When The Snow Falls

"I saw something moving around outside at around 6," Daniel admitted. "It's the right time for when the technician thought he heard the back door opening."

Was it the murderer he had seen?

"You weren't sure about it," Felix pointed out. "It was windy, it could have been the bushes around the lodge blowing in the wind."

Amien was more interested in his statement.

"You saw someone outside close to the time the door was heard opening? The lodge is quite close to the theatre. It could have been a person."

"All our suspects that we know of were in the theatre at that time," Felix informed them. "If this is significant, we are looking at another suspect outside of the theatre group."

"We need to know everyone on this island now," Daniel agreed.

"There's other things to consider, what if it really was someone from the lodge?" Felix asked.

Daniel turned to look at Felix.

"You mean someone here might have relation to the actor in some way and sneaked off to murder him? It's unlikely."

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," Felix reminded him. "Your favourite fictional detective Sherlock Holmes said that."

***

"Other occupants of the island?" Yamamoto asked with a frown.

"Are there any?" Daniel questioned. "We saw a few other buildings other than the lodge and the chalet."

"The owner of the island lives in the biggest house. Her two children have the smaller houses nearby. They are actually all away at the moment. The only other person you haven't met yet is the cook."

Daniel's heart sank.

The only people on the island were the actors, the event organiser, the stage technician, the cook and them. There really was no one else to suspect.

He looked up to see Yamamoto was looking at him shrewdly.

"Am I on your suspect list?" he asked suddenly.

Daniel knew his facial expression had given the answer away. When he was taken by surprise, he knew his face always showed his thoughts.

"We have to consider everyone," he replied awkwardly.

Felix approached to back him up or rather say something diplomatic in Japanese.

"We aren't suspecting you as a person, but more in a practical way."

"Well said," Yamomto grinned before turning serious. "I had chance to destroy the safety cover on the knife, but my feelings towards Nakajima were of annoyance not murder. I was thinking more of recommending that he join a different theatre group as I know they were all tired of his playboy ways."

Daniel mentally ticked Yamamoto off his list of suspects. He was telling the truth and his replies were logical.

"Who do you think murdered him?" Daniel asked.

"Matsumoto is the person with the strongest motive and he is the person that gets things done when he wants to. It's just that he didn't go backstage as far as I could see. He was in the wings on the left side of the stage the whole time. We like to have a discussion right before each performance starts and we finished ours right before you all came in."

Daniel was glad they had spoken to Yamamoto again. It did fill in some blanks for him.

"What are you going to do next?" Yamamoto asked with a smile. "Are you going to speak to Yukari?"

"We saw her being accompanied to the theatre by the Police," Daniel replied.

"I saw her return to her chalet. I don't think she was arrested."

This time the group visiting were Daniel, Felix and Meredith. Daniel felt like having a female with them would help ease any tension. The actress might not want to speak to them and he couldn't blame her for that.

Felix knocked on the door of the chalet and it was opened by Yukari who was openly confused by their presence at the door. Felix deftly explained their reason for visiting and she let them in.

"...You want to ask me more questions?" Yukari asked doubtfully.

Daniel saw how deep the bags under her eyes were and knew the investigation was taking a toll on her.

"Just a few," Felix said smoothly. "If we upset you, please tell us and we will leave."

She nodded slowly and Daniel nudged Felix to start.

"Did you check the knife before you picked it up?"

"No. There was no reason to, it gets checked by Yuutsu-san after each performance. I was running slightly late anyway so I just grabbed it and went on stage."

"Why were you late for your scene?" Daniel asked.

"I was crying in the bathroom," she said with a sob. "He was cheating on me, but I didn't want to kill him. I just wanted to finish the performance and leave the island."

Daniel could tell that she was telling the truth.

"Did you spot anything odd backstage in between the start of the dress rehearsal and the start of the actual performance?" Felix enquired. "Just anything could be a clue."

Yukari nodded again.

"As you remember I am the first person on the stage- that means I have to be ready waiting for the start of the play. I was ready in position earlier than usual to avoid waiting with the other actors- I felt like I couldn't face anyone yet. I felt like there was someone else around that didn't want to be heard."

Daniel narrowed his eyes. That could have been the murderer.

"At the time I thought it was someone who was avoiding being seen so they wouldn't make me feel awkward, but the more I think about it- the more I think it was suspicious."

"Were the noises in the vicinity of where the knife was being kept?" Felix asked.

"They were," Yukari confirmed. "Do you think it was the murderer?"

"It could well have been," Daniel agreed. "What time did you go into position?"

"Ten minutes before the start time. Normally I do it five minutes before, but Matsumoto was harsh in the rehearsal and I couldn't face anyone at that time. I was just relieved at the time that I didn't have many scenes with him…"

She started sobbing again and Daniel wasn't sure what to do. Felix took a tissue out of his pocket and handed it to her which seemed to calm her down.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know what was going to happen," he assured her softly.

"The Police think I did it though," she replied. "I had to go back to the theatre earlier and explain where I was standing when I heard the noises. I think they were testing if I was telling the truth. Then they asked about the shoes."

"In relation to the footprint found by the backdoor?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. I used to wear his shoes when I was off stage so they think I could have borrowed the shoes again to make a footprint. If one of us did it, that footprint is definitely faked."

That was something interesting.

"Why?" Felix asked.

"We all know there's a patch of slippery mud on the path to the backdoor. We've been coming here for years now- I used to slip on it in my first year of doing this. None of us step in the mud anymore- there is a way to avoid it. So it's fake or someone outside of our group sneaked in."

It was sounding increasingly likely that the murderer really was from outside of the theatre group.

"Do you know anyone from the groups of students or know if there are any connections between people here?"

Yukari nodded.

"I recognised a few of them. It's the first year your school has come here, but the other international school has sent students here before. I think the Mystery Club came last year and the year before that was the Drama Club and the Mystery Club."

Daniel had not been expecting that reply. Maybe someone from the other school really was involved with the case.

"Does your group interact with the students much?"

"We do," she confirmed. "The winner of the mystery gets to come up on stage and we join the tables for dessert. That's how I've come to recognise familiar faces over the years. The winner last year was that tall loud boy- Ethan I think his name is."

The new information was greatly appreciated by Daniel.

"Did you encounter anyone from our groups before the play started?"

This time she shook her head.

"I heard your group come in and then the other one a little later. Your leader was being petty over where you all sat- I remember that. It gave me some amus.e.m.e.nt at least."

Daniel was glad to hear that Oliver's pettiness had been amusing to someone.

"Just one more question, who do you think did it?"

"It can't be any of us. If it was one of his ex girlfriends in the cast- they could have done it anytime, if it was someone who had been going out with his ex girlfriends- the same goes for them. Matsumoto just wanted to get rid of him from the theatre group after the performance. It doesn't feel like anyone did it out of us."

She seemed to be telling the truth.

"The shoes that made the print weren't Nakajima's by the way- his shoes were too small," she paused. "Please can you solve this before someone gets wrongly arrested?"