What? That’s…”
Zefferd looked like he wanted to say something, but the detective didn’t wait.
“Thinking about it, you have quite a few suspicious points. If a commotion occurred while the victim was dying in the middle of the night, only you and the warden would have been able to notice. But you caused a scene saying you were sick, chasing the warden down to the first floor around the estimated time of death, and you claim you didn’t hear a thing from the next room because you were suffering the whole time.”
“Th-that’s impossible. I couldn’t help being sick!”
“To be that sick at that exact hour on the day the victim died. Isn’t that a very convenient coincidence?”
That was true enough.
“Were you often sick usually?”
I asked.
“I-I was like that often when I was a child. I’ve always had a weak stomach!”
The warden, who had been listening quietly, cut in.
“Wait a minute, Zefferd. I’ve never seen you suffer like that before. That’s why I was so flustered when you asked for medicine that night.”
“That’s because I’ve never had an episode at the academy… B-but if you ask at home, everyone will tell you I’ve had a weak stomach since I was a kid. My parents and sisters can testify to it!”
But the detective was firm.
“Testimony from blood relatives? That can’t be used as evidence. You, how long have you been attending the academy?”
“Two years…”
“Something that hasn’t happened once in those two years happened to occur in the room next to the victim, at the time of death, on the day the victim died? Well, don’t you think it’s suspicious yourself?”
Zefferd was completely backed into a corner. The detective rubbed his chin with his finger and said.
“How about this? You caused a commotion to send the warden to the infirmary, and in the meantime, you climbed through the window and intruded into the victim’s room. It’s the room right next door, so it wouldn’t have been that difficult. Since all the other students were asleep, no one heard a thing. You returned to your room after killing the victim. In the process, the scent of roses rubbed off in the victim’s room, and the victim wrote the dying message while his consciousness was fading.”
“That’s impossible! If I had killed him, he would have written my name!”
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