A Simple Matter of Murder! was a virtual representation of one of Jacob and Evie Frye's genetic memories, relived by a Helix initiate through the Helix Navigator.
Description
While Jacob and Evie made their way through Whitechapel, they happened upon a murder scene.
Dialogue
Evie and Jacob encountered Henry Raymond and Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Arthur: Oh, dear. This is going very badly, isn't it?
- Henry: It certainly doesn't have the makings of a ripping good novel.
- Evie: What happened here?
- Henry: Ah! The charming and delightful Frye twins.
- Jacob: Have we met?
- Arthur: Mr. Raymond knows everyone. He knows everything about this city. He writes it all up in his books!
- Henry: I'm Henry Raymond. Writer of third-rate, lurid stories. Penny dreadfuls, if you will. And this is little Artie.
- Arthur: Mr. Raymond takes real murders and makes them so awfully exciting. The guilty always get caught!
- Henry: There's one unfolding just here. Perhaps one of you would like to try your hand in solving it?
- Arthur: I do find crime so delightfully entertaining, don't you? I mean solving crimes, of course. Finding a solution is exhilarating!
Interrogations
Warehouse
- Mr. Freems (body): I arrived to find the foreman dead, and the lad, Dooley, with bloody hands. No one's been able to find the murder weapon and arrest the murderer. Could you sort it out quickly? It's holding up the work.
- Mr. Freems (workers): They're a rough bunch, but someone has to keep the kids in line. I just wish the grown-ups would quit fighting each other!
- Buck (Dooley): I was standing there, having a think, when a fella come at me and give me a thumpin'. Dooley tries to stop 'im, and he thrashes Dooley! I run out to find help.
- Buck (body): When I come back, the man's lyin' dead and there's Dooley holding a knife! Please don't arrest him!
- Buck (knife): That's Dooley's knife, all right. He never lent it to nobody.
- Dooley (Buck): He's me brother. He don't like to work hard, so one of the workers give him a thrashin'. I tried to stop it, and he stops hitting Buck and starts hittin' me!
- Dooley (body): He knocks me to the ground and give me a kick. I find my work-knife under me and grab it. I lift me hands to protect meself, and he knocks me out with a punch! Later on, I wakes up, and the man's lying there, dead!
Clues
Warehouse
- Wilkins' body - A deep stab wound to the chest. A bandana obscures the victim's face.
- Letter - "It has come to our attention that one of your workmen, a certain Mr. Coulton, has been beating the child laborers. Our society finds this to be a matter of concern, as do you, no doubt. Please take action to curtail the practice. - Miss Clara O'Dea"
- Knife - Small knife with the initial 'D' crudely scratched into the handle.
Dialogue
Dooley was accused of the murder.
- Dooley: Me? No!
- Henry: Oh, no, no! Not so quickly! You have indeed solved this murder according to the facts at hand. However... Artie, what advice would you give?
- Arthur: I would encourage you to look beyond the obvious, beyond surface appearances.
- Henry: Try again. Use your powers to peer more deeply and see what you can discover.
The investigation continued.
Interrogations
Warehouse
- Mr. Freems (Wilkins): Wilkins wasn't the type to beat the children. On the contrary, he was forever getting in fights trying to stop that sort of thing.
- Mr. Freems (bandana): The fumes can be a bit much in the brewery. When the men work in there, they wear bandanas.
Coal-yard
- Taylor (footprints): Me and Wilkins was working out here. We heard screamin'. Wilkins went to see what it was about and never come back. I went to see for meself and there he was, dead! I didn't stick around, somebody might think I done it!
- Taylor (bandana): The strange thing is - Wilkins weren't wearin' no bandana when I was talkin' to him. Only the workmen in the brewery wear bandanas. You should talk to Morris there.
- Taylor (Cigarette): I quit smokin' months ago. You know, I saw somebody from the brewery havin' a smoke this mornin'. Didn't see who it was, though.
Brewery
- Morris (bandana): Well, I was inside the brewery all day. I wear me bandana in there. A man has to, what with all the smells and fumes.
- Morris (cigarette): I don't much know who smokes here. Maybe Taylor? Cigarette might be his.
- Morris (cigarette): Well, like I said, I was inside. Didn't get a chance to come out to smoke. Coulton left, though. You could talk to him. He's working in the loading area just now.
Loading area
- Coulton (Wilkins): I was having a chat with one of the others when I heard a commotion and ran in there to find Wilkins dead. Poor bloke, killed by that filthy, little bastard that we feed and pay!
- Coulton (cigarette): I don't smoke. Never did.
- Coulton (cigarette): Oh, very well. So I do smoke now and then. What's it matter?
Coulton was accused of the murder.
- Coulton: I should be foreman here! Wilkins coddled the boys like a mother hen. He come along and stops me givin' the boy a beatin'.
- Arthur: That was much more difficult than it initially appeared! Well done!
Clues
Warehouse
- Medium footprint - The imprint of a medium-sized worker's boot. The imprint is marked by pebbles of coal and coal dust making it possible to follow the tracks.
- Large footprint - The imprint of a large worker's boot.
Brewery
- Cigarettes - Stubbed out cigarette butts.
- Large footprint - The imprint of a large worker's boot.
Loading area
- Cigarettes - The imprint of a large worker's boot.
Outcome
Spoiler
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| The murderer was Coulton, unhappy with his superior.
Case Summary
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