Faded Spirit

When it fades away...

**Faded Spirit** is the 13th case in The Origins and the 3rd case to occur in the Pacific Region

## Plot

After the team received a call about a murder that occurred in Vancouver, we went there immediately, only to find the dead body of a world-famous monk, Tsering. After finding the body, Max Snowcone and the player find a fellow monk, who's actually the one who gave us the call to come to Vancouver, Christian Holmann. When we ask Christian about the murder, he says that it is very unfortunate but that he was a great man and that only the best will happen to him in the afterlife. He leads us outside, and says he recommends we check the outside of the zen fortress. Christian said that we met his brother before, Fabian Marc-Holmann, and that he said we have good hearts. We find a computer and a puppet in the zen garden. The team sent the computer to Imogen Caulfield, who told us the computer belongs to the victim's assistant, Michella Barnett. When we give Michella back her computer, we ask her about the victim. She said that the victim was a humble, kind, and caring man who wanted nothing but the best for his community. Michella started to shed tears, so we left her alone. After, we head back to base, as we gave the puppet we found in the zen garden to Aaron Hall, the team's profiler. He tells us that he found DNA on it and that he gave it to the team's lab chief, Sandra Davis. What Aaron told from it, however, was that this person is really lonely and a little on the whackier side. When we asked Sandra for the analysis, she said that the puppet had the DNA of one Herbert Harrison on it. When we ask Herbert about his puppet on the crime scene, he says that the puppet is his best friend, until Tsering came along and taught him the ways of life. Ever since then, Herbert has been following Tsering's teachings and has been implying them in his own methods of teaching. Herbert said that Tsering was kind and inspirational, and helped him uncover the truth about himself. Later on, we find an $100 bill in the victim's bedroom, which belonged to a Gideon Smythe. When we meet Gideon and tell him the news of Tsering's death, Gideon acted shook. Gideon said he adored Tsering, as he was a wise old man. So much so that as one of the richer people in town, Gideon started to pay Tsering money as a thanks from everyone in the town. We later find a check Tsering used the money for. He spent it on a fancy dinner. We trace back the chef that cooked his food, one Zhong Jie. When we ask Zhong if he knew the victim, he said that Tsering was a good friend to everyone in the restaurant, and that he heard the horrible news. We later find a broken picture in the victim's room of him and Michella. When we ask Michella about the broken picture, she responds by saying that Tsering decided he doesn't need an assistant anymore, and that she was supposed to be let go from her job tomorrow. We also find a letter from Fabian to Christian, with Fabian saying that Christian should come home, rather than join a cult. When we ask Christian about his brother's letter, he tells us that Fabian was worried about him being a monk, and that Tsering knew this, as it was in his room. Later on, we reinvestigate the scene of the crime, and we find Herbert's broken glasses, scar cream for Gideon's scar, and a spatula with Zhong's name on it. We speak to Herbert about his broken glasses, and he said that he thought Tsering's ways of life were dumb, so he got into an argument with him. When we ask Gideon about his scar cream on the crime scene, he tells us that he was going to rob Tsering's house after his death to retrieve all the money he gave him. We warn Gideon about robbing and that next time he does it, it'll be the last. When we ask Zhong about his spatula in the crime scene, he said that Tsering stole it as he wanted a souvenir from the restaurant he commonly visits, which angered him tremendously.

## Killer And Motives

The killer turned out to be Zhong.

Upon admitting to the murder, Zhong reveals that he is Tsering's son, whom he sent away after joining the other monks. They haven't seen each other for 52 years. When Zhong finally managed to connect with his father again, Tsering sent him away, saying he never had a son. Zhong snapped and killed him.

Judge Virgo sentenced Zhong to 15 years in prison.

## Additional Investigation

After arresting Zhong, Christian comes to our base and tells us that Fabian wants to see us. He tells us that he picked up JUSTICE after doing research about secret organizations and published an article about them. He tells us that he came to us for protection as he's been getting a lot of death threats lately. Fabian attempts to show us a copy of the article but he realized that he lost it at the zen garden while waiting to talk to us, so Max and the player go to the zen garden and retrieve the article, except for the fact that it's torn up into pieces. After we repair it, we send it to Aaron Hall, the team's profiler. He tells us that there has been a recent murder in Salt Lake City, Utah, which has gone unsolved for quite some time. We head there next to solve the murder and so we can put another killer behind bars.

## Suspects

Christian Holmann (Traits: 1)Michella Barnett (Traits: 1, 2, 3, 4)Herbert Harrison (Traits: 1, 2, 3, 5)Gideon Smythe (Traits: 2, 3)Zhong Jie (Traits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)