9. The Watson must not conceal his thoughts...

So, Chris was actually trying to write "mom"...? Did YOU kill him, Ann?

No, I didn't. I never told Chris I was his mother.

I was wondering why you two seemed so chummy... Now it all makes sense.

That was a long time ago, Ms. Dorothy. Whatever Aaron and I had was over long before you met him.

I acted as if we weren't actually related...because I thought having a family would make me weak...

We can tell from Chris's response that she is telling the truth. He died without ever knowing who his mother was.

As such, he would never have accused Ann by writing the word "mom."

No, I believe that he simply meant to tell us that his killer was a mother, if not necessarily his own.

Hang on. You cannot base all of this simply on Chris's dying message!

A scant few letters written in the blood of a dying man leave quite a lot open to interpretation.

Hmm. I suppose you do have a point. Perhaps a victim's dying message is not sufficient proof.

Very well then, let us take a more roundabout approach. If we remove all other possible suspects via the process of elimination, I'm certain none of you will have any objections.

What do you mean by that?

Your alibis for the time of Chris's murder.

You see, the culprit had no idea that Chris broke his beloved pocket watch at the moment of his murder.

As a result, the watch stopped at precisely 11:25 p.m.

Given the circumstances of Chris's death, we know that he had time to converse with the culprit beforehand.

Even estimating conservatively, I should think the culprit was in his company for five to ten minutes prior to killing him.

This means that we can safely rule out anyone whose whereabouts around 11:25 p.m. on the night of Chris's murder are accounted for.

Let's start by winnowing down our suspect pool. The poker players at that time can be excluded.

Does that include me?

Naturally. What's important is the fact that you can all verify each other's alibis.

Guess that means Fujimaru's alibi is solid too, since we could all hear their snoring in the next room.

That leaves six possibilities.

Six? You mean, seven, right? Why do you automatically get a pass?

You did lock the outside doors and windows securely, did you not? If I had forced my way into Chris's room, surely you would have seen some sign of that.

Tch, you got an answer for everything, don't you? Fine, six it is, then.

Tell me, Cain, what is your alibi for that night?

Laurie and I were playing hide-and-seek then, weren't we, Laurie?

Uh-huh. I snuck out of bed to hide.

We got caught sometime around 11:20.

Children or not, I believe we can still take them at their word. That accounts for their whereabouts.

This brings our suspect list down to four.

Dorothy Goldie. You had motive, and you're a mother.

It wasn't me! I didn't do it, I swear!

Indeed not.

Huh?

It's okay, Ms. Dorothy. You're the one who caught us, remember?

Right around 11:20.

Oh...right. I completely forgot about that. How silly of me.

Cain told me there was a grown-up who could verify his alibi. That was you, when you came to find Laurie.

That leaves us with three...

？！

...Yes, that's right. She also has someone who can verify her alibi.

I wish you had waited to say that... I have a method for this, you know.

At any rate, that leaves us with two...but enough suspense. One of the two already knows she's innocent.

And that makes the other our culprit.

？！

...My sister. So then... ...Oh, God...

The culprit was not inherently opposed to your families forming an alliance. She understood it as necessary for your continued survival.

That's why Cain and Laurie are both still alive. They must be, after all, for the alliance to happen.

And yet she resorted to murder not once, but twice, and at peril of compromising the whole alliance.

That is key to understanding her motive. THAT is how opposed she was to Juliet's engagement.

But...why would Mother want to kill Morris and Chris? What reason could she possibly have?

An exceedingly simple one, as it turns out.

Think. Why would she be so against your marrying either Morris or Chris, but quite content to see Cain and Laurie married?

So, you're saying it was those specific pairings she had a problem with?

Precisely. Because your true father... is Aaron Goldie.

...You can't be serious...

Wedding either Morris or Chris would have meant wedding your half brother... An incestuous marriage.

But as your mother, only she would have known that. So she had to keep that fact to herself...even if it meant resorting to murder.

This can't be happening...

He's lying, right, Mother?

Harriet Violet... YOU are the culprit!