Vinnie Royce

**Vincenzo "Vinnie" Royce** was a suspect in the murder investigation of fellow student Melody Smith in Grease Lightning (Case #16 of Zorro Island), before he was murdered in Off To The Races! (Case #17 of Zorro Island).

## Vincenzo Royce

### Affiliation

Oak Tree Academy  (Student)  Oak Tree Academy Drama Club  (Member)

## Info

Vinnie is a 15-year-old student at the Oak Tree Academy. He has short blonde hair and tanned skin, and wears a black jumper with gray jeans and white trainers. He also has blue eyes.

It is known that he studies product design.

At the time of his death, he wore a compression shirt and black running shorts.

## Events of Zorro Island

### Grease Lightning

Vinnie was flagged as a suspect when Ellis and the player reassembled the torn cast list and found he was playing Danny Zuko, which meant he and Melody would've been together a lot. Upon approaching Vinnie, he seemed to be fairly friendly, as he was shocked to discover that Melody had been murdered the day of the play. Vinnie seemed more concerned about Melody's death than the play, which Ellis said was a nice change, as he then left to clear his head after the news was dropped.

Vinnie was spoken to again when Ellis and the player discovered a report file in Melody's dressing room detailing a series of antagonistic pranks Vinnie had been committing, like accidentally dying her hair pink, sweeping her feet with a mop and other quite dangerous and silly pranks. Vinnie admitted that he and Melody didn't get along too well, since she was very stuck up and he was more relaxed, and so he did the pranks to make her laugh, but he failed. He then left once again, wanting to rehearse for the play.

Vinnie was found to be innocent when Jonah Grimm was arrested for the murder.

## Murder Details

Vinnie dropped dead during a track meet, as Ellis, Rhea and the player were quick to the scene. Per the autopsy, Rosa deduced that the victim had died by something he had ingested in fluid form, since there were no remnants in his stomach. Rosa then informed the player that the killer had used Oak Tree Protein Serum to intoxicate the victim, since too much of it could be very toxic. Ellis then said that OTPS was only available for people with a membership at the Oak Tree Gym, meaning that the killer must've had a membership to get it.

Later on, Rhea and the player found the protein serum that the killer used to poison Vinnie, as they sent it to Pedro for analysis. Pedro informed the team that the killer, in attempting to open the can, had cut themselves and left blood on the lid. Upon testing the blood, Pedro told the detectives that the blood type was A-, and since Vinnie was O+, the killer must be the one with the said blood type.

## Relationship With Suspects

Vinnie had an unrequited crush on Isobel Pine, one of his fellow racers, as she rejected him multiple times after his advances became aggressive and frequent. Vinnie also viewed Rhys Coleman as a rival in this romantic pursuit, but Rhys was more interested in the general welfare of Isobel after Vinnie's aggressive behaviour, as Rhys threatened Vinnie on multiple occasions. Vinnie had also been interviewed thrice by Jan Kaminski, who seemed to have aggravated Vinnie significantly by naming the title of his interview "Preparing For Last Place", as he was suspended from the newspaper for bias afterwards. Adriana Sanchez couldn't stand the victim's persistently annoying behaviour, as her previous suspension for cyberbullying a fellow student turned out to be towards Ellis, someone Vinnie seemed to stand up for. Vinnie was also friends with Beau Jacobs, who wanted Vinnie to reel back his theatric persona and more in tune to himself, but Vinnie seemed to snap back at him, saying he had no personality whatsoever.

## Killer And Motives

The killer turned out to be Beau.

Beau admitted to the crime almost immediately, saying his conscience could no longer take it. He told the detectives that Vinnie planned on throwing the race in order for Isobel to get a sporting scholarship to the university of her dreams, but he had caught onto the plan and did not want him to jeopardise his future. Beau then revealed that he had poisoned *Isobel's* water bottle, not Vinnie's, but there must've been a mixup at the drinks station because Vinnie drank the poisoned one. Shocked by the desperate act, Judge Vargas sentenced Beau to 8 years in prison.