The murder mystery plot was a contrived arc Alexi made up after watching several whodunit movies. He found himself hating the long-winded, overly convoluted plans used to commit these simple murders, as well as the absurd deduction skills of the detectives that eventually solved the case.
As a way to make fun of it, he ended up coming up with an overly convoluted plot himself as satire.
The story the protagonist had to work with went like this:
"A private detective is called in from a neighbouring town to help out with a series of strange deaths that have been taking place in this mansion.
The residents of the mansion used to be a grand total of seven.
The master, cook, butler, first son, second son, first daughter, and the master's second wife.
The master's second wife died of a fever that doctors could make no heads of.
Following this was a series of deaths of his children. First was his first son, who died by falling out of his bedroom window headfirst.
The second was his daughter, who went insane, screaming of a ghost living in their mansion, before taking her own life. In her room, she'd given no signs or reason for her own suicide other than a letter apologising the ghost for existing, and the name of the ghost she'd written was that of the lord's first wife.
The deaths of three of his family members in such rapid succession caused the master of the house to fire all the maids and servants, save his butler and cook, whom he'd known for over ten years and who had served him loyally.
Hoping for his son's safety, he ended up becoming an overprotective father who let his son do whatever he wished. Because of that, his son became a rebellious, rude, and pampered brat who wanted nothing more than to run away from the mansion.
At the ripe age of seventeen, the boy tried to run away to a different town to explore, but in the end, he was found dead.
The master of the mansion, after hearing this news, fell into a grave depression. He tried to take his own life, but his butler reminded him that he had one more family member remaining.
The master was confused, but the butler reminded him of his bastard daughter, whom he had abandoned to keep his family happy after he remarried.
Suddenly remembering this, he sent an invitation to her, hoping to fix his broken relationship with her.
His daughter arrived alongside her son.
She reveals that she was impregnated by a man who abandoned her when she was twenty and was now with child.
The lord tries to pamper her with money in hopes of rekindling his relationship with his daughter. But for her safety, she tells the master that she's heard about the strange deaths.
This triggered the master to call a detective over to finally figure out the cause of death for all of these members to see if there was any connection between them."
Alexi, while looking straight at Cain, shifted his extended finger to the crying woman.
"She's the murderer."
"What?"
For the first time, the woman finally looked up at Alexi. Her face was dishevelled. With swollen eye bags and snot running down her face, one could only call Alexi a monster for accusing her.
'Quite the actress, huh?'
"Ok, bub. That makes sense.", The chief sarcastically responded. He drew closer, threatening to swing his bat at Alexi.
The infernal raised up his arms and took quick steps back, trying to maintain the initial distance between the two.
"Hey, hey, let me explain it. Chill out."
"You got thirty seconds till this bat hits yer face, bub.", He growled, his encroachment showing no signs of stopping.
"Ok, uh, it's simple really. This kid was killed after I came over and investigated everything, right? I was about to announce the murderer just when the lights went out. And when we finally got our first candle lit, the boy had already silently bled to death, yes?"
"What's that change? According to that other guy, that was all part of your plan."
The chief swung at Alexi, forcing him to clumsily dodge the attack.
"Relax. Calm down, man. You might actually hit me with that."
"What did ya think the plan was?", Saying this, he swung again, forcing Alexi to duck. "Don't worry, you can do all the explaining back at the precinct."
'W-What's happening? This should have been over by now. The scenario ends the moment you name the culprit. All of these guys aren't supposed to act this way.'
While ducking and weaving, Alexi's back finally hit the wall, meaning he'd run out of running space. He looked around the room for a non-violent way out of this situation and his eyes settled on Cain.
'Is this all because of him? In that case, maybe the answer alone isn't enough. Maybe I'll need to give them the whole explanation.'
Alexi quickly shifted his gaze to the butler, who wore an emotionless mask. He glared at the old man and received an equally, if not more menacing glare.
"The woman didn't do it alone. I swear. Please, let me explain!"
He dropped to his knees and clasped his hands as he pleaded yet again. Before the cop could swing, his partner, once again, jumped in to stop him.
"Chief!"
'This guy… he's been acting real weird. Hell, all of em have been acting real weird.'
Alexi took out his notebook and showed it all to the officers. The notes the detective had jotted down linked certain mysterious incidents together, as well as the testimonials of every suspect.
"Before I came here, I did my own personal background checks on every single person in this mansion, which includes the servants that were kicked out. And thanks to all of that, I found the only person who had a motive to do any of this."
"And that is?"
"Him!", Alexi's finger was now pointed at the butler. "He's the cause of every single death in this mansion, including the boy just now."
Buck furrowed his brows, frowning.
"I thought you said she killed the boy."
"Yes, she did- no, well, yes.", Alexi giddily jumped up. "Ok, ok. Lemme make this easy. Sir, please if I may."
Alexi tried rushing over to the feeble master of the mansion, but was stopped by the chief. Alexi looked past the huge officer and stared directly at the master.
"Think about it, sir. Which of your servants has served you the longest?"
The old man snorted.
"Sebastian, of course. But this is a preposterous claim. I trust him with my life. Same goes for my chef."
"That is fair. However, if your chef wished for your death, he could have killed all of you in one simple sitting. Why wouldn't he? Why opt for carefully murdering every single one of them in spaced intervals and in different ways with no obvious pattern between them?"
"It is as you say.", The butler spoke up, unfazed by the accusation. "So what makes you believe I would do that? If I were truly out for their lives, would it not be as simple as lacing their dinners and breakfast with poison as well?"
"Nice try, Sebastian. But the answer's simple. You wanted him to suffer. You wanted him to pay for his crimes against you and your happiness."
Sebastian gave no reaction. The lord on the other hand turned to look at Sebastian, a little confused.
"What are you talking about?", Buck asked, after finally separating Alexi from the chief.
"He was friends with the lord's first wife. May she rest in peace."
"We were all friends with the lord's first wife.", Sebastian quickly retorted.
"No. I mean, friends, friends. You two used to be lovebirds before she was sent away to study at an academy and found a new lover. The lord of this mansion."
Alexi's gaze shifted to the silent old man before returning to the butler.
"And when she came back, after seeing you struggling, she offered you a job here.
Like a flip was switched in his head, the master's eyes widened. Memories of past interactions with his wife and Sebastian flooded his head. Suddenly, invisible threads that weren't present formed. Solutions to questions he didn't know he had had arrived.
And he was utterly shocked.
"M-Martha. She recommended you to me."