Knives out: Marta Cabrera's daughter (Discontinued)

Chapter 4

"You've been very patient my friend, and, yes, you are right, none of these weak alibis and domestic squabbles answer your question: Why is Benoit Blanc here? But now I will tell you why. (Beat) I am here because this morning, someone dodged one very important question." - Blanc explains.

"Who?" - Lieutenant Elliot asks, confused and curious.

"Me. Linda asked who hired me." - Blanc explains/answers.

"So who hired you?" -Elliot asks.

"I. Do. Not. Know. An envelope of cash showed up at my apartment yesterday, with the news clipping of Thrombey's death." - Blanc explains.

"An envelope? That worked?" - Trooper Wagner asked, curious and with a smirk.

"An envelope of cash." - Blanc says firmly, while using his hand to show off how much money, about several inches thick.

"So somebody suspects foul play, but goes through this ha ch dance of hiring me, of staying anonymous. It makes no d**m sense. Compels me though. (Beat) Walk me through everyone's whereabouts at the time of death." - Blanc continues/requests.

Elliot hesitates, but Blanc has him hooked, so he complies. He flips open his notebook and Blanc leans back, waiting for him to start.

"We know, the party ended at 11:30." Elliot starts.

(Flashback)

"However, at some point during the party, Nancy fell asleep on the couch downstairs."

We see Nancy fast asleep on the couch, and a blanket is placed on top of her by her mother, Marta, who smiles at her daughter and gives her a soft kiss on the forehead before heading upstairs with Harlan and everyone else.

"Marta decided to let her sleep so she took Harlan upstairs to give him his meds, Richard and Linda and Joni went right to bed. Now we do have this: the stairs leading up to Harlan's bedroom and his attic office creak horribly."

Inside Richard and Linda's quest room, we see Richard fast asleep, while Linda is sleeping lightly.

"And Linda is a light sleeper. So we know every time someone took the stairs that night."

Inside Joni and Meg's quest room, we see Joni has decorated the room with colorful silks and candles. She is in lotus position on her bed meditating.

"The first was when Joni heard a Ka-Thunk from somewhere above her in the house."

We hear a Ka-Thunk, and Joni looks up at the ceiling. Joni walks out of her quest room and starts up the creaky stairs.

"She's concerned about Harlan, so she went up to investigate, waking Linda up."

We see Linda's eyes pop open at the loud creaking sounds.

Upstairs, outside Harlan's attic office, the door opens to reveal Harlan answering Joni, while Marta, with her back turned, is preparing a hypo needle.

"Harlan was in his attic office with Marta. He explained that they had just knocked the Go board over- the game with the grid and stones, they play it every night, and he was fine, "go to bed", so she does."

We see the spilled Go board on the floor. Joni kisses Harlan on the cheek, before leaving. He shuts the door

In Richard and Linda's quest room, we see Linda had just gotten back to sleep.

"Ten minutes later, Linda is woken a second time, by Marta leaving."

Creaking sounds are heard, waking Linda up again. She looks pretty annoyed.

"Walt! We're leaving." - Marta tells Walt, rather loudly, while heading into the living room and carefully picks up a sleeping Nancy and carry her to the car.

While they're leaving, we see Walt and Jacob sitting on the porch, Walt had a cigar, and Jacob's on his phone. Marta leaves, carrying a sleeping Nancy, saying good night to them.

"Walt was smoking a cigar on the porch with his son. He saw her leave carrying Nancy, to their car, and drive off. Noted the time- Midnight."

We see Walt glance at his watch - it's midnight.

In Richard and Linda's quest room, we see Linda has a pillow over her head.

"Fifteen minutes later, Linda is woken for the third and final time. By someone coming down the stairs."

Creaking sounds are heard again, waking Linda up. She signs, thinking "you've gotta be kidding me."

At the front porch, we see Walt, still smoking with Jacob, spot Harlan through the glazed glass, coming down the stairs in the foyer.

"Harlan, who came down for a midnight snack, which Walt tried to discourage."

"Dad, go back to bed!" Walt tells his father through the glazed glass

"Based on this, the medical examiner determined time of death to be between 12:15 and 2am. As Walt was finishing his cigar, about 12:30, Meg came home. She went straight to bed. Walt and Jacob turned in shortly after that.

Inside Joni and Meg's quest room, we see Joni fast asleep, while the dogs start barking outside. This causes Meg to stir and wake up.

"Sometime later that night, underdetermined but possibly near 3am, Meg woke up because the dogs were barking outside. She used the bathroom and went back to bed."

(End of flashback, back to the present)

We see Elliot snap his notebook closed, looking at Blanc.

"And that's it. Everyone's stories matched, every movement accounted for." - Elliot explains to Blanc.

"And there is no other staircase up to Harlan's room?" - Blanc asks, uncertain.

"None, just the creaky one." -Elliot confirms

"And Linda is certain another trip would've woken her up?" - Blanc presses, while scratching his neck, showing the rash he mentioned earlier. Elliot notices.

"Wow. Is that the rash you mentioned earlier?" - Elliot asks, looking almost concerned for Blanc.

Blanc nods

"Yeah, used some of Joni's foam cream, and soon after, I got this h**l of a rash here." - Blanc explains

Trooper Wagner sits next to Elliot

"So I guess we can rule out Ransom, because he wasn't there. And Marta couldn't, Harlan was still alive after she and Nancy left. But Meg... Meg came home during the window of the time of death." - Wagner says

"Except it was a suicide. Harlan slit right through his carotids, we saw from the blood spat patterns that they were uninterrupted. Meaning, it's almost impossible for anyone to have been around him at the time. He's the one that cut his own throat. I don't know why we keep going over this." - Elliot explains.

"Physical evidence can tell a clear story with a forked tongue." - Blanc says, randomly

"What?" - Elliot asks, confused

"And as we've seen this morning, everyone can lie. (Beat) Well. Almost everyone." -Blanc says with a smile, remembering about Marta and Nancy.

(End of chapter 4)