"The culprit is you, Rex Talyonis!" Shellin pointed at the man.
"M-Me?" he asked.
"That's right. You're the only one who could do it."
"B-But it's not me! I just happened to have no other small boxes!"
"It's true that I don't have any concrete evidence to get you. All of it is just circumstantial. But you're the only one who could do it. I suggest you find a really good lawyer to defend yourself."
"No! It's not me! Please believe me!"
The knights walked towards him, "Please go with us to the barracks."
"P-Please! No! It's not me! I swear!" tears formed in his eyes.
Amelia clapped her hand.
"Alright. That's enough. Good effort in your deduction, Shellin", Amelia said.
"Effort? What are you trying to say?" he asked.
"Like I said. It's just an effort. If I left you alone, we would have sent an innocent guy to prison."
"So are you saying my deduction is wrong?"
"Yes... It's believable but you overlooked one important detail. To pierce flesh, an ice has to be really cold and hard. It's impossible for Rex's magic tool to do that."
"What do you mean it's impossible? His magic tool makes things stay cold! It would be easy to keep it hard and cold for long periods of time!"
"Yes. It would be possible to make it cold and hard... But remember, it's not the only thing in the tool. If the temperature of the tool is that cold, then the other contents should be frozen solid."
Shellin walked towards the tool and took out a can of beer. He opened it and spilled the contents on the floor. Yellow liquid poured from the can.
"See? It's not frozen solid. That's why your ice trick is completely impossible", Amelia said.
"... So I was wrong?" Shellin asked.
"Yes. But it's an honest mistake. That's also what I would've suspected if I wasn't observant of the fact that the beer wasn't frozen."
"You said you know who the culprit is. Care to tell us your deduction?" I asked her.
"I'll be glad to. And I'll have you know, I am not like Shellin who is satisfied with circumstantial evidence. I have evidence that will put the murderer behind bars."
"What kind of evidence do you have?" Shellin asked.
"The murder weapon."
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise when she said that.
"You mean the murder weapon is still here?" I asked.
"Yes... The culprit had the murder weapon with her. I was surprised how creative she was."
"She? Our murderer is a girl?" Shellin asked.
"Yes. It's you, Justin Santana!" she pointed at the maid.
"Me?" the maid asked.
"You knew that Rex would be bringing in a magic tool containing the beers. That's why you set up the camouflage trick to deceive the detectives here. You deliberately poured water on the room and made the heater go to the maximum. That's how you deceived Shellin. As for wiping away the blood on the weapon, you had no choice but to do that. If you didn't wipe it away, then the knights would instantly find the weapon."
"But what is the weapon?" Shellin asked.
"The weapon is still on her body. A sharpened bra wire."
"B-Bra wire?!" Rex asked.
If I remembered correctly, a bra wire was a metal placed in a woman's bra. It was used to support the breasts.
"That's right. Justin sharpened one end of the bra wire and stabbed it into Chrissy's neck using her weight.'"
"Wait a minute! What makes you think she used her bra wire to kill Chrissy? If you said that she wiped the blood from it, then even you shouldn't be able to think of that", Shellin told her.
"Even Ranpo told you of your bad habit, Shellin."
"Bad habit?"
"Once you think of a plausible solution, your mind becomes closed and you stop observing things around you. You became fixated on the ice trick that you missed one strange action that Justin did. You were even nearby when she did it."
"Strange action?", I asked.
"When Justin was reaching for Chrissy's diary that was on the bookshelf, she first used her right arm. However, she stopped and later used her left arm. From what I observed, she was right-handed and it wouldn't make sense why she would switch to her non-dominant hand. I later concluded that it was because her wire had started poking into her arm. It hurt too much so she had to switch hands."
"... Just from that... You figured it out?" Justin asked.
"One of Ranpo's lessons to us was "The mistakes a person makes when in a hurry can be very important clues." The careless mistake you made caused me to realize that your movement was strange and it didn't take me long to piece things together."
"As expected of the great Amelia Watson... I admit defeat."
###
Shellin, Amelia, and I were walking away from Chrissy's house.
"I got it... You win this time. What's the current record again?" Shellin asked.
"I got 69 wins and 58 losses against you. I am the better student", Amelia answered.
"It's only because you're a woman that's why you thought of the bra wire."
"Excuses excuses. All I'm hearing is the yapping of a sore loser."
"But why would the maid kill Chrissy?" I asked.
"It's just a hunch but I think it involved the blonde woman in the photographs we found in the box underneath Chrissy's bed", Amelia answered.
"That's what I think too. Justin and the blonde woman look really similar to each other so they must be related. But what matters now is the case is closed", Shellin added.
"Why are you even here, Shellin?" Amelia asked.
"Oh... I'm just taking a short vacation. You see, I found an interesting case."
"What case?" I asked.
"What if I told you there's a huge underground organization that existed since the Dark Times?"
"Organization?" Amelia asked.
"Yes. It's a really huge organization that has roots all over the world. I heard they recently appeared in the Peafowl Kingdom and after digging through, I found out that they also had activities in Westa."
Don't tell me...
"It's called the Unkindness."
###
A/N: The clash between the two is over and the winner is, of course, Amelia. Sorry, Shellin. But she's been around longer than you is a much more important character. If you liked Shellin's cameo in this chapter and how he fought against Amelia, then tell me cause I may or may not make a few more mystery cases (Even if this isn't a mystery fanfiction). I mean... Imagine Spade Echo facing off against the two detectives.
