"Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Go ahead."

"What can I do for you, Inspector Brown?"

"I'd like to start by saying that we found your pistol."

"Oh, thank God!"

"It was a murder weapon."

"Who was shot? I didn't think anyone was shot besides that maniac Old Benedict shot with the rifle."

"Hugh Black was shot in the side of the head. Someone made it look like a bludgeoning."

"Well, shit. I guess I'm not getting my gun back... Dammit. I loved that piece."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Green."

"I would like to talk about your marriage to Olivia."

"I'll admit it wasn't my finest hour. It was all strictly business."

"I'm aware of how these things work, Mr. Green."

"Dr. Raven believed his daughter would be safest if she remained legally tied to someone allied with Blackwell Grange. When Olivia and Hugh divorced, Olivia was so angry and hurt that she did some... crazy stuff."

"What kind of 'stuff' are you talking about?"

"Well..."

"They got divorced because Hugh was openly telling everyone how bad in bed she was. Hugh started up an affair with Patricia Peacock... Gobelin at the time."

"And what exactly did Olivia do?"

"She couldn't accept the relationship and marriage was over. Hugh was a piece of shit, but this woman is bat-shit bonkers. She honestly thought that stalking Hugh and Patricia, breaking into Blackwell Grange, and publicly humiliating herself at one of their garden parties would make Hugh change his mind about her."

"And you married her because..."

"The last time she tried to get Hugh back was Christmas about twenty years ago. She showed up at the crack of dawn, uninvited while Hugh, Patricia, Margaret, Rose, and Benedict were exchanging gifts in the lounge. Hugh took a letter opener, forced it against her throat and threatened to give everyone 'the Christmas miracle of her silence'. Shortly after that incident transpired, Dr. Raven paid me a sizable sum to wed his daughter and keep her distracted from her own demons. She may be a balding fifty-year-old woman, but mentally she'll never stop being the bitchy little eighteen year old who was once married to the richest man in Connecticut."

"Was there ever any genuine care?"

"I'll be honest with you, Inspector. I tried. I really did try to play the good husband - but Hugh was right. The sex is horrible. On top of that, her insufferable, high-pitched, whining voice is enough to stop any man from getting off."

"Thank you, Mr. Green. That's enough."

"I'd like to talk about your employment to Igor O'Range."

"Who?"

"Come now, Mr. Green. Don't play the fool. We've been watching you for a while."

"I don't know what to tell you. I don't know that name. I know a lot of Igor's and Ivan's but no O'Range's."

"There is no denying that your family ran a drug right with the Jasper and O'Range families for the past three generations. It's safe to say the three families practically owned every police and newspaper on the East Coast at one point."

"I'm sure that is exactly what I will find at the warehouses you tell me to go to."

"Before we get into the events of the night of the murder, I would like to talk about your relationship with Mrs. White."

"She's a good woman. She's half the reason I don't do the type of shit you think I do. She was like a mother to me."

"Where were your own parents?"

"My mother died when I was a boy. My father was always away on business. I suppose he was still on the path to dirty money. His brother - my uncle - was a priest, always on the revival circuit. Setting up tents all around Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana... I left things bad with my uncle. He was probably more of a father to me than my own father. He certainly loved me more..."

"What happened between you and your uncle?"

"I'm not going to talk about that during a murder investigation. It's not relevant."

"You'd be surprised how far back some motives can go."

"I got him arrested. He tried to control everything I did - as any caring father-figure might. I wanted my freedom. He was a seedy priest without enough parishioners or a consistent congregation."

"What did you get him arrested for?"

"I... told the police... he touched a kid."

"That's a serious accusation."

"I was a bratty teen trying to get away from him."

"And that's why you went to Blackwell Grange?"

"I'd been filtering in and out of that kitchen for years. I would sleep in the spare room with the old orange sofa in the servant's quarters."

"Let's talk about the night of the murder and your movements after dinner."

"Were you drinking?"

"I had a few beers, then we were having shots. We were all boozing it up and enjoying Blackwell Grange. It wasn't until much later that things took a turn."

"How much later?"

"I couldn't even tell you. I had a lot to drink. I remember everyone was slowly leaving the billiard room for the night. I was waiting to see if anyone else would show up and keep the party going. I think I finished off the bottle we were all doing shots from... I must have. I woke up passed out on the bar when Olivia came in."

"What did your wife have to say?"

"A bunch of nonsense. She was talking about that Orchid woman, then she was talking about money Hugh owed her father."

"Hugh was paying Dr. Raven?"

"Don't quiz me about the details."

"Thank you, Mr. Green. That is a very helpful note. Go on."

"When Olivia and I left the billiard room we saw the Colonel and Mrs. White going on about calling the police. They kept asking about Sgt. Gray and Nurse Silver because they couldn't find either of them."

"They told use they found Olga and Miss Dove. I... I really didn't know what to do. I wasn't expecting this sort of thing with the level of drunk I was. Mustard suggested getting everyone to the ballroom while we waited for the police. Olivia and I ran into Dr. Raven, Miss Scarlet, and Fivel upstairs and brought them downstairs. It was then that we heard about Yvette and Mr. Clay's death. Then they dropped the bombs that both Benedict the Fourth and Fifth were still alive and that Benedict the Fourth shot and killed the Fifth. It was really confusing to process. I was very, very drunk."

"And Dr. Black was secured in the cellar."

"Yeah... I thought it was a little barbaric. We could have simply kept him in the same room with us until you arrived. What was he going to do? Jump all of us at once? A dozen of us would have had him pinned down in half a second."

"Well, that sums it all up. Thank you, Mr. Green. You've been very, very helpful."

"Thank you, Inspector. Is that all?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"What the hell is this?"

"Thallo Green, you are under arrest for a paper trail of bribes to Blackwell Grange, the Pratton Police Department, and the Mayor of New York City. Your questionable import/export business will be thoroughly investigated. I look forward to meeting Mr. O'Range."

"You sick bastard!"

"Thank you, once again, for your help Mr. Green. You really shed some light onto the Ravens and the mind of Hugh Black."

"You have a lot of nerve!"

"Excuse me? Do I know you?"

"I am Karen Fuchsia!"

"Christopher's mother... the man you called Edward..."

"I'm so, so sorry for your loss..."

"Don't talk to me! You are going to listen! If you would have known anything about my Christopher you would have known better than to bring him back to Pratton. He was a good boy! But he can't be around his father or his junkie exgirlfriend. You could have prevented this!"

"Yes! Yes you could have! You are the only one who could have prevented his murder! You brought him here. You did this to my son!"

"Stop it! Stop saying that!"

"I need you to stay away from my boy. Stay away from the funeral. Stay away from his father."

"Mrs. Fuchsia, the chauffeur of your choosing is outside ready to take you back to Pratton."

"I am going to the morgue to see what those monsters did to my son. You best hope that our paths never cross again."

"Are you alright?"

"That woman..."

"I heard some of it. She was completely out of line. Grief does that to some people. You are holding yourself together gracefully."

"Thank you."

"You kept your patience and that is the most important thing. Stay positive and everything will work out for you."

"Thank you, Greyson."

"Chin up."

"There's that smile - the smile that can change the atmosphere of a room."

"You're going to be fine."

"So sorry about the wait! I hope it wasn't an inconvenience to you."

"I need more towels in suite 1302."

"More towels? No problem, Miss Scarlet. I'll send one of our maids up as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Holly."

"What is going to happen after the investigation."

"I suppose that depends on who killed Hugh."

"I... just hope they figure everything out soon."

"Apparently they want to talk to me tonight."

"They're questioning me tomorrow."

"They need to hurry up and get them over with."

"How does it feel being the new black-sheep of the family."

"I don't know. How well did the family accept you when you came home?"

"It will be a mixed reception. Rose accepts anyone. She's just excited to have someone knew to regularly talk to. Father is hard to please, but he always comes around for family. Hugh was impossible to please, but you'll be blessed with not having to deal with him. It took Mrs. White years to stop the mistrust, snooping, and eavesdropping. Mr. Ash is loyal to anyone in the family.

"I'm worried that my mother may never fully love me."

"Mrs. White is a complicated woman."

"Her sister - my adoptive mother - is so dumb. She's fixated on wealth, how things should be. She can't mind her own business for five seconds. When she finds out that I know she isn't my real mother, everything is going to change. She is going to turn into a very bothersome woman."

"And what of Lord Gray?"

"Nothing I've done has ever been good enough for that man. He always told me that military and police work is beneath the Gray's. 'We are proud noble lords. Families of value don't fight wars, we pay for them. Our wards, poor, and in-laws go off to play at war.' Meanwhile my father sits on his ass eating and drinking while the world rots and decomposes."

"You are a dark little bastard, aren't you."

"Don't call me a bastard."

"That's what we are, Benjamin. We are bastards. Our blood runs dirty. We are the outcasts. We sit at the table and eat dinner with them, but then we hide in the library while they have dessert in the lounge. We sneak off to the conservatory while the parties drag on in the ballroom.

"Should I talk to Benedict... Grandfather?"

"I think when he wants to talk to you, he will. He has enough going on between legal issues surrounding the state of his livelihood."

"Mr. Green was in here before me."

"He smoked that cigar faster than anyone I've seen."

"Sometimes he chain-smokes them at parties. You can tell what rooms he moved through and how long ago based on the strength of the smell."

"That would have been helpful to know when we first arrived."

"We had a lot of other things on our minds."

"Yes. I wanted to discuss your current investigation with Senator Peacock's death."

"Please, Inspector. I'm exhausted from lawyers and judges back in Washington D.C."

"I understand all of this. And I will not hang."

"I hope to God that you don't."

"My relationship with Vivienne has suffered with every husband I've had."

"Is it true that you were having an affair with Edward Clay?"

"Yes."

"Mrs. Peacock, if there was ever a time to put everything on the table, the time is now. The gossip-rag is going to tear you apart if you don't admit to your misdoings with pride."

"I did not kill Senator Peacock. I have no way of proving myself innocent, but they also have no way of proving me guilty. I will gladly remain in limbo until evidence comes to light to prove my innocence."

"Thank you, Mrs. Peacock. Let's discuss your relationship with Hugh Black. It started during his marriage to Olivia Raven?"

"Yes. I took immense enjoyment in being the woman who was chosen. It was amusing at first watching that bitch try to get Hugh back, but then it became weird... and dangerous."

"Yes, I've heard of some of the things."

"I... I've never told any one this before. But I believe Miss Raven was the reason I had the miscarriages."

"That is a serious conspiracy! Why would you think that?"

"She broke into the mansion on numerous occasions. She could have tampered with my prenatal vitamins. She hated me and she hated how happy Hugh and I were."

"You don't suppose you are projecting your hatred and grief? The need for a tragedy to be someone's fault isn't always necessarily the case in reality."

"You are an investigator, not a therapist."

"Then maybe I would consider talking to one."

"I'd like to talk about the night of the murder. Start with the events after dinner."

"Well, dinner was interrupted by Dr. Orchid. After all the commotion in the dining room, I went upstairs. I was emotionally drained. I stayed in my room with the intention of going to sleep but..."

"You left your room?"

"I went to go see Hugh in his bedroom."

"This was before Yvette was murdered."

"It must have been. She wasn't there. Hugh and I... we talked about our relationship. I told him it was a mistake for me to come. I told him I didn't know what I was doing... and it's true. I don't. To be honest, part of me was hoping that he would regret everything and love me, and the other half hoped he would see the pain he caused and feel it all too. But that's all silly, isn't it?"

"What happened after your saw Dr. Black?"

"That would be correct."

"I stayed in there until everyone rushed through the billiard terrace doors from outside in the rain. They scared the hell out of me. But then... it was then that they had just found Edward."

"I looked, Inspector. I know I shouldn't have. I tried to stop myself as I was doing it, but I stepped out on that terrace and looked at his body... just hanging there."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Peacock."

"Who could do something like that?"

"Did you hear the gunshot in the attic?"

"With all the thunder and lightning, I probably didn't register it if I heard it at all."

"Did you notice any fire in the woods?"

"A fire?"

"Miss Dove's body was burned in the woods."

"During the rain?"

"There were several canisters of gasoline involved."

"Jesus... Uh, no. I didn't see any fires outside."

"Thank you, Mrs. Peacock. That is all for now."

"May I use the telephone quickly?"

"Go ahead."

"Hello... Yes, can you connect me to Dr. Jonah Prussian, tell him it is urgent... Tell him it is Patricia Peacock."

"Still in Connecticut, Colonel?"

"I'm not going back to Von Gatow. If I see another fish wrapped in newspaper sitting on a block of ice..."

"Suit yourself."

"I'm not worried. Has Azure even disembarked yet? The tension between these families has been like this for nearly a century. Nothing is going to happen. Life resumed after the Lyman Green married Georgia Black."

"Ahh the wedding slaughter. Some say the ballroom was flooded an inch deep with blood after all the bullets stopped raining."

"Life went on."

"Not for Lyman Green and Georgia Black - or their wedding guests. Strange, I see to remember the Azure Royal family and the Lavender's both were invited to the wedding, but neither of them showed up."

"Now, on the other hand, if the Lavender's arranged the slaughter, they would be seen as cunning, sly, and tricky. It is all about how powerful people see you and how much you can show for it. If I got lost in the jungles and strangle a man to death, people would be unimpressed. If Mrs. Peacock or Mrs. White were in that same scenario, everyone would see them as strong, capable heroes."

"Prince Azure may be an intimidating presence, but you're a fool if you think he is the only one you should be worried about."

"I mentioned the Lavenders."

"I'm not talking about the Lavenders."

"I stared Klaus Gold in the face as he told me how Hugh murdered the only woman I've ever loved or opened up to. I can handle whatever dark magic or science experiments are going on at Manoir Tombale."

"There is one thing that just won't change about you, Mike. Nothing can change your stubborn attitude. Not Sumatra, not Morocco, not Argentina..."

"I told you, I was never in Sumatra!"

"I'll join you in just a moment for a game. Perhaps my friend would be interested in joining us."

"I'm always delighted to meet new friends. Especially ones who can stand their own against a bully like you."

"Touch me again and everyone finds out what happened at Outpost Seventy and Outpost Fifty-Five."

"You'll have to forgive the Colonel. He doesn't know how to behave when he finds out that he is in the company of people who already know one another."

"Mike, sit down. Join us for poker. This is Dr. Olive and his wife Roxanne."

"How to do you?"

"Hello."

"I'm not sure. I'm a bit short on cash at the moment. I wasn't expecting to be in Sun Haven."

"That's perfectly alright. We'll play for your expected inheritance from Dr. Black. $10,000 sounds fair?"

"Well? What do you say? Or do high-stakes games scare you?"

"I am a man of my word, Colonel. I do hope if fate decided differently, you would have been a man of yours."

"Enjoy."

"Some luck that was!"

"I'm going to need you to shup up about the game. I need a favor. What kind of doctor are you."

"Gynecologist. I specialize with lady patients in general, but a generic checkup can be performed..."

"I need you to run a paternity test on Fivel Dove to see if Ava Silver is his mother."

"Are you..."

"I'll figure out the details. I'll meet you tonight. I need to talk to Umber..."

"How the hell did you find out?"

"I know a lot of things, Mike. You'll have to be more specific."

"I know what this money is for and so do you."

"Do you? Hmm. Alright, then."

"If you're so sure you know everything, then we have nothing to worry about. Have a good evening, Mike."

"You don't get to smoke."

"You aren't the same as Mr. Green. I want you to know that you aren't leaving this room as a free man."

"You are going to answer every question I have. From the bowels of Blackwell Grange's crypts, to every footstep you took after dinner. Why the hell were you in the boat house in the rain?"

"I..."

"Frau Bloom, Miss Dove, Edward Clay, and Nurse Silver were all moved outside in the rain around this time. Were you helping your half-brother?"

"No! Of course no!"

"Why should anyone believe you? You did everything he asked before that night. He told you to drill a hole in Ben's head and you'd do it. He'd tell you to inject that man with drugs and you would not hesitate."

"I was looking for Ben. I was out in the rain and missing from dinner because I was looking for Ben."

"Well, I wish you would have found him. I would have loved to see if we could find out who the person really was underneath the monster you created."

"Are you arresting all of us."

"No. Not all of you."

"Officer Moss, take this man away. I can't listen to him right now. I'll talk to him after reality has set in at the police station."

"What if you truly are my mother?"

"How would you feel about that?"

"You're a lot kinder than Miss Dove."

"Did she... ever hurt you?"

"This is Dr. Olive. He's going to need some hair from the two of you."

"I figured it would be safest if we move fast."

"Thank you, Colonel."

"What the hell are we doing?"

"We are enjoying the beach while the gumshoes take their damn time rummaging through my mansion."

"What is the plan? What do we do now?"

"John will still be the heir to Blackwell Grange."

"The plan was for me to marry John so some outside bitch doesn't get in the way with her ideas and greed. Where the hell do I come into the picture if I'm not even part of the family?"

"There are other male members of the Black family to marry."

"I am not marrying you. The thought of helping you out of that chair to take a shit is enough to make me return to Rangoon."

"I'm not referring to myself, you stupid twit. Victor and Benjamin hold claim."

"You aren't coaching John Boddy to be the next heir are you..."

"No. I'm making sure he fills out a proper will the minute he is in charge of Blackwell Grange. Then after John passes away in a horseback riding accident, we'll have a Gray in charge."