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When Detective Lieutenant Elliot first heard about Harlan Thrombeys death, he had a sinking suspicion that he would be assigned to case. As one of the more senior, and experienced detectives, it makes sense that he would be assigned to a high-profile case like this, even if it appeared to be a suicide. If they assigned one of the more junior detectives, the Thrombeys were likely to start trouble, and with their money… well, it probably wouldn’t be good PR to say the least. So, when he eventually did get assigned, he accepted with a resigned roll of his eyes. At least it should be relatively quick, if the initial reports proved to be true. Hearing that state trooper Wagner had volunteered to assist him on the case was not a surprise either. Wagner had always been a fan of the mystery murder genre, especially Harlan’s books. Still, from what Elliott could remember, Wagner was both friendly and competent when they had worked together in the past, so overall he was glad that Wagner was going to be there to help him. Elliott just hoped the family wouldn’t be a pain to deal with.
After the initial round of interviews, Elliot had managed to get a general timeline of the night of Harlan’s death. There had been a party, everything seemed to have gone smoothly, people had gone to bed or left, and then…Harlan had slit his throat, killing himself almost instantly. From what the coroner had told him and what he had seen himself, Elliot felt it was safe to say it was a suicide. The blood patterns had shown that no one had been in front of Harlan when he died, therefore no one besides Harlan himself could have used that knife. Physical evidence didn’t lie. Of course, Elliot had considered the notion that Harlan had been blackmailed or otherwise forced into killing himself, but…the motives just didn’t work out. Elliot had spoken to every member of the family, they were all benefitting financially off of Harlan, so they had no reason to want him dead. The people at the party who weren’t family had no reason to want to see Harlan dead if he was their employer (especially because Harlan paid well). So, with no motive that he could see and the undeniable physical evidence, Elliot was just about ready to wrap this case up. Good thing too, unlike Wagner Elliot had no love for the murder mystery vibe the house had, the place was just flat out weird.
Typical. Just when he had been about to declare the case an official suicide, his old friend Benoit Blanc shows up, because of course, things just couldn’t be easy. Neither the family nor Harlan’s staff had any motive for killing Harlan, and besides, physical evidence doesn’t lie. Again, no one had been standing in front of Harlan when he died meaning no one had used the knife except him, and there was no evidence for blackmail, so just what was Blanc doing here? Just…..great. You know what, it was fine, it was fine. Benny was a friend, someone who had assisted Elliott with a case or two before, and was a world famous detective. The job of a Lieutenant Detective was to make sure all the facts were known and to make sure the criminals were caught. If Blanc could help with that, then Elliott would be glad to have him consult. Wagner was overjoyed of course. Elliott remembers just a month ago, Wagner had been eagerly reading the New Yorker’s story about Blanc at the station. Ever since Wagner had met Blanc he had been struggling to restrain his admiration for the detective, and that was when he wasn’t referencing one of Harlan’s books. Still, as long as Wagner was doing his job, Elliott wouldn’t complain, to tell the truth he actually found it slightly amusing. Now however, Blanc wanted another round of interviews with the grieving family. Well if that’s what he needed to put his mind at rest, then Elliott would be happy to oblige.
The second round of interviews went…..well, unexpected was probably the best word to use. Blanc’s sharp questioning had revealed a lot of the family’s dirty laundry. Richard’s affair, Walt’s firing, Joni being cut off from her allowance, Ransom’s argument. Elliott had known that the family wasn’t as picture perfect as they appeared to be on first glance, but the extent of the family’s internal conflicts were much deeper than Elliott had expected. Still, all of the possible motives that Blanc threw out were weak, weaker still without any corroborating evidence to back up his theories. A weak motive, no means, and the timeline of the night showed no opportunity. All that added up to a weak case that would get laughed out of court, especially with a good lawyer. Elliott respected Blanc, and knew that he was a great detective and investigator, but Elliott just couldn’t see the possibility of a murder. To add in another unexpected twist, now Blanc had admitted that he didn’t even know who had hired him to investigate this case. Elliott suspected it was just a nosy reporter, desperate to get a juicy story out of this case. But there wasn’t. As Elliott went over the full, detailed timeline of the night with Blanc, Elliott remained convinced that the Harlan’s death was a suicide. Still, Elliott was content to let Blanc continue investigating, maybe Benny would find something Elliott and his team hadn’t.
Much as he hated to admit it, Elliott was starting to get the feeling that Blanc had been right that it could have been a murder. The day had begun with a search of the grounds of the house with Wagner, Blanc, and Marta Cabrera. The first twist of the day had been the relatively fresh footprints on the side gate entrance to the house. Unfortunately, most of them had been destroyed by Marta and the dogs (because of course). Oh well, at least the security camera footage they had gotten was sure to be helpful. The second twist was the secret entrance to the top floor of the house, close to Harlan’s bedroom and study (of course Wagner had been ecstatic to see it). A perfect way to avoid the creaky stairs, and judging by the broken off piece of trellis, someone else had figured that out as well. This secret entrance had thrown off the entire timeline of the night, there was probably no way of knowing who had climbed the terries, or at what time. Then, the third twist of the day, and boy had it been the most dramatic. Marta Cabrera was the sole inheritor of all of Harlan’s assets, published works, and the house. Wow. Elliott wasn’t one to speak his mind on personal affairs, that wasn’t his job, but he had to agree that at least some of the Thrombeys had it coming to them. The changed will had caused quite a scene, with Linda even trying to force them to leave (and Wagner actually trying to go, it’ll take years for Elliott to let him live that down). Still, now Elliott had seen the family’s true colors, and he wasn’t sure that anyone of them wouldn’t become murderers if their inheritance was on the line. Safe to say, Elliott had had enough twists and turns in the case for one day. He could just hope that the next day would have some return to normalcy.
Huh. That was…unexpected. First, the Medical Examiner’s office had gone up in flames, taking all the evidence along with it (Elliott felt sorry for the poor bastards who was going to have to deal with the paperwork), then the car chase with Marta and Ransom. It had been the dumbest car chase of his entire career sure, with a car that could barely go above 65, but still a car chase for a case that not even a week ago Elliott had thought was a suicide. Now this, Ransom was telling them the apparent truth of Harlan’s death. Marta had apparently accidently switched the medicine vials, gave Harlan enough morphine to kill him, then to apparently protect Marta, had killed himself. Not a suicide, but not exactly a murder either. One thing was bothering Elliott, well there were multiple things bothering him, but the main one was the destruction of the Medical Examiner’s office. Initial reports had stated that the destruction was deliberate, a clear act of arson. While Elliott wasn’t a world-renowned detective, he was still good at his job. He could connect the dots, the destruction of the medical examiner’s office was related to this case, to Harlan’s bloodwork still inside with the tox report that had yet to be given to the police. The strange thing was though, that Ransom hadn’t said anything about the medical examiner’s office. He was spilling everything, giving them all the answers they needed, except that one. Miss Cabrera didn’t seem like the type to destroy a building, but she had a strong motive to do so, and It would easy for Ransom to pin it on her. Except he wasn’t. He mentioned someone was blackmailing Miss Cabrera with the toxicology report exposing her guilt of accidently switching the vials, and that perhaps someone had destroyed the building to have the only copy left. But who, who would have known? No one else had been with Harlan and Marta that fateful night and it was unlikely that Marta had told anyone except Ransom. Also, just how had they gotten a report before the police? To Elliott it just wasn’t adding up. Ransom’s version of the truth was too simple, no, something else was going on in this case.
The call from Blanc had only complicated things further. Fran, Harlan’s housekeeper, was now in the hospital after being given a dangerous dose of morphine. To make matters even more confusing, Marta was the one who had found her. Now Fran was in critical condition, with only a small chance to survive. But why had they met in an abandoned building, was Fran the one supposedly blackmailing Marta? Who had given her the morphine, Marta? If so, why had Marta called 911 to save her? Elliott just sighed, now even more bewildered. None of these signs conclusively pointed to Fran blackmailing Marta, so just who was it then? Elliott suspected he’d get his answers soon enough, Blanc wanted everyone back at the house. Elliott could only assume he was going to unravel the whole case in front of everyone, in typical detective fashion. Well, at least Wagner would be excited.
Elliott had had twists and surprises in his cases before, but nothing like he had just seen. The whole thing just made him want to take a vacation, truth be told. Just as he had predicted, Blanc had woven a perfect tale full of twists and deception. It seemed ridiculous at first, and he had tried to object, but after a giddy hush from Wagner, Elliott just decided to go along for the ride. In his typical dramatic fashion, Blanc revealed that it was Ransom who was the mastermind behind everything. While Elliott was wrong about Harlan’s death being solely suicide, he could at least take solace that he hadn’t believed Ransom’s story. Now it was all over, Ransom was in custody (for multiple murders, and an attempted murder) and Marta Cabrera was the undisputed inheritor of Harlan’s fortune. All in all, Elliott had gained another level of respect for Blanc’s detective skills. He had taken a case that Elliott had thought was an open and shut case of suicide, and exposed a dark conspiracy of a person willing to kill their own grandfather, just for money. Well, Elliott had to admit it was probably the most exciting case in his career. Elliott doubted that they would have another case like this anytime in the near future, but if there was one thing this investigation had taught him, it was that there are answers that seem obvious and make sense at first, but if you look deeper, that’s where you really find the truth.