Chương 128: Mastermind...?

The first name to come was that of the diner's owner. A man by the name of 'Wilston'. A business of dubious talent and skill in the domain of leading any sort of business–He was actually a bit of a precursor. He was one of–If not the–First to actually think of making an 'entertainment diner', a place where the whole family could come.

Where children would have sparkles in their eyes, a place where parents could basically enjoy the benefits of both a restaurant and a daycare, thanks to the automatons absorbing the attention of the young patrons. Harvey's Diner had not been his first attempt at such a concept. Before that, he had opened another diner, but he had not been using automatons back then–Probably believing the expense to not be worth it… Instead, he purchased several suits that happened to look like automatons. The idea was simple.

Trick the clients into believing the performers were very advanced automatons. The novelty would attract many for certain… This diner had been an utter failure. Not only that, but some of the suits–Which he had bought for cheap–Proved to be malfunctioning. One of the workers had an arm severely damaged when the mechanism closed down on them.

"Mmh… That's… An interesting design for a suit that's supposed to be worn for long periods of time…" Binibelle shrugged as she heard her disciple's comment.

"It was made with the intention to fool people into believing that there was no one controlling it on the inside. So I suppose that they did their best to make it look like a real automaton, leading to… Strange design choices for the sake of it… I believe such things still exist, minus the chances of the suit trying to murder you, at least" The halfling mage smiled a little bit.

"We've already encountered our first suspicious set of facts, though""Mmh…?"

"Keep reading down, Jupo" In the report, Wilston had stated that he had owned seven of those things, having spent without thinking at the time.

Truly believing that he would be able to strike it rich using these suits, coupled with cheap performers to wear them–Not only had the people not been fooled for very long at all due to his cheap labour lacking acting skills, but due to only hiring the cheapest, one of the employees did not heed the safety measures, leading to a grievous injury and a fountain of blood in the middle of the day. In front of all the clients. It was safe to say that the business went down under after this. …

According to Wilston, the seven suits had ended up stocked in the backroom of Harvey's Diner, where they had been left and forgotten. This included the costume of 'Coco, The Coyote'. Binibelle was already familiar with the basics of the case, so she was immediately able to notice an inconsistency. Jupo was also able to thank the comments written by someone who was supposed to have been an investigator who had gone over the reports in the past. The comment was very simple:"Seven?

There was only one rusty old thing in the backroom! Why would he spout such an easily verifiable lie?" Weirdly enough, of the seven, the only one to be found was that of Coco, The Coyote. The only suit actually known to be involved in the murders of the five girls. One would assume that if disposing of evidence, the criminal would not forget the sole suit that was actually a piece of evidence. This was an odd detail for certain, and Wilston wasn't a very useful source of information.

In every area of the records where a conversation with him was to be found, he was constantly on the defensive or failing to recall facts about the past. The name 'Coco, The Coyote' was only known because some witnesses had heard the name being spoken by the suit-wearer themself. Though the voice had been distorted, making the voice not a useful clue at all. Indeed, Wilston could not even remember a single one of the names of those characters. He could barely even remember what they looked like.

It was as though he had self-induced amnesia to forget his past failures. Because of all of this, the owner was naturally high on the list of suspects, but it did not seem like the investigators had believed him to be the culprit, deeming him too much of a dimwit and a fool to actually manage such a crime–Not to mention that Wilston was rather… Large-bodied man.

He could definitely not fix the false automaton, and although impressive, even the costume of Glown would struggle to keep up the appearance of the clown girl if worn by such a big man. The suits like those of Glown were still in circulation to this day, with some entertainment diners or restaurants preferring them over automatons. These more modern and advanced costumes would eventually fail to maintain the proper appearance if the performer were really too large.

So, one of the first suits of its kind more than twenty years ago? There was no chance it could have held long enough for Wilston to commit the crime.

"... Huh… I did not realise that THIS was the case…" Jupo felt a cold sweat crawl down his spine as he turned the page to be met with another suspect–With'Prime Suspect' right above the detailed drawing of their face… That face was one Jupo recognised clearly. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Mmh… That is indeed quite the coincidence" Mara Nebulo is currently the most suspicious person. To begin with, her presence as a worker at Harvey's Diner is abnormal. She is successfully leading the trading business inherited from her parents, has a title of bourgeoisie, and even a family name. There is no good reason for her to work anywhere. She is also the one who used to play the role of 'Glown, The Clown Girl' before the entertainment automatons were introduced in the diner.

Indeed, although the disguise can be worn by basically anyone, she was considered the best at playing the role by far, and no one but her wore the suit during its time of use. Though the state of the so-called coyote in the backroom was beyond usage–And had clearly been for a long time–As an employee, she could have had easy access to that room if she so desired. Unfortunately, she has an alibi. Namely, she was not working at the diner that day–In fact, she never worked on the third day of the week anyway.

Thus, her absence lines up with her usual schedule. No one else saw her at the diner, but there is a back entrance usable by employees. Though no other employee actually spotted her either, and moving around the diner unnoticed would have been difficult… Also, her brother, who rarely leaves home due to a limp he has had since birth, confirmed that his sister was there all day.

Neither of the siblings had seemed to be lying, and Leton Nebulo was rather precise about when he had seen his sister throughout the day–Unless Mara Nebulo can move faster than sound, there is no way she could have made it back and forth even once on that day… Nonetheless, we will keep a close eye on her. Jupo had heard that Leton's sister had been accused of something quite severe–And even that many people believed she was guilty despite the lack of evidence–But he had never heard of the details…

Now, she was somehow connected to the event that spawned a nightmarish version of Glown, The Clown Girl. A character she used to play.

"Mister Nebulo might be interested in our little investigation, it seems…" Binibelle spoke in a low tone as she read a comment that had clearly been written after the rest. I really hope she is innocent. I won't be able to ask her out if she is. I don't know who wrote the words above me, but if I find out, I'll have you penalised for your utter lack of professionalism! Unprofessional, but I agree. Jupo didn't say anything, but it was true that Mara Nebulo was indeed quite the looker.

According to what he had heard, she had also been impressively strong. So… A strong, beautiful woman… It was indeed difficult not to consider at least trying to court her. He certainly understood where Maarkus was coming from. If this were what your first love looked like, it would be difficult to find anyone who could match the looks… In any case, there was a third suspect who was regarded as quite likely to be the culprit, considering the lack of a proper alibi. A young man called 'Adem'.

A scrawny commoner from a poor family–And also an employee who had worked from Wilston before Harvey's Diner… Adem is already known by the city guards. He already lost his pinky finger on his left hand due to theft–He only got such a light sentence because the person he stole from took pity on him. That person was Wilston, who seemingly saw this as an opportunity to gain cheap labour.

Adem is paid a miserable salary, but does not seem to mind since earning money, no matter how little, is an achievement for him–At least, that's what he told us. His demeanour told another story... Regardless, he is also known to be somewhat of a creep by local women, who all reject his advances. We suspect that he might have killed the girls as some sort of dual revenge, mixed with an utterly pathetic mindset.

It does not seem unlikely that he viewed killing the girls as a way to get back at both the women who constantly reject him and his boss, who pays him scraps. However, being weak and pathetic, rather than taking his anger to the people he hates, he directed it toward young girls, probably afraid of actually confronting grown adults. On the day of the disappearances, other employees reported that Adem was nowhere to be seen for most of the day.

Also, having worked at Wilston's previous location means that Adem knows how to operate the suits mimicking automatons. He would also have had access to the costume of Glown. We suspect that, amidst the seven suits in the backroom, there were either two suits of the coyote, or that the rotten and rusty suit was not that of Coco at all, but merely one resembling it. Additionally… Adem was overly nervous, shifty, and evasive when asked questions.

"Looks like they had a pretty strong suspect rapidly" Jupo spoke up before turning the page.

"Oh…"

"That's an appropriate reaction… Is it just how this thing was organised, or did it literally happen right after they wrote this?" The next page was about the discovery of Adem's body in the small, pitiful room he rented and lived in. The cause of death seemed to be hanging. Self-inflicted hanging.

All seemed to point to the fact that he had indeed been the culprit, but was overtaken with panic once the investigation began, and he decided to take his own life instead of enduring the dire, torturous punishment that would have been reserved for someone of his kind. …

The investigators were not quite convinced, and that wasn't just because there were doubts about whether that guy was actually smart enough to be the culprit, but because the same interferences got in the way when spells were used to try and understand exactly what had happened. It could be a result of a mysterious ability he had possessed, it could be because he was connected to the crime, or… it could be because he had been killed by the same person who killed the girls.

Adem: Deceased Current Status: Strongly suspected to be a silenced accomplice Main Culprit: Unknown The case had not gone anywhere in the end. Especially when Wilston had eventually been discovered to have suffered the same fate as Adem as well… After this, Mara Nebulo had gone missing, and the diner had been forsaken until two men broke in and seemingly accidentally caused the structure to burn down.

"Let's go ask the city lord if he knows why this case interested his father so much""Can we really just talk to the city lord willy-nilly?"

"We are Mister Nebulo's people, and let me tell you, he is higher on the ladder than a guy who rules over a single city! Let's go- Wait a minute" There was something strange hidden in the archived files…