Murdersdale 15

Marcel was back in the presence of the man he didn't want to see, not after the whole fiasco a few days earlier. But there wasn't anything else he could do, especially since Martha herself had to come and call him.

Emma was also back from her post office deposit, which had gone as planned without issues. Like Jedidiah told her, Angelo was there, and he understood perfectly.

As soon as Miranda saw Marcel, she stood. As did he.

"You're a Hernandez, aren't you? I can see it in your face!" Marcel spoke is a sudden outburst. "Have you come to kill us, or force us back to Spain?!"

Miranda looked visibly insulted, but she managed to swallow it. "You must have been monitoring the current situation in Spain to the best of your ability without being caught, so you're not up to date. We've long since reached an agreement. I don't even operate with the Hernandez family anymore, I work for the Royal Family as a Private Detective. Returning to Spain is a decision left for you and Lady Cynster, who is now late, but we'd like it very much if you did. It would be a sign to the people that those awful days are behind us."

"Oh..." Marcel said, feeling embarassed. "Sorry, my bad. That means you're here for the diadem?"

"Yes. I'm looking for it now. That's one thing we have to return. I hope you'll cooperate?"

"Lady Cynster would have loved for it to return, no matter the regime. She was making plans for that before she was murdered, and I hear it's by Scarecrow Thomas, hm? Terrible! I wish I could get my hands on..."

Jedidiah had to butt in. "How are you related?"

"Four people left Spain that year. Lady Cynster's Mother and Father, and Her Aunt and Uncle. I'm the Grandson of that aunt. My real name is Marcello, but I had to change it to blend in."

Interesting.

"Well, we're here to solve the puzzle, find the diadem, and protect this house. I hope that you'll be of use in the three."

"Surely. Martha told me a little about what was happening here..."

Jedidiah noted that Marcello's acting skill was very amazing. This was a completely different person from the rustic old man who he was talking to when the body was discovered. Shaved beard, haircut and now he couldn't even recognize him. A true changeling.

"Yes, the Sheriff and someone else is behind this. We're dying to know who, and how, but those two are subject to actually nabbing a few suspects, which we plan to do soon."

"And the rhyme? You really think it's necessary?"

"Completely."

"Red and White is first. Jane, what was your line?"

"Heaven kissed the earth."

"Just that?"

"Yes."

Jedidiah thought about it for a while and then turned to the paintings. His eyes fell on one.

"Horizon," Miranda said, beaming.

"Yes. The place where the sky seems to meet land." There was a painting of that, and they got it down and removed the frame. There was a number on the back of the canvas."

1

"Green and Black is the next. Marcel?"

"The tool of the persecuted."

There was a painting of a crucifix, but when they took it down, there was nothing there.

"If this isn't it..."

Martha brought another painting down. "A cauldron."

"Cauldron?"

"Lady Cynster practised some forms of white magic and 'natural' healing methods. But witches, and all magicians were greatly persecuted in Spain at the time she grew up in Spain."

Miranda nodded.

The number behind that painting was 4.

"Emma?"

"passage to the hereafter," Emma said.

"A hearse," Miranda said, as her eyes fell on the painting. Behind it was the number 4.

"Martha, last but not the least?"

"My favourite flower."

"Huh?"

There were several paintings of flowers there. And they could search through all of them, but how long would that take, and how many frames would have to be destoyed?

"I could have sworn it was the Lily," Jane said as they pulled her another blank.

They kept searching until Martha suddenly stood still.

"I know what the last number is. It's 1."

"How do you know it is?" Jedidiah asked.

Martha blushed. "When I first came here, we went skinny dipping one day and she noticed a birthmark on my left breast. I didn't like it, but she said it was shaped like the Number 1. She said it would be her mark for me. He number 1. So she called me her favourite flower..."

"Lirio," Jane, Emma and Marcel echoed. "Meaning Lily."

So the numbers were 1441.

"1441?"

"The year the Hernandez family and the Royal family first formed a pact. Not a date most would look to, especially since most know it as 1443. But true historians know it's 1441, because that's when the Crown Prince and Emilia Hernandez fell in love and began courting," Marcel clarified while Miranda nodded.

"If this is a code, then what's it opening?"

"A porcelain doll in the attick. Colored with splashes of red, white, blue, ash, orange, yellow, green and black. How cliché."

Jedidiah smiled. Lady Cynster hid the key in plain sight.

*****

This was interesting, a bit difficult to think through, but interesting nonetheless.

What do you think?