A Simple Matter of Murder!

**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!*
* **Dooley (Buck):** *He's my brother. He don't like to work hard, so one of the workers gave 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 myself, 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 bandanna 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 (bandanna):** *The fumes can be a bit much in the brewery. When the men work in there, they wear bandannas.*

### 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 (bandanna):** *The strange thing is - Wilkins weren't wearin' no bandanna when I was talkin' to him. Only the workmen in the brewery wear bandannas. 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 (bandanna):** *Well, I was inside the brewery all day. I wear me bandanna 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

The murder was Coulton, unhappy with his superior. An altercation between a boy and a workman ends in death for the workman! The boy remembers lifting a knife, but not the actual killing. Did he do it? No! In fact, the dead worker, one John Wilkins, heard screams and ran to offer assistance. Once there he found the boy unconscious and another workman, Tom Coulton, standing unharmed. But Coulton, long angry with Wilkins, thought fast and stabbed the man with the boy's knife. He then put his own bandanna over Wilkins' face! Quick thinking, however, did not win out. Coulton has been unmasked as the murderer! - Henry Raymond

## Reference

* *Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - The Dreadful Crimes*