Wall of Silence:
(1925 A.D., The Draig Estate, The Township of Resdren, Nornland, Scotland, Greater Germania)
John reaches out for the doorknob, finding it locked.
"Break it down," Oskar demands.
"You sure?" John asks.
"You heard me," Oskar responds, momentarily casting a stern, forceful look at John before turning his attention back to the door. John nods as he takes a deep breath and sends the door flying clean off its hinges with one devastating kick. The door collides with a powerful booming thud against the opposite side of the room. Oskar slowly looks inside the room revealing to his eyes what he already knew in his heart. His mother is dead.
The sound of the door flying off its hinges and crashing into the room reverberates throughout the house, jolting the sleeping estate into frantic motion. Tilda and Hilda are the first to arrive on the scene, given the proximity of their bedrooms, and they are quickly followed by Miss Emma. Following his instincts, John calls Miss Emma and Oskar over to him, but gestures for Tilda and Hilda to stay. John instead orders Tilda and Hilda to go retrieve Crowler as quickly as possible. Once Tilda and Hilda are out of earshot, John proceeds with his handling of the situation.
"Are you okay? Can you hold it together?" John asks, kneeling down to Oskar's level. Oskar nods as John pulls him into a brief but tender embrace. John moves over to the bed and places his hand against Mrs. Draig's forehead.
"I just spoke to her," Oskar mutters, moving over to John's side to get a better look.
"Not exactly. Judging by the temperature of her flesh, she's been dead for at least a few hours. Look, all three of us know this is a house of ghosts. Her soul must have needed to tell you something while she had the chance, which means whatever she said to you must be of unparalleled importance. However, we need to act quickly and decisively, so I need you to do me a favour," John presses, casting a stern but supportive look to Oskar.
"What do you need me to do?" Oskar asks, his voice shaky.
"I need you to go downstairs and give Miss Emma a full account of everything that happened between you and your mother tonight. Everything she did and said in complete detail. Can you do that for me?" John asks, his tone soft and steady. Oskar nods, his heart still shaking from the emotional storm of the moment.
"What will you do?" Miss Emma asks as she pulls Oskar in close, embracing him supportively.
"I am going to perform a quick but thorough examination of her body and this room to see what I can find out and then Crowler and I are going to wrap up her body. Then I will lock down the room until we can make burial arrangements. After that, I will join you and Oskar in the Downstairs Parlor, where we will evaluate the situation together and figure out what to do next. From this moment forward there is to be a wall of silence between us and the rest of the house staff, understand?" John presses, soliciting firm nods of agreement from Emma and Oskar.
"From this point forward the only ones we trust are ourselves and Crowler."
"Got it," Oskar and Emma chime back in unison.
"Alright. Now please give me the room," John replies, gesturing for Emma and his young master to leave the room. Once Emma and Oskar are out of the room, John picks up one of the smaller wooden chunks of door littering the floor. John holds the chunk of wood in his hands as sparks surge around it, causing the atoms of the wood to twist and churn into a swirling mist of possibility before re-condensing into a pair of plastic gloves and a masterwork padlock and key. He places the padlock, key and gloves down on Mrs. Draig's nearby bedside table for a moment.
John kneels down and places his hands on the floor amongst the debris and breathes in deep. He slowly exhales, focusing his mind on the task at hand, causing the shattered fragments of the door to shimmer and disintegrate into a vortexing mass of particulated matter before reshaping into a metallic reinforced version of the door it once was.
John carries the heavy door over to the now empty door frame and carefully places the door back into its proper place before channelling his thoughts once again. He aims his will at the metal of the door hinges, causing them to bend and morph until they once again hold the door in place as if it was never kicked off its hinges at all.
With the door now fixed and stronger than ever, John retrieves the padlock and key from the nearby bedside table and places them in his pocket for later use. John puts on the plastic gloves as he makes his way over to Mrs. Draig's body. John carefully examines her eyes, face, scalp and neck for any indications of injury before proceeding to her exposed hands and arms. Upon closer inspection of her upper right arm, he finds what he recognises to be an injection mark. It is subtle, but it's there. He can tell the injection mark is only a few hours old.
John moves his nose close to the wound in order to detect any lingering scents, only for his nose to be assaulted by the faint odour of bitter almonds. John quickly deduces Mrs. Draig was murdered via cyanide injection and given the isolated nature of the island and especially the estate itself, he concludes the killer is most likely a working member of the estate staff.
John carefully removes Mrs. Draig's clothes in search of any other indications of injury. He finishes his inspection of her body just as the sound of someone knocking on the door echoes through the room. John moves over to the door and opens it, finding Crowler accompanied by Tilda and Hilda. John gestures for Tilda and Hilda to get lost as he welcomes Crowler into the room, shutting the door firmly behind them.