Evelyn entered after a while, tired of the super duper epic robot battle. She looked around and saw Nana there. "Ah! Are you looking for some toys to play with, perchance?" She asked.

---

"Mm, not really no..." Nana sighed. She picked up a pink-haired doll and stared at it for a few moments before setting it back in the closet. "I wouldn't feel right about taking Miss Eve's stuff. I just... wanted to see what she liked... before she got messed with..."

---

Althea wasted no time running back to the lounge and eating the cupcake she bet on the robot fight in a single bite.
It was quite harrowing. Her jaw unhinged like a snake's.
Well, not really, but it was pretty gross.
Oh God now she's licking her fingers. Christ, please stop. She's making so much noise too.

"Ah, that does seem interesting", Evelyn agreed, not being able to hear Althea being gross. "It's hard to imagine Eve being a normal, sane little girl before whoever designed her did what they did to her... and yet they're among us? Difficult to believe", she said, shaking her head.

---

"She's not a bad person," Nana murmured, now examining a baseball mitt. "...I mean, she is," she amended, "but it's not her fault... Besides the killing game stuff, she's fun to hang out with. Someone else changed her so she'd run this game."

Nana set the glove down in her lap and sighed again. "I hate this game. I hate that Miss Eve is making us play it, but... Since she was forced to run it, it's not right to hate her, is it? She's... kind of stuck with this game just as much as the rest of us..."

Finally, she threw a sad glance Evelyn's way. "...Or does that just sound stupid? I can't even tell anymore..."

---

After a bit, Skylar had the misfortune of coming across Althea post-cupcake inhalation. On the planet Earth, there exist no words she could utter to properly express both her disgust and slight arousal.

"Yikes..." she muttered before swiftly exiting the scene.

Taylor arrived just to see Skylar leaving, and then he saw the aftermath of Althea devouring her cupcake. "... Uh... I guess you enjoyed your cupcake, Althea," he awkwardly stated.

"... I was just really hungry..." Althea apologized, hiding beneath her hat like usual.

Honda entered the bathhouse to take a bath, because being clean is nice.

"...No, you have a point", Evelyn admitted, "Eve is just a robot. She is simply doing what she was programmed to do. I'll admit she's hardly acted nice to me in the time I've known her, but..." She simply shook her head. "It's honestly saddening to see what she's become at this point. Truly a pity."

---

Once again, Annabella didn't have anything in particular she wanted to do. Sure, there were toys in the lab (and probably dolls among them) but right now she just felt very tired. She trudged off to her bedroom for a nap.

[Please refrain from posting until you’ve checked your Quicktopic, and until the next post is made.]

Last edited by KamiPanda on Sun Mar 24, 2019 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Althea walked into the trial room, completely silent, like usual. She settled in her podium like she usually did.
She reached up to adjust her mask's straps, as she did. Then, unusually, she undid the straps, and put the mask down on the podium.
She cleared her throat. She clearly still couldn't bear to look at the others' faces, but she was unmasked for all to see.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't see you eye to eye, Taylor. I'm, I'm sorry..." she said. "We'll solve this. We'll definitely solve this. I'll say everything I did."

"After the announcement, I was the first to be interrogated. It was 12:00 PM, but I only got to the interview at about 5 past. Taylor was in a separate room, as I'm sure all of you know. It was a bit intimidating, but, that's not important. Ah, what I thought was odd, is that he called me 'Ms. Watson' when I walked in, though he corrected himself. Er, also, he insisted I took my mask off for the interview. I just wish I could have done that in front of him before... Sorry, that's not important. Besides that, well, it was really quite mundane. He asked me about Project Eden, and we just talked, really. It all lasted 15 minutes at most."

"After that, well, I wasn't feeling very well. At 12:20 PM I went to the lounge and laid down on the couch, just to rest a little, but I was so dazed... I, I really can't tell for how long I was there, but I do remember I could hear someone moving around. But, I wasn't in any state to notice anything aside from that. I came out of it later, when Ms. Hale must've found me. She offered to stay with me for a while, since I was so weak. Ah, that was, very sweet of you, Ms. Hale. We had a very nice chat! Ah, Evy joined us a little while afterwards, and a little while after that, we all got together and went to Eve's room... You know what happened after that."

"Regardless, me, Evy, and Ms. Culver investigated Eve's room, the science lab, the diving station, and the bathhouse. In Eve's room, aside from Evy's autopsy which I'm sure she can detail, we found a very obvious plasma shot hole on a locker, with a burn mark in the wall directly opposite to it. Taylor's body was between the two..."

"Ah, anyways, Ms. Culver picked up the plasma gun to test it. It was a very quiet weapon, especially for how powerful it was! It left another mark in the wall, much like the one that was there before she started playing with the murder weapon. She said it could've been taken from the robot lab."

"In the locker I found a spare hoodie and a pair of trousers. I don't know what these were doing there, since Taylor was clothed, I think, but they were there."

"His spare clothes aside, I also found what must've been a recording device beneath the main console. There is absolutely no doubt that it contained vital information on his murder, but we can't see any of it." she said, glaring at Eve's monitor. "That, that, that, bit, that bitch wouldn't let us see it! Maybe she killed him..."

"Um, anyways, uh, what else... Ah, the doors. Well, the door to the science lab locked automatically when closed. It could be opened easily from Eve's room, but from the other side it required a key, that only Taylor had. But the door that lead to the archives had apparently been broken long, long ago. Before we even got here, it was already unable to lock at all, though it still opened and closed easily."

"Moving on from that room, there was nothing useful to see in the science lab nor in the bathhouse. Although there was one thing in the diving station. One of the suits had been taken, but we managed to pull it back through a tether. It was empty, and where it was before we pulled it back is unknown, really. But aside from that, the diving station was perfectly usual."

"Just so we don't forget, this is how the diving port works: It's a square hole in the ground with a forcefield over it. The forcefield only allows the diving suits and anything wearing the diving suits to pass through."

"That's... It, I suppose. Evy and perhaps Ms. Culver have more to say, but that is as much as I can contribute..."

Annabella looked down at the floor, shaking her head. "I thought...I thought we were done killing. Didn't we agree on that? Taylor shouldn't have died. He should have lived along with us." With a heavy sigh, she began her testimony.

"Rose and I stayed in the arena for a while until about 12:10, when I left to wait for my interview. I waited outside the science lab, where I had a pretty good view of the other nearby corridor. It was a while until Taylor called me in - I think it was around 12:25. Just like Althea, he called me 'Ms. Watson' when I walked in. Perhaps he called all of us that?

"We talked for about fifteen minutes. After that, I headed for the lounge. That's where I found Althea looking very unwell. We talked for a while until Evelyn arrived." She gave Althea a little smile, which then faded as she remembered what came next. "And then...well...we all know what happened after that...

"As for the investigation, there were several rooms where we didn't find anything; the robot arena, utility area, and lounge specifically. There wasn't much in the robot lab either. Evelyn's robot was half-finished, but I don't know how useful that could be right now. We checked the bedrooms, and found that one of Taylor's hoodies was missing.

"In the dock between the science lab and arena, there was the minisub, and a report said it hadn't been used in a few days. As for the dock in between the robot lab and arena...that one was kind of complicated. The docks all have two parts: a waiting area and an airlock. The airlock is designed to flood whenever the outer door opened to keep any water from getting in the base. When the outer door closed, it could be drained and the inner door could be opened. The airlock in this one was flooded and the outer door was open. Gawain told us it was impossible to open the door from the outside, so whoever opened it must have done it in the waiting area.

"We checked the archives last. The room is split into two sections: one with cubicles and another for open planning. In one of the cubicles, we found some sort of hacking device. Gawain said it was designed to delete files from whatever it was plugged into, but it wasn't plugged into the computer it was sitting at for very long as there were still many files on it. We found another computer in the open-plan area that was disconnected from the network. There were a bunch of files that Honda recognized, and he said he'd explain them here.

"After that, we didn't really find anything else." Annabella concluded. She anxiously awaited the rest of the testimonies to begin.

Honda was silent as he tried to regain his composure, but it was clearly a losing battle. He wiped away at the tears forming in his eyes. "I-I can't believe he's gone..." He said to himself, still in disbelief. "I didn't think there would be another killing... I just... I need a minute..." The minstrel wiped away some more tears and then cleared his throat. Once he was ready, he spoke again, filled with determination. "Feeling sad won't get us anywhere right now, there'll be time to mourn later. Right now we have to solve this, for both his sake and everyone else's!"

"Taylor approached me yesterday when you guys were all at the bathhouse. Like I told Annabella and others I investigated with, he asked me to help him find information on Alabaster and Project Eden. I agreed, and we went over to the archive. After a few minutes, he was able to crack the system and we gained access to the files. First he found some information on Project Eden, but it was stuff we already knew about the brainwashing. A little later I found that Alabaster had many more bases all over the world, and some of them were able to isolate themselves before whatever the mastermind did could affect them, meaning Alabster's presence is still out there. Taylor said that even if government forces were brought here, they wouldn't be able to stop Project Eden, assuming they have backup data for the project at their isolated bases."

"A little later, Taylor found some footage from the security cameras around various facilities, and apparently it was taken a few days before us Ultimates arrived. It was rather unsettling... The footage showed Alabaster robots and other security systems turning on all the employees and attacking them, driving them out of the bases. Another piece of footage showed Eve leading an attack on a group of scientists. Taylor said that it must have been after the mastermind reprogrammed her. We didn't find any footage from the isolated bases, so it looks like they're still operating now. After that we couldn't find anything new, no matter how hard we looked. So we called it a day there and returned to the lounge."

"After hearing Taylor's announcement about the interviews, I went into one of the robot lab cubicles. I was there working on my robot until about 12:55, after which I went to the science lab. On my way there I passed through the battle arena, and found Rose by herself there. About 10 minutes later at 13:05, Evelyn passed by me on her way back to the arena. 5 minutes after that I went to meet with Taylor for my interview. Like you guys, he also called me Ms. Watson... Then he asked me about Project Eden, and we talked for about 15 minutes. I thought it went quite well, and he seemed happy with the results. At 13:25 I left to go back to the arena. I passed by Nana who was waiting outside, and also Rose again, who was still alone."

"At 13:50, the robot battle began. Evelyn didn't show up, so it was only me, Skylar, and Nana. In the end we decided to hold a three way free for all, instead of doing a tournament. Skylar's robot targeted Nana's, but it was overwhelmed and destroyed. She stormed off to do her interview around 13:55. The battle between my robot and Nana's last much longer, about 20 or so minutes. Rose returned from her interview around 14:07, and then watched the rest of the fight. In the end Nana won, and the three of us discussed the fight. Skylar returned around 14:27 and joined us. Eventually the discussion turned to Taylor and his interviews, so we all decided to go check on him at 14:40."

"As for the investigation, Annabella covered what we found very well, and I don't have anything else to add there." He said, his player relieved that he wouldn't have to type all that up as well. "I think that's about everything, for now." He then waited for the others to give their alibis.

Evelyn didn't have her monocle on her as it was broken, but she appeared abnormally giddy. "This is it... There's nothing else left! Should we be able to get to the bottom of this, we might finally be able to uncover the truth behind this blasted game, once and for all..!" Suddenly, she straightened up, looking more solemn. "Taylor, though I hardly knew you, you were truly a good friend. We shall find the truth behind your death...for your sake." She put on her "mask" over her face, and nodded. "Now... let the final surgery begin."

"An easy way to start off things is with my alibi. At 12:00 sharp, I headed to one of the cubicles in the robot lab to start making my robot. I was there for about half an hour, but at 12:30 I decided to go to the science lab and await my turn. As I passed through the arena, I saw Rose there all alone, with Althie nowhere to be found for some reason. Well, I could only assume it was Rose, anyway, what with my broken monocle and all", she admitted sheepishly before continuing.

"Anyway, at 12:42 I was waiting outside the science lab. I had a good view of the corridor between Eve’s room and the archive, visible through the transparent walls of the corridor. But suddenly, I noticed Taylor running from Eve’s room towards the archive, for some reason. It appeared quite peculiar... Around three minutes later he returned and beckoned me inside the lab. So I went in, took a seat and waited for Taylor to begin. However, for roughly 5 minutes he was silent, even when I tried calling to him! Just as my patience was starting to run its course, he suddenly spoke up over a small speaker in the lab and apologised for making me wait. So we started the interview right away."

"So the interview went rather smoothly. We simply started with Project Eden and moved onto a variety of topics, which I answered to the best of my ability. Curiously enough, however, he also called me 'Ms. Watson' by mistake before correcting himself", Evelyn noted. "And while it seems strange that he would even make such a mistake multiple times, I believe I might have the answer to why he did that, which I'll get to in a bit. But the interview concluded a quarter of an hour later at 13:05, and I left. I passed by Honda while leaving, who appeared to be waiting his turn."

"But I noticed at the robotics lab that both Annabella and Althie were missing. Rose said they hadn't returned since they were called for their interviews. Concerned for their well being, I went to look for them. It didn't take quite that long, however, as I found them both in the lounge at 13:10. Althie appeared somewhat pale but looked much better than the times where she had collapsed. Apparently she and Annabella had been discussing masks together, and they seemed quite happy about it. So I joined the conversation and we all chatted happily till...well, the rest of you came", she finished somberly. "And that concludes my alibi, I'm afraid."

"Now, for the investigation", she suddenly began once more. "I believe Althie succinctly summarised the important parts there, sans my examination of the body itself, which I shall get to in a second. Before that, though, she also forgot to mention something regarding the main console. That is to say, Taylor had retrofitted it to allow him to speak through the speakers around the facility, as well as the small one in the lab. Additionally the monitor was displaying live footage of the science lab, which they later found to be collected by small cameras Taylor must have placed there in advance. There was...quite a lot to note regarding the body as well. My autopsy is as follows."

"He was shot once with a plasma gun. A surprisingly painless way to go, he died very quickly. His brain probably didn’t even register what was happening before it shut down, poor fellow..." she explained. "Annoyingly enough though, this also makes it very hard to tell when he actually died. Plasma wounds are so hot that they cauterise the wound and throw off the time of death. We can’t use blood loss as a measure, either. I’m sorry, but the best I can give you is that he died between 12:00 and 14:00. At the very least it wasn’t anymore recent than 14:00, otherwise the wound would have still been hot. It is still a two hour gap, though, which is rather vague", she lamented. "There weren’t any other wounds, injuries or peculiarities about his body. I did find some interesting things in his pockets, though."

"The first was a PDA. It seems like he set it up to monitor the computers in the archive, for some reason. He could receive notifications if anything unusual was detected on one."

"Secondly, he had a gun", Evelyn said solemnly. "A silenced pistol. I suppose he was a secret agent... However, it hadn't been fired any time recently."

"Lastly… well, there was a collection of some rather important printed documents. From the looks of things, Taylor seemed to have collated this information and printed it himself. They seemed to detail one... ‘Olivia Watson’."

"Olivia was an Alabaster employee, it seemed. A very young one, in fact, about as old as the Ultimates here. Furthermore, she was actually an Ultimate herself! But Taylor hadn’t been able to discover her specific talent, by the looks of things. Neither had he found a picture of her, leaving her identity a mystery... Though from what it seems, I'd be willing to guess that they're among us as we speak", she said ominously, a grim look on her face.

"Despite working for Alabaster, Olivia had been strongly opposed to Project Eden. Very strongly, in fact... It seems she was responsible for hacking robots and other security systems on the day Alabaster’s employees all fled their facilities. And, most importantly..." She dramatically snapped her finger. "She was even responsible for hacking and reprogramming Eve."

She paused to let this sudden revelation sink in for a moment, and then shook her head. "I believe this is the 'Ms. Watson' Taylor was referring to in th the interviews, the one he seemed to 'mistake' us for. But... could it not have been deliberate as well?" She hypothesised. "If he suspected one of us to be the mastermind, and knew Watson was responsible for reprogramming Eve... perhaps making a 'slip of the tongue' while conducting the interviews was to see how we would react to that. He would be able to tell our reactions as well, due to the cameras he placed in the science lab. Of course, once he saw someone react accordingly, he would then know that they were the mastermind. And then, perhaps...they figured out that he knew of their identity and decided to silence him", she finished on a rather morbid note.

"That finishes my investigation results, of course. I do hope they were of use to you all", she addressed the others before standing still, waiting for the others to speak now.

---

Rose shakes her head. "No more tears. I swear by my entire life that this is going to be the last trial!" She exclaims, banging her fist on the podium.

"Alright, so after the announcement, Annabella and I stayed in the robot battling arena while Althea left to do her interview. Just 10 minutes later, Annabella decided to leave and wait for her interview. I kind of just stuck around, assuming Althea would return, and Annabella after that, but for some reason neither of them did... I was pretty much left idly playing around with the robots currently in the arena."

"I guess I was in a good position to track people as they moved to and from the interviews. Evelyn headed to the science lab at around 12:30, then Honda at around 12:55." Rose expalins. "Then at 13:07 Evelyn returned. She asked about Althea, clearly worried for her as per usual, and ran off to find her when I confirmed Althea hadn’t come back. At 13:15 Nana passed by on her way to the science lab, then at 13:27 Honda returned to his cubicle in the robot lab."

"At 13:35 I figured I may as well go wait my turn. I went over to the science lab and waited outside the door, idly watching the other nearby corridor which could be seen through the transparent glass. 10 minutes later Nana exited the science lab, waved at me, and then headed on back to finish her robot."

"During my interview Taylor first referred to me as Mrs. Watson...I guess he was trying to see if I would answer to that name." She suggests. "Anyways, a few minutes later, I was back at the arena. It seemed as though the tournament had already begun, though Evelyn clearly hadn’t joined in, and Skylar’s robot was already destroyed. In the end, by some miracle Nana managed to turn things around and claim victory over Honda."

"The three discussed the battle after that. Skylar returned at around...14:27 and joined in. But then the talk turned to Taylor and his interviews, and we left to go check on him at 14:40." Rose details.

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"Taylor didn't deserve to die... he was one of the few friends I managed to make here," Skylar said quietly. "But, we have to do this. One last time."

She cleared her throat before starting her alibi off with some enthusiasm. "Alright, here I go! I'm just gonna plow through with facts here so we waste less time on this and so it's easier for everyone to understand in the long-run. At 12:00, like some of the others, I found myself tucked away in a cubicle working on what should've been the best robot around... but we all know how that went.

"At 13:50, the fated robot brawl occurred, wherein my beloved Charizard was obliterated... Five minutes later, I went to go for my interview with Taylor. At 14:05, I saw Rose leaving the Science Lab and Taylor called me in 5 minutes after that.

"Calling that interview 'strange' would not be doing its absurdity any justice. It just felt really... off. It was like he wasn't even talking to me, but instead he was trying to converse with a potted plant. The essence of what I'm saying is that the whole thing was just really bizarre. Of course, he also called me 'Ms. Watson'. Anyway, it lasted about 15 minutes.

"I joined up with Honda, Nana, and Rose again at around 14:27 and we discussed both the robot tournament and the oddity of our interviews. We went to go check on Taylor at like, 14:40, and the rest is history.

"Evelyn and Althea covered the results of our investigation pretty well, so to avoid being redundant I'm not going to bother repeating any information relating to that. Let's get this bread."

"Your interview was strange..? Why, that's to be expected", Evelyn replied, nodding her head thoughtfully. "Since my autopsy is proof enough he died between 12:00 and 14:00, and your interview was ten minutes past that timeframe... There's a good chance that you weren't talking to him at all. He was already dead by that time. Could you perhaps elaborate on this? I suppose one possible explanation was that the interview was prerecorded on his side, maybe explaining why you found it so bizarre. That would also explain the recording device we found at the crime scene... It's not likely that anyone could have imitated his voice, either."

"Actually, Rose, could you elaborate on the timeframe of your interview? Was it between 13:45 to 14:00?" She suddenly asked. "This is quite an important matter and I would like to resolve it."

---

"It was from 13:50 to 14:07..." Rose clarifies. "Why do you ask? Now's not really the time to be secretive." She adds.

"Well, I'm checking to see if the time adds up... Skylar saw you leave at 14:05, though, so it took fifteen minutes in total. The other two minutes must have been taken by you to get back to the arena, which adds up", Evelyn said, nodding. "Did you notice strange about your interview, though? It seems quite odd... your interview should have ended after Taylor supposedly died. So then it would have been apparent that something would be off. I don't think Taylor would have continuously been talking to you for all those fifteen minutes, Rose."

---

"The recording device theory makes sense to me. For clarification, there were points in the interview where it felt like he was outright ignoring the answers to some of the questions and abruptly jumped from question to question," Skylar said to Evelyn. "There's not much else I can say without repeating myself, really."

"Ah, really? Well, that does appear to make sense with what we know... Nobody else seems to have reported anything wrong with their interviews other than you. It's a little strange that Eve wouldn't let us access it if that were the case, though. Either way, Rose's interview is still the strangest, especially the timeframe in which it took place. Of course, we still have to hear how Nana's interview fits in with everything", Evelyn suggested. "But I think with the help of the interviews, we may be able to narrow down the time of death to some degree of precision, at least."

---

Evelyn cleared her throat, beginning what was most likely the first of many double posts this trial. "So...thinking about it, there was a hole in the locker with the hoodie where the plasma gun itself was fired from, correct? But there wasn't a hole behind the locker itself. Ergo, the plasma gun was fired from the locker itself! So what does this mean? The killer themselves must have hidden in the locker at some point without Taylor ever noticing. They had the plasma gun in hand and looked out of the locker to see Taylor in front of them. And went they got their chance, they quietly fired their gun, killing him instantly. And then all they had to do was simply exit, using any of the doors there. They had to enter through the archive door, though, since that was the only one they could use. They were being stealthy too, so they couldn't attract his attention... when could they have had an opportunity like that, though? I suppose that the figure I saw... actually, that may be it!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"Taylor did run out there for a moment at 12:42 at then quietly walked back three minutes later. However, due to my condition, I was unable to identify who it could have been. And the hoodie combined with the trousers in the locker...that perhaps could have been the killer's disguise. Even seen from afar, most people would assume it to be Taylor, with normal sight and all. A lot of people claim not to have seen anyone else while waiting in the corridor, though. So this is why I believe it to be important to narrow down the time of death. Unfortunately, in situations like this, there are few we can unconditionally trust, making it quite difficult for it to get narrowed down by much... There doesn't seem to have been any oddities when I entered, nor did Honda report anything unusual. Nana may have something else to report, but other than that, only Skylar has said anything about her interview being odd... Though Rose's interview seemingly going smoothly is quite befuddling", she admitted, scratching her head in thought.

---

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"Mr. Taylor was... already dead?" Nana paled. Most of what cheerfulness she'd regained over the past day had been once again dashed by this fresh murder.

"Um... I don't think I have much else to add that hasn't been said," she mumbled. "I left the robot lab to do the interview thing at about quarter after 1, saw Miss Rose in the arena on my way there, saw Mr. Honda leave the science lab at like 1:25, then I went in about five minutes later... Oh, I could see the walkway between Miss Eve's room and that archive room while I was waiting, but, like, I didn't see anything there, if that's important..."

She hugged herself, shivering a little. "...Now that I think about it, I guess my interview was a little weird, too. Mr. Taylor called me 'Ms. Watson', too, then he asked a bunch of stuff about Project Eden... but it's like whenever I asked him something, he either didn't answer, or said 'sorry' and went back to his own questions. He didn't even say anything when I said 'see you later'..."

---

"Ah, thank you, Nana!" Evelyn said gratefully. "That truly is indeed quite helpful now. So it was prerecorded then, hmm... So I suppose since Honda's interview went quite well, we can say the murder took place after 13:25... That narrows it down to 35 minutes. It's quite helpful... Still, this means that Rose's interview was the outlier. It clearly had to have taken place either after or during Taylor's death, but she didn't mention anything so odd about it... And without anybody being able to imitate him, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this", she admitted.

---

"There's been some pretty good discussion so far already. I say keep at it!" Gawain said. "There are two things we can focus on to start with, which you've already made good progress on.

"When did Taylor die?

"What was Taylor up to? What were his intentions, and what did he overall do before he died?"


[Now that all the alibis have been posted, you have 72 hours to solve the case, subject to extension if need be. Good luck!]

Last edited by KamiPanda on Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.

"Taylor...he was clearly trying to root out the mastermind", Evelyn said somberly. "It would explain the Ms. Watson thing quite well. Unfortunately, we know little about his movements around the time of death. He seemed to mostly be inside Eve's room, except for when I saw him temporarily exit to the archive and come back some time later... I wonder what he was even looking for within there. Most likely, something related to Project Eden or Ms. Watson."

"I've already asked what I can regarding his time of death as well, and I'm hoping to obtain some answers soon as well", she sighed.

---

"When did Taylor die? Hmm..." Annabella thought it over. "That would have to be sometime between 13:25 and 14:00, but we should probably narrow it down some more. Maybe Taylor was still alive for Rose's interview and just left a prerecorded tape for Nana's. Perhaps he went to the archive again?"

"Well...as for the interview with Taylor, I'm kind of in the same boat as Skylar. Taylor kept asking me random questions, and was ignoring me as if I was some sort of inanimate object. He wouldn't even tell me what all the questions were for." Rose frowns.

"Rose's interview lasted past 14:00, so that would have been impossible anyway", Evelyn informed. "And I'm glad to see Rose's interview does indeed line up with the others. So this indeed means he died sometime after Honda's interview as well. Though now we know this, we could try seeing where thos gets us. There is a good chance he could have been alive for Nana's interview, and also for most of Rose's interview. The killer could have killed quite simply in the timeframe without them realising."

"Of course, this happened after 13:25, so we can exclude the lounge group as suspects- me, Annabella and Althea. In other words, none of us could have done it", she helpfully elucidated. "That would leave... well, not too many people, actually. Mostly just the robotics group, really."

---

"Huh?" Nana blinked. "Why would it be between those times?"

---

"Well, Honda seemed to hear him and he appeared fairly well and normal at the time", Evelyn explained. "It was only after that that the prerecorded interviews began, during which Taylor didn't speak directly. So it would be easy for the killer to murder him then. And I deduced it could only have been before 14:00 from my autopsy."

---

"Um, but, didn't Mr. Taylor call Mr. Honda 'Ms. Watson' too?" Nana replied. "He doesn't look like a 'Watson' to me. ...Or a 'Ms.' He looks more like... uh..."

She blinked again and looked over at the minstrel. "Hey, um... What is your last name, Mr. Honda?"

---

"That is quite strange, but he did do that for everyone to see how they would react. Most likely a precautionary measure on his part, I suppose", Evelyn speculated.

---

"It's definitely not Watson..." Honda said, looking a little uncomfortable about the question. "I don't like using it, but if it'll help to clear things up, it's Tsukuyomi.



"I agree with Evelyn." He added. "Taylor was trying to find the mastermind. I imagine that revealing that he knew their true name would surprise them, to say the least."

"If we're trying to understand the interviews, it would be best if we could all get on the same page about them," Gawain said.

"To that end, please give a transcript of the interviews you all had. Though for conciseness, I'm sure you can keep it just to the dialogue at the start and ends of your interviews, maybe with a summary of how it went in between. That way we can see precisely what seemed strange and what was merely a natural part of how the interview went."

[I'll accept Copy+Paste jobs here of the interview (and nothing more than that), so long as you remove/edit anything which is too meta. Also, keep in mind that this isn't proof of anything, and anyone could still be lying with whatever they say.]

Annabella thought back to her interview. "Well, mine went a little like this: Taylor let me into the lab at 12:25. He called me Ms. Watson, then corrected himself and asked if I was ready to start. I said I was and he began by asking what I thought of Project Eden. He went on for a while about a bunch of different topics until we finally finished. I asked if he had any questions for my doll Anthony, but he said Anthony didn't fit the "demographic" he was looking for, so I left."

"Okay, so the interview basically went something like this
.." Rose begins, transporting the audience to a flashback scene.