Howard Emery

**Howard Emery** was a suspect in the murder investigation of hotelier Esteban Sanchez in Back In Business (Case #22 of Zorro Island), before he went on to murder drag artist Dama Mama in Killer Couture (Case #24 of Zorro Island). He was then murdered in Boom (Case #25 of Zorro Island).

## Info

Howard is a 38-year-old businessman from mainland America. He wears a buttoned Hawaiian shirt and brown shorts, and had brown eyes and short, slicked brown hair.

In his first suspect appearance, it is known that he drinks margaritas.

In his second suspect appearance, he sports a black tuxedo, with a white buttoned shirt and black trousers and dress shoes. It is known that he eats tacitos, knows how to sew and has seen *SheHer's Drag Race*.

At the time of his death, he wears an orange prison jumpsuit.

## Events Of Zorro Island

### Back In Business

Howard was flagged as a suspect after his business card was found in the hotel restaurant, as he greeted Javier, Jae-hyun and the player very cordially and offered them a glass of champagne, which all three promptly refused. Upon discovering Esteban's death, Howard was shocked, saying that they had just been speaking earlier, before the hotelier went to speak to his daughter and shot off upstairs, at which point Howard returned to his room. He then went on to say that Esteban had seemed very nice in the short time that he had known him, as he said that he didn't seem like the type of guy who would be murdered. He then left for a conference call.

Howard was spoken to again when Javier and the player pieced together a note written by Esteban telling Howard he knew about his shady dealings. When confronted about this, Howard began yelling irrationally, asking the detectives why they were lying about such things and making such baseless accusations, which threw Javier off his guard completely. Howard continued berating them, saying that he would have their badges if they continued looking into him, as he stormed off afterwards.

Howard was found to be innocent when Lenora Levine was arrested for the murder, but it was told to the detectives by Mayor Alexandra Lyon that Howard was reporting them for misconduct on the job.

### Killer Couture

Howard was flagged as a suspect once again when Ellis, Ignacio and the player discovered that he had joined the victim in the nightclub's VIP zone the night of the murder, as Howard seemed more cooperative, saying that he had seen Dama leave about three hours earlier, and that Dama had been tense surrounding something. He was deeply saddened that Dama had been murdered, having loved her on the stage and on social media. He then explained that he had to tell his wife he would be late home, as he excused himself.

Howard was spoken to again after cigarette burns were found on an autograph book, as Jae-hyun Cho had deduced that Howard was the only person *allowed* to smoke in the group, due to various different reasons. Howard admitted to burning the book, as he said that he had asked Dama for an autograph late in the night before she went backstage, and she had refused, saying that she didn't fund corrupt people. Howard then reinforced the fact that he *wasn't* corrupt, as he then said that he went back to his seat to enjoy the show.

In the end, Howard turned out to be the killer. Upon being apprehended, Howard admitted to killing Dama Mama because he felt it unnatural for *them* to be walking the runway, especially since they were a drag queen. Howard then said that he was all for being accepting and recognising LGBTQ+ people, but Dama Mama had been very flirtatious with him for no reason, and it angered him because he wanted to remain loyal to Fallon. Upon Dama Mama locking her dressing room door to seduce Howard, he took a pair of fabric scissors and stabbed her with them, killing him in self-defence. However, upon analysis from Bonita, it appeared that Howard had locked the door with scissors already in hand, as Judge Vargas realised that Howard had intentionally murdered Dama Mama and wiped the security, sentencing him to 30 years in prison.

## Murder Details

Howard was found dead on the Prison Highway, having been in a police transit van when it was blown up. Per Rosa, Howard had died almost instantly due to being sent outwards onto the ground, with his hands restrained so he couldn't stop his head from hitting the road hard. Further analysis showed that Howard's burn injuries came from a very well-made bomb, vaguely reminiscent of the bomb used in the courthouse bombing, as she suggested they speak to Guthrie Zober, since the killer evidently had a very great knowledge of explosives.

Later on, Francesco and the player salvaged a security camera from the transit van, as they managed to send it to Bonita, who then managed to find the camera's final few captures, as it showed a masked person coming over and checking both Rhea and Howard's pulses. She then said that while she found it strange the killer did this, she also noticed the masked person check the wrong area for Rhea's pulse, meaning they mistook her for being dead and may have murdered her if they'd thought otherwise. However, the main nugget of information came when the killer stood up, as Bonita confirmed to Francesco and the player that the killer was above 6"0.

## Relationship With Suspects

Howard and Rhea were in the van with police officer Lucas Ashley, who had previously attempted to aid the team on multiple occasions but been turned down each time, angering him as he hoped to be a detective and resulting in him defacing Rhea's portrait. Howard was married to Fallon Emery, who had previously been extremely angry at him killing Dama Mama in the previous case, resulting in her filing for divorce. Howard had taken Juan Culebra under his wing during his childhood, as the pair had been thick as thieves despite the age difference. However, their relationship became strained after Juan accidentally killed their third friend in a car accident, where Howard was also present. Guthrie Zober admitted to knowing about the victim, as Rhea had visited him in prison and told him all about her run-ins with him, as Guthrie grew determined to ensure Howard left Rhea alone. Kenny Rogers had once been employed as Howard's bodyguard, but was fired after taking a bullet for Howard, angering him even more.

## Killer And Motives

The killer turned out to be Kenny.

After initially denying the accusations, Kenny confessed to the murder, saying that he had placed the bomb on the highway in order to kill Rhea, and not Howard. Kenny then went on to say that he had met up with a mutual friend, and they had paid him a generous sum of money to ensure that one of the detectives would be killed, as Kenny proceeded to create not one, but *four* different threats pointed towards Zorro Island Police Department. When asked about the mutual friend, Kenny did not answer the question, before he went on to suggest that Alita check on her family, worrying her significantly. Upon being asked about the other two threats, Kenny continued to not answer, as Judge Vargas sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder of Howard Emery and the attempted murder of Rhea Del Prado.

The detectives later discovered that Kenny had also targeted Camilla Mendes and Rosa Di Aguilar, before Madena Del Prado arrested Fallon Emery for masterminding the murder and attempted murders.