Trigger Happy Equines

“ALLOW ME TO CUT THROUGH THOSE WORDS!”

Pinkie’s Keycard <> trapped in place

< Argument Break >

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Yoko, but you seem to have missed a very important detail.”

“Oh yeah?” Yoko asked. “What’s that?”

“Dopple discovered it earlier when we needed to inspect Pinkie’s locker. She pulled on the keycard around Pinkie’s neck and the cord snapped.”

“It did?” Yoko turned to Dopple, fear splashed across his face. “You’re strong enough to snap the rope just by pulling it!? I told you she was scary!”

“That’s not it,” I continued. “I was with Dopple at the time. She may have pulled it with a little force but it broke free way too easily. Not only that but the break was clean, as if it had been neatly cut with a knife. Also, there was a small amount of residue on each end of the cord. It can only mean one thing: the killer cut Pinkie’s keycard free from her neck and used it to open her locker. Then they used the keycard again to remove her body and glued the two ends together around Pinkie’s neck so we wouldn’t suspect that anything of the sort had happened. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t do a good enough job. I think they tried to apply as little glue as possible so as not to tip us off but inadvertently made the bond weak under pressure.”

“Wow,” Yoko replied, his eyes wide. “I had no idea that had happened.” He exhaled sadly then chuckled. “You’re a pretty smart cookie, you know?”

“Indeed!” Maribelle said cheerfully, clapping her hooves together. “We are truly blessed by your presence!”

“Way to go!” Inky cried, leaping into the air and extending a hoof.

“I must admit,” Scalpel said, “you’ve given us some very important information. Now we may be closer to solving this mystery.”

“I’m also impressed,” Shetland added, grinning proudly.

“I don’t know,” I said, blushing. “I was just lucky enough to–”

“Greyscale?”

I looked up and saw Mesmer eyeing me unscrupulously, his jaw clenched. “Yes?”

“You claim glue was used to put the cord back together?”

I blinked. “Well, yeah.”

“And it couldn’t have been anything else?” Mesmer continued to stare me down.

“Of course not. Dopple saw it too; it couldn’t have been tape, velcro or putty or it would’ve been much more obvious. From the way the residue looked it had to be some kind of glue, probably superglue.”

Mesmer continued to study me in silence, meeting my gaze unflinchingly. “Okay,” he finally said, emitting a quiet snort. “You think the killer used glue? We’ll see whether that theory holds up to scrutiny soon enough. But fine, let’s accept that the killer was able to remove Pinkie’s keycard and tried to cover up that fact.”

I couldn’t figure out if Mesmer agreed with me or not. His words didn’t seem to make much sense. “The keycard wasn’t loose,” I stated. “When Dr. Scalpel moved the body–”

“The keycard was swinging as it hung from Pinkie’s neck,” Mesmer finished promptly. “Yes, I know. I witnessed it.”

I felt a surge of anger build up within me. “Are you saying Dr. Scalpel held the keycard with her telekinesis? That the keycard was always loose?”

“Absolutely not,” Mesmer replied stoically. “If that were the case it would have been spotted much earlier when the Doctor and Maribelle performed an autopsy. Plus, did you forget that Dopple had to apply some force to beak it free? Or that there was residue on the rope?”

I was utterly seething, but I didn’t have the words or wherewithal to strike back. It was as if he was testing me, dismissing my breakthroughs as pathetic drivel to make himself look smart. So why would he bring it up? I wondered. What other way could this possibly have happened!?

“Moving on,” Dopple said, throwing me a worried look, “we can at least acknowledge that the killer would’ve been able to gain access to Pinkie’s locker and store her body there.”

Elsie groaned loudly. “And still we haven’t been able to whittle down the suspects!”

“I’m sure we can,” Shetland said, stroking his chin. “We just need to put all of our clues together.”

“I’m so confused,” Reph said painedly. “I keep trying to put the puzzle pieces together but I end up with nothing!”

“I know what you mean,” Copper said uneasily, “but we should take it just a few steps at a time. Let’s look at who was capable of pulling off this murder given what we know.”

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Mesmer’s attitude had left me rattled but there were more important things at stake. Making a concerted effort not to look in his direction I clenched my jaw, awaiting the next debate. I was now more determined than ever to find Pinkie’s killer.

Truth Bullets

Pinkie’s Room

Male Lockers

Machine Gun Cameras

Monobunny File #1

Pinkie’s Towel

Copper: From the looks of things, the killer hid Pinkie’s body inside her locker.

Reph: S-so was she killed before the search or while the search was ongoing?

Scalpel: Couldn’t it have been either?

Sanscript: Wouldn’t it make more sense if she was killed before the search? If it occurred in the middle of it the killer wouldn’t have been able to formulate a plan.

Dopple: Add to the fact that anyone might have been physically capable of the murder.

Inky: Except for Button, ‘cause he has weak little legs!

Button: Hey! I’m no weakling! I could break someone’s neck if I wanted to!

Maribelle: You shouldn’t say such things or you might incriminate yourself.

Dish Panner: Are we sure we couldn’t narrow down the suspects in another way? From my perspective with the trial going the way it is, it must have been a unicorn.

Shetland: I guess they would have it easier in terms of telekinesis, but is there anything else that would point to the use of magic?

Yoko: What about the swing doors into each locker room? There’s huge gaps above and below the doors so you wouldn’t need to breach, or whatever it was you called it. They could float anything in there no problem.

Copper: Monobunny did point out that levitating a living body is against the rules but a lifting a dead body isn’t.

Elsie: How rude! You’re all jumping to erroneous conclusions! You wouldn’t need magic to do such a thing, anyone could have waltzed inand hid Pinkie’s body!

Mesmer: An interesting thought…

Inky: But then, we’ve gotten nowhere! How can I avenge Pinkie like this!?

Something questionable was said here. If I point it out, maybe it can lead us to the truth.