Hidden Talents + Aftermath

Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country, September 12th, 8:00 A.M

After a good night's rest, Dan and Damien were ready to speak with Lyra, and hopefully she was ready speak to them. Hopefully they will also find the truth behind Peter's death. Daniel and Damien still lacked some essential information, the questions in Daniel's heads were also unanswered. During the night they had reviewed all the evidence they had gathered that day, they analysed the weeks leading up to the events. They still had many questions that they wanted to ask; off course, they couldn't just lay down all their inquiries on a single person as their questions had to be asked to separate questions.

Dan and Damien went down to Dan's car, entered it and Dan drove straight to the villa. They knew that they weren't going to find out the true identity of Peter's ghost was at that very moment. The DNA test was probably not complete yet.

Soon they arrived at the villa. They left the car and walked up the steps outside and entered the villa.

"Damien, would you mind waiting here, I would like to go find Diane and ask her politely to have everyone inside the villa to gather here in the foyer." Daniel stated.

"Yes, sir!" Damien replied. Daniel headed upstairs and to the master bedroom. He knocked upon her door and Diane soon opened the door.

"Yes, Daniel?" Diane asked.

"If you don't mind, I would like to gather everyone and ask them to meet us in the foyer. Would you do that for me, please?" Dan relayed.

"Yes, certainly." Diane stated. Daniel began walking back to the foyer. Diane followed behind him for some time before separating from him to complete the task that Dan had given her.

Daniel soon got back to the foyer. Soon after Diane made her appearance, with Fernando joining her. They were both carrying as many pots and pans as they could hold. Fernando was tall, about 179cm tall. He was wearing a toque. He had beautiful emerald eyes and his face looked Italian, with a thick moustache to complete his image. He also wore some sort of thin plastic see-through mask on his face and a hairnet to prevent any hairs from his head or his moustache from falling into the meals he prepared. He wore a white chef jacket, with only the two topmost buttons left unbuttoned, and his pants were black as black can be. His shoes shined and they were silver with black laces.

"Come on boys!" Diane announced, passing out some of the pots and pans to Daniel and Damien. "Let's make some noise."

The group simultaneously began to make some clamour by clanging and banging to draw everyone else's attention, the first to inspect the noise was a tall handsome grey-haired man. He was within 10 years of age of Diane. He wore a brown suit and a grey shirt underneath it. He was wearing a shining silver tie that reflected the morning light coming in through the window. He wore lovely black long pants with a brown belt which had a gold-plated belt. His eyes were a forest green. He also wore white shoes.

"Who are you?" Daniel inquired toward the unknown man, he was rather surprised to see this fellow, since he had never met this guy before.

"My name is Fredrick Lucrane." The man announced in a deep and somewhat theatrical voice. "Famous millionaire, philanthropist and Diane's husband; who, may I add, remains radiant after all these years." Diane giggled like a schoolgirl after Fedrick finished his speech.

"Hold on just a moment." Damien stated. "Where were you yesterday?"

"I was hiding inside the master bedroom, but I can confirm that I had no involvement with my son's demise." Fredrick replied. "I took a taxi up to this villa, that was the same day you showed up too. If you like, I remember the company I used, and you can call them to check."

"That's quite alright," Daniel noted. "I believe your story; Diane must have notified you about Peter's death."

"Yes, as I heard it, I believed it to be quite tragic. He collapsed to the ground and died soon after, that is the story she told me when I got there. I may not be a medical professional, but it did sound like he was poisoned."

"Quiet, but the autopsy report said it was an allergic reaction that caused Peter to pass away."

"That's preposterous!"

"That's what I thought. By the way, when were you notified about the wedding?"

"About three weeks beforehand, oddly enough, the date written within my invitation was off by one day."

"Would you happen to have any idea of the identity of the sender?"

"I can't be certain, it was a printed invitation, however, I do remember that the return address was this very villa."

Daniel's face changed as gears started turning in his head, this was an 'ah ha' moment. To Dan this was a vital clue. He believed that somebody that was at the Villa at least three weeks prior to the wedding sent out Fred's invitation. Only Diane knew who was present during said time.

"Diane, who was here three weeks ago?" Daniel inquired.

"Just Lyra and I." Diane relayed. Just like that, Daniel's hopes were tossed out the window. Sure, she had access to every room in the villa, but she had absolutely no reason to kill Peter and then spook Luisa. But despite this, Dan and Damien didn't have to go back to square one; after all, Fredrick had demonstrated that it was possible for even a man of his stature could have hidden in the villa without notice.

"Fernando, when did you arrive at the villa?" Dan inquired in order to have a timeline.

"I arrived two weeks ago. Diane asked me to gain knowledge of the local food and find something perfect to cook for the wedding night. I found the perfect thing to cook four days prior to the wedding." Fernando answered.

"So, you were absent for at least eight days before the wedding?"

"Si."

Suddenly Lyra, David and Alex all arrived almost simultaneously. Dan guessed that they all got dressed prior to investigating the racket they caused in the foyer.

Lyra was 154cm tall, blonde and around 21 years in age. Her hair was in a neat ponytail, there were 3 plastic roses in her do. Her eyes were sapphire. Her maid outfit was beautiful and very modest. Her figure was flattered well by it.

"What's going on?" David inquired, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Ah, father, looks like you're late as usual. You do know that the wedding was two days ago."

"Actually, I had arrived yesterday." Fredrick replied.

Dan noted that David seemed to be surprised by this fact.

"Say, how long have you been at the Villa, David?" Dan asked.

"I received my invitation about three months ago, my brother stated that he proposed to Luisa around that time. I was shocked to have received my invite so soon after he proposed. But enough about that, the answer to your inquiry is simply that I showed up the day prior to the wedding." David replied. However, his right shoulder twitched slightly. It was a tick, like he was lying, however, neither Dan nor Damien noticed it.

"How about you Lyra?" Dan sked.

"Three weeks ago. I was even invited as even us staffers are family to the Lucranes. I was invited three months ago too." Lyra replied in her light angelic voice.

"How about you, Alex?" Damien asked.

"I too received my invitation three months ago, however, I only made my arrival the day before the wedding." Alex replied.

"One more question for you Lyra." Daniel stated. "According to Diane, you cleaned Peter's room and adjoining bathroom. Do you happen to recall if there were any scratches upon the bathroom tiles?"

"Yes, there were scratches on the bathroom floor. I tried my best, but all that happened was I made them very faded and what was left was almost clear. I don't know when they got there, or how they got there. All I know is that they weren't there two years ago." Lyra replied.

This clue that Lyra provided was as good as gold, it proved that there was indeed an extra person in the villa while Diane, Fernando and Lyra were all working tirelessly to get ready for the wedding. It also meant that during the day that Luisa was spooked, someone had moved the tile again as Dan recalled the scratches being darker, fresher. But who was in the villa? Daniel was uncertain of the identity of the person it was. But he knew he was inching closer to the point where he would finally unravel this mystery.

Dan now knew that someone had been preparing to scare Luisa for some time, but in order to do so they had to make certain that Luisa would be staying in the guest room. Daniel was now certain that the person who pretended to be Peter's ghost and the person who killed Peter were one in the same.

Dan almost had every piece he required to close this case. He just needed to explain one last thing. An issue that had been eating at his brain, one he was not able to correct. According to Damien, Diane had changed her story. Dan had to figure out why!

Daniel and Damien left the foyer and went into the dining room; the room hadn't been touched since Dan had investigated the room yesterday.

"So, have you figured it out yet?" Damien inquired.

"Not yet, I can't figure out why Diane changed her story." Dan replied.

"Yes, I thought that was odd too. But don't worry Dan," Damien relayed and patted Dan on the back. "I agree that this isn't the easiest case we have had, but you know, not all cases can be solved just like that." Damien finished his statement by clicking his fingers for emphasis.

Daniel froze briefly in thought. "That's it!" He exclaimed. The mystery had finally unravelled in his mind. He could see the solution with crystal clarity; who could have guessed that he could figure out the case just because someone did something as simple as clicking ones fingers.

"What is it, Daniel?" Damien exclaimed with excitement. He couldn't wait for Daniel to tell him the answer.

"You have a hidden talent; one that you never told anybody, but you know you have that talent."

Damien's excitement turned into confusion. What did talents have to do with the crime. But he chose to answer Daniel's statement regardless.

"That's true. Don't tell anyone this, but I'm rather good at singing in the shower." Damien relayed.

"I'm certain you're not the only one who does that. Regardless, our killer had two talents. One of which he showed the whole world, and a different talent that he kept hidden from everyone else. That's not all however, I believe the killer has a plan and he is still in phase two of that plan." Daniel deduced.

"A plan?"

"Yes. The first phase was to kill Peter; phase two is to have Luisa end up in an insane asylum."

"Why would the killer go through the effort?"

"Perhaps there's a clause in the will that prevented the killer from gaining access to the money if Luisa was proven to be of sound mind."

"I'm guessing you have a plan to catch this killer?"

"I certainly do!" He then whispered his brilliant plan into Damien's ear. Damien then headed off to set up Daniel's plan.

Lucrane Villa, 7:30 P.M

Darkness was beginning to fall upon the Lucrane villa when David heard some sort of commotion happening outside; he ran to the door to see what was happening. Luisa was on a gurney, in a straight-jacket. Screaming, shaking and battling. An ambulance was there, and the two people manning the vehicle were about to lift her up.

David walked outside and saw Damien. He walked to him.

"Hello Damien, would you be able to clarify what is happening here?" David inquired.

"I'm sorry, but your sister-in-law has just been diagnosed as mentally unstable. They are taking her to the nearest mental institution. Again, I am sorry." Damien explained. David put on a shocked face, but his shoulder twitched slightly and Damien did notice it, but stayed mute about it, as not to ruin Daniel's plan.

"Let me through, I need to contact Luisa's parents about this, they need to know." He passed by Damien an entered the Villa. He headed to the room containing the fireplace and picked up the landline phone in the room, but there was no dial tone.

Suddenly Daniel appeared from nowhere giving David a little shock.

"What's the matter? Can't get a signal?" Daniel inquired.

"I was just about to contact Luisa's parents." David replied. His shoulder twitched again.

"Oh really. You know I have a hard time believing that. You see, I happened to have obtained a copy of your brother's will from his attorney, and from what is written in it, it would appear that you had a motive to kill him and then fake his spiritual appearance."

"That's not true!"

"Isn't it? I mean, you did have the ability to pull this charade off; you are a magician and as such you would naturally know how to do something known as: 'slight of hand.' You switched out a perfectly maintained bottle of red wine with one you had doctored with poison. You had hidden that bottle underneath the table prior to the dinner occurring. But I noticed there's room enough for two bottles. You must have had white wine in there too, just in case. You are the only person who could have poisoned him."

"Ok, that sounds like quite the story, but hasn't it been mentioned that I too drank the same draft as my brother did."

"Thanks for the reminder. I do believe the tale of the night stated that you spat your wine out. You made everyone believe it was because you had been with alcoholics anonymous for three months. I asked around, and oddly enough, the part about AA is true."

"That's a fair point, but it couldn't have been poison, he died from an allergic reaction."

"Yes, that is what the autopsy report suggested, but it was a doctored report, you had persuaded the coroner to change is opinion and once I have proven you guilty, I can get a re-examination of the corpse."

"Oh yeah? How are you going to prove that I'm guilty?"

"Yes. That. There was something that kept bugging me; the fact thT Diane changed her story straight after we returned from getting that fake autopsy report. I believe the reason that happened was the same reason there was a fake autopsy report in the first place, you had hypnotised her to shift her memories so she would believe that Peter did die from nothing more than an allergic reaction."

"That sounds both convoluted yet possible, however you can't prove that I hypnotised either Everett or Diane."

"Perhaps I can't. But yesterday when Damien came to speak to you in your room, he noticed that you had DVDs about hypnotism in plain sight. However when the ambulance and Luisa distracted you, I came in and couldn't see those DVDs, but I did find the movable ceiling panel, and the underside of a very loose bath tile."

"So?"

"My discovery indicates that you had access to Peter's room; I have recently deduced that the person who spooked Luisa has to be the same person who killed Peter, and that man is you!"

"Where's your proof, doctor? All this time you have been prattling on about your deductions, yet I haven't seen a shred of evidence backing your silly stories."

"I have proof. You made one fatal error, when you disguised yourself as Peter's ghost, you had to head back to your room in a hurry because Luisa screamed and drew our attention. You put the hat, clock and shoes away hastily and escaped before giving yourself a moment to notice that you had left a strand of your hair behind. I'm expecting a call on my walkie-talkie any moment now about the results of the DNA test I had the police in Santa Rosa perform. Hopefully the results will be able to put you behind bars."

David sneered, but he knew there was only one avenue of escape left. He was going to do the one thing he was waiting to do since Daniel had arrived. David was going to hypnotise Dr D S Smith.

"Daniel, you are starting to feel sleepy." David announced; suddenly Damien came in and pointed his tranquiliser dart gun at David.

"You better stop, otherwise it will be you who will be feeling sleepy." Damien announced. He was smiling slightly as if not to laugh at his own humour.

"Why did you do it?" Daniel inquired as Damien took out his cuffs.

"I needed the money; I had an enormous debt to pay. But my magic shows were not generating enough money. They told me I had a year to clear my debt, or else something horrible would happen to me. I knew that both my mother and father had cut me off, but my brother still had me in his will. But to my dismay, he sent me that dreaded wedding invitation, I had to find out if he adjusted his will for his soon to be spouse. I went to his lawyers office and he did rewrite his will. Luisa was now the prime benefactor and I would only get 10% unless Luisa was either declared mentally ill or if she died. Killing her would have driven more suspicion on to me, so I went with making her go insane."

"But why would you go to all this trouble when you could have explained the situation. As far as I have heard, your brother was such a kind and caring soul that, like me, he looked upon his staff as family and not mere tools to through cash and insults at. I'm certain he would have helped you."

"To be honest Dan. I didn't know how anybody would react. I was too afraid to ask. I didn't even consider any other options either."

Damien placed David into a police cruiser that was hidden in a dark corner of a villa and the Santa Rosa authorities took him away.

Aftermath

David Lucrane got sentenced to life in prison; a much higher price than whatever debt he needed to pay off.

Luisa claimed her inheritance, but she didn't need to spend her life in a mental facility as her condition on the gurney was all a lie to bring David out of the woodwork. Even though David explained the truth and his reasons and even apologising, none of the jurors gave him even an ounce of pity.

Luisa proclaimed a new dream, she became an actress and a brilliant one at that since she didn't know how much inert talent she had until Damien had her act so convincingly. She moved on and found a new man to love. Even though she was with someone else, the Lucrane's still accepted her as family. She would return to the villa on the dreadful night that Peter passed yearly, but not to mourn his loss, but to celebrate the new life she lives. She would bare a male child and named him Peter, after the man she didn't even get a chance to shard her life with.

So, all in all, Daniel had solved yet another complex mystery, in which the results only came out because someone (you know who) did something simple: click their fingers.

The End!