“How likely is it that the little girl has done something? Could she have been used to kill the old man?”

“Unlikely.” River denied the possibility almost immediately. “For a simple reason: She’s a girl. She’s not worth much in this society. If someone could come in here without invitation, it would be the sons. With invitation it’s a different matter, but unless she’s incredibly outstanding, an old man like that would rather spend time with his grandsons.”

“That worthless? Hmm, she seems pretty docile. Unless her grandfather was very kind, I can’t imagine her daring to approach him.” The timid little shadow had done nothing except crying so far. “Next room?”

“Yes.”

Most rooms in this corner looked to be the old man’s private quarters. Only after checking a couple more doors did they get to what looked like servant’s rooms, followed by guest rooms at the end.

The first of those was surprisingly large.

“For special guests?”, Aspen guessed after looking at the carefully decorated room. Most of the materials looked expensive. “Like family, I imagine? It looks somewhat lived-in.”

“Can you look through here? I want to find the aunt’s room before the play continues.” With a short look into the wardrobe, River found both male and female clothing. This wasn’t her place.

Aspen merely lifted a thumb up and started going through the room.

Leaving this to him, River continued glancing into the other rooms. It was only at the far end that he found a room with only female things.

The aunt hadn’t unpacked anything. All of her belongings were in a single chest to the side, likely being taken care of by a personal maid.

River opened it up and went through her things.

Underwear, clothes, makeup and some accessoires. Beautiful writing paper and ink. Everything was only the barest necessities. It looked as if she was ready to run at any moment.

“If you’re the murderer, what reason do you have?”, he whispered into the room. There was nothing suspicious in her chest, and neither were there any written notes that might give him information.

The room was bare.

It was clear that most of the inventory here belonged to the house.

River went through all of the bedding and looked at any suspicious place, as he had done in the old man’s room, but nothing appeared.

Sitting on the ground, he leaned his head onto his hand.

A case without spoken words. The old man’s room was suspicious enough that he was certain that this was about finding a murderer, but the assumed murder weapon was too easy to hide.

There had to be traces that would allow him to figure everything out. Normally, you’d go around asking witnesses and people nearby, but-

...A witness?

A little girl that acted incredibly frightened, could it be not because she was troubled by her grandfather’s death, but because she had seen something?

There was no telling how much time he would have for this segment. River half sprinted across the courtyard, hoping that finding the room that belonged to her would be easy enough. He couldn’t tell the girls’ rooms apart without an additional hint.

However, the setting wasn’t that cruel. A plate with the same snacks he had seen the married woman carry before was placed into one room that visibly belonged to a young female.

River frowned as he looked around.

Half of the childrens’ rooms were as he would have expected; mostly learning material and quite bare. The other half, though, had a number of toys in all kinds of different designs.

This little girl was one of them. Was it the second son’s children? Why them?

The girl had a whole playing corner. She had her own “treasure boxes”, filled with tiny trinkets, and a simple vase full with origami stars. It was half filled.

River reached out to turn the small note that was tied around the vase’s neck with a cute bow up to read it.

Every time you finish one of the books, make a star and throw it in here. When it’s filled, maybe a little spirit will come to exchange it with a present!

The handwriting was beautiful. It was more calligraphy than normal writing, and decorated with tiny flowers on the edge.

River rubbed over the flower motif. It was the same paper he had seen in the aunt’s room.

It was hard to imagine that an unmarried woman would have so much money to buy toys for children, especially considering they weren’t her own.

He wanted to look more through the room, when a loud noise made him run outside.

He wasn’t the only one reacting to it, Aspen was visible in the hallway on the other side and the door to the funeral hall opened. A number of shadows ran out, surprised shouts everywhere, and the men sprinted towards one of the rooms.

Curses came from inside.

Because he couldn’t get too close to avoid touching the shadows, River had to try and see inside from a distance.

Rhythm was balancing on a corner of the bedframe, trying not to lean onto the soft mattress or blanket and pillow while avoiding to touch the numerous shadows that surrounded a huge, destroyed vase.

Other items were lying around as well, likely knocked over by the large porcelain vase. The entirety of everything falling had made such a noise.

River rubbed his wrinkled forehead and closed his eyes. Aspen just looked at Rhythm as if he was an idiot and the man flushed, cursing louder. “Shit! It wasn’t on purpose!”

“Great, what if they think there’s a burglar running around now”, Honey scolded loudly after joining the scene. “This was the perfect time for looking around and you messed it up!”

“Yes, yes! Now if anyone please would help me out of here?!”

Crisis pulled a face and picked up a stone before throwing it over the low building. Hearing another suspicious noise, about half of the men went after it while a quarter returned to the frightened women. The few that stayed around the room did not take up a lot of space, allowing Rhythm to leave the room while patting his chest.

“How did that happen? Don’t you know you have to be careful?”

“I was trying to check up on the ceiling”, Rhythm grumbled. “I thought there was something weird about it. I must have somehow knocked against the vase.”

“Were you at least able to see what it was?”

Rhythm shook his head. “I checked - no door. It’s not here.”

The group of three people sighed.

Aspen joined River and looked up at him with his wide, almost innocent eyes. “Found the room?”

River took a few steps back to gain a distance from the other group. “Yes. I believe that there is something weird about her, and about the girl, as well. She might be a witness.”

“I didn’t find anything in that other room. It looks pretty normal to me.” He scratched his cheek. “How much time has passed?”

In response, River began to walk towards their starting point. Much more time than expected had passed. River’s brows furrowed.

“Let’s watch what happens until the end.”

“Got it. I’ll be leaving a bit earlier to check out the locked drawers in the old man’s room?”

River hesitated. “Maybe not this round. It might distort the ending point.”

“As you say. Actually, once you’re sure who it is, couldn’t you plant false evidence or fake another crime?”

River subconsciously pulled a face and Aspen laughed.

“Don’t look like that. I’ll go along with whatever you want to do - it’s much more interesting. You don’t just want to end the game, right?”

“I want it to be solved completely”, River forced out with a hint of awkwardness. “Simply ending it is… not the same.”

“Okay, okay. Tell me what to do and I’ll help.” Aspen easily gave in.

River found his behaviour surprising. Aspen was amazingly supportive, but then again, the reason why Aspen followed him at all was not because he wanted to leave this place alive by all means.

It was because… Well, why? An interest, maybe. A shared feeling, a connection.

As he had said, he liked the River that happily solved the puzzle placed before him. That this also resulted in ensuring their safety was more of a coincidence.