Thirteenth Clue

Daniel stood up and looked outside the window. The sun had set so it was dark outside, but the lights around the lodge showed that there were a group of police officers by the front door.

"I think the police have worked it out as well. It was likely to happen after we gave them the shoes and they should know everyone's alibis..." he said. "Or they've come for a search."

"They took Ethan's fingerprints as well," Felix pointed out. "They could have found his fingerprints somewhere backstage."

"Should we go downstairs and have a look?" Meredith suggested with obvious nervousness.

Daniel's curiosity won out. There was still a chance that the police hadn't actually come to arrest or question Ethan or even do a search. He should probably also explain his theory to the police.

"Do you think Ethan has a guilty conscience?" Felix asked him quietly whilst they filed down the stairs.

The way Ethan had run onto the stage the evening before was the first thing to come to Daniel's mind when he considered the question.

"I don't think he realised what he had done until he saw Nakajima die in front of him," Daniel said slowly and then remembered how Ethan had been visibly not paying attention during the play. "I think he's had a troubled upbringing and didn't realise the consequences of his actions or think through what he was doing properly until it was too late."

Felix nodded.

"I think you've analysed him right. However he was normal when we questioned him and he didn't shrink away from our questions. I think he does realise what he has done now, he did seem calm at dinner."

Daniel agreed with his boyfriend's opinion.

"I think he might actually confess if asked by someone with authority," he answered. "We'll see what the police are here for before we start telling them anything."

When they arrived in the hallway the police were talking to the event organiser quietly. Yamamoto paused when he saw them and held up his hand.

"Did you come up with a theory?" he asked them.

Daniel nodded and the police officer at the front of the group gave him a searching look.

"Did you come to arrest anyone or carry out a search?" Daniel asked in his best Japanese.

"Do you have a theory about the murder?" the officer asked. "I am fully aware I should not be asking, but I want to know what you think. I have been told about your mystery solving abilities."

Daniel cleared his throat. Detailing his theory to the police officer really was going to be a test of his Japanese. Felix gave him an encouraging poke in the side and Daniel took that to mean that Felix would help him out if he needed it.

"The murder was committed by one of the school students, Ethan. He went across to the theatre at six and sneaked in through the back door. His intent was to cheat his way to winning the murder mystery event. He stayed there long enough for the rehearsal to progress to the end and to learn the solution. Instead of just leaving, he broke the safety cover off the knife to derail the play after realising there was a chance he wouldn't win and returned here just in time to avoid meeting our group in the hallway and met up his own group."

It was the most complicated thing he had ever said in Japanese and he was sweating by the end of it. Judging by the lack of nudges from Felix and the comprehending look on the officers' faces as well as Yamamoto's face, he had been full understandable.

"...That is certainly an accusation to make," the lead officer said a moment later. "It does tie everything together though. We had a suspect in mind and came to make a search. Thank you for your input."

The officer walked past him followed by the rest of the officers. Daniel understood the lack of a response to his theory. He was a third party and wasn't associated with the police, they couldn't take his theory completely seriously.

"I imagine they did already suspect Ethan and came to compare shoe sizes," Felix said once they were out of sight. "You did well there with no mistakes."

Yamamato clapped his hands.

"You lived up to my expectations and you didn't let me down," he said sincerely. "Thank you for that. I was beginning to worry that we would be stuck here for a while."

"It would have been better if Ethan had simply cheated by knowing the solution beforehand and hadn't touched the knife after losing his confidence," Felix pointed out. "Daniel would have got the answer right anyway. He didn't need to commit murder."

"I think Ethan, despite his bluster, has very low self-esteem and saw it as a valid way to beat Daniel," Amien replied. "We'll have to see if they arrest Ethan."

They settled in the living room and Daniel sat the closest to the open door so he could see what was going on in the hallway.

"Are we sure it's Ethan?" Meredith asked worriedly. "Imagine if we went through all that and found it was someone else from the other school."

"He was the only one with an unsupported alibi," Oliver reminded her.

Daniel considered everything they knew. Ethan had probably been reading a book in his bedroom when he had second thoughts about their bet, the doubt in his mind had led to him sneaking out to the theatre to find out the solution to the mystery, then he had tampered knowingly with the knife and sneaked back into the lodge. Ethan hadn't paid any attention to the play during the performance as he knew what was going to happen.

It all added up, there was just one thing he wasn't happy with.

His theory was missing the psychological 'push'.

There had to have been a strong stimulus to make Ethan tamper with the knife knowing he was going to cause serious injury to a person. Whilst Daniel's idea was that Ethan had wanted to end the play at the first half to make his deductions with no rival, the more he thought about, the more he felt like it wasn't the full truth. Surely Ethan had realised he might actually give Nakajima a lasting injury.

Then again he wasn't too intimate with Ethan's past and personality. He only knew what Oliver had told him and what he had observed.

Potentially there was something in Ethan's past that had made him afraid to lose bets. The things the Earl had said the real Daniel were traumatising enough.

He tried to put the doubts to the back of his mind. It was up to the police to investigate now, he had done his part by telling them his suspicions.

"Is there something bothering you?" Felix asked quietly in his ear.

"I'm not happy with the motive," Daniel admitted.

"It's not the strongest," Felix agreed. "We don't necessarily know the stimulus though. You've done your work though."

"That's true," he replied and tried to relax.

Just as he was about to take his gaze off the doorway, he heard footsteps in the hallway and the police officers walked past with Ethan in tow. The two of them locked eyes and Ethan stared back at him without malice.

"I'm going to guess that he is under arrest now," Amien said. "With that, we can relax now."

Daniel didn't loosen up until he heard the door close. He had solved his third case in this life. It wouldn't have been possible without the other members of the Mystery Club.

"Well done Daniel," Oliver said and pulled him in for a hug. "I don't know how you do it, I'm just glad that you became a member of the club so I could witness all of this."

Daniel remembered how reluctant he had been to join the club and elected to not mention that. Judging by the knowing look on Felix's face, he was remembering the same thing.

"This trip would have been much more fun without the murder," he reminded Oliver. "Additionally, if I wasn't here, the bet wouldn't have been made and Nakajima would still be alive."

It was a sobering thought. His presence on the island had caused the murder. He realised Felix was looking at him in concern.

"Don't think that. Remember that Ethan could have challenged anyone and experienced second thoughts over it. In your absence it could have been me or someone like Amien."

Daniel found himself wondering yet again how he had managed to persuade Felix to like him. His boyfriend always had the right thing to say.

"Or me," Oliver added.

Amien snorted loudly.

"We'll leave the list at Felix and myself. He is correct, this would have potentially happened without you being here. Ethan has been taken away and will not have the opportunity to do the same thing again."

***

The next morning the police arrived to inform them that they could all leave the island and the guilty party had been arrested. Judging by the fact that Ethan hadn't returned and the actors had come to join them for breakfast, Daniel knew that Ethan really had been arrested.

The lead investigator took him to the side and bowed. Daniel awkwardly bowed back.

"We were close to finding it was him based on the evidence, but it was your theory that cemented it. We did find his fingerprint on the knife and his shoe size was the same as the shoes you found. Everything you told me was right. I would like to thank you for telling me your thoughts and I'm sure everyone who was under suspicion will be thankful as well."

"There is no need to thank me, I am sure that he would have been found out soon," Daniel replied hastily.

He was always very uncomfortable in moments like this. He wasn't comfortable with taking full credit for solving cases. He had never actually arrested someone, he always left it to someone else and he felt that he couldn't take all the glory for solving a case because of that.

"He confessed very quickly after we asked him. Please don't mention that I told you all of this by the way, it's not very professional of me," the lead investigator requested.

After breakfast they packed their suitcases in preparation for their return to the mainland. As they were waiting in the living room to be told that the boat had arrived, Oliver nudged Daniel with a quizzical look in his eyes.

"Did you ever work out that those keys we found in our rooms were for?"

Daniel cast a glance at the event organiser who was talking with Felix and saw him smile. He hadn't put much thought into the key mystery as it had soon been overshadowed by the murder. Yamamoto's smile indicated that the keys were his doing.

The cuckoo clock came to mind and he began to get an idea of the intent behind it.

"Oliver, hand over all the keys," he requested.

Oliver took them out his pocket and Daniel took the smallest one. He approached the cuckoo clock and ran his finger along the ornate panel work. As he was expecting there was something that felt like a keyhole. He pushed the key in and turned it.

A door shot out of the clock bearing an arrow pointing to the left. Daniel smiled. He would have loved this part of the event if there hadn't been a real murder to solve.

"Where's it pointing to?" Harry asked.

Daniel turned around to see that he had the attention of the whole Mystery Club and the other Mystery Club were in the doorway.

He followed the arrow to the grandfather clock in the corner and matched it to one of the other keys. Daniel soon found the keyhole and turned the key. Another door shot out with another arrow pointing to the fireplace.

The fireplace didn't seem to have a keyhole as far as he could tell from the cursory search he did.

"Are you stuck?" Yamamoto called out.

Daniel took a step back and looked at the fireplace analytically. There had to be something he was missing. Above the fireplace was a mantlepiece with several figurines and above them was a large mirror.

The mirror caught his attention. There was no indication that the arrow referred to the fireplace, it could be the mirror. He could see the arrow from the clock in the reflection and its direction was reversed.

Daniel followed that direction instead and saw a low table with a small box on top. He picked it up and saw a keyhole immediately. He turned the key and nothing happened for a few seconds. A panel slid out and he frowned. Something had to go in there. He retrieved the other keys and placed them in there.

Then he heard a clicking sound from inside the box and the top opened.

Inside was a box of chocolates and a note congratulating him on teamwork.

Yamamoto clapped his hands very enthusiastically.

"Congratulations. It's something I added to see how well you all worked together."

Vincent spoke up.

"It was a test of teamwork. I found one key in my room and Ethan said to not mention it so he could solve it by himself."

"That's right," Yamamoto acknowledged. "The puzzle doesn't work with only one key, it needs all of them and to get them it requires a connection between people. I tried this before on a different school group and they all kept quiet about the keys and came down here separately and didn't get far."

Daniel looked around at his Mystery Club. He had come to appreciate them over his time in Japan. It was a shame that they would be parting soon forever.

"Please come here again in the future," Yamamoto requested. "I'll make sure the plot of the event is much harder to challenge you all."

Daniel exchanged glances with Felix.

"We'll come here again," he promised.