The Case of the Plateau Auberge Serial Murders Pt. 3

The Case of the Plateau Auberge Serial Murders Pt. 3 (高原オーベルジュ連続殺人事件③, Kōgen Ōberuju Renzoku Satsujin Jiken ③) is the 40th chapter of the Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective manga.
==Summary==
Ron opens the bath, and finds Sasaoka dead in the bathing pool, a knife stuck into his chest, and the pool water colored red. The other guests cry out in fright. 
Toto and Clark begin the autopsy on the victim. Clark tells Toto that Sasaoka has not been dead for long, and the cause of death was the knife in his chest. Ron adds while looking away that Sasaoka's hair is wet and there is water splashed on all four walls of the bath. It seems like Sasaoka was attacked while bathing and he struggled with the killer. Clark though finds it strange that the knife was not removed, but there is way too much blood in the water. But Ron looks at something, saying this explains the red water: there are emptied containers of red food coloring left in the area. Toto asks if it was dumped into the water. Also why do something this weird? Toto also thinks it was weird enough that there were flower petals scattered around Gardner's body. Ron thinks over the flower petals and red food coloring, and realizes something.
Back in the dining room, the guests sit at the large round table where the teddy bear still has a seat. Ron and Toto remain standing, as Toto tells them that after Gardner, Sasaoka was murdered by someone. Tiger Dan asks if there is a killer among them. Toto says that the last time they spoke with Sasaoka was in the garden at 8am. After that they believe he was murdered by someone around 9am. 
Toto asks what they were all doing at about 9 this morning. Clark says he was in his room. So was Mia. So was Tiger Dan. Sakai was in the kitchen. Lily was in the garden. Thus, Toto concludes, nobody has an alibi, that means anyone could be a suspect. 
Lily complains in English that they are still going on about that? In Japanese she continues that they are being killed one by one and Toto suspects them! Could she not be excluded? She was not acquainted with the victim, and she did not even know his name. They were not connected in the slightest, she says. 
Ron asks seriously if she is sure about that. Toto says that maybe Sakai did not know the meaning behind the menu, but Sasaoka knew it. The meal they ate last night was exactly the same as the one he was treated to in London 17 years ago by a man with a crescent moon birthmark on his cheek, who wanted to hire Sasaoka for a job. All of them knew him too, right? Toto asks. Lily keeps silent. Ron says there is no point in playing dumb. Aside from Mia, all of them looked spooked by the food last night. All of them look up in shock. 
Toto continues: actually there was a pattern between the two murders. Gardner, the first victim, had flower petals scattered around his body. Sasaoka, the second victim, was lying in a bright red bath. In both cases, there was a menu of last night's meal taped to the door of the crime scenes. The hint is in the menu when the courses are read: the first was an edible flower salad, the second a lobster soup. Clark says it more plainly: there were flower petals scattered on the edible flower salad, and the lobster soup was bright red. Toto confirms: these murders are modeled after the food they ate. 
Sakai immediately defends that he did not know anything about this. He just made the food like he was told. Ron gravely says it was no coincidence that brought all of them there. The food and all of them were specially chosen. There are three more dishes left. Ron tells them to forget about the man with the crescent moon. If they don't want to die, then get talking. They will never solve the mystery unless they figure out what the connection is. Toto muses that Ron is acting cool and collected, but the crescent moon man might be his father. 
Tiger Dan is the first to speak. He also took a job from the crescent moon man after meeting him online 17 years ago, and Tiger Dan was treated to the same meal. For the job, the man just wanted him to bring a certain researcher outside from an academic conference. The man said there would be a pregnant woman nearby, so he just had to casually lead the researcher there. The man paid Tiger with an emerald, but Tiger sold it for cash, and does not have it anymore. Toto does connect this, since it has another emerald and a pregnant woman, which connects to the job that Sasaoka took. Ron adds that the researcher was found dead in the Thames a few days later. Tiger protests that he had nothing to do with the researcher's death. 
Ron talks to Clark. Sasaoka said he dropped off the researcher and the pregnant woman at a hospital. Clark was at that hospital, wasn't he? Clark pauses, but confirms it. He met with the crescent moon man online 17 years ago too. The man treated Clark to a fancy dinner, and offered him a job in exchange for an emerald. After Clark examined the pregnant woman, he gave the researcher an anesthesia shot by telling him it was a nutrient supplement. Clark then laid the researcher down in the flower bed behind the hospital, and that was the end of his job. Toto concludes that all three were connected to the same case without realizing it. 
Ron adds that it was not just those three. Gardner yelled "If only I didn't drive my truck that day", and last night Lily showed them her lock-picking skills, which he is sure would come in handy. Tiger interrupts for a moment saying he lost his wallet last night, accusing Lily that she took it. Lily returns the wallet with a grumble. 
Lily then relates that 17 years ago in London, just like everyone else, she took a job from the man with the crescent moon mark. She was instructed to unlock the door of a warehouse. Thinking back now, a researcher who had been put under was brought to the warehouse from a hospital. 
Ron pieces it together, starting to see the full picture of the crime. All the invitees were part of the same incident 17 years ago without realizing it. First the targeted researcher was at a conference. Tiger Dan got close to the researcher and brought him outside. That is when they ran into a pregnant woman who looked to be in bad shape, so the researcher tried to help her. They headed to a hospital in a taxi where Sasaoka was waiting for them. When they arrived at the hospital, Clark gave the researcher anesthesia and laid him in a flowerbed. That is when Gardner must have loaded the researcher into a truck and driven him to a warehouse, the same on that Lily used her lockpicking skills to open. Finally the man with the crescent moon mark appeared at the warehouse and murdered the researcher, before dumping his body in the Thames river. 
Toto uneasily says that they still don't know that for sure yet. Also, Sakai and Mia are not connected to the case, right? Ron admits that it seems like Sakai was just chosen to be the chef for this, but Mia did make an appearance 17 years ago. She was the baby of the pregnant woman. Mia gasps, saying it is true that she is 17 years old, and has an emerald keepsake. Plus her mom said that she made a mistake when she was pregnant with her. But Mia could not believe that she got involved in a crime, though. Clark says she was probably just as clueless as the rest of them. Nobody could have known that Dr. Jim Gore would be killed. 
Ron's eyes widen in shock as he realizes that this case is the Jim Gore murder case. Toto asks if he knows about it. Ron mutters yes. He keeps muttering: At Blue Academy, the case is one of the few Ron knows of that is regarded as the work of the M family. 
Toto considers from there. The man with the crescent moon mark is connected to the M family? But if the man is Ron's father, then... But Ron has gone pale and stiff. 
In England, Mylo Moriarty looks at a news headline from a tablet: "The Missing Dr. Gore Found Dead in the River Thames". To think this day has finally come after 17 years, he says. Dinner is just getting started, Ron Kamonohashi. 
==Characters in Order of Appearance==
* Ron Kamonohashi
* Totomaru Isshiki
* Tom Sasaoka
* Karen Lily
* Mia Costa
* Tiger Dan
* Bill Clark
* Shusuke Sakai
* Mylo Moriarty
==Navigation==
Category:Chapters
Category:Plateau Auberge Serial Murders Case